The hyphen, while yoking two terms together on the page, emphasizes the inadequacy of either term; furthermore, as the hyphen strains to hold the terms together and apart, it denies the creation of a stable third term in the space between the two.
The gap between theorizing a hyphen and trying to live a hyphen is another way of describing the critique which is also complicitous, which purveys as it challenges.
a sense of contingency
rote response
But while ChanI s Missingm ayc ritiquef ixedn otionso f identityi,t mustb e emphasizedth atm anyo f the discoursesw hichs urroundedth e film, discoursesw hichc ontextualizeidt s positioni n the marketplacep, lacedi t firmlyw ithina discoursew hicho perateda s if hyphenatei dentitiesw ere indeed fixed. These discourseso f the popularm edia placeW ayneW ang'sfi lmsb etweent he constructedp oleso f "AsianA mericana"n d "mainstreamA merican"fi lm marketsH. owevera, closerl ook at the production, marketinga, nd receptiono f Wang'sf ilms revealst hat he has movedf reelyb etween those poles, often bridgingi ndependenta nd Hollywoodp roductiona, rthouse and mainstreamth eaters,A siana ndw hite audiences.
