Making Southeast Asian Migrant Workers Visible in Taiwanese Cinema: Pinoy Sunday and Ye-Zai

Q2 Arts and Humanities
TzungHung Chen
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

abstract:In Taiwan, the term for "migrant workers" (waiji yigong) refers to non-Han immigrant populations—including those from Thailand and the Philippines—whose numbers have been increasing since the 2000s. As these populations have grown, they have become part of the public conversation, and cinematic representations of migrant workers have increased as well. Immigrant films function as a form of recognition and thereby challenge the homogeneous Taiwanese national identity. Two questions arise: Is it possible to change existing stereotypes and cultural conflicts? And, how can we avoid a crisis of oversimplified presentations of immigrants? In order to address these questions, this article examines two films: Ho Wi Ding's Pinoy Sunday (Taibei Xingqitian 台北星期天 2009), a comedy that focuses on two Filipino immigrant workers' lives in Taipei, and Tseng Ying-ting's Ye-Zai 椰仔 (2012), a crime film with a plot that involves tracking down "runaway migrant workers" (taopao wailao). The author employs three different lenses or paradigms to consider the establishment of migrant-worker subjects in these films in order to fully understand the power dynamics at play in the workers' interactions with Taiwan's broader society. Because of state and social attempts to control these migrant workers, the first important paradigm is the act of "running away," which makes border restrictions in Taiwan clear and creates a space to explore strategies of escape from routine lives. Second, by considering how different powers intersect, the author explores the relation-ship between the viewer and the viewed, and how migrant workers can become the subjects, not just the objects, in this paradigm. By employing two techniques of visualization—the gaze and symbolism—these films present migrant workers' emotions and desires, which are rarely shown in mainstream cinemas, and encourage viewers to recognize the perspectives of migrant workers. Finally, the author suggests the use of the language act as a means of resistance to show different affiliations and identities in both films; the visibility of these migrant workers challenges their discrimination.
让东南亚移民劳工在台湾电影中可见:《菲律宾星期天》与《艺仔》
在台湾,“外来务工人员”一词指的是非汉族移民人口,包括来自泰国和菲律宾的移民,他们的数量自2000年代以来一直在增加。随着这些人口的增长,他们已经成为公众话题的一部分,农民工的电影表现也有所增加。移民电影作为一种认同的形式,挑战了台湾同质的民族认同。这就产生了两个问题:是否有可能改变现有的刻板印象和文化冲突?我们怎样才能避免过度简化移民描述的危机?为了解决这些问题,本文考察了两部电影:何伟鼎的《星期日的菲律宾》(台北星起天2009),一部聚焦于两个菲律宾移民工人在台北生活的喜剧,以及曾颖婷的《归来》(2012),一部情节涉及追踪“逃跑的农民工”(桃花运)的犯罪电影。笔者运用三种不同的视角或范式来思考这些电影中农民工主体的建构,以充分理解农民工与台湾更广泛社会互动中的权力动态。由于国家和社会试图控制这些农民工,第一个重要的范式是“逃跑”行为,这使得台湾的边界限制变得清晰,并为探索逃离日常生活的策略创造了空间。其次,通过考虑不同的权力如何相交,作者探讨了观看者与被观看者之间的关系,以及农民工如何在这种范式中成为主体,而不仅仅是客体。这些电影运用了凝视和象征两种视觉化手法,呈现了主流影院中很少出现的农民工情感和欲望,并鼓励观众认识农民工的视角。最后,作者建议在两部电影中使用语言行为作为一种抵抗手段来表现不同的从属关系和身份;这些外来务工人员的存在挑战了对他们的歧视。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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