Interior Chinatown is a novel in the form of a screenplay, in which the protagonist, Willis Wu, views himself as no more than a face in the background of the TV show of the world (a show Wu calls Black and White). He’s been presented with numerous roles over the years, from “Background Oriental Male” to “Guy Who Runs in and Gets Kicked in the Face.” Wu has never been at the forefront of his own story, until Karen comes into his life and he is thrown into the spotlight, completely unscripted.
Wu’s experience in Interior Chinatown is not a unique one. American society is set up to favor the majority, as Wu explains through his telling of Black and White. He says of white and black Americans, “They get hero lighting, designed to hit their faces just right. Designed to hit White’s face just right, anyway. Someday you want the light to hit your face like that. To look like the hero. Or for a moment to actually be the hero.” We live in a world where media and stories and conflict are quite literally black and white, and the people outside of those archetypes are often cast to the side. Wu, as an Asian American man, falls within that group of outsiders. The black and white society is so deeply ingrained in him that he fails to recognize his own individuality, describing himself in the ways that a stranger passing him on the street might. He tells his story in and from the background of what he thinks is the bigger picture. This experience, the one of feeling like one is living in the background, is universal. It happens to all of us, no matter who you are. We all have times when we feel that our story isn’t one that the world wants to hear, or one that is even worth telling at all.
Wu is not a mere character. Wu is the reader, the reader is Wu. The two are bound together, interconnected on a level more than simple second-person narration. The story of Willis Wu is one that seems as if it will always find you at the right time, when you need someone to open your eyes and tell you, your life is your own.
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ReplyDeleteI like your insight here. I agree that Wu sees himself merely as a background character. His expectations for his own life have been conditioned to be low, and the pinnacle of his acting would be the role of "Kung Fu Guy." I think Karen does change his perspective, and her presence helps him to see himself and life in a new light. It makes me think of his mother and how she told Willis Wu to not strive to be “Kung Fu Guy.” The novel reads, “Don’t grow up to be Kung Fu Gu” (p. 56). This demonstrates how Wu’s mother wants more for Willis than the perceived pinnacle of an asian actor. I also like your comment about the novel pointing out the world favoring the majority. I think it can be seen in the roles given to the characters in the novel. Black is still a lead role, but he still falls into stereotypes and is displayed as a harsh racist towards Willis Wu. On the other hand, White always plays the role of being the inoffensive one, who is kinder than her counterpart. I think a lot can be inferred through the roles the novel lays out for each character.
I really enjoyed reading your post and could not agree more with the takeaway you had from this novel about living your life for yourself. I also feel as though Willis Wu has spent a long time aiming to reach a hero complex, but another important thing to recognize is that as he continues trying to pursue a path that has been painted to be so admiral by society, with time and age he does in fact change his mindset and truly starts living his own story. At the start of the novel Willis Wu expresses his greatest desire is to be Kung Fu Guy saying “All the scrawny yellow boys up and down the block dreaming the same dream. Ever since you were since you were a boy, you’ve dreamt of being Kung Fu Guy” (12-13). Willis’s aspiration to achieve the role of the hero consumes his character development and it is the driver behind his perception of others. He obsesses over his dream to play a role even after finding love that is real and starting a family of his own. He can’t get himself to sacrifice his dream to fulfill his wife’s and be there for his daughter. Instead, he sacrifices the family. There is irony in this, as having a family is what so many in society dream of and seek, but he is so fixated on fulfilling the hero complex that he thinks will gain home societal recognition. For Willie Wu to finally carve out his own path and live life for himself rather than fulfilling the ideal hero he thinks society would value him for, he finally has the opportunity to act as Kung Fu Guy, but then finally realizes it isn’t the ultimate goal in life. It isn’t till the end of the novel he lets his role as the hero die and finds his place as a father and husband. The moment his character dies, he begins living. Charles Yu portrays this realization by letting Kung Fu Guy pass away and when he awakens Willis is no longer playing a written role. He wakens to share a tender moment with his wife and daughter, in which he must no longer act, but simply live. Yu writes about the exchange between Willis and his daughter Phoebe. She asks her dad, “Who are you now? Are you still Kung Fu Guy?”(255) and he responds by saying “Nope, I’m your dad” (255).
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the terms that Wu does not have a “unique experience” in Interior Chinatown. He only strives for the highest potential that an Asian man can achieve because it is unthinkable for him to want to be more than the “Kung Fu Guy” or the background character to a white or black star. Even from the very beginning of the novel, he says “Take what you can get. Try to build a life. A life at the margin made from bit parts” (6). He is so used to expecting to be the side character in cinema that he has adopted that same mindset for real life. In both worlds, he is casted aside. I like your take about how he describes himself the way a stranger would. I think that is a very unique yet accurate description of Wu losing sight of himself as he finds himself tangled up in societal stereotypes and biases. Also, because the novel is in second person, it emphasizes the message to the reader of the importance of individuality along with how hard it can be to not worry about what you should be according to society. I also liked what you said about Wu and the reader being bound together. In a way, Wu and the reader sharing the same perspective is ironic as a main topic of the novel is finding individuality.
ReplyDeleteElla, this is a fantastic selection of interest for your blog posting for Interior Chinatown. I believe your title, “Who Are The World’s Main Characters?” is a central idea present in the novel that needs to be analyzed in order to fully conceptualize the overall theme in the book. The “template” for the societal norms that are instilled in us from the time we can watch TV and understand cultural trends is very clear and very clearly not Asian. Asian-Americans have been placed to the side, or background for over 200 years. I believe that Yu is attempting to display to his audience the kind of neglect and discrimination, consious and unconsious, that is part of their lives everyday. The social construct in America does not make room for Asian-Americans; the novel’s depiction of Black and White, the television show starring an attractive black male cop and an attractive white female cop, further exhibits the template that is seen as desirable for American culture and Hollywood. In America, the world does have main characters. However, these are not individual people. These are a combination of characteristics that are found in select individuals, but this could be any number of people. Anyone who fits the description of what the template calls for, is able to play the part. The world’s main characters, and all of the characters in the world for that matter, are just people who fit into the boxes that were already established for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment referring to Willis Wu not realizing his own potential because he refers to himself as somebody that passes him on the side of the road. Throughout the book Willis refers to himself as different levels of "Oriental Guy" (Yu 5). When Wu continues to tell his story he downgrades his full potential and it brings the reader insight on someone who is not culturally aware of the hardships that Asian-Americans face. As Wu continued to climb his ladder of success it became apparent that he was so pulled into the idea that only Kung-Fu Guy was capable of achieving happiness. At the end of the story when Wu becomes aware that there is more to life than Kung-Fu guy, this is where his ultimate happiness comes. He begins to own his own life which is why I like your comment that “your life is your own”. This comment reached him as he found his wife and children and they allowed him to be himself. When Willis was able to face reality and not what he had thought was his ultimate goal he grew as a person and as a character because it showed us his true self.
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