The face revealed through A Record of Dissent is like the Corleone family in The Godfather Part III. Yang is able to deftly enter and leave the system at will and yet never lose touch with his grass roots. He is capable of "carefully and politely using the space that others allow to him to smoothly offer an alternative explanation for popular culture.
《異議筆記》呈現的面貌活脫像＜教父＞第三集中的柯里昂家族，笑談間出入體制卻又不失原有的草莽氣息，楊照可以「行禮如儀地在人家給定的尺寸裡，介入流行文化的另類解讀而得心應手」。