My feeling of watching the film of The Joy Luck Club

I was watching the film of The Joy Luck Club with deep sympathy. Amy Tan describes some conflicts between the four mothers and the four daughters. The four mothers grew up under the old Chinese regime; they suffered from the miserable life-like poor ducks.  They struggled against their fate and escaped from China toAmerica. They hoped their daughters would have a bright life in the US -like beautyful swans. Unfortunately, a lot of misunderstandings between the two generations were often caused by the different culture background and experience. Through the mothers and daughters’ painful efforts, they began to understand each other and adjusted the relationship from conflicts to blending.

I can understand the meaning of the film as a Chinese daugher and a Chinese mother. I am familiar with the situation of the middle of the last century. I would like to try to summarize the two points of the Chinese culture that Amy expressed in the film.

1.    The marriage in the old China

About 50 years ago, Chinese women’s marriage was managed by match makers when they were little girls in poor families. A girl could not choose her husband by herself, women were not even able to meet their future husband before marriage. In the wedding ceremony, a lady’s head was covered by a piece of red cloth. After wedding, her cloth would be lifted and could see her man, no matter whether he was a boy or a block of wood -like the daughter Lindo Jong in the film. Generally, the lady needed to live with him or its for her whole life, and they never got divorced. It was said it was her destiny.

2.      Parents hope the children will be dragon and phoenix

Dragon and Phoenix in Chinese means the best boy and the best girl in the world. In order to train the children to be a dragon or a phoenix, parents make a great efforts to save the money on the food and the expenses. They force their children to learn some skills professionally, in spite of whether the children like it or hate it. If the children finally got the top 1 in some field, the parents would be very proud of them. Parents would like to display the children’s achievement in public. Otherwise, the parents would not hold their head high in public. However, the children did not want them to do that. This is called the generation gap. Amy Tan delivered the issue in the film clearly.

I like this film. Some things have changed, and some things remain the same.