When We Say Smart Asian Girl We Don't Mean Smart (White) Girl: The Figure of the Asian Automaton and the Adolescent Artist in the Künstlerroman Genre

Abstract

abstract:This article focuses on two figures, the Smart White Girl and the Asian Automaton in the filmic Künstlerromane, (500) Days of Summer, Lady Bird, and Juno. I argue that these films center around the artistic and moral development of their white, intelligent, and radical female protagonists (Smart White Girls) for which the figure of the model minority Asian family and/or female Asian nerd (Smart Asian Girls) act as foils. These taste-making rebels, lippy savants, and unruly girls are trying to free themselves from societal constraints in order to come of age. However, they must first overcome, deride, and reject what I call the figure of the Asian Automaton: censorious female Asian nerds or their conservative, silent, staring Asian families. My methodology—which fuses critique with a more personal approach to academic writing—allows me to discuss the problem of recognition and self-recognition for the Asian subject when watching these films.