Paper Heart

Released in August of 2009, Paper Heart was a film produced, written (storyline and music), and starred by Charlyne Yi (Filipina American).  The movie is based on a young lady, Charlyne, who is naive and wants more knowledge behind the meaning of love.  In order to do so, she and her team of two are making a documentary movie of other people throughout U.S. in search of her answer.  As things seems to be normal and according to place, a twist of faith started occurring to Charlyne after she encounters Michael (White American) through her interview and begins producing intimate feelings towards him.  Their relationship slowly began inclining as the days went by.  She continues her interviews with other couples and individuals while trying to gain a better understanding of what love is through the relationship between her and Michael.  Then the day came when Michael confessed his love for her but she could not say "I love you" back to him, but he was willing to wait for the day when she is ready to express her true feelings towards him.  As the movie continues, their relationship seems to be heading into a rough hill because of the lack of personal space and privacy.  Charlyne's team begins to intervene with their relationship and causes a problematic issue with their dates.  

Then one day Michael was "fed up" with the long wait and wanted Charlyne to confess how she felt about him.  To no surprise, she claimed that she was not in love with him and it resulted with their relationship break up.  Charlyne then conjures up anger within herself because she could not exchange the same emotional feelings that Michael has for her.  To wrap it all up, Charlyne decides to fly to Michael's house and have a talk with him, this time without being intervened by her camera crew and ended being with him.  The movie ends with a fictional, paper-made fantasy of the two biking away from the cops.  After a dramatic accident, Charlyne carries Michael (unconsciously hurt) on her shoulder to the closest hospital.

Paper Heart was inspired by Charlyne Yi through the understanding of the word “Love”.  In reaction to the movie, I see many aspect of this movie that pertains to the idea of interracial relationships, colorblindness, invisibility, and sexual hierarchy.  Because Charlyne is being portrayed as a quirky and sweet Filipino girl and Michael as a white guy being part of her documentary subject, it structures the idea of interracial relationship to be a normative image and can possibly steer away from the fear being stirred up through the establishment of the Anti-miscegenation law.  This also brings in the idea of colorblindness because Michael fell in love with Charlyne based on her character and not on her physical appearances.  I believe this can definitely bring in the idea of solidarity amongst racial groups if one was to take the time to get a better understanding of another person through social context.  But at the same time, I notice the invisibility of Filipino or Asian American being portrayed in the movie because she was never acknowledged for whom she was and what she did.  Also, it fascinated me that basically all of the people she interviewed were predominantly white folks.  I do not know if that just happened in coincidence or if it gives a perception that other racial group cannot obtain that same feeling of “love” as white people can or if they did not want to be acknowledged in the movie.   

Then lastly, what I found very fascinating was the difference in hierarchy between Michael and Charlyne.  Although it seems as though they both seem weird and awkward, Michael plays a role as a subject of her project, giving him a degradable image as a white guy.  This gave Charlyne more of a upper hand as a double minority status girl and it gave her even more power after Michael’s confession of his love.  This analysis very much conjures up the issue within the Filipino American during their emigration period to the United States.  The laws that were once applied to the Filipinos have impacted them in many ways that resulted with some heading back home and many deciding to tolerate the issues being raised against them.  But for those who did stay, it allowed them to formulate an activist and political mindset resulting the freedom and justice they are able to obtain today.