"I needed to capture the truth of that community and the spirit of it, because what drew me to it was the sense of freedom and the sense of possibility, people reinventing themselves"
About this Quote
The subtext sits in her admiration for “freedom” and “possibility,” words that sound uplifting until you remember what kind of American communities Zhao is drawn to: marginal, transient, often economically cornered. Reinvention is framed as liberation, but it’s also a coping strategy in a country that regularly demands self-mythology to survive. “People reinventing themselves” nods to the American promise, while quietly admitting the promise is unevenly distributed; you reinvent because staying put isn’t viable, or because the old identity was never safe.
Context matters: Zhao’s work arrives in an era when “authenticity” is both prized and commodified, and when coastal cultural institutions are rightly accused of treating rural and working-class lives as exotic. Her intent reads as an ethical claim: she’s not collecting stories as specimens, she’s trying to honor a social ecosystem and its self-made narratives. The quote works because it holds two ideas in tension - realism and romance - and refuses to apologize for wanting both.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reinvention |
|---|---|
| Source | Interview about Nomadland, The A.V. Club, February 2021 |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Zhao, Chloé. (2026, January 25). I needed to capture the truth of that community and the spirit of it, because what drew me to it was the sense of freedom and the sense of possibility, people reinventing themselves. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-needed-to-capture-the-truth-of-that-community-184247/
Chicago Style
Zhao, Chloé. "I needed to capture the truth of that community and the spirit of it, because what drew me to it was the sense of freedom and the sense of possibility, people reinventing themselves." FixQuotes. January 25, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-needed-to-capture-the-truth-of-that-community-184247/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I needed to capture the truth of that community and the spirit of it, because what drew me to it was the sense of freedom and the sense of possibility, people reinventing themselves." FixQuotes, 25 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-needed-to-capture-the-truth-of-that-community-184247/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
