THE IMMUTABLE COMPLEXION FROM WHERE WE COME
我們從何處來？
When the movie Turning Red came out on Disney+ a few weeks ago, my family was eager to watch it together. First, for obvious family-movie reasons: (1) Pixar, (2) Pandas, and (3) Canada. But superseding those - there was another, deeper motivation. For the first time that I can remember, a major motion picture featured an Asian lead in a family movie. Representation has been a topic that has garnered a lot of chatter in recent years. Recent films like
Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi have done a lot to move the awareness of Asian talent — that has always existed — into the mainstream.
Turning Red, however, is a different type of representation. It tells the story of the 2nd generation immigrant caught between the influences of her heritage and the inevitable draw from her multiethnic peers in school. The director, Domee Shi, has described the animated movie as a “Love letter to Toronto” stemming from her own upbringing as a North American child of Asian immigrant parents. A lot of that manifests itself painted against the beautiful pastel vistas of the Canadian Chinatown setting. Though I didn’t grow up in Toronto, it was for me, still an incredibly identifiable reflection of my own childhood.
After its release, shallowly critical reviews began surfacing, and I took it personally.
“Unrelatable”, “I wasn’t the target market, wasn’t for me”, “3/10! Whole family didn’t like it” — wrote a friend on Facebook, many of the responding comments agreed. I wrestled deeply with these words, not with anger — but with sadness. While it seemed as though there was an acknowledgement from Hollywood that the story of the struggle of the second-generation immigrant merited telling, clearly it also appeared as though the nuances of that narrative were not received with the intent with which they were given. On one hand — by those empowering storytellers like Shi to explore what it’s like to grow up foreign but domestic — I am seen. On the other hand — by those who I had thought to have considered my peers and contemporaries — I am intrinsically misunderstood.
Ironically, the dichotomy between the two brought me to an awakening desire to embrace the immutable complexion from where we come. The combination of heritage and culture is similar to the colour of one’s skin. We are born into it, we don’t choose it — yet, somehow, we still do. On some level, we must interpret and own its value and prominence in our lives while acknowledging they are implicitly thrust upon us. And once I come to terms with this, how do I extol its relevance to my identity within the context around me?《熊抱青春記》 是我們一家急不
(Turning Red)
及待觀看的電影。 動畫、熊貓主角、加拿大
Pixar背景，給我們無比的親切感。令我動心的，還有另一個更深層次的意義：印象中，這是第一套以亞裔家庭為主角的主流動畫電影。近年，亞裔種族主義引起討論話題，《我的超豪男友》和《尚氣》等電影，均令更多亞裔人材得到主流重視。《熊抱青春記》的不同之處是，電影引述了第二代華裔移民小孩的煩惱、傳統中國家庭及校園多元文化偏差的趣事。導演石之予形容，這是她個人在多倫多成長的寫照，並在唐人街取景。雖然我不是在多倫多長大，但作為華人，我亦能感同身受。電影上映後，在不同的社交媒體飽受批評。一方面我覺得這套電影，令我和其他在外國出生，但是有着不同文化背景的人一樣，終於被看見；另一方面，我覺得我一直被同輩誤解。恰巧，這次機會令我醒覺自己應該更加關注自己亞裔文化及種族。我們不能選擇自己的種族，但無可厚非，它對我們的身份有一定的價值和影響。我們應該如何在外國環境中，更加關注自身文化呢？