The Vine and the Fish - Internalization
The Vine and the Fish explores the impact that the stereotypical and harmful naming of the kudzu vine and asian carp have had on the communities that share origination in asian countries (Hook). In the video, the author describes the impact that the negative attention towards these invasive species have had on her identity and image of herself. She says, "I've internalized the language of invasion biology" referencing such comments as "invaders", "eradicate", and "infestations", which she mention earlier in the piece (Hook). By using such harsh language to describe invasive species, the communities that originate from the same place are minimalist to that language as well. Furthermore, the animation in the webcomic shows this. The girl becomes the vine, the fish, the invasive species (Hook). It is a very powerful visual display that effectively communicates the impact of xenophobia on people's self-worth and self-image.
In the journal From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Historical Analysis of "Otherness" Experience by Asian Americans in the United States, Sabharwal et. al. describes the impact of COVID-19 being named the "'Chinese virus' by several politicians invoking sentiments of hate, discrimination, and othering towards a group of people subject to prejudice and marginalization". When a global pandemic, that is talked about constantly in the media, is characterized as being a certain eithnicity, it becomes very difficult to separate from the stereotype and not internalize the negativity. By highlighting the example of the pandemic, we are able to understand that the language used is truly impactful and can carry into the marginalization of certain groups. The Vine and the Fish uses the animation to demonstrate this marginalization on a personal level, conveying the inability for those communities to separate from the language being used (Hook).