In the article How A24’s After Yang Depicts the Film’s Futuristic Asian Culture Through Fashion, Ariel LeBeau writes, “If every sci-fi film about A.I. is predicated on the question of what it means to be human, After Yang complexifies that inquiry to ask: what does it mean to be Asian?” It’s an interesting yet unescapable question in this film – the director, Kogonada, a Korean American who uses a Japanese moniker, uses Yang as a conduit for some of his personal anxieties.
In the interview Kogonada on AFTER YANG, Kogonada says, “My own struggle with my Asian identity often is in the world of its construction: Do I perceive myself as Asian, not Asian enough, too Asian? There’s no solid ground for that identity, especially if you’ve been dislocated, so we have to contend with the way that Asia and Asians have been presented [in media].” Therefore, by presenting the cultural technos Yang as a Chinese, the film invites audiences to consider what shapes our understanding of cultural identity. The setting of the film is also involving with the idea of orientalism, such as Jake’s passion on tea culture, the Orientalized garments and furniture, and the natural scenes.
Besides cultural identity, the film also explores existentialism thorough its nuanced storytelling. Especially when we read Yang’s memory that he had already lived his live before living with Mika, Jake, and Kyra. When I saw these flashbacks of Yang’s memory, I was impressed by the momentary lasts of human being while comparing with it with technos like Yang. As LeBeau writes:
“Simplicity may ultimately be the film’s greatest strength. The most resonant sci-fi endures not because it successfully predicts the future, but because it telegraphs something timeless about human existence. For all its imagination and flair, After Yang’s futuristic world is designed for us to recognize ourselves in it.”
The storyline is quite simple, however, while we are watching the interactions between Yang and others. The film inspires us and explores the ultimate theme of existentialism by presenting the idea that living itself is the meaning of live. As Yang speaks to Kyra: “I’m fine if there’s nothing in the end. Maybe I was programmed this way as well. There is no something without nothing.”
Leave a Reply