Karma is a cross-culture film, illustrating the dilemma of international students from China having to put up with bullying from dodgy employers because they want to immigrate to New Zealand. However, most of them do not have a good reason to do that. By making this film, I want to send a message to the immigrant community that they should follow their hearts when making a decision to immigrate to New Zealand.
In my view, Kate represents the spirit of the grandmother, who guides Jack out of his predicament rather than an awful ghost in a traditional ghost story. This idea was inspired by many conventional Chinese ghost stories.
In addition, Tarot card reading is another typical storytelling skill I learnt from Classic Chinese fictions such as The Dream of the Red Chamber, in which a fortune-teller foretells the fate of the main character and the theme of the story.
Moreover, there is a similarity between the Maori and the Chinese communities in New Zealand. They travel away from their original island to seek a new world, but they never cut the bloodline from their authentic culture.