Stereotypical Me

 

The painting is heavily influenced by the film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2023). 

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The movie follows the story of a Chinese-American immigrant and explores how her cultural background shapes her business, marriage, relationship with her daughter. The movie also presents alternate versions of herself across different universe, each coping with life’s challenges in wildly imaginative ways. The film pays tribute to numerous iconic cinematic moments including references to The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Mask, and the moody and introspective style of Hong Kong film director Wong Kar-Wai’s. (BBC) This absurd and layered proposition inspired me to approach my painting like a collage, be imaginative, blend elements and ignored the conventional rules of painting.

 

The symbols and signifiers in the painting were intended to hint “Chineseness”. However, upon completing the painting, I began to see how these elements risk oversimplifying the identity and presenting a stereotypical image of Chinese culture to viewers. This brings me back to the question I raised at the end of Unit 1: What differentiates authentic representation from stereotyping? I quoted Bhabha’s interpretation of stereotype, “The stereotype is a complex, ambivalent, contradictory mode of representation, as anxious as it is assertive, and demands not only that we extend our critical and political objectives but that we change the object of analysis itself.” (Bhabha, 2012, p. 99) The painting’s generalized depiction surprisingly invites viewers to questions, confront and challenge the very stereotypes. I believe it aligns with Bhabha’s definition of stereotype.