A bustling spice market forced into a maze of alleyways and overflowing with delicate aromas, turban-clad merchants riding camel-back through the expansive desert, porcelain-skinned ladies clothed in bright red silks – all are images that contribute to popular notions of the Middle East, North Africa, and East Asia, but these images are also firmly tied to Orientalism. To understand the meaning of these images (that is images of the non-Western civilization) as depicted in the Digital Age, and moreover within the motion picture industry specifically, one must understand the concept of Orientalism, beginning with the term “Orient” itself.  Historically, the term “Orient”, derived from the Latin word “oriens” meaning “east”, referred to the geographic East.  Since the term was crafted during the late Roman Empire and used by European civilizations thereafter, albeit in different capacities, the Orient thus referred to territories east of Europe or east of Western Civilization (Lewis and Wigen 53).  The Orient’s existence has not only been apparent to Western Europe from the beginning of Western civilization but has also played a very significant role throughout Western European history. 

While the notion of the Orient has existed for centuries, a critical analysis of the Orient in the context of the Western world did not emerge until the late 20thcentury with the late Edward Saïd’s book entitled Orientalism.  Edward Saïd, renowned professor of literature at Columbia University in the City of New York and founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies, coined the term “Orientalism” and utilized the concept of Orientalism to explain Eastern Asia’s place in the Western European experience. Since the release of Saïd’s publication in 1978, academics in a wide range of academic fields beyond postcolonial studies have utilized the term “Orientalism” to refer to the attitudes of cultural and ethnic superiority that transpired as a result of modern colonialism and continue to persist in the current postcolonial era. Saïd’s work concentrated on the fact that “the Orient has helped to define the West [by existing as] its contrasting image, idea, personality, [and] experience” (2). He ultimately argues that Orientalism, or the Western perception of the Eastern world, colors the Orient as the irrational, psychologically weak, and feminized non-European “Other” – a direct contrast to the West’s perception of itself.  This nebular opposition, in hierarchy of strength, lends itself to the cultural inequality between the East and the West. Consequently, the representation of Asia in contemporary Western art forms has, more often than not, become stereotyped in a way embodies the colonial attitude of Orientalism.  The film The Joy Luck Club (1993), an adaptation of Amy Tan’s first novel by the same name, relied on these common Oriental stereotypes to drive both the plot and the theme(s) of the film.  The presented stories of the four Chinese immigrant mothers (Lindo, Ying-Ying, An-Mei, and Suyuan) in relation to the presented stories of their Chinese-American daughters (Waverly, Lena, Rose, and June) in the film not only provides evidence of the persistence of Orientalism in the depiction of Eastern societies, but also normalizes the orientalist attitude. 

Within the first 30 seconds of the film, we find our first piece of evidence of orientalism.  In her opening monologue, June relays a story that her mother, Suyuan, had told her many times over throughout her life about her journey to America, in which she says:

“In America I will have a daughter just like me, but over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch.  Over there nobody will look down upon her because I will make her speak only perfect American English. And over there she will always be too full to swallow any sorrow.” 

The very first story that is told is one that already upholds the West (ie. America) to a higher standard than the East (ie. China).  This story also promptly establishes the sentiment that women in China are only valued by the measure of their husband and receive very little respect, education and knowledge otherwise - a sentiment of Chinese culture and society that persists throughout the film.  

Throughout the rest of the film, blatant adherence to orientalism is apparent in the representation of many aspects of Chinese society as depicted in the women’s stories.  The first blatant adherence to orientalism is seen in the fact that there is not one Oriental character (apart from the mothers and daughters) with any redeeming qualities; all the Chinese men are portrayed as sexist and cruel or weak and undesirable, while the all the other Chinese women are portrayed as either insecure and submissive or deceitful and domineering. Another blatant adherence to orientalism can be seen in motif that Chinese mothers do not care for the welfare of their daughters.  When Lindo’s mother promises her to a rich family at the age of four; when Ying-Ying drowns her baby son out of contempt for her cheating husband; when An-Mei’s grandmother does not believe that An-Mei’s mother was raped and instead throws her out of the house; when An-Mei’s mother commits suicide, not considering that An-Mei will grow up motherless; when Rose has a child in a futile attempt to rejuvenate her marriage – every Chinese mother in this film seems to have sacrificed aspects of their daughters lives for their own personal welfare (Zhang 276).  There also seems to be a blatant adherence to the aforementioned hierarchy of strength based on race.  In the film, this hierarchy allows Rich and Ted (the only white male characters) to ultimately redeem themselves for any transgressions that they make during the film. Rich, Waverly’s fiancé, is a good-natured man whose biggest flaws are his inability to use chopsticks and his initial ignorance of proper Chinese etiquette.  In an attempt to introduce Rich to her family and get Lindo to like him, Waverly brings Rich to a family dinner, but he almost miserably fails to impress them.  Sometime after, while at a hair salon, Lindo, sad at how ashamed Waverly seems to be her daughter (and unknowing that the feeling is mutual on Waverly’s part), reflects upon her moments with her own mother and declares to Waverly that she does like Rich.  Ted, Rose’s husband, is also a very wonderful man as he defends Rose from his racist mother, tries his part to reconcile their marriage by encouraging Rose to express her opinion, and ultimately is not to blame for cheating on her as Rose is so caught up in his happiness that she loses all of her own.  By the end of the film, both men not only have the opportunity to reconcile with their significant others, but it also seems as if their respective relationships came out stronger than before.  Ultimately, the stories of two white male characters end perfectly almost as perfectly as the stories of the actual protagonists in this Asian-American female narrative – a thing that can only be achieved with an adherence to the concept of orientalism. 

Throughout the film, perhaps the most major adherence to orientalism exists in cultural chasm between the mothers and the daughters.  One of the more interesting ways that this cultural chasm manifests is in the differences between the mothers and daughters stories, and the most interesting aspect of these differences is that the stories of the mothers in China reflect a human vs. environment conflict while the stories of their daughters in America reflect either a human vs. human conflict or a human vs. self conflict.  When comparing the story of Lindo to the story of Waverly or the story of Suyuan to the story of June, this difference in type of conflict manifests as human vs. environment conflict and human vs. human conflict.  While in China, both Lindo and Suyuan find conflict and struggle in their environment – Lindo’s conflict being that she is stuck in an arranged marriage and Suyuan’s conflict being that she is stuck in the middle of the Japanese invasion of China during WWII.  Ultimately, both their solutions to this human vs. environment conflict are to find a way out of their current situation and eventually to a better land. Though Lindo and Suyuan’s individual conflicts and subsequent resolutions differ, their ultimate resolutions land them both in America, thus reflecting Orientalism by once again implying that Oriental women hold the West at a high standard than their native East. 

Contrastingly, in America, both Waverly and June find conflict and struggle in their relationship with their mothers.  Most of Waverly’ and June’s issues with their mothers arise from the sentiment that they could never live up to their mother’s expectations, and many of these perceived expectations seem to be rooted in culture.  From age six to nine, Waverly became a chess champion and national sensation – much to Lindo’s satisfaction.  However, annoyed at Lindo for showing her off on the streets to everyone they know, Waverly quits chess in hopes of hurting her mother. When she tries to play again, Waverly loses, realizing that her previous decision to take a break did not hurt her mother as much as it hurt herself.   After this incident, nothing that Waverly has done has been able to “satisfy” Lindo - even marrying a Chinese husband in an attempt to please her. Similarly, June gives the example of her first piano recital, where she messes up and makes a fool of her mother. After that incident, she thinks her mother would allow her to give up the piano, but Suyuan only pushes her harder. June then retaliates against her mother, exclaiming rather ignorantly, “I’m not your slave. This isn’t China!”  In these instances, the mothers have become the “Other” as they represent the East while the daughters represent the West.  Together, Lindo’ and Suyuan’s conflict with China (a reflection of the geographic and societal “East”) and Waverly’ and June’s conflict with their mothers (a reflection of the cultural “East”) implies orientalism. 

Moreover, when comparing the story of Ying-Ying to the story of Lena or the story of An-Mei to the story of Rose, the difference in human vs. environment conflict and human vs. self conflict becomes apparent.  Similar to the stories of Lindo and Suyuan, the stories of Ying-Ying and An-Mei find conflict in their environment – Ying-Ying’s conflict being that she is unable to leave an emotionally and physically abusive marriage and An-Mei’s conflict being that she finds herself stuck in a compromising living situation, particularly in the wake of her own mother’s death. Contrastingly, the stories of their daughters, Lena and Rose, find conflict with their own character.  What is so interesting about this human vs. self conflict in Lena and Roses’ stories is that this conflict with the self can be seen as a reflection of their mother’s stories.  In her story, Lena, a witness to her mother’s depression, is stuck in an uncomfortable marriage with her husband, Harold. After finally at certain peace with her years of trauma and sad to see her daughter settling herself into an unhappy marriage as she did years before, Ying-Ying tells Lena that she should leave Harold and not come back until and unless he gives her what she wants.  Rose’s story, similar to that of Lena’s, is also about her relationship with her husband and the unhappy marriage that she settled herself into.  An-Mei comes to visit her daughter, during which she relays the story of her own mother’s fate to Rose and encourages Rose to stand up for herself against Ted, unlike her own mother, in order to change things. Ultimately, the parallels between Lena and Rose’s initial inner weakness and Ying-Ying and An-Mei’s stories uphold the colonial sentiment of the Oriental people’s inherent psychological weakness.  Furthermore, Lena and Rose’s ability to find their inner strength and pull themselves out of their individual situations (a representation of Western strength) in contrast to Ying-Ying and An-Mei’s mother’s inability to do (a representation of Eastern weakness) so once again implies an orientalism. 

The very nature of the Lindo, Suyuan, Ying-Ying, and An-Mei’s stories (especially when compared to their daughter’s stories by the intentional juxtaposition of their stories) adhere to the concept of orientalism as well.  As stated before, Orientalism is a way of perceiving the East in the eyes of the West, and part of this perception is an exaggeration of images.  Although their stories are very relatable as the essence of these stories are rooted in the tragedy of the loss of mothers, the loss of lovers, and the loss of children, the plot in which these issues are presented makes them unrelatable to most audiences. Take An-Mei’s story as an example: An-Mei is raised by her grandparents after her mother is disowned for having an affair with Wu-Tsing, a wealthy middle-aged man, abruptly after the death of her first husband.  At nine years old, An-Mei is reunited with her long-lost mother who has come back to see her own dying mother (An-Mei’s grandmother).  In an effort to no loose her mother again, An-Mei moves out.  An-Mei moves in with her mother, who is now the fourth wife of Wu-Tsing.  Distraught by the situation she’s been brought into, An-Mei questions her mother. She learns that the Second Wife tricked her mother into being raped and impregnated by Wu-Tsing.  When her relatives did not believe her story, An-Mei’s mother was kick out of her own house.  Having nowhere to go, her mother had no choice but to marry Wu-Tsing. Later, after An-Mei’s mother gave birth to a baby boy, the Second Wife took him and claimed him as her own. After An-Mei discovers the truth, her mother commits suicide for the sake of her daughter.  Angry because she knew that her mother killed herself (because of her present situation), An-Mei threatens Wu-Tsing with the vengeance of her mother’s angry ghost.  Afraid of this curse, Wu-Tsing vows to raise An-Mei and her half-brother with the greatest care and promises to honor her mother as an honorable first wife. Though various aspects of An-Mei’s story is culturally and historically valid, such as the practice of polygamy, her story in its entirety is crazy and ends unrealistically (or in a way that would not commonly occur), thus diminishing relatability to her storyline and pushing the audience away from a place of empathy for her character. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of An-Mei’s story the subsequent story of her daughter, Rose, shows that Rose’s conflict is very similar to the conflict that An-Mei saw in her mother.  Since Rose’s story is more relatable to the Western narrative as it functions both culturally and geographically within the West, the ability for audiences to relate to An-Mei’s story is lost not only in the details of her crazy journey, but in the comparison of her story to that of her daughters (Li 43).  Though this aspect of the film does not necessarily display orientalism in the strictest sense, the juxtaposition and consequential comparison of a Chinese mother’s story and her Chinese-American daughter’s story to a degree effects the audiences ability to relate as much to An-Mei’s story as they might to Rose’s story. 

Finally, while the intentional juxtaposition of the story of each mother to that of their daughter draws attention to narrative differences and reveals how an exaggeration of image can reduce an audience’s ability to empathize with a character, this juxtaposition also draws attention to visual differences, specifically the contrasting use of color throughout the film.  The way the scenes that depict the mother’s stories are set up and delivered exhaust brighter colors (ie. Reds, golds, whites or crèmes), which may be used to emphasize the dramatics or chaos of a scene, but ultimately make these stories feel even more foreign as an audience can become distracted by what they are seeing and pay less attention to what is actually being said - especially once compared to the visual representation of their daughter’s stories. The general use of duller colors (greys, blues, blacks, greens) used in the depiction of the stories of the daughters allow for more attention to be paid to the actual plot of their stories – which in and of themselves are pretty “dull” as they are more common storylines found within the Western narrative. 

Simply put, orientalism is a way of perceiving Asian society that embraces attitudes of colonial superiority, and the persistence of orientalist attitudes in the postcolonial era is why issues of misrepresentation of non-western culture in western film arise. Evidence of this misrepresentation can be found in instances of orientalism present in many western filmmakers’ vision of the East. Throughout this paper, we have discussed how adherences to orientalism throughout The Joy Luck Clubseem to manifest in one of three ways: use of oriental stereotypes in the depiction of oriental characters, the difference in conflict type which separates the stories of the mothers from the daughters, and the intentional juxtaposition of the mother’s stories to their daughter’s stories. In comparison to their daughters, the mothers come from more tragic circumstances, which are only heightened by the adherence to orientalism throughout the film.  These heightened tragic circumstances push the mother’s narratives far enough from the audience where they being to replace their feelings of empathy for feelings of sympathy or even pity.   The continued persistence of orientalism in Asian representations in American film is a critical issue because it defines the unequal line between the American narrative and the Asian narrative, thus perpetuating the distinction of race in a manner that puts the Asian narrative below the American (or even the Asian-American) one. 

References

Lewis, Martin W., and Wigen, Kären.  The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography.  University of California Press, 1997. 

Li, Wanlin.  Adapting The Joy Luck Club: Thematic Emphasis through Form.  Image & Narrative, vol. 11, no. 2, 2010, pp. 38-48. 

Lim, Andrea. The Alt-Right’s Asian Fetish. The New York Times, 6 Jan. 2018, https://nyti.ms/2EeFh3W.  Accessed April 11, 2018. 

Pieterse, Jan N. White Negroes. White on Black: Images of Blacks in Western Popular Culture, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.  

The Joy Luck Club, Directed by Wayne Wang, performances by Ming-Na Wen, Rosalind Chao, Lauren Tom, France Nguyen, Tamlyn Tomita, Kieu Chinh, Lisa Lu, and Tsai Chin, Buena Vista Pictures, 1993. 

Zhang, Juwen. “Filmic Folklore and Chinese Cultural Identity.” Western Folklore, vol. 64, no. 3, 2005, pp. 263-280, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25474752
. Accessed 18 April 2018.