By Justine Trinh
Constance Wu is best known for her roles in Fresh Off the Boat as Jessica Huang and in Crazy Rich Asians as Rachel Chu. However, by being in the public eye, Wu’s actions tend to be surveilled more closely and subject to more scrutiny than the average person’s behavior. In May 2019, after Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for a sixth and final season, Wu made her unhappiness known through a series of social media posts, which immediately drew criticism and backlash without ever considering what Wu was going through, such as being forced to drop a creative project she was passionate about or the sexual harassment she faced from one of the show’s producers. She was branded in the public as an “ungrateful bitch” who was making a scene. Wu’s memoir, Making a Scene, allows her to take back her narrative and gives the public a candid glimpse into her life past the shiny Hollywood façade that is often perpetuated by society. Wu provides snapshots of different points of her life, ranging from hilarious to heartbreaking, to show how she came to where she is at to dispel the harmful image of “ungrateful bitch” as well as to speak her truth by offering her account of events. Her perceived Hollywood life was not handed to her; rather, she worked hard to establish herself as an actress. Her observations also simultaneously call out the institutional powers that have kept her down (and continue to do so) while holding herself accountable for her own actions that may have made other people uncomfortable such as her discreetly writing the word penis ad nauseam, on set. While she finds this act funny, she recognizes that not everyone finds that the case and offers an apology. Rather than becoming defensive, she chooses to listen in order to provide a productive dialogue. These simple acts are replicated throughout the book, demonstrating her relatable humanity that the screen and media strip away. In the pages of Making a Scene, Wu is allowed to be human and have flaws that she learns and grows from.
Memoirs offer a platform to retell past lives and provide opportunities for authors to shape and interpret their own narratives. Autobiography theorist Julie Rak states that memoirs “allowed women to be in public discourse in terms of their relationship to other people and communities.” The genre allows Wu to discuss her experiences in a public forum that was denied to her due to institutional powers that previously silenced her. In addition, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Marvin D. Jensen posits that memoirs are considered “a truthful report of a person’s thoughts [that] discloses the process by which selective memory defines and redefines personal history.” By viewing the genre through selective memory, the memoir narrative allows Wu a platform to tell her side of the story, which was not initially allowed, and reasserts her agency by allowing her to construct her image and identity for the audience to consume.
This book is wholly representative of who Wu is rather than what the media constructs her as. I absolutely love the title and its double entendre. On one hand, “making a scene” refers to the mise en scene or the construction of a scene in a movie or play, but on the other, to make a scene means to cause a public disruption generally through an emotional display. Wu constructs the scenes within her memoir whether that be setting the literal stage through prose or through the use of the dialogue scripts, but her words are an emotional display that disturbs the public and its perceptions of her. But, as Wu shows, perhaps making a scene does not need to have negative connotations attached to it. Rather, displaying emotions allows us to be vulnerable and open to one another.
Making a Scene is available from Bookshop, Eastwind Books, Elliott Bay Book Company, Garden District Book Shop, Skylight Books, and Waucoma Bookstore.
Justine Trinh is an English literature Ph.D. student at Washington State University. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with B.A.s in Asian American studies and classical civilizations and a B.S. in mathematics. She then went on to earn her M.A. in Asian American studies, making her the first student to graduate from UCI Asian American Studies’ 4+1 B.A./M.A. program. Her research interests include Asian American literature, critical refugee studies, family and trauma, and forced departure and disownment.