November 9, 2024 – Romsey
Who is allowed to be American?
This is the driving question of Charles Yu's experimental novel Interior Chinatown, where Willis Wu yearns to be more than A generic Asian stereotype in the screenplay of his life.
This is fun, short and surprisingly touching, finding its zenith as Willis, through parenthood, discovers that he has trapped himself in a prison of internalised racism, casting himself in simplified tropes until he realises his fulfilment lies beyond them.
At this horrific moment in American history, the country appears particularly divided into distinct cultural groups, who from the outside appear to be voting against their own best interests. But we perhaps fail to observe the complex relationship between any group and whiteness, a mythology so deeply rooted in the country's identity that it rewrites stories with itself, whiteness, as the protagonist, no matter who is cast, with all other roles aggressively framed as simply supporting players and narrative devices. Whiteness warps thinking, and convinces protagonists that they are merely extras.
The intentional avoidance of playing the trope — queerness — represents a form of liberation and radical autonomy increasingly under threat, as the hegemony of the white male protagonist rises sharply this week.
A timely reminder that ACAB includes the voice in your head.