Amy Wang’s debut film, Slanted, dives into a provocative body horror concept: a mysterious procedure that allows people of color to become white. This premise is deeply rooted in Wang’s personal struggles as an Asian Australian immigrant teen in America.
Wang, who moved to the U.S. in 2015, vividly remembers the March 2021 mass shooting in Atlanta where six Asian women were killed. She describes it as the first time she truly felt unsafe in the country. This growing fear brought back painful childhood memories of both internal and external racism, coupled with the exhausting feeling of never quite fitting in. Having moved to Australia at age seven without knowing English, Wang admits to a tough upbringing. A poignant thought frequently crossed her mind as a teenager: “Wouldn’t life be easier if I were white?” This profound personal reflection now forms the artistic core of Slanted.
The film introduces an insecure Asian American high school student who undergoes a permanent transformation at a secretive cosmetic clinic called Ethnos (slogan: “if you can’t beat them… be them”). The procedure visibly turns people of color white. Wang’s audacious vision pushes the concept of “I don’t see color” to its most extreme conclusion: a world where equality is supposedly achieved when everyone looks the same, implying universal whiteness. The surgery is successful, but its consequences quickly unravel into complex and unsettling scenarios.