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The Chicken

Name: The Chicken
Director: Neo Sora
Released: 2020
Duration: 14 min

Representation Score

6.2/10

Good

2020

Director

Neo Sora

Runtime

14 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The film excels at centering the immigrant experience, specifically through the lens of a Japanese immigrant navigating New York City. By focusing on how characters are complicit in structural violence, the story moves away from traditional Western-centric hero narratives toward a more complex, systemic critique. While the film offers deep engagement with racial and cultural identity, it lacks explicit representation regarding LGBTQ+ identities or disability. The gender dynamics are present through the depiction of a pregnant wife, but the narrative remains primarily focused on the male protagonists' moral dilemmas. Overall, the work is a sophisticated exploration of how individual choices interact with systemic pressures, making it a strong entry for ethnic and cultural storytelling.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Chicken have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film focuses on the domestic lives of Hiro, his pregnant wife, and his cousin Kei. There is no explicit mention of LGBTQ+ characters or non-straight relationships in the narrative.

How does The Chicken portray gender?

Fair

The story centers on a domestic transition involving a pregnant wife and male protagonists. It avoids traditional patriarchal hero clichés by framing the men through moral struggles and inadequacies.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Chicken?

Excellent

The film provides high characters who reflect more than one aspect of diversity by centering a Japanese immigrant experience in New York City. It uses the immigrant struggle to drive the plot within a Western metropolitan context.

How does The Chicken represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative utilizes a framework of systemic critique and moral relativism. It prioritizes the lived realities of underrepresented groups over traditional Western institutional ideals and conventional morality.

Does The Chicken include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no evidence of characters with visible or invisible disabilities presented in the narrative.

Present on Screen

Strong centering of the Japanese immigrant experience within an urban New York setting.
Sophisticated critique of structural violence and systemic pressures on underrepresented groups.
Avoids traditional patriarchal clichés by focusing on character inadequacy and moral struggle.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit LGBTQ+ representation or non-straight relationships.
No visible or invisible disability representation within the character studies.

Official Synopsis

On an unseasonably hot day in November, Hiro, a Japanese immigrant in New York City, decides to butcher a live chicken for dinner. While showing his visiting cousin Kei around, the pair encounter a medical emergency on the street. After they mishandle the situation and end up causing more harm than good, Hiro cannot bring himself to kill the chicken. Throughout, Kei observes his cousin’s new lifestyle as Hiro and his pregnant wife prepare for their move to Chinatown. As the day wears on, Hiro and Kei’s actions highlight how their lives are complicit in the structural violence that surrounds them.

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