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African clothing, filtered through rap culture, influences fashion as well. The L.A.-based firm Threads for Life (also known as Cross Colours) sells hip- hop fashion inspired by urban youth and African designers, such as overalls with colorful kente-cloth patches. "It becomes not just a pair of jeans, but something that means something," says firm co-owner Carl Jones. Company sales rose from $15 million in 1991 to $89 million in 1992.
The Joy Luck Club, born as a best-selling book, leads a recent surge in popular new movies written or directed by Asians. They include M. Butterfly, written by David Henry Hwang, the U.S.-born son of Chinese immigrants; the comedy Combination Platter, directed by Chinese-American filmmaker Tony Chan; and The Wedding Banquet, a comedy directed by Ang Lee, who moved to the U.S. from Taiwan. Asian-style kickboxing movies have found an eager audience in the U.S. Recently one of Hong Kong's best filmmakers, John Woo, relocated to Los Angeles to direct the action movie Hard Target (which stars Belgian-born martial-arts hero Jean-Claude Van Damme).
These Asian films are already spawning would-be imitators. "When something becomes a commercial success," says novelist Tan, "it automatically opens the door, or at least the possibility, for other similar ventures. Already, in Hollywood, I'm hearing about people saying, 'We think this will be another Joy Luck Club,' about films they want to get produced."
Hispanics in Hollywood, despite barriers, have also met with recent success. Latino actors Andy Garcia and Rosie Perez have become sought-after talents; the movie La Bamba grossed more than $50 million and sent the signal that Latino movies can be moneymakers. "In American society, transmitting culture is done in the marketplace," says Gary Puckrein, editor in chief of American Visions, a magazine that covers culture in the U.S. "You see it in food, fashion, music and art."
Other talented Latinos seek the big break. Actress Marga Gomez's one-woman show, Memory Tricks, which deals with her father, a Cuban comic, and her mother, a Puerto Rican dancer, has been praised for its humor and startling candor. Gomez helped found the Latino comedy group Culture Clash (the troupe has a new series airing on Fox TV, where Gomez has made guest appearances), and she is adapting her show into a screenplay. "I think the essence of my $ work is that I come from some very strong backgrounds -- gay, Cuban, Puerto Rican," says Gomez, "and I don't feel like I don't fit into any one of them."
In the visual arts, cultural outsiders often see what insiders miss. Japanese-born painter Masami Teraoka combines elements of European art and Japanese ukiyo-e wood-block imagery. From his unique perspective, he creates gothic halos around the heads of AIDS patients and condoms in the bedrooms of samurai. In his Harlem neighborhood, Jamaican-American artist Nari Wood collects discarded baby carriages and ties them together with fire hoses, making monuments to loss.