To actually become integrated within a culture is difficult enough, but to feel at ease living in it or even regard it as a home is quite a task. However, this process is made even more difficult when the culture you were born with is regarded as inferior by others, or at least you get the impression this is the case. In her short feature “Becoming Eddie”, director Lilan Bowden, who is an actor and comedian, explores issues such as these within the context of the USA in the 1980s, a period whose richness in music and films also saw various incidents of xenophobia and racial stereotypes in popular features such as “Sixteen Candles” by John Hughes, to name one example.
“Becoming Eddie” is screening at CAAMFest Forward
At the center of the story, we find Yong (Joziah Lagonoy) who lives with his Korean family in an American neighborhood. Since his culture is met either with disregard or contempt at his school, he favors the American culture, especially US comedian Eddie Mayer, whose foul-mouthed comments on American lifestyle and culture he admires, much like his classmates at school. After an especially frustrating day at school and an argument with his parents, who do not understand their son's dislike for their culture, Yong goes to bed wishing he could be like Mayer in order to become popular at school. Much to his surprise and those around him, when he wakes up, he speaks like the famous comedian and is able to make the same foul-mouthed jokes, which succeeds in making him popular at school but slowly alienated him from his parents and his best friend.
“Becoming Eddie” tells a story which blends 80s style comedy with rather complex themes such as identity and culture. While this particular blend is often used in genre features, few manage to meet the right balance. Though the idea of Yong changing his personality, but not his outer appearance is a clever move, adding to the entertainment value of the feature while also emphasizing how integration (or in Yong's case being popular) has little to do with appearance. Its is rather an embrace of certain ideals and behaviors which have become culturally accepted, or are branded as American and/or culturally relevant for the time.
However, Bowden's short feature does not shy away from the severe identity conflict. Teenage actor Joziah Lagonoy does a great job at going through the various developments of his characters, from the joy of finally being recognized for something other than his Korean upbringing to the depression upon realizing he has changed up to a point when he does not recognize himself anymore. Apart from these aspects, his performance also plays with certain Asian stereotypes which were quite popular in the 1980s pop culture, with some of his scenes being reminiscent of the comedies of John Hughes and their problematic take on culture and Asians.
In the end, “Becoming Eddie” is a very entertaining movie, blending comedy and serious topics such as identity and culture. Lilan Bowden manages to create the right balance between entertainment and seriousness, a rare mixture in today's mainstream comedies.
