Official Entry - The Bechdel Contest with @lilyraabe: The Joy Luck Club

Challenge Accepted.
Contest hosted by @lilyraabe.

Lead actresses in The Joy Luck Club.

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As a woman who has always fought for women in all aspects of life, it goes without saying that I would love any movie that features a deep relationship and/or connection of women within a film. I grew up in a household of movie buffs, so naturally watching movies is a weekly if not a daily routine. For this fun contest we have to choose a Bechdel rated feature film, I could not help but think of one of my most favorite movies and book The Joy Luck Club.

The Joy Luck Club Merit and Quality

The Joy Luck Club Trailer.

The Joy Luck Club was produced by Hollywood Pictures, the executive producer was Oliver Stone, and the director and one of the producers was Wayne Wang. The story was written by Amy Tan. The film won two of the five nominated awards, the National Board of Review in 1993, and the Casting Society of America Award in 1994. The film was critically reviewed as one of the most favorite films of 1993.

Cast of Characters

What is glorious about this film is that it was mostly made up of women, there were eight main characters and each woman had a mother and a young girl actress. There was a matchmaker and grandmothers. The main cast is as follows:

The Mothers

• Kieu Chinh as Suyuan Woo
• Tsai Chin as Lindo Jong
• Ying Wu - Lindo Age 4
• Irene Ng - Lindo Age 15
• France Nuyen as Ying-Ying St. Clair
• Faye Yu - Ying Ying Age 16-25
• Lisa Lu as An-Mei Hsu
• Emmy Yu as An-Mei Age 4
• Yi Ding as An-Mei Age 9

The Daughters

• Ming-Na Wen as June Woo
• Melanie Chang as June Age 9
• Tamlyn Tomita as Waverly Jong
• Mai Vu as Wavery Age 6-9
• Lauren Tom as Lena St. Clair
• Rosalind Chao as Rose Hsu Jordan

Review of The Joy Luck Club

The love for this film originates from the passion I have for the Asian culture along with the love of mother and daughter relationships. The story is brought together by four women who immigrated to the United States from China and met through a church group. These amazing women play mahjong together every week. The stories unfold unexpectedly as each mother shares their life story with their daughters and in turn the daughters share their relationships with their mothers.

The story expands over four generations and extends to the the ancient customs of each mother being given in marriage or bartered into marriage to modern day women. The plight of women over the generations and what many have had to endure in many countries is discussed. The mothers in the film fought to make a different life for their daughters by enduring a change of culture by moving to the United States. The pride for each daughter was evident. I have felt this same type of love from my own mother. It is an inexpressible joy for mothers to have a daughter achieve what they could not in life; to graduate from college, to have the freedom of speech or sexuality, and to have the freedom to choose.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Rose chooses to stand up for herself and overcome her fear against her past genetic code, upbringing, and society. It is the most heart-wrenching scene about womanhood and overcoming fear I have ever seen. A difficult lesson I have personally experienced and one that is not easy to learn or repeat.

Rose Overcomes Her Fears.

An aspect of ensuring that women do not fear is not giving in to the character society chooses to place on femininity. Many of us are told we have to be a certain way: act, dress, or behave. Today, many of us are lured in by media, our bosses, or our families. However, many of us have fought and stand free.

Women have come a long way in general, we have women crying out in the streets and attending pussy parades, paid for by men. I have personal friends that attended these parades paid for by George Soros, one week paid trip to attend these parades nationwide. This does not mean that all of us have sold our womanhood, those that allow men to control us even in the most basic circumstance is not a true testament to who we are or what we need to become. I still have hope that there will not be extremes in any gender.

There are so many life lessons for women intertwined within this movie that I could go on forever expressing each episode with love. This film truly touched my heart from the first moment I saw it until this very day.

Meeting the Bechdel and Mako Mori Tests

• The film has eight lead women characters other than the minimum of two women speaking to each other.

• Each woman receives their own narrative.

• No woman is supporting a male role.

• All women speak to other (mostly) other women throughout the film.

• Each woman speaks to each other about anything other than a man throughout the entire film.

This film meets all aspects of both tests.

The Joy Luck Club Mahjong Players.

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If you have not had the pleasure of reading or watching this story, and you are a supporter of women then you will definitely love this film. I watch this film regularly, especially if I am missing female friendships or family members. Peace.

If you would like to enter this great contest, the rules are here.

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