This paper examines the Chinese American daughter figure in contemporary American films through the concepts of "model minority" and "liminality". Particularly, this paper focuses on the two recent independent films, The Farewell (2018) and The Half of It (2019), and their daughter characters, Billi Wang and Ellie Chu. The Chinese American daughter characters will be investigated through critical textual and comparative analysis. Drawing on the key concepts of "model minority", "liminal space", and "liminal subjects", the paper examines how the daughters are positioned and position themselves as 1.5-generation Chinese American women caught between the host country (America) and the motherland (China), especially, through the stereotype of high-achieving racial minority. This paper aims to look into the dynamics of navigating a hyphenated identity and the "in-between" or "liminal" intercultural spaces as they are represented onscreen. As the films’ directors are Chinese American and the films are loosely based on their experiences as daughters of Chinese immigrant families, the findings of this research aim to explore and propose new perspectives on narratives that are told from the standpoint of both the invisible and hypervisible double minority, which can subvert and challenge white masculine dominant identity narratives.

Authors:
Hoang Bao Linh Du, Deakin University, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Linh Du is currently a graduate researcher of the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University, Australia. Her research interests include: film sound, transnational cinema, diasporic Asian cinema, and gender & sexuality in film and media.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/duhoangbaolinh/

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