In Yu’s Interior Chinatown, going off-script and blurring the line between Willis and his characters (Special Guest Star, Kung Fu Dad, You) are some of the most important and eye-opening moments within the book. This blending of the real and the script is used to show the evolution of Willis from a character stuck in a script to an individual person, as well as Asian Americans trying to move beyond stereotypes.
We see this first occur
at Golden Palace where Willis (Special Guest Star) is talking with his Dad (Old
Asian Man) (Yu 91). We then work our way to the Gambling Den where Fatty Choy
tells Willis, ‘“Hope you know what you’re doing’” (Yu 103). These are
interactions in which Willis is conversing with people from Interior Chinatown.
These experiences blur the line between the show and between real life. The
fact that Willis knows all these people and they are speaking off-script, and
of even more importance that they can go off-script because they do not have
the spotlight on them, shows how they are all playing into this notion of what
White America wants them to do. All these people are the same to the cast
directors, but not to each other. They are people to one another, but Generic
Asian Man to society.
The
next major blending of real-life and the script is when Willis becomes Kung Fu
Dad. Willis has not been there for Phoebe while he was chasing his dream of
Kung Fu Guy. This scene, a blending of the script and real-life shows Willis now
wants to be there for Phoebe, wants to finally be a dad. He has realized that
being Phoebe’s dad is important to him, that he was “lucky enough to end up in her
story” (Yu 202). Now, this can be interpreted in two ways. He was lucky enough
to have a great daughter, who is forgiving and wants him to be there for her,
or that he is lucky enough to be cast in this role and be something more than
Generic Asian Man. From Willis’ personal life, it is the former, but from Yu’s
story and message, it is the latter. This is a role that brings the Asian
American to a role beyond the typical, a dad, someone outside the typical
societal box.
The
last blending of real life and the script is the ending, where Older Brother
gives his monologue in defense of Willis. Older Brother is a character directly
pulled from the beginning, from Willis’ life in Interior Chinatown. Willis Wu
plays the character “You,” or himself. Older Brother defends Willis from the
courts “on trial for [his] own disappearance” (Yu 230). Older Brother makes
“our case” (Yu 241), the case for all Asian Americans. The case that they are
“guilty of wanting to be part of something that never wanted [them]” (Yu 239).
American society. This is a call for representation in American society.
I completely agree that Yu’s use of a screenplay to tell Willis’ story helps to enhance the idea of Asian Americans being reduced to a stereotype in American society. I believe that the final scene in the court room clearly highlights how the role of actors in a play is reflective of them being confined to their role in society. Willis claims that he is guilty of “internalizing the role so completely that I’ve lost track of where reality starts and the performance begins” (Yu 246). Willis has lived his entire life enamored by the idea of a role and is not able to shake this admiration until he realizes that even the best role was just another role. The court scene highlights how racism in American society has impacted Asian Americans. Willis’ role in a play represents how letting yourself become reduced to a role in society takes away your individualism and true self. Willis expresses that he let himself feel inferior to others and allowed himself to be categorized in such a way (Yu 246). In doing so, he lost his sense of self and was never able to fit in with society. He realizes that American society has reduced Asian Americans to this stereotype because they still don’t see them as truly American.
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