Movie Analysis: The Wedding Banquet - Essay Example

? Movie Analysis: The Wedding Banquet Movie Analysis: The Wedding Banquet Ang Lee’s 1993 film “The Wedding Banquet” is the first mainstream Taiwanese and Chinese-language movie that seriously depicts the concept of homosexuality in the Chinese Culture (Dilley, 2007). The movie was well received, getting positive reviews from critics in both the US and in China. The movie has generated a lot of interest among people due to its depiction of themes of family and sexuality (Dilley, 2007). Unlike in America, where issues of sexuality, including homosexuality are openly discussed, in China and most Asian countries such issues are not meant for public discussion. In addressing family conflicts, the movie goes a step further by dealing with conflict of the family as a whole, as opposed to a conflict between an individual and his or her family as most Hollywood movies do (Dilley, 2007). The Wedding banquet promotes its audience to empathize not only with individual characters, but with the entire Chinese family that has been affected with the American culture that is quickly becoming global. The movie represents a lot of views touching on identities of not only gay Chinese men, but also issues affecting Asian Americans and Chinese women in the contemporary society. This movie, as well as most of Ang Lee’s movies is aimed at criticizing several stereotypes in the Chinese and Asian culture such as views on gay relationships. The Wedding banquet, often categorized as a comedy/drama portrays a family conflict in an Asian society in a very sensitive and tender way with a lot of humor incorporated in the story to help illustrate the main issues better (Dilley, 2007). The movie addresses generational, cultural and sexual conflicts that young Asian men and women experience in the contemporary society. The movie features Mr. Winston Chao as Wai Tung, a successful Asian-American man living happily with his gay lover Simon (Mitchel Lichtenstein). Wai Tung’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Gao, who are abroad decide to arrange for a marriage for their son, oblivious of his sexual orientation. Wai Tung accepts the arrangement unwillingly because he knows that his parents are far away. When the parents visit him to finalize the arrangements, Wai Tung fakes an engagement to Wei Wei (May Chun), an Asian girl who is also a struggling artist and is Wai Tung’s tenant. He also hides his relationship with Simon, by Simon posing as his landlord and roommate. At the wedding banquet, Wai Tung and Wei Wei make love, and she conceives a child, which upsets Simon. Wai Tung’s parents stay a bit longer than expected, and they soon find out that their son is in a relationship with Simon. Wai Tung, Simon and Wei Wei decide to live together and raise the child. Toward the end of the 29th century and the beginning of the 21st century, most a lot of movies produced focused on family issues and relationships and how they are perceived in the Chinese culture (Dilley, 2007). These new movies aimed at reinventing the way the Chinese culture views relationships and the family as a whole. The movies examined several possibilities of altering the traditional understanding of family and relationships so as to accommodate the modern views mostly upheld by the young generation. These movies called for a complete change in the family set up affecting all kinship ties and relationships (Dilley, 2007). The wedding Banquet is one of these critically acclaimed movies that criticize the Chinese and Asian culture in general and their traditional understanding of the family. The Chinese family, like most Asian families, is patriarchal in nature. The father commands a lot of respect in the family, and he holds the final word on most family issues. Children are brought up in a family and are expected to start their own families when they get older so as to continue the family lineage. Children form a very important part of an Asian family. Young men and women are expected to marry members of the opposite sex so as to procure children and continue the family lineage (Dilley, 2007). It becomes an issue of concern if young men and women, who are of a marriage age, do not marry on time. Their parents become concerned and step in to help in looking for possible suitors and organize for a marriage for their children. Kinship ties are also an important aspect in an Asian family structure. The modern understanding of the family and relationships has greatly affected Asian families. The young generation no longer feels obliged to get married so as to continue their family lineage. They have become more open in the way they view relationships and accommodate same sex relationships. Children are increasingly being viewed as an expanse and burdensome to young parents in these tough economic times (Dilley, 2007). Some couples choose to have very few children or even opt not to have children at all. People have become more individualized and care less about their relatives. This has led to deterioration of kinship ties between families in the modern Asian society. The young generation also feels less bound to family traditions, which in their opinion have become outdated. Such issues experienced by the young generation have been a source of conflict among families in the contemporary Asian families. The older generation wants to stick to their traditions while on the other hand, the young generation discards such traditions. There has been a call to the older generation to understand the changes that have come about as a result of modernization, globalization as well as the need to respect human rights. Movies such as The Wedding Banquet have been at the forefront of criticizing the traditional understanding of the family and relationships in modern day China and the Asian continent at large. In The Wedding Banquet, the movie deals with issues such as the patriarchal family system that put men at the helm of decision making in the family and disregarding the importance of women to some extent, same sex relationships, importance of children as well as deterioration of kinship ties. In the movie, the main character, Wai Tung is a successful young man in a same sex relationship with his lover Simon. He, unlike his father, does not seem concerned with the idea of getting children and expanding their family lineage. This illustrates the modern understanding of relationships and the family. Failure to have children among young men and women leads to a break down in kinship ties. Kinship ties can also be broken by distance between family members. In the movie, Wai Tung’s parents and other relatives live abroad and do not therefore have a significant influence on his life in terms of his understanding of the family. Instead, he is moulded by the society in which he lives in, which accommodates gay relationships. Wai Tung’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gao, represent the older generation that is more concerned about keeping the traditions of the Asian culture. They prefer their son top get married to a good lady and bear children to continue their family lineage. Mr. Gao, being a Patriarchal father, has the biggest decision on his son’s marriage and moves in to organize for an expensive wedding banquet for him. At the end of the movie, Mr. and Mrs. Gao come to terms with their son’s sexual preference and approve of his relationship with Simon. This illustrates that the older generation needs to change their attitudes to marriage and support their children. The patriarchal family system has also been criticized because it makes children scared of their fathers and fails to establish meaningful relationships. Wai Tung fist approaches his mother to break the news of his relationship status, when in the real sense, in a patriarchal system; he would have gone to the father first. The idea of Wei Wei moving in to stay with both Wai Tung and Simon also illustrates the new dimension that the family is taking in the contemporary world. In the traditional set up, it would be unacceptable for a lady to live with two men as they take care of their children, but the movie implies that such an arrangement is fine in the new understanding of marriage (Dilley, 2007). Reference Dilley, Whitney. (2007). The Cinema of Ang Lee, London & New York: Wallflower Press. Read More