The wedding banquet by Ang Lee - Movie Review Example

The Wedding Banquet by Ang Lee The lack of acceptance faced by homosexuals is a burning issue in the mainstream society because the public considers the same as immoral. Still, some directors inculcate this theme in their movies and create awareness on homosexuality among the mass. Ang Lee is one among the directors who consider that directors have social responsibility in general. Thesis statement: In the movie named as The Wedding Banquet, The director (Ang Lee) makes use of the theme of homosexuality and cultural difference to prove that how different cultures (say, Eastern and Western) assess and determine human relationships in general.

Plot summary The film’s main plot revolves around immigrant homosexual couples, named as Wai-Tung Gao (from Taiwan) and Simon. But Wai-Tung was forced to marry a bankrupt lady named as Wei-Wei. Besides, Wai-Tung agrees to marry because he does not like to dishearten his parents. Meanwhile, Wei-Wei gets impregnated from Wai-Tung. On the other side, Wai-Tung discloses his sexual interest to his mother. In the end, Wai-Tung’s father accepts his son’s sexual interest and goes back to his motherland.

Besides, Wei-Wei gives birth to a child and accepts Simon to her family. In short, sexual orientation becomes acceptable within Wai-Tung’s private circle. Review: Homosexuality In the film, the director makes use of the main characters as his mouthpiece to share his opinion on homosexuality. Cliff Mills opines that, “The Wedding Banquet script is based on a true story about a gay Taiwanese immigrant living in New York City with his partner” (59). One can see that the gay couple in the film tries to hide their sexual interest because they consider that the society will not accept their relationship.

Besides, the problems faced by the gay couple can be generalized to the wider context of the social problems faced by gay people. Still, the female protagonist (say, Wei-Wei) shows acceptance to the gay couple. In short, the director sheds light into the problems faced by gay people. Cultural difference In the film, the western society does not hesitate to accept homosexual people to the core of the society. On the other side, those who represent Eastern society hesitate to accept homosexuality as a sexual interest.

Fran Martin states that, “In its negotiation of the positioning of Taiwan vis-a-vis the US and hence ‘the rest of the world’, The Wedding Banquet stages a kind of postcolonial cultural clash between two regimes of sexuality: broadly a ‘Chinese-familial’ regime, and a regime of ‘American gay identity’ ” (143). To be specific, the protagonist’s (Wai-Tung) mother’s negative attitude towards homosexuality is symbolic the Eastern attitude towards the same. Still, the protagonist’s father accepts his son’s relationship.

On the other side, the female protagonist accepts her gay husband and his partner to her private circle. In short, the director makes use of his main characters to portray the differences between cultures that result in different attitude towards homosexuality. Personal opinion: In my opinion, the director provides ample importance to his responsibility towards the mainstream society. To be specific, the director attracts the viewer’s attention towards the problems faced by gay people.

Besides, I like the female protagonist because she does not abandon her husband’s gay partner, but accepts him to her own family. This proves that people are ready to accept homosexuality as a sexual preference. Summing, the film proves that cultural difference is the main reason behind the problems faced by homosexual people. The director chose homosexuality as the main theme to shed light into the problems faced by gay people. Besides, the film proves that human relationships are determined differently in different cultures.

In short, the director considers that the society is responsible for the problems faced by gay people because they lack social acceptance. Works CitedMills, Cliff. Ang Lee. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print.Martin, Fran. Situating Sexualities: Queer Representation in Taiwanese Fiction, Film and Public Culture. Aberdeen: Hong Kong University Press, 2003. Print.