The second part of Kelley Loves Tony highlights the strain between her pregnancy, educational aspirations, and cultural expectations. Even as Kelley slowly starts to accept her reality, she finds herself facing an (unexpected) barrier to her success: a second baby. It also captures the tensions between Tony and Kelley over her role as a mother and her values of education, even including the mother's own interpretation of their situation. Similar to the 3 pregnant girls mentioned in Shah (2012), as much as they attempt to challenge dominant notions, they may still end up with undesired consequences due to other forces/barriers.
Gendered Limits gave an interesting perspective on the car culture that is popular in the Asian American community. I grew up hearing older peers talk about how they wanted to be import models but never questioned the ways that it objectified women and reinforced/reproduced Orientalist notions for Asian American women (sexualized, submissive, "dragon lady"). In this way, Asian men are able to assert their masculinity in ways that they were historically unable to due to anti-miscegenation laws and the Yellow Peril sentiments. It's interesting to link up how historical events still have lasting effects in future generations (e.g., Steve Harvey questioning why some think Asian men are attractive). In addition, some of my friends in high school would go to such car shows and spend large amounts of money ramping up their car. This is parallel to the experiences of those in the Monkey Dance film as well because it depicts young Asians from low income communities utilizing their wages for their car. However, I would argue that not everyone has access to purchase such material items nor may they afford to spend time spicing up their car due to other obligations and responsibilities.
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