The American Misfit Series: Didi

When Mom Helps You Feel Like Less of a Misfit

I want to start with thanking the writer over at From The Yard To The Arthouse for suggesting this movie. Everyone should check out his stuff and hit that subscribe button. He knows films and writes about them from a unique perspective.

Didi came out in 2024, but I first heard about it a couple weeks ago. I did some digging before watching and it is widely praised. People love Didi. It is a coming-of-age film that feels like Eighth Grade, Lady Bird, and mid90s all wrapped into one story. Our “misfit” is Chris Wang. His mom calls him Didi. His friends call him Wang Wang. He introduces himself as Chris to everybody else. Chris is in the middle of his summer before entering high school. He feels like a misfit in every aspect of his life: family, cultural expectations, friends, and dating. In the end, it is his mom who reassures him that everything is going to be okay.

Family & Cultural Expectations

Didi’s family came to the United States from Taiwan. It’s him, his mom, his sister, and his grandmother (from his dad’s side). Dad seems to be out of the picture. We’re told that he’s working in Taiwan, but there’s no sign of him besides a couple pictures on the wall. This is a tough dynamic for a 14-year old kid. Grandma is very critical of everything and his sister despises him for most of the movie. Mom is doing her best to care for the family, but it’s hard. Chris is down and quiet for most of the movie, but especially the scenes with his family. His sister is heading off to college and his grandmother has already labeled him as the black sheep misfit that may not even go to college….causing a domino effect of him never getting married and never finding happiness and success. It’s a tough burden placed on a kid that just graduated eighth grade.

This is added on to the cultural pressure of being Asian American. There is a pressure to work hard and succeed at everything. His mom’s friends have input on how she is raising him. He likes making videos and getting into trouble with his friends. His mother’s friend is sending her son to PSAT tutoring two years before he even takes the test. This conversation causes his mom to doubt her parenting and she forces him to join the tutoring group. He hates this. Chris is a misfit because he’s constantly trying to defy the expectations that others place on him.

Now, I said that his sister despises him for most of the movie. However, there’s a moment in the middle when this changes. It could be because she’s about to head off to college or she sees what he’s going through and she remembers going through the same thing. She volunteers to drive him to hangout with his skater friends while their mom and grandma are in a heated argument. She also helps him after he gets drunk and high for the first time in his life. These are some of the more comforting scenes in the film because Chris needs someone to be there for him, and his sister fills that void.

Friends & Dating

I’ll be honest, I wanted more of Didi’s friends. They were hilarious. They were d-bags, but made me laugh just about every time they were on the screen. They have a falling out towards the end of the summer and it coincides with when Chris blows it with his first crush. Think about this: a kid that feels like a misfit has that first time in life when he loses his friends and the first girl that he has a crush on. Add these to his family life, and from his perspective, his world is falling apart.

This movie was personally enjoyable to me for two reasons:

1. Watching a group of Asian kids become “Americanized” was fun to see on screen. I’ve mentioned my immigrant and refugee students a few times on here. Most of these students are from Asia. It’s always cool to see how they meld their traditional and family cultures with American culture. They’ll bring their culture’s food to the class potluck, speak their first language, and wear the traditional fashion, but also do karaoke to Taylor Swift, celebrate Friendsgiving, and talk about parlaying bets during a basketball game. It’s a really cool thing to observe as a teacher.

2. Didi takes place in 2008. Chris is entering high school the same year that I started college. He chats with his friends on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). He checks out his crush on MySpace and the original Facebook. Being removed from his friend’s Top 8 was devastating. We also get to see the original YouTube. Chris was also a fan of the American Rock music of the era. Needless to say, this movie brought back some memories.

Chris meets a new group of friends. They’re older and they like to skate. Hanging out with them is the most free that Chris seems to be in the movie. Maybe unfamiliar group takes away the already established pressure of his friend group. Maybe he just needs an escape. Maybe they’re just cool because they are older and they skate. He becomes their film guy. This experience doesn’t last for long, but it sets the stage for what Didi will be pursuing as he gets older.

Mom

The tension comes to a head when things blow up between Chris and his mom. He runs away for a night, but they have a heart-to-heart when he gets home. I think we’ve all had this conversation with our mom before. This conversation exemplifies the unconditional love that comes from Mom. It’s a reminder to him, and us, that everything is going to be okay. We may feel like a misfit now, this feeling won’t last forever.