‘Painted Yellow’ can be summarised as fetishism, colonial mentality and orientalism.
The film reveals the modern power dynamic between a Filipino woman and a white male and how it parallels colonialism. The white male gaze does not differ from the early settler’s description of Asian women. Painted Yellow also questions the generational chain of colonial mentality and how it impacts our intimate relationships and self-perception due to the lack of national identity.
The film is divided into three parts, entree, dinner and dessert. The food and table props act as a metaphor and an allegory of the conditions of Oriental women (past and present) when facing a white man. Shifting from one colour and costume to another throughout the film reflects how the Oriental woman adapts to change and her internal world. Entree uncovers the early settler’s first impression of Filipino women as coy and a subject of the male’s fascination. Dinner is an allegory of the American service men’s sexual acts and abuse they’ve done to Filipino women and Mail Order Brides. Dessert reveals the outcome of colonisation, the consequence of fetishism and orientalism.
CREDITS
Jim - Thomas Hennessey
Carmen - Isabelle Bianca Virrey
Narrator - Lucy Thurston
Screen Play and Director: Isabelle Bianca Virrey
First Assistant Director and Grip: Isabelle Conti-Morato
Set Designers: Nami Taylor, Dalena Tu and India Kermode
Director of Photography: Morgan Hogg
Sound and Production Design Assistants: India Kermode and Nami Taylor
Data Wrangler: Dalena Tu
Scene Cut Noter: Dalena Tu
Editor and Colourist: Isabelle Bianca Virrey
Special Thanks to:
Robyn Backen, Harry Klein, Liam Garstang, and The Virreys
