TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The American comedy film “Joy Ride” (2023) presents a map that depicts Taiwan as part of China and describes Taiwanese as a “kind of Chinese.”
The film, which was directed by Adele Lim, produced by Point Grey Pictures, and distributed by Lionsgate, was released in the U.S. on July 7. At the start of the film, two of the four main characters, “Audrey,” played by Ashley Park, and “Lolo,” played by Sherry Cola, begin a lifelong friendship as the former adapts to life as a Chinese orphan adopted by white parents, reported The Upcoming.
Audrey becomes an attorney and in order to secure a deal for her firm, she is sent by her boss to China. As Audrey is unable to speak Mandarin, Lolo, who has become an artist, joins her to serve as a translator.
Joining them on their flight to China is Lolo’s cousin “Deadeye,” played by Sabrina Wu. Once in China, Audrey meets her college friend “Kat,” portrayed by Stephanie Hsu, who then joins in on the adventure.
However, when Audrey meets the Chinese businessman “Chao,” played by Ronny Chieng, he demands that, in order to do business with her, he needs to know about her biological family, per Culture Mix. This sends Audrey and her three buddies on a quest to find her birth mother.
Taiwan shown as part of China. (Reddit, Ebbemonster screenshot)
At the 12:37 minute mark of the film, a cartoonish map appears showing the route taken by Audrey, Lolo, and Deadeye from Seattle, Washington, to Beijing, China. The maps of China and Taiwan are both red.
Once inside the Beijing airport and at the 12:49 minute mark, Audrey says that she has never been around so many Asians and suggests that, for once in her life, she can finally blend in. However, Lolo counters that “people here can tell Chinese-Chinese from American-Chinese.”
She then points out people from the crowd whom she deems epitimize various stereotypes of different “Chinese” populations and says “Hong Kong-Chinese. Bluetooth. Shanghai-Chinese. Bougie. Ooh, Taiwanese. Weird, but cute.” Audrey responds by saying “Aw.”
Audrey points to a group of Asians surrounding a K-pop group and asks “What kind of Chinese are they?” Lolo angrily responds by saying, “Are you trying to get cancelled? Those are Koreans.”
On Monday morning (July 31), Reddit user Ebbemonster posted a screenshot of the map on the Taiwan subreddit with the title “The movie Joy Ride, 2023, depicts Taiwan as belonging to China. How do you feel about seeing that in popular media?” Redditors criticized the filmmakers for seeming to self-censor to please Beijing, despite the fact that the raunchy content most likely means it will not be shown in China.
