Interior Chinatown: American Asian Ratatouille?

Charles Yu's rendition of the struggles of the Asian American experience I found has a striking similarity to one of the best Pixar movies, Ratatouille. As many of you know, Ratatouille follows the motif that anyone, including Remy the rat, can cook as good as the great chef Gusteau. The movie emphasizes the importance of believing in yourself and being willing to break beyond societal barriers. While Ratatouille has become one of the most successful and well loved Pixar movies, it shares some similar messages to that of Charles Yu's Novel "Interior Chinatown". 

In Ratatouille, Remy is forced to choose a way of life that forces him to leave his clan and abandon the rest of his family in pursuit of his one dream of becoming the greatest chef in Paris. Similarly, Willis Wu is forced into the bind of choosing between a life in the suburbs with Karen and Phoebe or finally achieving his dream of being Kung Fu Guy. In both scenarios the characters chose to leave their family and achieve their true dream in life. They also realize after that the family will always be there for them and support them when times are tough. Karen ultimately comes back and helps Willis in court just as the rat clan comes to Remy's aid when the food critic arrives. Both the film and the novel show how a dream may not be as it seems and that there is much more to life than material wealth and success. Both characters also use "death" as a form of rebirth throughout their journeys as well. Remy is presumed dead by his clan and uses his time away to kindle his passion for cooking and ascend the ranks of the cooking world in France. Willis uses his time "dead" to start living his life with Karen and exploring life outside of the world of Black & White.

Remy and Willis are also similar because they are discriminated against and stereotyped based off of who they are. Remy is a rat and therefore shouldn't be a cook or anywhere near food because of how society has viewed him. They have confined him to be a smelly rodent that feeds off of trash and he would have no reason to leave the sewers and have ambitions outside of being a rat. Willis is similarly characterized as a Generic Asian Man, someone that could never be the star of a show like Black & White. Willis was stereotyped and discriminated against based on his race and appearance to the point that he could never be anything more than Kung Fu Guy. Both characters were able to break out of these societal boxes but it took Willis much longer than it took Remy and it cost Willis more along the way. While seemingly completely different characters and stories, Remy and Willis shared much more in common than many would think. Both characters faced societal discrimination and stereotypes that limited their scope of success based on what the world believed they could achieve. And both Broke these stereotypes and acheived success beyond what society had limited them to.