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Example research essay topic: Joy Luck Club Uncle Tom - 1,057 words

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Just 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, There is something terribly wrong here! 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. From: The Washington Post, Design Howe, September 24, 1993... "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. Rape your daughter / wife /girlfriend without blinking.

Surprisingly, this stereotype speaks perfect English more often than not. Can be an ineffectual old man or weak young man. Usually talks like he doesn't have a pair. Whiny. Powerful, fights for good but usually not rich. Not quite human, more demigod / terminator .

Bruce Lee introduced the Mystic Fighter. Whereas this is an improvement over the Yellow Uncle Tom and The Gangster, it doesn't go far enough. The character is an inhuman terminator and has now been stereotyped too often. Speaks perfect English more times than not. The China Doll may even speak with a British accent. This, of course, implies a fine, expensive, foreign education.

Not bad as Chinese women are also portrayed as second class citizens who are lucky to get an education at all, let alone a fine education. A contradiction in stereotypes here. These are the generic stereotypes and they may not have all the characteristics listed. And not all stereotypes are used in every movie.

As always, your mileage may vary. However, these characters, in all variations, are immediately recognizable. The China Doll stereotype is used 99 % of the time to portray Asian women. The point is all Asian actors, you see on television and in movies, play these stereotypes! This bears repeating.

ALL Asian actors! If you don't believe me, name two movies or two television shows with Asian actors that do not play these stereotypes. Can you name even one? In 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. Guess 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. Two of the husbands were white men and wer...


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Research essay sample on Joy Luck Club Uncle Tom

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