Journey to the West ABC: Chinese carnival, Chinese dumbfounded
The treatment of "Journey to the West" on both sides of the Pacific Ocean can be described as two heavens of ice and fire.
In China, Douban gave a low score of 5.8 points for "Journey to the West ABC". And this drama about the troubles of Chinese American youth under the gimmick of Journey to the West, soon after Disney+ was launched, it received 96% freshness on the Rotten Tomatoes website, and the IMDb score was also 7.1.
The reason is self-evident, although this American drama has the participation of Chinese stars such as Wu Yanzu and Michelle Yeoh, and is mixed with a lot of broken Chinese lines, its audience is still American audiences dominated by Chinese Americans (Chinese Americans). Its sense of dislocation of Chinese inevitably makes domestic audiences feel unusual.
The homesickness of Chinese immigrants has been diluted by the broad tide of time and the Pacific Ocean, and they are more concerned about how to integrate into the mainstream of North American society, and film and television have become an important tool for identity integration.
In recent years, the once unpopular Chinese theme has gradually become a popular target for Hollywood studios and streaming media. At this year's Oscars, "Instantaneous Universe", which focuses on the Chinese community, became the biggest winner. This creative trend can be traced back to the success of "Crazy Rich Asians" in North America in 2018.
Most of the participants in this group of Chinese film and television trends are second-generation Chinese immigrants who came to North America, and the experience of their home country is more like vague childhood memories and even the history of their lives. Their sense of self-identity is far higher than that of a generation of immigrants, not to mention the group of Chinese directors who made their way to Hollywood.
As a result, the conflict between Chinese and American cultures, in this batch of Chinese-American film and television works, was completely internalized as the issue of American communities or minorities. Therefore, it has become a brick in the ideological construction project of the United States, and the excitement it brings to Chinese Americans about cultural identity and bridging certainly cannot make domestic audiences empathize.
This became a facet of American identity politics. The identity of minorities changes in the flow of cross-regional movements, and with it, this change has a certain autonomy, and even requires a change in the naming method to reflect the difference from the original identity.
Just like in the middle of the 19th century, the British transplanted the small species of Zhengshan from Fujian, China, to India, a hundred years later, they now have another resounding name: Darjeeling black tea.
Crazy Rich Asians – Asian Nuggets Hollywood
Let's start with Crazy Rich Asians.
In August 2018, the cover of Time magazine featured Wu Tianmin, an Asian face dressed in bright yellow fur, with the caption: "Crazy Rich Asians will change Hollywood!" On the first day of release in North America, the movie starring Wu Tianmin grossed $26.51 million and topped the North American box office for three consecutive weeks, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%.
August 2018 Cover of Time magazine
It was this film that became Hollywood's first Asian-American commercial film in 25 years after "Joy Luck Club" in 1993.
The 25-year void is behind the persistent prejudice against Chinese Americans in Hollywood and American society.
"I came here in 1953. I began to feel the prejudice of society," James Hong, a veteran Chinese actor who starred in "Instantaneous Universe", told ABC News, "At that time, Asians did not have such important roles. ”
Due to his outstanding performance in combat events that year, Bruce Lee was given the opportunity to appear in the series "The Green Hornet" (released in 1966). His outstanding performance overshadowed the limelight of the protagonist, and American audiences never expected Chinese to appear in such a modern appearance.
As a result, after Bruce Lee still repeatedly sought to play the leading role, the wife of the president of Warner said the following: "He (Bruce Lee) is not tall enough, too Chinese, which is difficult for American TV viewers to accept." ”
Even in 1993, the success of "Joy Luck Club", which tells the story of Chinese female immigrants, did not bring Hollywood enthusiasm for Chinese themes. Because of Hollywood's inherent bias, the success of "Joy Luck Club" was accidental or one-off.
《Joy Luck Club》
In the second decade of the 21st century, compared with Bruce Lee and the "Joy Luck Society" period, due to changes in the international situation, North America's imagination of China or Asian faces has changed from backward to rich. "Crazy Rich Asians" and its original English name can represent this imagination in North America.
"Asia Weekly" once believed that the novel "Crazy Rich Asians" reflects the power map of today's global Chinese, exploring why the values of Asian rich are very different from Western rich people; It shows the subjectivity of Asians and also regains the right of Chinese people around the world to interpret their own history.
Even so, the birth process of the film still experienced a lot of resistance. With no all-Asian cast of movies produced for years, North American studios are full of doubts. When film development was still in the book stage, all the established film companies and Internet platforms were completely uninterested in the development of "Crazy Rich Asians".
When it came to the production stage, out of a high degree of restoration of the original work, the original author and producer Kevin Kwan insisted on using an all-Asian cast. Before that, a studio suggested that he change the heroine Rachel to a white man, which he firmly denied.
"Crazy Rich Asians" crew
After the release of the movie, it drove the enthusiasm of Chinese Americans for movies in North America, which gradually became a major purchase point for Chinese films to attract Hollywood.
"It's not just a movie, it's a cultural movement." The film's director, Zhu Haowei, has said in public.
This cultural movement refers to the spontaneous GoldOpen movement on North American social platforms. From New York to Los Angeles, from tech tycoons to small bosses, Asian Americans have funded dozens of theaters in the United States for screenings, and they distribute movie tickets to Asian-American young people in the United States for free, watch movies and spread word of mouth.
In the first week of the film's release, the proportion of Asian audiences was as high as 38% (previously less than 10%), breaking the record for Asian Americans in North America.
After the success of Crazy Rich Asians, movie and series producers realized that all-Asian content had a market in North America, that Chinese consumers in North America were growing, and that Chinese creators were growing, though they were not previously allowed to express themselves.
Mariko Carpenter, vice president of the Nielsen Strategic Community Alliance, believes that "Crazy Rich Asians" shows the influence of Asian-American consumers. "The data shows that brands and companies that embrace diversity are winners."
After that, Asian-American audiences wanted their stories to be seen even more. In the 2022 Social Tracking of Asian Americans in the U.S. STAATUS, 88 percent of Asian-Americans said they would like to see more Asian-American characters on TV and movies.
After that, the development of the sequel to "Crazy Rich Asians" was put on the agenda, and the IP of the Chinese theme was also sought after by studios. After that, there was the birth of works such as "Don't Tell Her", "Instantaneous Universe" and "Journey to the West ABC", and the significance of "Crazy Rich Asians" cannot be ignored.
"This is a big deal for Asian Hollywood films, it fills the lack of Asian immigration in Hollywood, and at the same time gives Asian actors in Hollywood more opportunities to be seen and star." Producer John Penotti once told self-media "Three Tones".
American Born Chinese – Journey to the West is just a footnote to ABC
Of course, "Crazy Rich Asians" is no longer a movie directed by a Chinese director in the traditional sense.
One detail, when the movie was filmed, when Michelle Yeoh was touring the kitchen on the set, she pointed to a package of MSG on the table and said to Zhu Haowei that it could not be placed here, and Zhu Haowei comforted her and said that no one would care about this detail. But later, when Zhu Haowei sent a photo of himself and Michelle Yeoh to his father, his father, who was a Chinese chef, did not notice Michelle Yeoh at all, and directly complained to his son about MSG in the background.
After the film was released in the mainland, it only received a box office of just over 10 million.
Source: Lighthouse Pro
The original English name of "Journey to the West ABC" released this year does not have the prefix of Journey to the West, but the last three words: American born Chinese.
In a podcast last year, film critic Pomi mentioned the difference between "Instantaneous Universe" and the previous generation of Hollywood Chinese-language films, arguing that these films are more accurate than Chinese-American films. Chinese Americans are presented as a minority in the United States, and the problem of Chinese Americans is also internalized as an American problem.
For example, in "Instantaneous Universe", throughout is the fight between Michelle Yeoh and his wife and the tax office, which is a very classic American problem. This kind of film, like the Korean-American film "Minari", will become more and more popular as a minority film for Americans in the future, because he is encouraging these minorities to "put down roots" in the United States. ”
Korean film "Minari"
Many of the participants in these Chinese films are already second-generation immigrants, such as "Don't Tell Her" (released in 2019), born in 1983, director Wang Ziyi was born into an elite family in the mainland, and the whole family came to the United States when she was a child.
According to media reports, when Wang Ziyi started talking to someone about the idea of the film, he always got the same question: "Is this an American movie or a Chinese movie?" ”
Wang Ziyi thinks it's like asking her "Is she American or Chinese?" and her answer to the question is: "I'm American, I grew up in the United States, I speak English, and my views are very American." But to the previous question, her response was: "I want the most authentic performance, so I want Chinese actors and Chinese-American actors." ”
"Don't Tell Her" crew
She thinks she's going to tell a family story, not an "Asian movie," just like a white male director doesn't want to make a "white movie," they just tell their own family story from their own perspective, and I do the same." ”
"What I don't understand is why we're minorities?" After winning this year's Oscar, Michelle Yeoh talked to the media about the success of "Crazy Rich Asians" and talked about the word, "What does this word mean?" Why does this term even exist? ”
On the one hand, the shooting of Chinese films is precisely to allow Chinese creators to integrate Chinese into American identity, hoping that this is an American film and not be regarded as a foreign language film, on the other hand, they are using these films to express their own rights and interests, and a gentle revolution to white cultural hegemony.
In the North American media caliber, these Chinese films are generally included in the category of Asian Americans, which is already a kind of subjective merger and change. Zhu Haowei, director of "Crazy Rich Asians", believes that these works and their interpretation are an important response to the wave of #OscarsSoWhite, #WhitewashedOUT and others on social networks a few years ago.
"We are part of a larger movement from all over the world – Asia or not – to update our views. For Asian storytellers, filmmakers and actors, hopefully this will tell them that our time has come. ”
#OscarsSoWhite浪潮
It is unknown whether Chinese creators want to define themselves in the Asian concept, whether this is an expression of consciousness, or whether it is convenient for the mainstream gaze framework in North America to understand themselves.
But the effect did work. Critics in North America argued that "Crazy Rich Asians" meant to Asians what Black Panther meant to the black community, a beacon to minorities, and a big, shining middle finger to all those in Hollywood who said they couldn't or shouldn't.
While the unequal structure of race in the United States still exists, these Chinese-American filmmakers provide a window for the ABCs to express their demands less intensely, as well as an opportunity for a spiritual massage.
Ben Wang, the star of "Journey to the West" ABC, came to the United States from Shanghai at the age of 6 and was the only Asian child in his class until sixth or seventh grade, and he believes that these Chinese film and television works are reconciling his different worlds:
"Journey to the West ABC"
"Because when I was growing up, when I was at home with my mom celebrating the Lunar New Year, and then the next day I went to a friend's house with his big golden retriever and had a donut for breakfast, it really felt like jumping between the worlds. It's like living in two or three or four different places that are completely separate and don't talk to each other.
I think Instantaneous Universe and Journey to the West ABC are about reconciling these worlds with each other. We don't have to feel like we live in different worlds and jump between them; We can be involved at the same time. ”
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Dangerous jumps in different worlds
In fact, the rift between different worlds is more violent than Ben expresses. The plight of the Chinese in North America is more social, even in the film and television industry.
On March 16, 2021, local time in the United States, a serial shooting occurred in Atlanta. A 21-year-old white man attacked three massage parlors in quick succession, killing eight people, including six Asian women. After that, the shooting triggered the outbreak of "Stop Asian Hate" protest marches and rallies in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and other cities across the United States.
Violence against Asians has not been fundamentally reversed. According to a March 2023 FBI report, anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States rose significantly from the previous year (746 incidents in 2021 compared to 249 in 2020).
Cathy Park Hong describes "Minor Feelings" as the sentiment Asians are accused of when they go against the labels imposed on them by American society. When mild emotions were expressed, they were "interpreted as hostile, ungrateful, jealous, frustrated, and belligerent, with effects attributed to racialized behavior that whites deemed inappropriate." "Our feelings are overreacting because our experience of living with structural inequalities is not commensurate with the reality they are confused about."
After the #OscarsSoWhite movement mentioned by Zhu Haowei, the Oscars are still very white, but no longer from the appearance, but from the internal power structure.
According to UCLA's latest Hollywood Diversity Report, Asian-Americans make up about 7% of the U.S. population, but in the movies released in theaters in 2022, Asians make up only 2.3% of the protagonists and 6.5% of the characters. Behind the scenes, Asians made up 5.6 percent of directors and 4.5 percent of screenwriters in last year's theatrical releases.
White people still dominate the film and television industry. As of 2020, when UCLA last analyzed studio data, 91 percent of the heads of 11 major and mid-sized major film production companies, such as chairmen and CEOs, were white and 82 percent were men.
These real problems are difficult to appear in popular Chinese-American movies and dramas in the United States.
The paper "Copied Mother-Daughter Relationship and Privately Domainized Chinese-American Films" points out that films such as "Instantaneous Universe" have always privateized the problems of Chinese Americans, and by strategically transforming them into the conflict between the mother and daughter within the family, they obscure the struggle of survival that these families may face in society, which seems to be the tradition of the Chinese themselves, which has led to their difficulties in integrating into North America.
"Instantaneous Universe"
The conceptual conflict of two generations of immigrants also finally triumphed with American values, such as in "Instantaneous Universe", the mother Michelle Yeoh who adheres to tradition finally comes out for her daughter, which is another crown for American political correctness.
As for "Journey to the West ABC", the presentation of the two generations of Chinese Americans is still indispensable to stereotypes, and the solution to the problem is very light, it seems that as long as the protagonist and the white supporting role touch a fist, the previous racial gap can be solved, and the kissing between the protagonist and the white heroine at the end of the film puts this attitude of community integration in front of the eyes again in the way of "love".
Another problem is that the North American imagination of the East (even the East within North America) still does not depart from the logic of Orientalism, which is the East as understood by North Americans. Is this another solidification of the image of Chinese Americans?
Actor Daniel Dae Kim mentioned during a panel discussion at the Sundance Film Festival that "Crazy Rich Asians" makes everyone want to do more Asian projects, but only Crazy Rich Asians. If you have a project that has nothing to do with the super-rich, super-rich, and super-happy people, then they're not interested. "Not only do we struggle to find other portrayals of Asian-Americans, but we also take on the added burden of having to represent all Asians."
"Crazy Rich Asians"
Compared with black movies, Chinese films and television show more about finding more of their own problems, more reconciliation, and less talk about hatred and conflict itself. The creators also continue to tell the media that they care about family, affection and love.
Malaysian actress Yang Yanyan in "Journey to the West ABC" believes that she is attracted by the mother-son relationship between two generations of immigrants in the series, "It's really about interpersonal relationships, it's really about family relationships, regardless of race, regardless of age... What we really focus on is love. ”
But history tells us that problems with the structure of society cannot be solved solely by expressing gentle love.