Abstract
Abstract No genre is more familiar with, or more sympathetic to, the expression of pathological euphoria than the musical, and no musical more attached to the pathological euphoria of being “Asian American”1 than Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical film extravaganza Flower Drum Song (1961). Directed by the Hollywood veteran Henry Koster and produced by the master of visual spectacles Ross Hunter, Flower Drum Song is a work that everyone who has seen it remembers. It is astounding how many people of various backgrounds and both genders can and do immediately launch into their renditions of “I Enjoy Being a Girl” whenever Flower Drum Song is mentioned. The very mention of this movie elicits response—song even—which is then usually followed by a gentle shake of the head or a roll of the eyes. What is this pleasure of identification and its immediate renunciation? Why is embarrassed irony used to counter the seduction of that tune? One might say that Flower Drum Song itself, as a public memory, symptomatically exhibits a form of excessive euphoria—an involuntary delight that finds itself slightly unseemly.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
