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... e 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. Let'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. This short lived television show starred a twenty-something Asian actor (though half Asian) as the main character! This alone was revolutionary given the earlier TV shows like Kung Fu which starred a white guy playing a Chinese man.
He was even real. Attended college, played the violin and even had a white girlfriend! This too was revolutionary. He was strong. He was intelligent.
He had a code of ethics. He was even presentable and spoke perfect English. Then like in all TV shows, media executives had to pee in it and make the stereotype. This guy was a master of Kung Fu, glowed while meditating, put out candle flames with his hand five inches away, etc.
Shades of Mystic Fighter! To lock in the cliche, they made his brother a Gangster! His gangster brother turns out to be their mutual downfall, blah, blah, blah. It really was a shame the show was cancelled. I can see why though. It was getting too supernatural and too fortune cookie-ish.
The 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. 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: Perhaps these actors are too jaded or too new to realize they are playing stereotypes.
This may be possible but I find it hard to believe. It seems the JLC's redeeming value is the relationships between the mothers and daughters. This chord has been universally described to me by my female friends from all ethnic backgrounds (Asian, Black, Hispanic, etc). It seems women can relate to this movie.
For all its faults, the JLC is a movie that did "go mainstream" with a cast of almost all Asian actors. The movie played in general theaters, not in obscure specialty / foreign theaters. The photography, sets, costumes, makeup, etc. were first rate.
Perhaps any exposure of Asian acting to Middle-America is better than no exposure. A person has got to eat. And Asian actors have a particularly difficult time finding regular acting gigs. The 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. Frequently Asked Questions or Comments I 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. Have you read the JLC book? It's much better than the movie. This appears to be the most asked question.
I have two answers for this: The JLC movie will have to stand on its own. Most people do not have the time or inclination to read the book, including me. In fact, the only people I have encountered that have actually read the book were forced to because of a class at school. Most people would rather see the movie. This may be a sad commentary on society in general but it is true. It appears more than half the people who read the book say it is just as bad as the movie or worse.
So I guess it depends on your point of view. How can you say Chinese are so few? Half of my classmates are Chinese! We have... (list of Asian names here... ) I do not make this claim. It is taken from an official source, the 1990 US Census. If you take the time to research the numbers you will see that the Chinese population does not change dramatically percentage-wise across the USA.
I predict we may go up a percentage point for the 2000 US Census. This may bring up the Chinese population to 2 - 3 percent of the total population. Still not a lot no matter how you look at it. As far as your classmates are concerned, your sample is too small to make an generalization as to the total US population (now over 250 million people). You are probably located in a port-of-entry city like Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York where most immigrants will naturally congregate.
If you have traveled to other parts of the US like the Mid-West or South, you will see Asians are relatively rare in this country. Also, the names you include are not all Chinese. You have included Japanese and Vietnamese names in your list. Do you actually know the difference between Chinese and other Asians? I am a white guy with an Asian girlfriend and...
Surprisingly, I get a lot of these types of email messages. They usually come from the aol. com domain so I can already guess the general ignorance of these people. Having an Asian girlfriend does not automatically make you an expert in Asians or Asian culture no matter how much you have deluded yourself. You have no idea what it's like to grow up as an Asian American.
Bibliography: the joy luck club by amy tan "the joy luck club"
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