Phoebe is Willis and Karen’s daughter. She lives with Karen in the suburbs and is the star of a children’s TV show that follows a little Chinese girl named Mei Mei (little sister) on her adventures in America. Willis and Phoebe divorced not long after Phoebe was born, and Willis doesn’t get to know her until he leaves Chinatown and his role on Black and White to stay with Phoebe and Karen in Phoebe Land, where Phoebe’s show is set. In Phoebe Land, an idealized, imaginary world of Phoebe’s making, Phoebe can move freely between Asian and American cultures, something Willis could never fully do. He admires her ability to be herself without falling into the stereotypical roles that society has carved out for her. Phoebe forgives Willis for not being the best dad, claiming that he tried his best. Ultimately, Willis learns that the most important role he’s played in life isn’t Kung Fu Guy—it’s Phoebe’s Dad.
Phoebe Quotes in Interior Chinatown
The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Phoebe or refer to Phoebe . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 5: Kung Fu Dad
Quotes
You survey the room: drawings, hair ties, notes to herself. Seemingly every species of stuffed animal or creature, real or imagined, lined up like a royal court along the walls on the floors. Her friends, her audience. Her off-screen voices. She seems both more resourceful and yet more childlike at the same time—how she’s invented a world, stylized, so that its roles and scenery, its characters and rules, its truths and dangers, all fit within one room. How small it is, and overstuffed, and ready for expansion. How bright it is, how messy. This whole place, the objects in it, all from her.
The words coming out of your mouth, you can feel it happening, how you’re softening, changing into a different person. You were a bit player in the world of Black and White, but here and now, in her world, you’re more. Not the star of the show, something better. The star’s dad. Somehow you were lucky enough to end up in her story.
PHOEBE Can you tell me a story?
KUNG FU DAD I don’t know how. No one’s ever asked me to.
KAREN You wanted them to find you.
KUNG FU DAD I wanted them to find us.
Related Characters:
Karen Lee (speaker), Willis Wu (speaker), Sarah Green, Miles Turner, Phoebe
Related Symbols:
Kung Fu Guy , Chinatown
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 7: Ext. Chinatown
Quotes
Maybe, if you’re lucky, she’ll teach you. If she can move freely between worlds, why can’t you?
Related Characters:
Willis Wu (speaker), Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man, Phoebe
Related Symbols:
Kung Fu Guy
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Interior Chinatown LitChart as a printable PDF.
Phoebe Character Timeline in Interior Chinatown
The timeline below shows where the character Phoebe appears in Interior Chinatown. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 4: Striving Immigrant
Time passes, and eventually Willis and Karen become parents to a daughter they name Phoebe. Now it’s Karen and Willis and Phoebe, all living together in the SRO. Willis knows...
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Act 5: Kung Fu Dad
INT. CHILD’S BEDROOM—MORNING. Happy music plays, and children sing about being happy as Phoebe Wu wakes up and yawns. “Rise and shine, Phoebe Wu!” the children sing.
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INT. BATHROOM—MORNING—MOMENTS LATER. Phoebe is dressed now and getting ready for her day. INT. KITCHEN—MORNING—A LITTLE LATER. Phoebe enters...
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Phoebe’s show is “an optimistic amnesiac’s retelling of the age-old-story of immigration, acculturation, assimilation.” In this...
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INT. PHOEBE’S ROOM—MORNING. Phoebe opens the door and sees Willis (as Kung Fu Dad). “Daddy!” she shouts. He says...
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Phoebe explains to Willis that they learn all about food, culture, inclusion, and even divorce on...
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...long and then showing up out of the blue. He says he misses Karen and Phoebe. Karen is unimpressed but tells Willis she’s going to leave him alone to get acquainted...
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Willis (as Kung Fu Dad) hears a whimper and realizes that Phoebe has been listening to them. He apologizes for being a bad dad. Phoebe seems to...
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INT. CASTLE (AKA PHOEBE’S CLOSET)—DAY. Willis (as Kung Fu Dad) listens to Phoebe telling a story to herself in her castle/closet. She talks about making things and selling...
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Phoebe teaches Willis how to build a castle in the air, explaining that you have to...
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As Willis plays with Phoebe, he feels himself transform into a new person. He’s no longer playing a bit part...
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INT. PHOEBE’S ROOM—NIGHT. Phoebe is a weird kid, just like Willis was when he was little and like all...
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Phoebe asks Willis to tell her a story, and the request stumps him: nobody’s asked him...
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Willis watches Phoebe sleep and strokes her face. He realizes how “useless” his Kung Fu is in this...
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INT. PHOEBE’S ROOM—NIGHT. Willis goes through the routine of feeding Phoebe and getting her ready for bed. He kisses all her stuffed animals when she asks...
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Willis looks out the window then and sees the police. Willis assures Karen and Phoebe that everything is okay—they’re there for him because he stole the police car. Turner and...
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Act 6: The Case of the Missing Asian
The next thing Willis knows, Karen is leaning over him. She kisses him. Phoebe is there too. She asks if Willis is still Kung Fu Guy. Willis says no—now,...
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Act 7: Ext. Chinatown
MING-CHEN WU. Willis sees his father and Phoebe in the kitchen together one night—they’re sitting and laughing together. Willis’s father is handsomer than...
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Phoebe notices Willis watching them and asks if he’s okay; Willis says yes. Then he tells...
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