A short film exploring the coming-of-age experience for Vietnamese-American in the '90s

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First Generation is a short film from directors Jeannie Nguyen and Andrew Yuyi Truong that showcases the Asian-American coming-of-age experience. Set in the 1990s, the film follows protagonist My-Linh, a young, misled Vietnamese-American girl who must decide how she will fit into the two worlds that she inhabits. With the absence of her overworked mom, she must rely on the guidance of her friends and the media to understand where she belongs.

《First Generation》是由 Jeannie Nguyen 和 Andrew Yuyi Truong 导演的一部短片，讲述的是亚裔美国年轻人的青春成长故事。影片故事发生在二十世纪九十年代，主角 My-Linh 是一位年轻且迷惘的越南裔美国女孩，如何融入自己所居住的两个世界是让她一直苦恼的问题。由于母亲的工作过于忙碌，对于 My-Linh 来说，她只能依靠朋友和媒体的指引，才能了解她的归属所在。

Initially sparked by the concept of showcasing Asian-American female style during the 1990s, the film was shot over the course of two long days in May of 2017. Jeannie tells Neocha, “We’re from the Bay Area, and we’re not too sure if the style spanned across the States, but it was unique and a somewhat rebellious way of presenting oneself – heavy set make-up, extra-wide baggy pants juxtaposed with tiny tank tops, hair done in half cornrows, and embellished with glittery butterfly clips. Looking back at it now, it’s interesting to us to see how this minority group rocked such a bold style. So after, we figured that we wanted to create a film during this time period and tackle issues of beauty and fitting in.”

这在 2017 年 5 月拍摄了长达两天的短片，最初的灵感是想展现 20 世纪 90 年代美国亚裔女性的风格。Jeannie 告诉 Neocha：“我们来自美国湾区，所以也不太确定当时的服装风格是不是在美国各地都流行，那是一种独特又有点叛逆的个性风格：浓艳的妆容，大号宽松的裤子搭配紧身的小背心，半侧头发扎着地垄沟辫（cornrow，非洲辫的一种），再别上闪亮的蝴蝶发夹。现在回想起来，一个少数团体会有这样大胆的风格，挺让人意外的，也挺有意思的。所以，之后我们就决定以这段时期为背景拍一部电影，探讨当时的审美风格和社会融入的问题。”

One of the primary themes of the film is the impact of mainstream media on identity, self-image, and perceptions of beauty. Jeannie shares, “As with many young minority females, when I was younger, I never truly understood how I fit in with society. With the media being a huge subconscious influence, I felt less of a woman when I saw blue-eyed, blonde models who were in every beauty commercial and graced the cover of every beauty magazine and. I was brainwashed by the media and started to resent my Asian descent. When we were represented in the media, we’re known as submissive and nerdy. Luckily, my mom canceled cable so I stopped watching television beginning my high school year, and I truly believe that helped me realize that the majority of things we’re exposed to is nonsense. With that idea in mind, we wanted to create a film that young Asian-Americans can relate to – a movie that can help them see through the bullshit.”

这部电影的主题之一，旨在探讨主流媒体如何影响人们的身份认同、自我形象和审美。Jeannie 说：“和许多少数团体里的年轻女孩一样，我年轻的时候一直都不知道怎样才能真正融入这个社会。而且媒体会对人们有巨大的潜意识影响，当我看到所有时尚杂志和广告中，总是出现金发碧眼的模特时，我会觉得自己不如她们好看。我被媒体洗脑，开始憎恨自己身上的亚裔血统。那时的媒体总是将我们描述成顺从且乖巧的书呆子。所幸我妈妈后来取消了有线电视，所以我在高一的时候就不看电视了，我真心觉得这才帮助我意识到，之前我们在媒体上看到的大部分东西都是无稽之谈。有了这个想法后，我们就想要拍一部年轻亚裔美国人有共鸣的电影，帮助大家看穿这些‘谎言’。”