University of Illinois professors Sarah Projansky and Kent Ono wrote about Shopping for Fangs in their essay “Making Films Asian American: Shopping for Fangs and the Discursive Auteur” published in the Routledge book Authorship and Film.

“Through analysis of media discourse about an independent film [Shopping for Fangs (1997)] and about the film’s writers/directors (Quentin Lee and Justin Lin), and through analysis of cinema profitably includes an understanding of the filmmaker’s role as social subject. We also argue, however, that in this critical focus makes sense only if it includes an examination of the author-function, or the production of the auteur in various public discourses about a particular filmmaker and her or his film, including discourses produced by the filmmaker herself or himself.”

It’s good to know that Mr. Lee and Lin have been considered “auteurs” from their first feature on. Read and download the essay on PDF!