Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Will The Real Bee Vang Please Stand Up?

Awhile back when the buzz for Clint Eastwood's new film Gran Torino kept on growing, I began to wonder who else was in the cast...of course, that's what IMDb is for, and so you can hardly imagine my shock to see that Eastwood's co-star was an unknown from Fresno, California named Bee Vang.

You see in my current job I regularly deal with a variety of people online and through e-mail that I've never met face-to-face, or even spoken with directly. One of those people who's name I see constantly is an associate who works out in California named Bee Vang.

Now, my local co-workers have discussed previously whether we thought with the name Bee Vang we were dealing with a male or a female and this was a constant random curiosity we would hypothesize about.

So when I saw that Clint Eastwood's film stared a male Bee Vang, I couldn't help but wonder if it was the same Bee Vang I dealt with on an almost daily basis...my hopes in this prospect dwindled when I saw that Gran Torino's Bee Vang was born in 1991...I assumed that the Bee I worked with wasn't only 17...but how could I know?

So, I decided to check out facebook - I was suprised to see if there were more Bee Vangs in this world than I might have expected.

To my surprise there was/is. In fact there are 44 Bee Vangs currently with profiles on facebook. Interestingly enough they are both male and female, so the question of my work associates gender was not solved...nor did I know for sure if the Bee I worked with could possibly be an upcoming star.

(Incidentally, these 44 Bee Vangs seemed to live mostly in Minnesota and Wisconsin, not California).

So...after further discussion in my office about the possibility of us working with "The Real" Bee Vang, we found out the answer for ourselves...and the illusion died.

The other day there was a situation that warranted a phone call to Bee Vang in the office. One of my friends who pondered these questions about Bee's identity called to discovered "our" Bee Vang was a female, and thus not "the real" Bee Vang.

Needless to say, we were disappointed.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to wonder what would inspire so many folks with the last name Vang to name their kiddos Bee? When I hear the name "Bee" (Bea) I think of a 60 year-old overweight white woman.

Anonymous said...

I went to junior high - in Wisconsin - with a couple Bee Vangs. That name's like the John Smith of Hmong naming conventions.

Anonymous said...

Names in one culture do not mean the same as in another. See Korean "Park".

Anonymous said...

I know the Bee Vang who played in Gran Torino, It was real fun getting to know him, but I never expected for him to become an actor.

Anonymous said...

The kid was good in the film. You can tell it was his first acting job, but he was really good. He can play silent and brooding. Just a good overall performance.

Anonymous said...

i thought he was a bad actor in the movie, they should have chosen someone else who wasnt such a wuss

Anonymous said...

Bee Vang's character was played perfectly. He portrayed the character he was suppose to be. Why don't people get that? Any other way, the story line wouldn't feel authentic.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a fantastic performance.Could of fooled me he was not an actor with experience.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Hi, funny enough, my name is Bee too and I am female. I just have to say that the word "Bee" is not spelled this way in Hmong (my culture). It was the way the Americans spelled it when we were coming to the United States long ago. In my language, it means a precious coin. It stands for wealth and luck - not an insect or an old white woman. :)

Bulldog Dad said...

He was born in Fresno. He lives in MN and goes to High School not far from where I'm posting from right now. He was selected for the part out of MN, not CA as suggested by the author. You should strive for a bit more accuracy.

Anonymous said...

LOL "JOhn Smith" of Hmong naming conventions. My name is also Bee Vang, it is a little nerving that so MANY Hmongs in general have my name. Liked the comment though! Very funny...what could I say? You cant really your name, you just grow into it. And Im a girl, just one of those things you sigh to and accept. Hmong elders like tradition and familiarity, I can see why they repeatedly use the same names across generation and within relatives. =( Oh well.