The Farewell and China

I saw The Farewell with my parents in a theater. It was pretty good and I think my parents enjoyed it. I'm usually not into that Social Justice crap but it was good to see an Asian-American film do well in the box office.

However, I saw the following article in Inkstone, Inkstone publishes stories about China and is a part of South China Morning Post. The basic gist of the article is that the movie did not resonate with Mainland Chinese audiences, since they story was told from the Chinese-American perspective. I read the article and I was disappointed and disgusted. What's wrong with Mainland Chinese people (as presented in the article)? Not every movie has to be a Communist propaganda film, only showing China as a "perfect" society.

Jessica, a Chinese film editor based in Los Angeles, wrote on Douban that the Chinese-American director, Lulu Wang, portrayed the views of the Chinese-American characters as being more valid than their Chinese relatives.

“I was so upset after watching it. The director seems to think she is superior to Chinese people. Please do some research before you dump on Chinese people, don’t just put those stereotypes out there,” she wrote.

She told Inkstone by phone that the movie presented an unflattering view of China and perpetuated prejudice against Chinese culture. She refused to share her last name in fear of retaliation in the film industry.

I'm sorry, but that's f*cking pathetic. Chinese-Americans are not the same as Mainland Chinese. The culture and perspective on life is totally different. By comparing importance of cultural views, this Jessica is implying that the "Chinese relative's" perspective should be more important because after all, they are the "real" Chinese people. I felt this when I was in China. I felt like yelling, "I'm not like you. Stop putting your expectations on me." How am I supposed to speak fluent Chinese when I lived in America for 40+ years? I also see this cultural superiority online all the time. Probably due to Communist brainwashing, there's a lot of nationalist bullshit and Han superiority crap online. I think the Communist Party has screwed up Chinese culture in the past 70 years to further their personal political goals. I feel it's modern China that is out of step with the rest of the civilized world, where discrimination, genocide, and lack of privacy is seen as the norm.

So it's too bad that The Farewell won't do well in China, similar to Crazy Rich Asians. Mainland Chinese can't or won't look at Chinese culture with a critical eye, maybe because they will be seen as not "patriotic" enough.