Joy Luck Club (1993)

In the opening sequence with the family party I first noticed the diversity of the group. This might have been the first time I have seen such a large group of Asian American on the screen. The diversity came with the Caucasian Americans that are set in the background. This seems to be where these characters stay too, in the background. I went into the film knowing it would be a film on race. So I went in with the mindset trying to see who was left out. At the beginning I could tell the only characters would either be Asian Americans and Caucasian males. African Americans and Latino Americans were left out of this film. I think having a film based on Asian Americans the producers might have thought that including other races in the story even as background characters would have taken away from their point. I think this takes away from the film and adds to the problem with current films. The same thing is done with women. All the women shown in the film are Asian American. I do not think there were any Caucasian women in the film even in the background.
When viewing the film noticing who was left all is one of the only things I took in, I did not think to look at these characterizations. After the film i did some reading and i read some critiques on the film. In the reading it laid out what these characterizations and really opened my eyes. I am quite surprised I did not see it myself. The reading talks about the film being very stereotypical. The Asian males in the film are perceived as being bad and white males are shown as good. I do not agree with this and the paper gives counter arguments too. The white males are seen as being good, but there is the husband that cheats on his wife. The most likeable male in the whole film his the father of June. I’m glad I read this review as it opened my eyes up further at the critical critique of the film.
I found the film to be very confusing. Given all the different points of views and the flashbacks it was hard for me to follow who’s story was being told. I do not know how the could have really corrected this since the film originated as a book and story lines are easier to follow when reading. During the flashbacks I mostly was thinking to myself. “Ok, who is telling this story, and whose mother or daughter is she?” I think as a viewer this took a lot away from a film that almost solely relied on narrative.