Atypical Asians: Cinematic Archetypes of the Leading Characters

Quang Dao

Biography

I am an international student from Vietnam with a passion for image arts. As a newcomer aspiring to integrate into a new society, cinema is a crucial tool for me to reconcile the cultural barriers. Being a proud homebody, I made it my personal goal to watch at least 3 movies per week. The more time I spend in Canada, the more I am inspired to explore the academic aspect of cinema and its impact beyond entertainment.

This capstone project, above being just schoolwork, is a reflection of my growth as a person and a student in Canada. Along my academic journey, I have picked up several hobbies including film photography, graphic design and skateboarding as well as two additional languages of Korean and French. Going forward, I hope that I will have a chance to continue nurturing my creative skillset and put it to great use. Thanks for reading, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night.

Research Summary

My project seeks to categorize the depictions of modern Asians in contemporary cinema. Typically, this area of study is limited to major Hollywood productions, in which Asians are traditionally represented as the peripheral characters. However, with the influx of new narratives, the image of Asian is now much more nuanced, diverse and meaningful. By sampling three movies, Always Be My Maybe, Minari and Parasite, this research combines content analysis with focus group interview to establish the common characteristics and archetypes of the new leading Asian characters in the three most common film genres.

Tags

Representation, Cinema

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