![]() a rant byAl Wong
January 28, 1997 IntroductionJust last night I saw the movie, The Joy Luck Club (JLC), which played on television for the first time in Los Angeles. I had been meaning to see this movie but never got around to it until now. Since many female friends recommended this 1993 movie to me, including my own sister, I was looking forward to experiencing a great work of art. Up to this point, I have heard nothing but glowing reviews about this movie.Near the end of the movie I found myself thinking,
All the Chinese men are portrayed as bad and weak! Why is this movie getting good reviews? Are the critics all blind? Then I started to get angry. What a rip-off! I'm glad I didn't spend money to see the JLC in the movie theater. I only spent 3 hours of my time at home. I noticed there were very few reviews mentioning there were Chinese stereotypes in the movie. (One review even claimed there were none!) I am a first generation Chinese-American male, born and raised in the USA. I am living the reality of the Asian experience. I am not a Militant-Chinese-Power-Fanatic but since none of my Chinese brethren appear to be commenting on the JLC, I feel compelled to write this review. (Why aren't there any well known movie critics of Chinese descent?) According to the 1990 US Census, Asians make less than 3% of the US population. I can unofficially confirm this during my travels. Asians appear to be concentrated near the ports-of-entry cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. In the Mid-West and Southern states, usually I draw stares being the only Asian in the crowd. At first, I thought this was rude. Then it occurred to me, perhaps they have never seen an Asian before! In the flesh. We are less than 3%! This means most Americans will get their exposure to Asians and Asian culture through the media, i.e. newspapers, magazines, television and movies. The JLC does a great disservice to Chinese and Asians in general by perpetuating stereotypes to Middle-America, giving a distorted view of our culture. Does anyone else see this? For those of you that have not seen the JLC, it's about the mother-daughter generation gap between four Chinese mother-daughter pairs. All the Chinese mothers appear to have been raised in China before World War II although this isn't stated. They all go through amazing hardships which has scarred them emotionally before coming to the US. All the daughters were born and raised in the US. The movie appears to be occurring in the present time although this isn't stated. It is definitely a feminist type movie with the male characters taking a back seat to the female characters. That isn't bad. What's bad is the negative Chinese male characters and stereotypes the movie portrays. No Stereotypes? You Must Be Joking!
..."Joy Luck Club" is nourishing for its avoidance of Asian stereotypes. There isn't the slightest trace of a laundry man, kung fu killer or aphorism-spouting, pidgin-English-speaking detective... Huh? Avoidance of Asian stereotypes? Did we see the same movie? The JLC has perpetuated at least two major Chinese stereotypes and has all but set back the Chinese-American image by 30 years. The two obvious stereotypes perpetuated by the JLC are what I call the Gangster and the China Doll. I describe them below with other generic Chinese stereotypes. Sadly, many Chinese-made movies, especially the older ones, also perpetuate these stereotypes.
The Mothers and DaughtersIn the JLC, all the mothers and daughters were China Dolls at some point in their life. This cannot be debated. They were all young, innocent, weak and subservient. All the mothers end up having a tragic youth experience which scars them emotionally for life. It seems they also could not prevent their daughters from avoiding this stereotypical trap.The Mothers' HusbandsGuess what stereotype was the rapist husband? Exactly, a gangster. He was rich enough to afford 4 wives and obviously had power to take what he wanted. The other husbands were a playboy and a young boy. The fourth father of the twin babies was never mentioned. Presumably he was killed during the WW II invasion of China or abandoned the family.A rapist and a playboy. Not exactly ideal role models. The young boy doesn't count. It may be argued the husband of the dead mother, who describes to his daughter what really happened when the mother abandoned the twin babies, is not a bad character. This is true but he is a neutral Uncle Tom. He is a vehicle needed to explain the story simply because the dead mother cannot. A non-entity. The character could have been easily replaced by a friend or another aunt. The Daughters' HusbandsTwo of the husbands were white men and were portrayed in a better light than the Chinese men in the movie. I don't think there was a fourth husband.In the one unbelievable relationship with the lone Chinese husband, one daughter splits all expenses 50-50 with her future husband even though he earns 7 times her salary! She even ends up marrying the tight bastard. Now tell me, is that reality? Did she really believe he loved her? Did she really love him? Would any modern Chinese woman be that stupid? I don't think so. Sorting Out The HusbandsLet's see what we have for the Chinese husbands. A rapist, a promiscuous husband and a clueless cheapskate. Of the two white husbands, one is simply ignorant of table manners and the other is a very rich man who plays around with other women. What kind of message does that send to young Asian boys? To young Asian girls?What other positive Asian male role models are there? Damn few, I'm sorry to say. I did like one and describe it in the box. Even this character was flawed too.
Other ReviewsThe Internet Movie Database has a collection of reviews for the JLC. This includes Mr. Tanaka's excellent review (text) of the JLC which gives a blow by blow dissection of the movie's characters which I highly recommend reading. Also, read the review by Michael Park.Why Was This Movie Made?It has a lot of Chinese actors in it, some even "well known". Why would these actors, obvious Asian role models, perpetuate these Asian stereotypes? I see at least four reasons:
ConclusionThe JLC falls short of being a great movie of Asians because of it's portrayal of all negative Asian male characters and the Asian female China Doll stereotypes. The one redeeming value of the JLC is in it's mother-daughter relationships which seems have a universal appeal to all women. Also, the movie is beautifully made and has texture. However, this movie would not be my first choice to show someone ignorant of Asians and Asian culture.
April 18, 2000 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or CommentsI had been meaning to put this section in as I'm getting a lot of repetitive questions/comments about this rant. Below are the most frequently asked questions or comments I'm getting via email.Please note this FAQ section was added much later and is not part of my original rant. This is indicated by the green color of the text and other visual cues like a dividing horizontal line and a separate date on this section. I understand some teachers are making xerox copies of my JLC rant to pass around in their class (which is clearly a copyright violation!). Then the copies show up as all black/white text and is construed as one article which is misleading.
August 18, 2000 But Wait, There's More!This rant has caused such unexpected controversy that I have written a few more webpages:
June 1, 2005 Even More!
|
My Writings |