Hitting the silver screen with a Bang
White Rabbit is the Centrepiece Gala Film at this year’s Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Vivian Bang has had one of those Hollywood careers where she works steadily doing a TV episode here and a small movie part there, but never gets the full spotlight.
Well, that has all changed as the Seoul native and current Los Angeles resident is not only the lead in the new feature film White Rabbit but she also co-wrote the screenplay.
“Not until White Rabbit have I felt like I had a part in really contributing to the voice of my character to the voice of the story. In terms of storytelling the contribution of an actor it’s limited sometimes,” said Bang, who co-wrote the screenplay with the film’s director Daryl Wein.
The film is the Centrepiece Gala Film for this year’s Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF). Bang is slated to be on hand for the Aug. 15 showing and a Q&A. Another screening will be held Aug. 16.
White Rabbit is a charming and quirky kind of half drama, half comedy (dramedy is a dumb word) story about a queer Korean/American performance artist who struggles to gain an audience and love, while navigating modern Los Angeles as a part time “task rabbit,” a.k.a. temp personal assistant.
For her art, Sophia (Bang) goes to public places dressed in an off white jumpsuit and platinum blond bobbed wig and delivers speeches about systemic racism (treatment of Koreans during the L.A. riots of 1992 is a favourite topic) through a portable microphone. At night she makes Mukbang videos and uploads them to YouTube. For the unaware Mukbang is an activity that can best be described as broadcast eating. Someone eats and someone watches. It is a huge thing. And no, I don’t know why.
Any way, Sophia can’t seem to get an audience and she can’t seem to keep a girlfriend.
“It is a really complex representation of a queer woman of colour who is also second generation and trying to figure out what to do with her life. Trying to figure out if her art really matters where she can find an audience and she’s also struggling to find meaningful connections in the world. She is very isolated like a lot of young people,” said VQFF co-artistic director Anoushka Ratnarajah about Bang’s character. “It’s a really nuanced look at identity that we don’t often get to see. It’s been screening at queer festivals all over the world and doing well.”
The film itself grew out of Bang’s own performance art, performance art she said she was compelled to create on the heels of Donald Trump’s 2016 election win.
“Every morning we wake up and it is ‘oh my God. What do we have to defend today?’ It’s constant,” said Bang about the state of America. “You can’t rest. We’ve all realized I think that there is this huge wake-up call to the fact that no one is running the ship. That it is kind of all up to us to call out injustice, to bring attention to the cause — to resist. I think artists have always been at the forefront in these dialogues but I feel like now more than ever they feel a huge responsibility to be in constant defence.
“We were all feeling this need to act. All artists were on call to serve and share their voice,” added Bang. “I needed to revisit this history and de-colonize the history of the L.A. riots. Tell a Korean American perspective. Because there was a real absence of Asian American participation in media at that time.”
One of the places that Bang (who is filming the Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe with Ali Wong, Randall Park and Keanu Reeves) performed at was REDCAT — a performance art and modern dance art venue in L.A. It was there that her writing partner Wein spotted her. A few months later he got in touch and they got together to write. They clicked instantly. The story was outlined, pages were written and the first scene of the film was shot that very night. That scene is of Sophia doing her thing in the middle of a busy grocery store.
“I would highly recommend getting permits,” laughed Bang, when talking about commando-style art in grocery stores.
Bang/Sophia’s public expressions raise a few eyebrows and slowed some curious customers, but mostly people passed by without pause. However, disinterested errand runners won’t get this plucky artist down.
“Sophia, for her, it is always a daily grind this life as an artist,” said Bang. “It is a very universal dialogue about art and commerce and how does one take up space in this noise filled inundated world? Does she have the right to take up space with like four followers and doing her pieces in public spaces? She is constantly questioning herself.”
She is questioning herself, but not stopping herself. Rejection is no match for Sophia’s artistic will.