The Root of the Problem

In Wayne Wang’s film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club, the generational hardships between four mothers and their daughters stem from their mothers’ departure from China, to create a better, hopeful future for their daughters. In a family setting, there are many moments where the audience can connect when a child expects something from their parent emotionally and how it can enhance generational conflict between the child and their parent. This film integrates intense situations from the mothers’ experience from China, which allows the audience to see where the mothers have become the parent they needed when they were younger, not necessarily what exactly their daughters truly needed as they grew into their adulthood. Their Chinese-American daughters show the hardships they experience with their mothers; as each mother’s backstory and their impact on their daughter is expanded on; the two reach a more unifying mother-daughter relationship, where the connection and mutual emotional support between a mother and daughter is reciprocated between the mother and daughters in the film. In an interview with Wayne Wang, one of his main purposes of the Joy Luck Club film adaptation was to find where the generational gap can stem from, more specifically coming to an understanding as to why generations are different and how that can influence specific generations in the family environment (Tibbetts 1994). It is also a recurring theme in the interview that Wang’s intentionalities behind his film productions is understanding ethnic roots, and the relationship between ethnic roots and how that has influenced generational conflict in family environments. Watching this film, I’m surprised I was able to spot one of Wang’s big intentions of the craft of this production before reading the interview, because I feel like it’s important to understand where these generational conflicts can stem from. It has definitely helped me with the generational gap and other complexities I’ve experienced being a Vietnamese-American, and my parents immigrating from Vietnam for a better life for my brothers and I. Overall, the film impacts the viewer by showing how cultural trauma can influence a generation and how that can impact the future generations after their time.

Tibbetts, John C. “A Delicate Balance: An Interview with Wayne Wang about the Joy Luck Club.” Literature Film Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1, Jan. 1994, p. 2. EBSCOhost, http://libraries.ou.edu/access.aspx?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9503101638&site=ehost-live