LA Chinatown Neon Lights
In the paper, Technology and (Chinese) Ethnicity, Darrell William Davis dissects the Asian-inspired futurism that many sci-fi films have adopted, to see why the imagery has become a trope. I chose this topic because I am interested to see how ethic identity and space works, especially in fictionalized world, and the fact that I was born and raised in the Chinatown of Chicago and have personally witnessed the attempts to techno-fy Asian spaces on site, in media, and on online creative platforms.
Davis explains that these future Chinatowns visualize ethnic hyper-modernity of technology advancements drastically contrasted by cultures that have a long history. Though if the media did not handle the existing cultures carefully, might come off as postmodern Orientalism (e.g. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)). Another reason for Asia to be the setting of the future may be because the technology boom brought Asian countries like China and Japan to be recognized internationally as world powers, and the dynamic of power shift was reflected in media following suit as the such quick development and economic growth raised many questions about the uncertain future.
I thought Davis brought up a good point of bracketing the (Chinese) in his title, as other ethnicity or groups of people can have their own technological depictions of fiction. For example, Afro-futurism through Black Panther (2018) gave a more optimistic perspective of what the future, present and past could have looked like, without colonization and empowered by technology. Depictions of minorities thriving in the future shows that they matter in the present. With the rise of technology and artificial intelligence that can replace many human functions, sci-fi looks past ethnicity and into humanity itself and what it means to be human.
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