Empire of the Sun: Fantasy & Erasure

Jenny Chan of Pacific Front Untold podcast joins Heather to discuss Asian representation--they focus their remarks on Empire of the Sun (Spielberg, 1987). Empire of the Sun stars a young Christian Bale in a historical war drama about the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1941 and a boy caught in a concentration camp with other British colonials. But the film is emblematic of challenges in other American films that should include characters from a variety of Asian nations but instead uses Asians as background set dressing. Jenny Chan is Director at Pacific Atrocities Education. Based in the Bay area, she is an alum of University of Illinois.