One of the most interesting aspects presented in After Yang seemed to be a rather modern conceptualization cultural dominance and cultural hierarchy. Fundamentally, the world-building presented here serves as a rather enlightening as it gives not only interpretation unto different uses of technology in daily lives of regular families worldwide in this contemporary interpretation, but also in the importance that cultural dominance has on the enjoyability those not of that corresponding dominating ethnic group or cultural identity.
The narrative of a young robotic teenage boy serves as an undoubtedly interesting plot point to grow from, as it inherently ties the idea of technological innovation with the replacement of human relationships for robotic ones. While this theme has already been expanded upon in our class with films like Spike Jonze’s Her, the inclusion of the replacement being a child seems particularly interesting as it lends to the idea of the creation of artificial families. While this idea seems fairly realistic in the given world of Yang, it inherently suggests that the memories inside the Yang’s, and other robots like him, artificial databank, serves as conscious memories which define habits. Similiarly to Blade Runner, these memories do not exist, however they harbour immensely reduced paranoia and stress as these robots have not been replicated for labor, but rather for familial relationships. However, this also inherently implies that the artificial and the natural, the family, have combined so much so that they cannot be seperated, i.e., a robotic son.
The idea of cultural dominance seemed to play a key role in the world-building. The most obvious example can be seen in Jake’s struggling tea-shop. This choice to the lay-viewer may seem rather odd and out-of-place, but its intention gives further distinction to both the world-building of After Yang, and the mentality of individuals who do not identify themselves as part of the White, Western world, the majority of the globe. By the inclusion of the failing tea-shop, and the world-building which surrounds it and is sprinkled through the rest of the film, the sentimentality that individuals not within the dominant culture feel, can be felt by those who a part of the dominant culture. Fundamentally the inclusion of the struggling tea-shop may be a spin on the tea-shop, but by making the pluarlity of characters East-Asian rather than White, Colin Farrell is put into the minority. The struggling tea-shop for Collin Farrell becomes an allegory for a struggling coffee shop, burger joint, or donut stand, run by hundreds of thousands of immigrants which flock to the United States daily. Many of those immigrants likewise do not consider themselves White nor Western, however they constantly feel the need to conform into the societal standards they entered into, namely cuisine. Just a parcel of that suffocating mentality can be understood by watching After Yang.
Leave a Reply