Theme: The Construction of Collective Identity
Episode 3 marks the formation of “Yellow Nationalism” within the fictional system constructed in the film. Here, fear and trauma consolidate into a collective identity. Rather than portraying nationalism as an external force, this episode examines how individuals internalize ideology and perform it as identity. To analyze this transformation, I created an alter ego — an exaggerated, one-dimensional version of myself. This figure represents the self shaped by fear-based propaganda, stripped of nuance and critical thinking.
The “Yellow Nationalists” are not literal characters. They are symbolic constructs:
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Eyes widened but unfocused
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Movements synchronized
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Uniformed in stylized costume
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Reacting violently to difference
Through repetition and duplication, the characters lose individuality and become interchangeable. The googly, unstable gaze signals a loss of depth — identity reduced to spectacle.
“Indeed, it is the path to lethal traps of the oxymoron, hypocrisy, and the paradox. I find that absurdity is part of the basic nature of most political “stories.” To avoid missteps in the multi-dimensional and complicated nature of the events I created, I also created an alter ego as a process of disambiguation. Within this process, I also fragment my own identity. As a result, it abstracts the notion of my past self as an anti-hero, by observing the one-dimensional character I play in the film. It allows me to have a unique position as a third-party observer with a less biased self-critical view. This is how the characters for my film, the Yellow Nationalists, were conceived.”
Research Focus
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How does ideology collapse complexity into simplified identity?
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How does repetition convert fear into belonging?
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When does identity become performance?
This episode visualizes the birth of nationalism not as a political platform, but as a psychological shift — from individual subjectivity to collective reaction.