Representations of Aging in Asian Canadian Performance
Representations of Aging in Asian Canadian Performance
This chapter looks at two contemporary texts by Asian Canadians that deal with aging and the aged. It discusses ways in which filmmaker Linda Ohama and performer/playwright Catherine Hernandez contest popular Western notions of aging by focusing on affective memories that forestall linear time. Instead of representing the aged woman's body through industrial or post-industrial metaphors of breakdown and wearing out, Ohama and Hernandez emphasize qualities such as energy and endurance in their female protagonists. Through the use of flashbacks, memories, magic realism, and motifs, these authors challenge not only the cultural view of the aged and aging but also our experience of time and understanding of how history is handled.
Keywords: aging, memory, Obaachan's Garden, affect, time, Eating with Lola, Filipino Canadian, puppet, food, World War II, history, documentary, Catherine Hernandez, Japanese Canadian
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