Nearly a decade ago, for the first workshop of my MFA at Bowling Green State University, I submitted a ridiculously long roving point of view story about a teenager named Elvis who stole romance novels, his crass scavenger uncle, and a flea market salesman with an amputated arm. A story isn’t a story without knowing its entirety. Sometimes it stings, but it also turns heartfelt or funny in a few flashbacks or flashforwards, encompassing the complexity of a minority existence.We didn’t include cliffhangers or twists in our definitions, because they are what we consider the most common missteps that early writers stumble into because they haven’t found their stories yet. Through theatrical conventions and helpings of deadpan, in-your-face humor, quiet scorn and reverence, Yu exposes the conflict of belonging that Asians in America internalize. While Interior Chinatown may seem gimmicky in presentation, readers will excavate frank examinations of culture and race with critical thinking and reflection. Blending the real world with genre TV might be confusing or impressive for pointing out how people and their lives are similar to character roles and plotlines. Its brand of storytelling will come off as inventive or too ambitious. Yu’s latest work won’t appeal to everyone. However, other discussions about race arise in an artificial manner filled with buzzwords and information dumps expected of a college course or diversity forum that passes for narratively viable because of the absurdity of Interior Chinatown’s amalgamated pseudo-reality. Earlier on, Yu attentively elaborates upon the struggle Asians go through after leaving their home country for the so-called American dream to escape violence and support their families, only for them and their children to come into poverty, face prejudice and be narrowly categorized as “striving immigrants.” Readers are endeared to the Wu family through their backstory. A timeline of American history details laws used to bar Chinese people from rights and citizenship and how the aftereffects perpetuate the foreignness of Asians like the protagonist and his social circle, regardless of stateside upbringing. The “model minority” myth that ingratiates Asians to whiteness manifests in friction between Willis and the black headliner and patronizing support from the white co-lead who sees Willis as a flat archetype. Summarized events and orchestrated action sequences ensue, leading to a climax that blurs the lines between reality and cinema, but the resolution doesn’t feel wholly earned.Īmidst the whirlwind of his narrative, the author offers valuable observations on race that the medium he’s parodying doesn’t often tackle. A page after he gets the role he wanted, he defects from the show. After a “Romantic Montage,” Willis suddenly has a family and almost as quickly separates from them. Other than Willis and perhaps his parents, characters feel like hazy human props to advance the narrative. However, the reliance on satire eschews nuanced development and affords little time for the reader to absorb what’s happening. ![]() Plot points are literally marked within the text, and the story is in constant movement. The author’s metafictional approach to his narrative lends to a sense of humor that doesn’t take itself seriously and shares the central character’s self-effacing lilt. The series in production spoofs “Law and Order” and its ilk, headed by a smart, attractive white woman and gruff, black alpha male quipping and simmering with unresolved sexual tension. Dialogue is centered, and the speakers are denoted “Special Guest Star” or “Restaurant Hostess,” with the cast’s roles often changing depending on circumstance. The text is in typewriter font, and sections are labeled by location or scene title. ![]() For once, the spotlight shines on him and everyone he represents, as he decides what it is that he truly desires.Ĭharles Yu’s Interior Chinatown shows a staunch dedication to its form, mimicking TV and movies and dissecting its tropes. Nearing success but pondering what that entails in light of the hardship and discrimination he and his people continue to face, he finally takes the lead in his life. Practicing lines and martial arts dutifully, he aspires to be the Kung Fu Guy, upheld as the best part Asian men can play. ![]() Growing up in an unspecified Chinatown to immigrant parents of modest resources, Willis Wu follows in their footsteps as an actor, portraying variations of Generic Asian Man in the background of a procedural crime drama and envying the attention its stars garner. People are the masters of their own destiny, but it’s hard to harness the courage and means to shape it when suppressive societal norms and financial burdens relegate them to a statistic or stereotype.
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