An Interview with Ji Strangeway

Young L(GBTQ)ove

Interview conducted by Christina Schultz

(photo courtesy of Ji Strangeway)

A film director, author, and poet, Ji Strangeway creates from the margins of gender, orientation and circumstance. Her stories ride the shoulders of the misunderstood anti-hero, exploring the crash zones between society and self, the physical and the existential.

Strangeway embraces the female-centric coming-of-age genre. Her LGBTQ short film Nune draws on the sacred bond of first love. Her unique cinematic style also emerges in her written work, Red as Blue. This hybrid-graphic novel introduces young adult readers to a unique cross-genre aesthetic. As noted by AfterEllen, it’s “an addictive, eclectic fusion of styles and identity that blazes a brand-new path for storytelling.”

Christina Schultz: Ji, your short film Nune, a tastefully done LGBTQ young adult romance, and the young adult graphic novel Red as Blue are thematically closely related, with the film appearing to be your inspiration for the graphic novel. Why did you choose to work with a similar set up?

Ji Strangeway: Many artists go through phases or themes in their lives. Picasso went through his “blue” period where he only worked with blue and green colors. For me, I am obsessed with the coming-of-age experience of teens because of my experience growing up in middle-America while never fitting in with American culture. The prejudice and oppression I experienced created a deep void that I want to fill--not only for myself but for the kids who may also experience this. This caused me to closely identify with the unfulfilled potential that many youths continue to face. So my work will continue to focus on similar themes of LGBTQ love with a female-focus bent until I feel I’ve successfully exhausted and completed my job.

CS: You didn’t illustrate the graphic novel yourself, so what made you transition from film to graphic novel?

JS: I actually enjoy both the filmmaking and writing medium so it wasn’t exactly a departure from filmmaking when I created Red as Blue. The graphic novel format is a cathartic expression that allows me to tell a story in the most imaginative way I can as a writer. The book has mixed storytelling formats so it is not a traditional graphic novel. It’s designed to feel like a movie when you read it. The short answer is I haven’t stopped making films and will probably continue to work with mediums that I feel are the best format for telling a particular story.

CS: Nune opens with a Carl Sagan quote: “We are made of starstuff.” The opening sequence then continues on with images of outer space, nature, the elements, smoke and even highways and eponymous character Nune’s eyes. The sequence is quite artistic and surreal, if I may say so. Why did you open the film this way? Can you tell us about the symbolism behind the opening imagery?

JS: Yes. The galaxy intro sequence was a cinematic and metaphoric way of showing Nune’s POV of her “soul” coming to earth and the freedom that she felt before being born into this world, as well as the galaxy she escapes to when her world is too hard to handle. The planets become less etheric and more “concrete” when we merge through clouds to experience destructive aspects of earth elements. This part represents Nune’s descent into the brutal world she would encounter daily at school. In many ways, Nune is “coming down” from her high of escaping the world.

CS: Did you edit the sequence yourself?

JS: Yes, I’m actually an editor. Not by trade, but this is my god-given talent alongside with writing and being a visual artist.

CS: This is a film nerd observation, but there is a cut in Nune from a planet in Nune’s hand which then becomes an egg as it is smashed. Dare I make a comparison to Kubrick? What or who inspired your style of editing and cinematography?

JS: LOL. I would say the smashing egg transforming into a crushed planet is a style that is closer to Jean Cocteau’s filmmaking sensibilities; particularly the creative ways “special effects” were created before digital VFX came around. Cocteau’s 1950s film La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) was fun to watch because the special effects were mechanical and super creative. Although I did not directly borrow from Cocteau, I tend to gravitate toward mechanical and creative effects without dependency on CGI. This is because it stimulates childlike wonder and creativity. The egg scene in Nune was simply a matter of making sure the close-ups of the egg and planet matched and the effect was achieved by a precise edit--a cut.

CS: The character Nune, played by Brianna Joy Chomer, has a distinct background: she is half-Mexican, half-Armenian with two moms at home. Is she inspired by someone you know?

JS: Nune has several elements that are borrowed from my life experiences, yet she is not autobiographical. I grew up as a Vietnamese in a Chicano neighborhood and in many ways, I was caught between two identities while trying to fit into American culture. After I moved to LA, I had a lot of Armenian friends and learned about how being gay is absolutely taboo in their culture. I felt that this needed to be brought out in some way.

CS: Brianna, the popular cheerleader is cheerful and represents the light, metaphorically, but also literally. She has a much lighter complexion than Nune. How do their personalities line up with their favorites colors - Brianna, blue and Nune, red? Can you explain the significance of the main character’s favorite colors?

JS: Yes, the colors are used archetypically and represent their personality and moods. Briana (the cheerleader) likes blue because it is an optimistic color and red is Nune’s color because it represents death. She is a cutter (she harms herself). The deeper implication of both colors reappears in Red as Blue (the adaptation and long-form novel). I’d hate to overtheorize, but subconsciously, the colors also represent the political divide in America between the “red” and “blue” states--and how this creates a cultural war and sense of separation. ​Love, in my stories, is an integration process that must happen to help us unite as people, this is why Red as Blue is entitled with an “as” rather than “and.”

Nune and Brianna from the film "Nune" (photos courtesy of Ji Strangeway)

​Love, in my stories, is an integration process that must happen to help us unite as people, this is why Red as Blue is entitled with an “as” rather than “and.”

CS: You work with archetypal characters - the cool guy (or more precisely: the douche), the popular girl, the weird girl, the rich kids, the poor kid from the other side of the tracks. I sense some John Hughes influences...what were your favorite movies and whose work left the biggest impression on you?

JS: Yes, like many teens, I was influenced by the iconic Hollywood teen films from the 1980s and The Breakfast Club as well as many of the Hughes films have become part of my coming-of-age experience. I love coming-of-age films and the one that influenced me the most is unfortunately out-of-print and obscure which is, Times Square (starring Robin Johnson and features Tim Curry). It was an attempt by the director Alan Moyle (Pump up the Volume, Empire Records) to tell a raw and lesbian love story. However, the studios heavily butchered the film and took out a lot of the girl/girl coming-of-age elements. It is still a fun and inspiring film for me to watch (I have a pirated version LOL). Classics like Rebel Without a Cause and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are my favorite coming-of-age films and who could not love Back to the Future? From an art film perspective, I’m influenced by almost everything from the French New Wave movement. The female filmmakers I respect are Catherine Breillat, Celine Sciamma and documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield (check out her work Generation Wealth). My guilty pleasure for the moment is Netflix’s teen episodic, Riverdale.*

CS: Why high school? Did you have a similar experience (or witness something like it) in school yourself? You said in an interview you never had to come out. Tell our readers what that means or what that looks like. 

JS: High School is like the template for what you will see in the adult world. It’s a pressure cooker for what is going to become of human potential and the entertainment arts are in the best position to act as a “release valve” to properly shape the lives of youths and even transform them. This is mainly why I have an obsession with high school themes, to tell stories for kids who may feel underrepresented or misunderstood. I was not only witness but was also subjected to being mistreated and misunderstood as a teen.

As for not coming out as a teen, I never felt that it was up to society to tell me whether being “gay” was right or wrong. As a child, I had no labels or sense of separation from others. So as I got older, I refused the idea that I was separate, gay or that there was a name to it. So I never “came out.” I just tried to be true to myself. I was in a survival state of protecting my individuality. At the same time, I was sensitive to the discrimination and how a large number of people in society didn’t share that attitude. For those who needed to know, they had to deserve to know. It was not something I would foolishly volunteer so people could beat up on me.

CS: The coming-out story is obviously very important to you. Will you work with similar stories or themes going forward? What projects are coming up next for you?

JS: Although the work I do may include the coming out process, I would say the aspect of “coming-of-age” is more important to me. I view “coming out” to be a plea for social acceptance, but the coming-of-age process is the deeper part that affects all of us, not just gays. It’s about socially coming into being and staying intact as the beautiful children we came into the world as. Coming out is focused on the need for social acceptance, which is not a bad thing. But it is a debilitating position. It would be like begging a man’s world to accept us as females. It is better to just be a female “mensch” who accepts herself first. By focusing my work on coming of age stories, I can help teens focus more on self-love and self-acceptance.

CS: Do you have advice for those who have to face coming out? 

JS: It would be dangerous for me to speak for everyone because coming out is unique to the individual; their circumstances and culture, the political climate and environment. There are countries that are violent towards gays and persecute or criminalize them. In some pockets of the earth, including America, you also have religious or conservative cultures that oppose a person’s coming-out process to a degree of being detrimental to their safety and mental health (suicide). For those who say everyone should come out, they aren’t using discernment whatsoever and that statement only worsens the self-worth of a gay person who can’t and probably shouldn’t come out. If none of that is the case, the best way to come out is to not come out and to just be yourself. If you are honest with yourself, people have to meet you with where you are.

CS: What are some of the hardest situations you have had to face in your personal or public life as a film director, author and poet? 

JS: I would say the hardest part is the decision to commit to doing any of those things. Any art related career that has no direct path is terrifying because it’s closer to being a healer or pioneer because much of it solely relies on belief in your vision. Many people don’t follow their dreams or “vision” because it appears way beyond their reach and I would say that for me, this remains to be the case. I am always trying to do things that have never been done. This can be uncomfortable but is also what drives me. 

CS: Thanks, Ji! 

JS: You’re welcome. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me!

Click the image above to be redirected to the official "Red as Blue" site"

Now that you've read the interview, follow Ji on her social media channels and pay her site a visit!
Instagram: @jistrangeway @nunethemovie @redasblue
Facebook: @jistrangeway.official @nunemovie @redasblue
jistrangeway.com

*Thanks to Ji, I am hooked on the show!