Kiss of the Rabbit God
2019 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
14:39 minutes
Andrew Thomas Huang
Highly autobiographical, exquisitely made and compiling different aspects of the artist’s practice, Kiss of the Rabbit God is one of Andrew Thomas Huang’s most precise, relevant, and successful videos. This video work exemplifies a new, global wave of queering tradition, indigenous references and international pop/post-internet esthetics. In this short video, a Chinese-American restaurant worker falls in love with an 18th century Qing dynasty god of gay lovers who visits him at night and leads him on a journey of sexual awakening and self discovery. In Chinese mythology, the Rabbit God first appears in a collection of folktales during the 18th century. In the story, a soldier falls in love with his commanding officer and professes his affection for him. As punishment, the commanding officer sentences the soldier to death. But the gods of the underworld, in their infinite wisdom, forgive him for his “crime of passion” and transform him into the Rabbit God, the savior of men who love men. In the film, the Rabbit God serves as the liberator of the film’s main character, otherwise portrayed as an obedient son working in his family’s business, challenging him to embrace his sexuality. He allows him to engage in the physical intimacy that he has been too ashamed to express. “He’s there for all the queer Asian kids who never thought they were worth anything,” Huang says.
Andrew Thomas Huang is one of the most original upcoming film makers working at the intersection of tradition, spirituality, non-Western imaginary, queerness, and digital fantasies and technical possibilities. His filmic and pop background makes his work more compelling and accomplished than that of many peers working exclusively in the visual arts world. With a passion for interweaving queer Asian immigrant stories with folklore and mythology, LA-based filmmaker Andrew Thomas Huang combines his lifelong fascination with puppetry, VFX and animation to craft hybrid fantasy worlds. He has directed Grammy-nominated music videos for Bjork, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and FKA Twigs among others. Serving as creative director for Bjork’s VR exhibition Bjork Digital, Huang created multiple immersive experiences for the pioneering traveling installation.
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