Joy Luck Club (The Movie)

I was looking through some old movies and came upon one of the oldest movies that I remembered watching as a little kid: “The Joy Luck Club.” Out of boredom I decided to watch the movie to pass the time. It had been a long time since I watched the movie so I only vaguely remembered parts of it. “The Joy Luck Club” is a film adaptation of the best-selling novel The Joy Luck Club by author Amy Tan. This novel tells the story of four young Chinese American women, Jing-Mei “June” Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair. They are growing up in San Francisco and they encounter numerous experiences that Chinese American women go through regarding their family and culture. Each person has a different story to tell about their history, experiences, and relationships, but all of them are connected to each other through the Joy Luck Club, a club where the families of these women come together to play the Chinese game of mahjong. This book is a bestseller and realistically portrays Chinese Americans in terms of the tough experiences that they go through and what the aspects of their culture and values are.

Wayne Wang was inspired by the book and decided to direct the film adaptation of the book. Ming-Na Wen plays Jing-Mei “June” Woo, Tamlyn Tomita plays Waverly Jong, Rosalind Chao plays Rose Hsu Jordan, and Lauren Tom plays Lena St. Clair.
In 1993, “The Joy Luck Club” hit theaters and the movie received both bad and good criticism. Numerous people talk about how the movie wrongly portrays Chinese Americans. They say that the movie is racially stereotypical of Chinese Americans because in the movie Chinese Americans are given the image to viewers as negative and inferior in terms of their culture, values, and beliefs. However, on the other hand, there are others who believe that the movie was really good. These people also thought that the novel The Joy Luck Club was remarkable and outstanding. They argue that “The Joy Luck Club” was a good portrayal on film of the book and of Chinese Americans. The film addressed the significant and important aspects of Chinese Americans that the author Amy Tan did in her novel.

After watching the movie, I believe that “The Joy Luck Club” was a good movie. I do not see the movie as something of racial stereotyping or something bad for Chinese Americans and Asian Americans. Those who believe that other racial and ethnical groups besides Asian Americans and Chinese Americans who think of them as inferior and put us down probably see this film as racial, stereotypical, or discriminatory, anything to make Asian Americans and Chinese Americans inferior to other races. Rather, I see that this movie will help promote awareness among viewers about Asian Americans, especially Chinese Americans and help educate those who do not know about Asian American culture or are interested and want to learn more. For those who do not have the time to devote themselves to finding out about Asian American culture through books and research on the Internet, “The Joy Luck Club” is a simple and easy way to get a very valuable and accurate glimpse of who Asian Americans and Chinese Americans are along with all its cultural aspects. Those who watch the movie will come away with lessons and information that they learn about Asian Americans and Chinese Americans. Since the book is already a big hit, the movie gets lots of viewers and ultimately the amount of people who are informed about Asian Americans and Chinese Americans from the story in The Joy Luck Club is huge. Hopefully the movie and the novel will continue to promote Asian American culture right now and in the future.