When the Teacher Becomes the Lesson: Exploring After Yang
Can we learn more from technology’s absence than from its presence?
What happens when the technology we depend on is no longer available? Do we simply replace it, or does its absence reveal something about ourselves? Kogonada’s After Yang (2021) explores these questions through Jake, Kyra, and their adopted daughter Mika, whose parents purchase a humanoid technosapien named Yang to help her connect with her Chinese culture and heritage. Serving as Mika’s older “gege” (brother), companion, and cultural educator, Yang becomes an integral part of the family. When he unexpectedly malfunctions, Jake’s search to repair him leads to the discovery of a memory bank containing fragments of Yang’s experiences, relationships, and possible emotional connections. What begins as a technological problem reveals deeper questions about identity, belonging, memory, and the family’s dependence on technology.
Through Yang’s malfunction and Jake’s investigation, the film explores how technology shapes learning beyond formal educational environments. Two themes guide this analysis: technology as an educator of identity and cultural connection, and the hidden curriculum of technology, memory, and human relationships. Together, these themes examine both the intended and unintended lessons that emerge from technological dependence.
Theme 1: Beyond Programming, Technology as an Educator of Identity and Cultural Connection
In After Yang, technology functions as a means of cultural education and identity formation. Jake and Kyra purchase Yang to help Mika connect with her Chinese heritage, recognizing that their own experiences may not fully address her cultural learning needs. Yang is designed to provide cultural knowledge while serving as a companion who shares an important aspect of Mika’s identity.
This arrangement reflects broader assumptions about technology as a solution to educational needs. Selwyn (2021) emphasizes the importance of critically examining how educational technologies shape learning and social relationships rather than focusing exclusively on their capabilities. Similarly, Watters (2020) challenges the promises and expectations surrounding educational technology. Together, these perspectives raise questions about whether access to cultural information through technology is sufficient to develop a meaningful sense of identity and belonging.
The scene in which Yang uses tree branches to explain identity and connection illustrates how technology can support cultural identity formation through informal learning. For Mika, whose identity encompasses both her Chinese heritage and her adoptive family, the metaphor emphasizes how belonging can extend beyond biological and cultural ties. Rather than simply transmitting cultural knowledge, Yang facilitates an understanding of identity shaped by relationships, experiences, and connections.
Palenski et al. (2024) examine how artificial intelligence can function beyond a tool for efficiency, including its role in relationships and lifelong learning. Yang demonstrates this expanded role by becoming more than Mika’s cultural educator. His position as her brother and companion illustrates how educational technology can become integrated into social relationships, blurring the distinction between technological assistance and human connection. However, Kyra’s concern that the family has become too reliant on Yang introduces a tension between technological support and dependence. Černohorská et al. (2025) examine how digital technology influences people’s experiences of time, including the perception that technology takes time away from meaningful activities. Although the film does not establish that Yang caused the family’s emotional distance, Kyra’s concern suggests that technological dependence may change how family members spend time and engage with one another. Njenga and Fourie (2010) challenge assumptions that technology automatically improves educational experiences.
Applied to After Yang, this critique raises questions about whether Yang’s presence supplements the family’s responsibilities or gradually replaces aspects of cultural education, emotional support, and care. The film does not portray technological learning as inherently harmful. Instead, it demonstrates how technology can become embedded in everyday relationships in ways that extend beyond its original purpose. Yang’s role as Mika’s educator creates meaningful opportunities for cultural learning, while the family’s dependence on him reveals the complexities of assigning educational and relational responsibilities to technology.
This tension connects the film’s two themes. Although Yang is designed to support Mika’s understanding of identity and belonging, his malfunction exposes a different form of learning, one shaped by absence, memory, and the family’s reassessment of their relationships.
Theme 2: The Hidden Curriculum of Technology, Memory, and Human Relationships
While Yang’s intended educational purpose centers on Mika’s cultural identity, his malfunction creates opportunities for learning that extend beyond his programming. These unintended lessons reflect the concept of the hidden curriculum, in which individuals acquire knowledge, attitudes, and understandings through experiences and relationships rather than formal instruction.
The emotional distance between Jake and Kyra is evident before Yang’s malfunction. However, one of Yang’s recorded memories shows the couple sitting closely together on a sofa, contrasting with their interactions in the present. This contrast suggests that the family’s relationships have changed over time, while Yang’s memories preserve moments of connection that are no longer as visible.
Kitchin (2023) examines how digital technologies shape experiences and understandings of time. Similarly, Petridis et al. (2022) explore how digital environments create opportunities to experience multiple temporalities through stored and revisited information. These perspectives help explain how Yang’s memory bank connects past experiences with present understanding. Although Jake remains physically in the present, the recordings allow him to encounter earlier moments that acquire new meaning through his current circumstances.
“Brothers & Sisters are just trying to protect their spyware. You recycle that, they will have so much data on your family, it’ll make your head spin.” — Russ
The discovery of Yang’s memory bank introduces ethical questions about surveillance, privacy, and digital ownership. Russ’s warning about spyware raises concerns about how technology collects and stores personal information, often without users fully understanding what is being recorded. Selwyn (2021) emphasizes the importance of critically examining educational technology beyond its intended benefits, including its broader social implications. Although Yang was purchased to support Mika’s cultural education, his ability to preserve personal experiences raises questions about consent, data ownership, and who has access to those memories. This tension illustrates how technology can provide meaningful educational and relational benefits while also introducing unintended ethical concerns.
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Hou (2025) examines how generative AI can encourage expectations of immediacy, potentially limiting opportunities for reflection. Although Yang differs from the technologies examined by Hou, Jake’s initial urgency to repair him illustrates a similar expectation that technological disruption requires an immediate solution. However, the discovery of Yang’s memories shifts Jake’s attention from restoring functionality to understanding Yang’s experiences and relationships.
This shift illustrates the film’s hidden curriculum. Yang’s programmed purpose is to teach Mika about Chinese culture and heritage, yet his absence produces lessons that were never intentionally designed. Jake encounters new perspectives on his family relationships, Kyra’s concerns about technological dependence become more significant, and Mika experiences the loss of someone she considers her brother.
Rather than functioning solely as a source of information, Yang becomes a catalyst for learning about memory, relationships, and the responsibilities associated with human connection. His absence reveals educational possibilities that extend beyond technological functionality.
Conclusion
After Yang illustrates how educational technology can shape identity, cultural learning, and human relationships beyond its intended purpose. Although Yang was purchased to connect Mika with her Chinese heritage, he became more than an educator. His role as a companion and family member demonstrates how technology can support both intentional and informal learning.
Through Yang’s malfunction and recorded memories, the film also reveals the complexities of technological dependence, memory, and emotional connection. His absence creates unexpected opportunities for the family to reconsider their relationships and what they may have overlooked. Yang was created to teach, but his absence became the lesson.
References
Černohorská, V., Schoetensack, C., Klegr, T., Witowska, J., Goncikowska, K., Giner-Domínguez, G., Papastamatelou, J., Chappuis, S., Fernández Boente, M., Meteier, Q., Wittmann, M., Codina, N., Pestana, J. V., Valenzuela, R., Martin-Söelch, C., & Ogden, R. (2025). How digital technology can steal your time. Computers in Human Behavior, 169, Article 108680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108680
Hou, Y. (2025). What’s the rush? Temporality, anxiety, and the pursuit of immediacy with generative AI. Teaching in Higher Education, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2025.2571914
Kitchin, R. (2023). Digital timescapes: Technology, temporality, and society. Policy Press.
Njenga, J. K., & Fourie, L. C. H. (2010). The myths about e-learning in higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), 199–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00910.x
Palenski, T., Hills, L., Unnikrishnan, S., & Eynon, R. (2024). How AI works: Reconfiguring lifelong learning. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(4), 1216–1239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-024-00496-y
Petridis, P., Stouraitis, E., & Patiniotis, M. (2022). Many times: The perception of temporality in digital environments. Entanglements, 5(1/2), 35–49. https://entanglementsjournal.wordpress.com/many-times-temporality-digital-environments/
Selwyn, N. (2021). Education and technology: Key issues and debates (3rd ed.). Bloomsbury.
Watters, A. (2020, June 21). The ed-tech imaginary. Hack Education. https://hackeducation.com/2020/06/21/imaginary
Photo Sources
Brody, R. (2022, March 7). The politics of beauty in “After Yang.” The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-politics-of-beauty-in-after-yang
Duerr, N. (2022, May 4). Film review: After Yang. Copy. https://readcopy.co/After-Yang
Walsh, M. (2022, February 1). After Yang trailer offers a moving meditation on being human. Nerdist. https://nerdist.com/article/after-yang-trailer-a24-colin-farrell-jodie-turner-smith/
