Didi, the semi-autobiographical debut film from Sean Wang, is a heartfelt ode to growing up in the early days of social media. The film follows 13-year-old Chris Wang during a turbulent summer before high school. Chris’s summer is filled with rebellious escapades—blowing up mailboxes, running from security guards, and skating with friends—all of which he documents on YouTube.
Chris’s story is shaped by the different identities and expectations he juggles, with the various names he’s known symbolizing the tension between who he’s expected to be by his family and who he tries to be with peers. At home, he’s Didi, “younger brother” in Mandarin, a name that carries the heavy weight of familial expectations. This pressure is clearly shown in one scene where Chris and his mother, Chungsing, are at dinner with his mother’s friend and her son, Max. As they praise Max’s achievements—his 4.0 GPA and athletic and musical talent—Chungsing can only mention Chris’s videos. Unable to make eye contact, Chris looks down as he feels overshadowed by his peer’s success. The scene captures a universal aspect of growing up: the weight of comparison. The awkwardness and disappointment seep through the screen, making the audience empathize with Chris.
Chris’s feelings of inadequacy follow him at school. There, he’s known as Wang Wang, the kid seemingly always on the outside looking in. His best friend Fahad starts hanging out with a new group, and Chris feels excluded. In one scene, Fahad and his new friends pile into a car, telling Chris there’s not enough space for him, forcing him to call his mom for a ride. When he gets home, he checks Facebook to find posts of Fahad and his new friends having fun without him, deepening his feelings of exclusion. Moments like these effectively depict how social media amplifies teenage insecurities and the relatable fear of missing out, capturing the unique challenges of growing up in the digital age.
Desperate to ease his growing sense of exclusion, Chris seeks new ways to fit in. When he meets a group of skaters, he introduces himself as Chris, seeing an opportunity to reinvent himself. He tries to portray himself as a pro skating videographer. In reality, Chris is a mediocre videographer who has to look up tutorials on how to film skate videos. After meeting the skaters, Chris scrubs almost all his videos off of his YouTube channel, trying to erase parts of himself that don’t align with the persona he’s trying to project. By deleting these videos, Chris is not only trying to hide his lack of filming skills but also suppressing parts of his identity. He also lies about being half-white, highlighting his need to hide parts of himself to fit into a mold he believes will make him accepted.
Chirs crafts another persona to try to woo his crush, Madi. He stalks her MySpace and Facebook pages, gathering information about her and pretending to like the same movies and music. It works, kind of. He hangs out with Madi, and during their hangout, she calls him “cute for an Asian.” Comments like these highlight the microaggressions Chris faces and help explain why he feels the need to mask parts of his identity. Director Sean Wang mentioned that he heard similar comments growing up. By drawing from his real-life experiences, Wang creates a realistic character that audiences who’ve also navigated the complexities of identity, race, and acceptance while growing up can connect with.
Didi focuses on the struggle to reconcile different versions of oneself. For Chris, the tension between these identities weighs on him, but the film’s heartwarming ending sees him learn to embrace his family more fully. He has heartfelt conversations with his mother, who tells him she’s proud, alleviating his feelings of inadequacy. With its honest portrayal of the struggles of adolescence, the role social media plays in our lives, and a perspective rooted in Sean Wang’s experiences, Didi offers a captivating exploration of identity and belonging.