The 11th Course: Vietnamese Fruit Cocktail (Chè Thái)
This is a very refreshing dessert made of coconut milk, jackfruit, jellies, ice, and lychee bits, but the recipe depends on your family’s recipe. It’s sweet and a bit sour, and it’s served like a drink with a spoon.
Data! I’ll be unloading a bunch of data here today, starting with part of my research paper:
The themes most prevalent in all of these images were Westernization and homogeneity, with 75.8% of all images showing Westernized beauty standards and clothing and 48.5% of all images being homogenous. Homogeneity was identified when a set of four images had a subject that was nearly identical to each other (identical hair, face shape, facial features, skin tone, eye shape, chin shape, and build). There were no images that showed themes of sexualized women, emasculation in men, model minority, religion, primitiveness, familial traits, and being cheap or thrifty for both Stable Diffusion and Midjourney. However, there is a higher percentage of Filipino (7.55%) and Vietnamese (6.41%) images showing themes of Asian inferiority and underdevelopedness (featuring images of slums and older, unclean homes as backgrounds) than Chinese (1.75%) and Asian (1.16%) images.
Engagement overall was much higher on Instagram than on TikTok and Twitter, with views and impressions on Instagram totaling 3,101; views on TikTok totaling up to 19; and views on Twitter totaling up to 222. Some factors that could have contributed to this difference are Instagram having two different forms of media and Twitter having a less complete caption for its images. It is unclear why TikTok views were so low compared to Twitter and Instagram, despite them all being posted in the same time frame and order of posts.
Images showing themes
| X axis: number of images
Y axis: themes |
SDXL control | MJ control | SDXL asian | MJ asian | SDXL chinese | MJ chinese | SDXL filipino | MJ filipino | SDXL viet | MJ viet |
| Emasculation, asexuality, and femininity in men | ||||||||||
| women are sexualized | ||||||||||
| Women are overly feminine | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||
| Exotic | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 16 |
| Hardworking model minority, goal oriented, competent | ||||||||||
| Quiet, passive, submissive | ||||||||||
| Service workers | 8 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | ||
| Criminals | ||||||||||
| Westernized (western beauty standards and clothes) | 282 | 250 | 274 | 261 | 227 | 250 | 263 | 279 | ||
| Homogenous (all the same) | 272 | 92 | 224 | 80 | 264 | 84 | 232 | 89 | ||
| Hollywood portrayals or motifs (china doll, dragon lady, long mustache, sloped eyebrows, heavy eyeliner, long finger nails, rice hats) | 2 | 2 | 7 | 17 | ||||||
| Religious | ||||||||||
| Primitive, jungle folk | ||||||||||
| Unsanitary, cluttered | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 40 | 4 | 28 | |
| Family oriented | ||||||||||
| Asian inferiority, underdeveloped | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 40 | 8 | 36 |
| Cheap/thrifty | ||||||||||
| cold, stern | 83 | 143 | 85 | 122 | 90 | 102 | 88 | 111 | ||
Engagement for Posts on Instagram as of 4/22/2024
| SDXL or MJ | likes | comments | shares | saves | accounts reached | impressions | profile activity | ||
| 1 | juice | SDXL | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 45 | 0 |
| 2 | music | MJ | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 46 | 2 |
| 3 | library | MJ | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 31 | 1 |
| 4 | stare | MJ | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 31 | 0 |
| 5 | ambient | MJ | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 29 | 0 |
| 6 | blue | MJ | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 28 | 1 |
| 7 | ponder | MJ | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| 8 | who | MJ | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 33 | 7 |
| 9 | phone | SDXL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| 10 | headphones | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| 11 | reading | SDXL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| 12 | anger | MJ | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| 13 | handshake | MJ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 6 |
| 14 | compromise | MJ | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 29 | 0 |
| 15 | agreement | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 28 | 0 |
| 16 | deal | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 27 | 0 |
| 17 | suits | MJ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 27 | 0 |
| 18 | design | MJ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| 19 | pond | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 32 | 0 |
| 20 | diner | SDXL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 |
| 21 | doctor | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 42 | 1 |
| 22 | laughter | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 40 | 0 |
| 23 | teach | SDXL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 40 | 0 |
| 24 | study | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 38 | 0 |
| 25 | gym | SDXL | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 42 | 0 |
| 26 | park | MJ | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 50 | 0 |
| 27 | breakfast | SDXL | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 59 | 0 |
| 28 | feather | SDXL | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 78 | 0 |
| 29 | home | MJ | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 106 | 1 |
| 30 | flower | MJ | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 104 | 4 |
Engagement for Reels on Instagram as of 4/22/2024
| SDXL or MJ | likes | comments | shares | saves | accounts reached | views | replays | watch time | profile activity | ||
| 1 | juice | SDXL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 124 | 147 | 20 | 4:36 | 0 |
| 2 | music | MJ | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 126 | 13 | 6:58 | 0 |
| 3 | library | MJ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 25 | 1 | 0:47 | 0 |
| 4 | stare | MJ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 156 | 40 | 5:01 | 0 |
| 5 | ambient | MJ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 112 | 8 | 2:06 | 0 |
| 6 | blue | MJ | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 | 126 | 15 | 3:15 | 0 |
| 7 | ponder | MJ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 119 | 139 | 18 | 3:02 | 0 |
| 8 | who | MJ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115 | 140 | 19 | 3:17 | 0 |
| 9 | phone | SDXL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 0:26 | 0 |
| 10 | headphones | SDXL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 118 | 132 | 14 | 3:02 | 0 |
| 11 | reading | SDXL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 17 | 5 | 0:47 | 0 |
| 12 | anger | MJ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0:29 | 0 |
| 13 | handshake | MJ | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 | 141 | 30 | 4:14 | 0 |
| 14 | compromise | MJ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0:20 | 0 |
| 15 | agreement | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0:30 | 0 |
| 16 | deal | SDXL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0:19 | 0 |
| 17 | suits | MJ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 7 | 0:32 | 0 |
| 18 | design | MJ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 0:21 | 0 |
| 19 | pond | SDXL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 3 | 0:27 | 0 |
| 20 | diner | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 4 | 0:30 | 0 |
| 21 | doctor | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 5 | 0:27 | 0 |
| 22 | laughter | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 8 | 0:35 | 0 |
| 23 | teach | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 31 | 16 | 1:37 | 0 |
| 24 | study | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 0:37 | 0 |
| 25 | gym | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 25 | 11 | 0:52 | 0 |
| 26 | park | MJ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 30 | 13 | 1:15 | 0 |
| 27 | breakfast | SDXL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 27 | 7 | 0:51 | 0 |
| 28 | feather | SDXL | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 94 | 49 | 3:23 | 0 |
| 29 | home | MJ | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 161 | 102 | 5:21 | 0 |
| 30 | flower | MJ | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 114 | 63 | 3:42 | 1 |
Continued from my research paper:
My conclusion was that themes of Westernization, homogeneity, and sternness were the most common out of all the images, with exoticism, femininity, Hollywood portrayals, service workers, a lack of sanitation, and inferiority being occasionally touched upon. There were no images with themes of sexualization, emasculation, the model minority, passiveness, religion, primitiveness, family, and thriftiness. Westernization and homogeneity are themes that originate from colonial ideas, but sternness stemmed from later sentiments after World War II, while other major themes from imperialism like primitiveness, sexualization, and passiveness were not shown at all. The hypothesis is incorrect in that all the colonial stereotypes will be shown at least once, but two of the major themes that were enforced were based on colonial ideas. Stable Diffusion ultimately was more homogenous with all its portrayal of individuals when labeled with a race of ethnicity. Vietnamese and Filipino people were shown to be more underdeveloped compared to images of Asian and Chinese people, while Filipino people were depicted to have darker skin and rounder faces than Asian, Chinese, and Filipino people. Overall, they were shown with Asian features, but Western features were often incorporated according to Eurocentric beauty standards. Public opinion ultimately reinforced the Westernization theme, with posts showing that ideology being the most popular overall.
There are bits that I wish I could change now, but what’s done is done! Looking back, I wish I had narrowed down the scope of the research papers I was reading, done more different prompts rather than changing one attribute for the same prompt, and done a smaller sample. However, I’m happy with the project that came out of this.
– Mindy