#the joy luck club (1993)

[of-fear-and-love]

Lena's apartment from The Joy Luck Club (1993) ft. cat that keeps looking at the camera

Directed by Wayne Wang Production design by Donald Graham Burt Art direction by Diana Kunce Set decoration by Jim Poynter Set design by Don Weinger

[declanscunt]

the joy luck club should have come with a special fucking warning for daughters of chinese immigrant mothers because i’m literally so inconsolable right now

[rainagainstthewindowatnight]

relationships between narcissistic mothers and daughters

midnight sun by stephenie meyer / white oleander (2002) / mermaids (1990) / the joy luck club (1993) / sharp objects (2018) / unknown / ladybird (2017) / white oleander by janet fitch / girl in progress (2012)

[colinfirth]

My mother died four months ago. I realized, for the first time, that they wanted me to take my mother's place. So I sat down on the East, where things begin, with my mother's best friends. THE JOY LUCK CLUB (1993) | dir. Wayne Wang

[tawus]

African/African-American/Black

Do The Right Thing (1989) On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Goodbye Solo (2008) This film is touching and humorous. It is the story of an unlikely friendship between a struggling but happy cab driver from Senegal, and a tormented southern man with secrets.

Lincoln (2012) As the Civil War continues to rage, President struggles with continued fighting on the battlefield during the civil war but he also fights with many inside his own cabinet with his decision to emancipate the slaves.

Malcom X (1992) Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam.

Straight Outta Compton (2015) The group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.

The Color of Friendship (2000) Mahree Bok is a white South African teenager and a product of the Apartheid system raised to view dark-skinned people as second-class citizens. Piper Dellums is the daughter of an African-American U.S. Congressman living in Washington D.C. When Mahree is chosen to spend her time as an exchange student at the Dellums's house, she is shocked on her arrival to discover that the Dellums are black, and the Dellums are just as surprised when they realize that Mahree is a white South African.

The Color Purple (1985) Based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple is a richly-textured, powerful film set in America's rural south. It is a brilliant drama about a black woman's struggles to take control of her life in a small Southern town in the early 20th century.

The Help (2011) This academy award winning movie takes place during the civil rights movements of the 1960’s, when an aspiring writer decides to write a book about the African-American maids' point of view on the white families they work for and the hardships they experience on a daily basis.

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Cambodian/Chinese/Vietnamese

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) A senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.

Holly (2006) In Cambodia, Holly, a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, encounters Patrick, an American stolen artifacts dealer. The story follows their strong connection and her unrelenting efforts to escape her fate.

Last Train Home (2009) A couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.

Lost in Paradise (2011) Khoi, naive twenty-year-old travels to Ho Chi Minh City from the countryside to begin a new life. It's his first time in the big city and he's looking for a place to live.

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) A young woman becomes the fourth wife of a wealthy lord and must learn to live with the strict rules and tensions within the household.

Sentenced Home (2007) This documentary follows three Cambodian-American men, brought to the U.S. as children by their refugee families. They were raised in the grim public housing of Seattle, among gangs and other realities of that life. Bad choices as teens altered their lives forever, when immigration laws after 9/11 provided no second changes for such children. Though they were raised in the U.S., speak to one another in English, even think in English, each is sentenced to return to Cambodia - separated from family here, possibly forever.

The Joy Luck Club (1993) The story of four Chinese women who immigrated to the U.S. and their first-generation daughters. When one of the women dies, her daughter plays Mahjong with the older women and begins to really learn what her mother endured in China and of her sisters who were left behind. Daughter from Danang (2002) Separated at the end of the Vietnam war, an "Americanized" woman and her Vietnamese mother are reunited after 22 years.

The Last Emperor (1987) The story of the final Emperor of China.

The Quiet American (2002) An older British reporter vies with a young U.S. doctor for the affections of a beautiful Vietnamese woman.

The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000) The plot centres around three sisters, two of whom are happily married (or so it appears).

Three Seasons (1999) An American in Ho Chi Minh City looks for a daughter he fathered during the war. He meets Woody, a child who's a street vendor, and when Woody's case of wares disappears, he thinks the soldier took it. Woody hunts for him.

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South Asian/Indian

Bhaji on the Beach (1998) Hashida, an 18-year old Asian woman, lives with her family in Birmingham. Her father wants her to become a doctor and next month her medical school is going to start. Secretly, she has a black boyfriend – which is an absolute faux pas in some Asian cultures – and has now discovered that she is pregnant. She joins a small South Asian women's group on a trip to Blackpool, a trip that holds life-changing experiences for all.

Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Teen-aged Londoner Jesminder Bhamra chases her dream of being a professional soccer player while dealing with the objections of her traditional Sikh family.

Gandhi (1982) A biography of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of non-violent protest.

Slum Dog Millionaire (2008) A teen in Mumbai, India who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" When he is suspected of cheating, he is arrested. During his police interrogation, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

The Namesake (2006) A tale of a first-generation son of traditional, Indian immigrant parents. As he tries to make a place for himself, not always able to straddle two worlds gracefully, he is surprised by what he learns about his family and himself.

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Disease/Mental Illness/Disability

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989) Christy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.

The Theory of Everything (2014) A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife.

Ray (2004) The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

Still Alice (2014) A linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

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LGBTQ+

A Single Man (2009) The story of an English professor, who one year after the sudden death of his boyfriend, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960s Los Angeles. It is a powerful story of his grief and pain for the loss of someone he truly deeply loved.

Boys Don’t Cry(1999) This film is about the true life story of Brandon Teena, a young woman who is going through a sexual identity crisis. She cuts her hair and dresses like a man to see if she can pass as one. She lived life in a male identity until it was discovered he was born biologically female.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) This film tells the story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two same-sex cowboys and their lives over the years.

Milk (2008) This film tells the story of American gay activist, Harvey Milk, and his struggles as he fights for gay rights and becomes California's first openly gay elected official.

Philadelphia (1993) In this movie, a lawyer, working for a conservative law firm, is diagnosed with AIDS. His employer fires him because of his condition. He tries to find someone to take his case but all refuse except one willing small time lawyer who advocates for a wrongful dismissal suit in spite of his own fears and homophobia.

The Danish Girl (2015) A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

Transamerica (2005) A pre-operative male-to-female transgender takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she fathered a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

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Hispanic/Latino(a)/Mexican

A Day Without a Mexican (2004) One-third of the population of California is Latinos, Hispanics, Mexicans. How would it change life for the state's other residents if this portion of the populous suddenly vanished? The film is a "mockumentary" designed to show the valuable contributions made every day by Latinos.

Babel (2006) Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.

El Norte (1983) The Guatemalan army discovers Mayan Indian peasants who have begun to organize, hoping to rise above their label of "brazos fuertes" or "strong arms" (manual laborers). The army massacres their families and destroys their village to give the new recruits no choice but to follow and obey. However, two teenage siblings survive and are determined to escape to the U.S. or El Norte. They make their way to L.A. - uneducated, illegal immigrants, alone.

Mi Familia (My Family) (1995) This epic film traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Jose and Maria, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the 1950s. As the second generation become adults in the 1960s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

Sin Nombre (2009) A Honduran young girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the American border.

Under the Same Moon (2007) Heartwarming story about a mother who leaves Mexico to make a home for herself and her son (Adrian Alonso). When the boy's grandmother dies, leaving him alone, he sets off on his own to find his mother.

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Immigrants/Undocumented

Crossing Arizona (2006) With Americans on all sides of the issue up in arms and Congress in a policy battle over how to move forward, Crossing Arizona tells the story of how we got to where we are today. Heightened security in California and Texas has pushed illegal border-crossers into the Arizona desert in unprecedented numbers (estimated 4,500 a day). Most are Mexican men in search of work, but increasingly the border-crossers are women and children wanting to join their husbands and fathers. This influx of migrants crossing through Arizona and the attendant rising death toll has elicited complicated feelings about human rights, culture, class, labor, and national security.

Dancer in the Dark (2000) An east European girl goes to America with her young son, expecting it to be like a Hollywood film.

El Norte (1983) The Guatemalan army discovers Mayan Indian peasants who have begun to organize, hoping to rise above their label of "brazos fuertes" or "strong arms" (manual laborers). The army massacres their families and destroys their village to give the new recruits no choice but to follow and obey. However, two teenage siblings survive and are determined to escape to the U.S. or El Norte. They make their way to L.A. - uneducated, illegal immigrants, alone.

In America (2002) A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

The Terminal (2004) When an Eastern European immigrant comes to American to fulfill a promise to his father he finds himself stranded inside JFK airport, making it his temporary residence when he cannot enter the USA nor return home.

The Visitor (2007) A lonely economics professor in Connecticut life is changed forever - and for the better - when he finds a couple of illegals, who happen to be living in his New York apartment.

Green Card (1990) A French man wanting to stay in the US enters into a “short-term” marriage to an American woman so he can get his green card. Complications result when he gets caught lying.

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Indigenous

Avatar (2009) A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) A chronicle of how American Indians were displaced as the U.S. expanded west. Based on the book by Dee Brown.

Once Were Warriors (1994) A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) In 1931 Australia, government policy includes taking half-caste children from their Aboriginal mothers and sending them a thousand miles away "to save them from themselves." Molly, Daisy, and Grace (two sisters and a cousin who are 14, 10, and 8) arrive at their “school” and promptly escape, under Molly's lead. For days they walk north, following a fence that keeps rabbits from settlements, eluding a native tracker and the regional constabulary. Their pursuers take orders from the government's "chief protector of Aborigines," A.O. Neville, blinded by Anglo-Christian certainty, evolutionary worldview and conventional wisdom.

Smoke Signals (1998) Young Indian man Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories no-one wants to hear. His parents died in a fire in 1976, and Thomas was saved by Arnold. Arnold soon left his family (and his tough son Victor), and Victor hasn't seen his father for 10 years. When Victor hears Arnold has died, Thomas offers him funding for the trip to get Arnold's remains, but only if Thomas will also go with him. Thomas and Victor hit the road.

The Spirit of Crazy Horse (1990) One hundred years after the massacre at Wounded Knee, Milo Yellow Hair recounts the story of his people-from the lost battles for their land against the invading whites-to the bitter internal divisions and radicalization of the 1970's-to the present-day revival of Sioux cultural pride, which has become a unifying force as the Sioux try to define themselves and their future.

Whale Rider (2002) On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their History dates back a thousand years to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. Whangara chiefs have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand culture, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai must fight a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

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Middle Eastern

Baran (2001) In a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both their lives.

Incendies (2010) Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history, and fulfill their mother's last wishes.

Schindler's List (1993) In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.

The Band’s Visit (2007) A band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.

Turtles Can Fly (2004) Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.

Wadjda (2012) An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.

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Pacific Islander/Polynesian

Balangiga: The Howling Wilderness (2017) 1901, Balangiga. Eight-year-old Kulas flees town with his grandfather and their carabao to escape General Smith's Kill and Burn order. He finds a toddler amid a sea of corpses and together, the two boys struggle to survive the American occupation.

Moana (2016) In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui reaches an impetuous Chieftain's daughter's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the Demigod to set things right.

Once Were Warriors (1994) A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.

Princess Kaiulani (2009) The story of a Hawaiian princess' attempts to maintain the independence of the island against the threat of American colonization.

Whale Rider (2002) On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their History dates back a thousand years to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. Whangara chiefs have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand culture, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai must fight a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

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Women

Āfsāīd = Offside (2006) Struggle of Women in a country that excludes them from entering the stadiums.

The Help (2011) This academy award winning movie takes place during the civil rights movements of the 1960’s when an aspiring writer decides to write a book about the African-American maids' point of view on the white families they work for and the hardships they experience on a daily basis.

Suffragette (2015) The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.

Water (2005) The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

Whale Rider (2002) On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their History dates back a thousand years to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. Whangara chiefs have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand culture, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai must fight a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

Ooh amazing, thank you for this! ❤️

I've watched Slumdog Millionaire, Brokeback Mountain, and Schindler's List. And read a Penguin Classics abridged version of Rabbit-Proof Fence as part of my English learning back in my teenage years. Some of the others I'm familiar with tho have yet to watch; and others are completely new to me

[susandsnell]

Hmmm, is there a movie you really like from 1993?

Tons, but three stand out as three of my all time favourites, all of which fundamentally are about women, and all of which feature INCREDIBLE ensemble casts:

The Age of Innocence is maybe in my top 5 favourite Scorsese films, and a pitch-perfect adaptation of a beloved book. Stunning costumes, sexy, emotionally violent. May Welland you will ALWAYS be famous.

Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing is the film that made me fall in love with Shakespeare as a child, and it is my favourite adaptation of my favourite Shakespeare play. Eat his heart out in the marketplace, Emma Thompson. I believe you. I'll stand behind you.

The Joy Luck Club is another stellar adaptation that in some ways outdoes its source material, and is one of the most beautiful films ever made. It also still wins for hardest I'll ever cry at any movie. "You have best-quality heart."

Honourable mentions to Schindler's List (which I've seen far fewer times than any other movie here because it's one of the few mainstream films I genuinely have difficulty watching for reasons of personal relation to the subject matter), one of Spielberg's finest, A Bronx Tale, Tombstone, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and my spooky trio of perfection that always warrant a watch come every October, Addams Family Values, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Hocus Pocus!

[jonnyconsequence]

“My mom always does this.”

The Joy Luck Club (1993) Directed by Wayne Wang Cinematography by Amir Mokri

[cantsayidont]

Some movies, considered chronologically:

THE FLAMINGO KID (1984): Nostalgia-burdened period piece, set in 1963, about working-class kid Jeffrey (Matt Dillon), who gets a summer job parking cars at an exclusive beach club called El Flamingo, starts dating a rich girl (Carole R. Davis), and becomes fascinated by her father (Richard Crenna), a self-made sports car dealer and local card sharp who thinks college is sucker's game. This alienates Jeffrey's own father (Hector Elizondo), a stalwart plumber who doesn't want to see Jeffrey squander his chances of bettering himself. The story is thus a sort of YA prototype of Oliver Stone's later WALL STREET — a Reagan-era morality play about a young man caught between two father figures, one representing the Lure of Easy Money and the other a paragon of Honest Hard Work — badly undermined by its absurdly idealized longing for the alleged innocence of the Kennedy era (underlined by an obnoxious oldies soundtrack). It offers a meaty role for Crenna, but as a drama, it has less substance than FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. Davis's character is such a nonentity that you keep forgetting she's there, and the way she ends up functioning as a proxy for Jeffrey's obsession with her dad is awkward. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Nope. VERDICT: A simple-minded story blinded by its rose-colored glasses.

THE JOY LUCK CLUB (1993): Sudsy but affecting episodic adaptation of Amy Tan's novel about four middle-aged Chinese women and their strained relationships with their Chinese-American daughters, starring Ming-Na Wen and nearly every other Chinese actress working in the U.S. at the time. The way the script segues between the characters' respective stories is clunky, and it often teeters on the brink of schmaltz, but there are moments of real dramatic power amongst the more superficial tearjerker moments, and you'd have to have a stonier heart than I to not sob at the bittersweet ending. Strong acting helps, with Tsai Chin particularly good as Auntie Lindo. CONTAINS LESBIANS? It seems like it should, but alas. VERDICT: Heavy-handed at times, but undeniably moving.

COLD COMFORT FARM (1996): Before she became an action star, Kate Beckinsale starred in this hilarious adaptation of Stella Gibbons' 1932 satiric novel about glib orphan Flora Poste, who makes it her project to fix all the problems of the titular farm and its eccentric denizens — distant cousins who feel obligated to Flora (whom they will only address as "Robert Poste's child") because of some unspecified wrong they once did her late father. Among the inmates of Cold Comfort are Cousin Judith (Eileen Atkins), a hysterically morose creature straight out of a gothic novel; Cousin Amos (Ian McKellen), a fire-and-brimstone preacher who warns his brethren, "There'll be no butter in Hell!"; Amos and Judith's oversexed son Seth (Rufus Sewell), a local stud who dreams of being in the talkies; and of course Aunt Ada Doom (Sheila Burrell), who rules the family with an iron fist and won't let anyone forget that she once saw something nasty in the woodshed. A delightfully silly spoof of a particular category of once-popular English literature, as the farm's assorted grim melodramas prove no match for the implacable (if somewhat snobbish) modern sensibilities of its plucky heroine. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Nope. VERDICT: Great fun throughout, although Stephen Fry irritates as a boorish "Laurentian person" who keeps hitting on Flora despite her obvious disinterest.

BREAKDOWN (1997): Competent but underwhelming Jonathan Mostow thriller starring Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan as Jeff and Amy Taylor, a couple of Yuppies whose fancy Jeep breaks down on the highway on a trip from Massachusetts to California. A passing trucker (J.T. Walsh) gives Amy a ride into the nearest town to find them a tow truck, but when Jeff gets their Jeep running again and follows her into town, he finds that Amy has disappeared, and no one, including the trucker, will admit to having seen her. It has a great premise, and Russell is credible enough in the lead, but it's pretty ordinary, and, once you know what's going on (which is revealed a little over a half-hour in), pretty superficial — there's no psychological depth, and I kept waiting for some other story twist that never came. CONTAINS LESBIANS? It barely contains women (Amy is absent for 80 percent of the running time). VERDICT: Not bad, but nothing special, and you'll forget it 10 minutes after it ends.

MY TWO HUSBANDS (2024): Okay Lifetime thriller about a young woman named Eliza (Isabelle Almoyan), still reeling from the recent murder of her mother (Joanie Geiger), who becomes deeply suspicious of her father's young new wife, a flight attendant named Brooke (Kabby Borders) who's no older than Eliza — and, as the title alludes, is secretly married to another man (Britton Webb, who looks like a lesser Baldwin brother) and up to no good. Despite the cheesy title (which is really also a spoiler) and awkward marketing (which misleadingly suggests a comedy-drama with Brooke rather than Eliza as the main character), it has a surprisingly decent, reasonably credible script, hamstrung by very weak performances. The story is still interesting enough to make it a not-bad little thriller, although it would have been better with a stronger cast and less somnabulistic direction. CONTAINS LESBIANS: It sometimes seems like Eliza's friend Star (Kristen Grace Gonzalez) might be her girlfriend, but the script is noncommittal on this point. VERDICT: A B+ script burdened with D+ acting and C- direction.

[silverscreencaps]

The Joy Luck Club (1993) dir. Wayne Wang

[roselynchin]

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

The Joy Luck Club recounts the stories of four pairs of Chinese immigrant mothers and their American born daughters. The four mothers, Suyuan, An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying, make up the Joy Luck Club during which they eat, share stories, and play mahjong. The Joy Luck Club is based on the book of the same title by Amy Tan (1989).

The mothers fulfill the sojourner then accommodation mentalities as we learn about their lives in China then coming to America and adapting to the new environment. While each of them have their own reasons for coming to America, their struggles to provide better lives and opportunities for their families are shared. On the other hand, the four daughters, Jing-mei, Rose, Waverly, and Lena serve as the total assimilators as they have grown up in American society and adopted many of their norms despite their mothers’ efforts to instill in their daughters their own traditional values and experiences. The mothers’ accommodation is an exact example of the article’s mentioned “distinct Chinese American identity, one rooted in experience and a belief in a community with shared interests and a common destiny in the United States” (Stringer 427).

Each of the mothers hope to leave their traumatic pasts behind by coming to America and using their experiences to properly raise their daughters and set them up for success. For example, Lindo was betrothed at four years old and forced to marry into a wealthy family at age fifteen who abused her for not bearing an heir. Lindo is able to escape by taking advantage of her mother-in-law’s superstitious beliefs and years later raises a family in America, including her daughter, Waverly. Lindo has high hopes for her daughter which Waverly at first fulfills by becoming a chess champion at six years old. However, Waverly interprets her mother being proud of her as pompous, overbearing boasting and decides to quit chess which both ruins her confidence, any chance she has at playing, and her relationship with her mother. This ruination of something that made her extraordinary and made her mother proud results in Waverly’s constant fear of never being good enough for her mother. This continues until Waverly confronts her mom before her second’s marriage (for some context, her fiancé is white and has disrespected Waverly’s family with his cultural ignorance like his insults of the food and not being able to use chopsticks).  

Throughout the film, Jing-mei or June also faces this struggle of never being enough and throughout her childhood and even adulthood, has always been compared to Waverly. June also feels like she never lives up to her mother’s expectations first with a failed piano recital and more and more flaws over the years. June reaches her breaking point after Waverly rejects her business proposal and embarrasses her at a dinner party, and confronts her mother, believing that Suyuan implied Waverly has more style than her. 

Throughout The Joy Luck Club, the mother-daughter relationships display how impactful the mothers’s pasts are on their hopes for the children’s future and the pressure that in turn has on their children. The Joy Luck Club depicts the struggle of living up to the American dream while retaining as a fixture in immigrant and Asian American identity. Regardless of economic status or other factors of one’s situation, there are always improvements to be made and possibilities for social mobility. The children and descendants of immigrants feel the constant pressure to prove themselves to their family even if their family’s high expectations come from good intentions and love of their children. 

Even though many of the events of the film take place years before or after the events of immigration, how are the characters’ self-view affected by the move?

The four mothers meet at church after immigrating to America and form their own tight-knit community. How do these connections provide support while also challenging and threatening each others’ success in America? 

The Joy Luck Club was made in 1993, do you feel that the portrayal of the Chinese Asian American identity still holds true today? How do you feel the portrayal of Asian American identity has developed in the media since then?

Several of the stories of The Joy Luck Club address the families making a place and a name for themselves in America. Why do you think it is important for the film to show the struggles they face in introducing others to their culture along with the struggles they face accommodating or assimilating to western culture?

[of-fear-and-love]

[rainagainstthewindowatnight]

mother/daughter relationships portrayed in film :

white oleander ( 2002 ) / little women ( 1994 ) / ladybird ( 2017 ) / beyond the lights ( 2014 ) / the joy luck club ( 1993 ) / the parent trap ( 1998 ) / mermaids ( 1990 ) / love & basketball ( 2000 ) / divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood ( 2002 ) / mamma mia! ( 2008 )

[popculturebrain]

Adele Lim’s R-Rated Comedy ‘Joy Ride’ Was Originally Called ‘Joy F— Club’ It’s a profane callback to “The Joy Luck Club,” a multigenerational family saga that broke ground. But if “Joy Ride” builds on the legacy set by that landmark 1993 film in that nearly all of its cast is Asian, the similarities between the two end there. Subscribe to the Pop Culture Brain Daily newsletter for more stories like this!

[postcards-and-postcrossing]

The Joy Luck Club

Postcard from USA When The Joy Luck Club premiered in theaters in 1993, it gave voice to a group of women that had not yet been depicted in American cinema.Based on the bestselling 1989 novel by Amy Tan and directed by Wayne Wang, the movie tells the stories of four American-born Chinese women and their complex, and often fraught, relationships with their immigrant mothers. The film is…