Volume IV Special Issue VIII October 2024

Name of Author : Sanjana Shaju

Title of the paper : Impasse of Identity and Resilience: A Reading of Lee Isaac Chungs Minari

Abstract: Diaspora communities often grapple with cultural uprootedness and identity crises, as they navigate the tension between preserving their heritage and integrating into new societies. This displacement can lead to economic hardships, social discrimination, and a profound sense of alienation, compounded by cultural loss and the challenges of adapting to unfamiliar environments complicating their sense of belonging and stability. These lost memories can only be preserved through literature, art, and film, transforming the notion of homeland into an imaginary space. This paper explores Lee Isaac Chungs Minari 2020 as a significant contribution to diasporic cinema, a genre that examines the complexities of migration, identity formation, and cultural displacement. The film intricately portrays the immigrant experience through the lens of a Korean-American family striving to establish a new life in rural Arkansas during the 1980s. Like the minari, a leafy green vegetable popular in Korean cooking, Jacob and Monica Yi and their two children are transplants. Reversing the path of an earlier, Dust Bowl migration Minari Review Sinking Korean Roots in the Arkansas Soil, the family, originally from South Korea, has left California to take up farming near the Ozarks. Central to the narrative is the pursuit of the American Dream, which is portrayed as both aspirational and disillusioning. Minari also delves into the generational and cultural tensions within the family, particularly in negotiating their Korean heritage and American identity. Furthermore, the films representation of the natural world serves as a metaphor for the challenges and resilience of the immigrant experience. Minari thus expands the thematic boundaries of diasporic cinema, offering profound insights into the immigrant condition and the human pursuit of belonging.

Keywords : Diasporic Cinema, Identity Crises, Impasse, Resilience, Uprootedness, Immigrant Experience, Transplants.

DOI :

Page Number : 33-36