Elizabeth Ai’s six-year journey to create New Wave (2024), a documentary capturing the expertise of Vietnamese People’ postwar resettlement within the Nineteen Eighties, was halted in March 2020 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. She shifted her focus from directing to archiving, sifting by way of household pictures solely to bump up towards the restrictions of Vietnamese-American archives. She opened up her analysis to the web, creating an Instagram web page and welcoming others to share household photographs and movies from their private collections. Within the ensuing photos, aunties and uncles sport spiked permed hair and don shoulder pad-fitted blazers whereas dancing emphatically to Nineteen Eighties New Wave disco, capturing the essence of this fleeting cultural second.
For Ai and lots of different Vietnamese People who grew up within the Nineteen Eighties, New Wave was the soundtrack of their childhood. But when the connection between Euro synthpop bands akin to Depeche Mode, Speaking Heads, and Duran Duran to Vietnamese American refugees in Orange County looks like a stretch, you’re not alone. Elizabeth referred to as up members of the family to discover these connections, discovering that they encountered these synthpop data alongside Viet New Wave covers/cassette compilations at document retailers in Phước Lộc Thọ, or Asian Backyard Mall, in Westminster, California. Many refugees had settled in Orange County due to its heat local weather and proximity to Camp Pendleton, the primary refugee camp to open for resettlement by way of church sponsorship, resulting in the creation of many such locations the place cultures combined.
E-book cowl of Elizabeth Ai, New Wave: Revolt and Reinvention within the Vietnamese Diaspora (2024)
The documentary and its accompanying e-book, New Wave: Revolt and Reinvention within the Vietnamese Diaspora (2024), rewrites the narrative of Vietnamese People after the conflict upfront of the fiftieth anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. Western widespread tradition has traditionally represented the Vietnamese individuals as both victims (refugees from the South) or enemies (communists from the North), gangsters or mannequin minorities, leaving little room for nuance in depicting the expertise of the over 45 million individuals who have been pressured to flee their house nation. For refugees born in Vietnam who got here to america between the ages of 5 and 12, or the so-called “1.5 Generation,” music allowed an escape from the binary between house and college, the place they have been pressured to uphold Vietnamese traditions and assimilate into American tradition concurrently.
New Wave, designed by Mỹ Linh Triệu Nguyễn of STUDIO LHOOQ, captures this hybrid identification effectively by toggling between a photograph archive — that includes full spreads of household photographs and daring cassette tape cowl designs — and an essay assortment, together with coming-of-age tales from Ai and different Vietnamese students that seize the motion’s development by way of the a long time. The challenge highlights cultural icons akin to Lynda Trang Đài, whose performances in selection exhibits akin to Paris By Night time (1983) sparked worldwide curiosity in New Wave model and music. Her potential to mix conventional tropes of Vietnamese music with the contemporary, upbeat synths of Eurodisco captured the peak of V-pop’s broad enchantment to a multigenerational, bilingual crowd.
“Our rebellion wasn’t just a protest, but rather, a symphony and a dance of liberation,” sociologist Thao Ha writes. “In those moments, we weren’t just shaping our culture; we were shaping a transformative world, one where being Vietnamese American was a celebration of resilience and individuality.” In accordance, New Wave additionally expands past its preliminary operate as a documentary challenge, together with such autobiographical particulars as Ai reconnecting together with her mom in a heartfelt but imperfect reunion throughout filming. Regardless of the chances, New Wave’s resounding presence on this era’s resettlement story illustrates its key function in bridging cultural gaps, dealing with generational trauma, and creating secure locations to expertise pleasure.
Picture from Elizabeth Ai, New Wave: Revolt and Reinvention within the Vietnamese Diaspora (2024) 
Picture from Elizabeth Ai, New Wave: Revolt and Reinvention within the Vietnamese Diaspora (2024)
New Wave: Revolt and Reinvention within the Vietnamese Diaspora (2024) written by Elizabeth Ai and revealed by Angel Metropolis Press, is offered for buy on-line and thru unbiased booksellers.