Before returning home for winter vacation, I decided to make good use of the vacation time to watch a few more movies. Two days ago, I accidentally saw the "Wedding Banquet" saved before on the online disk, and I opened it and read it. I never thought that the story would be so attractive. After watching it, I had a lot of thoughts, and for the first time, I had the idea of recording my thoughts in the form of text, and talked about some of my thoughts about this film.
The story tells that in the 1990s, Gao Weitong, a homosexual who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan, under the pressure of his parents' urging marriage, took the advice of his boyfriend Simon and faked marriage with Gu Weiwei, the tenant of his house, so that he could get married. This is to give parents an explanation to fulfill their "obligations" of marriage. Unexpectedly, Gao's parents heard the good news and flew to New York to witness their son's wedding. During this period, Wei Tong, Simon and Wei Wei became more and more unstoppable, and a series of stories also unfolded.
1. Some discussion points
1. Was Gu Weiwei "materialized" and became the "fertility machine" of the Gao family?
I don't think it is, because Weiwei has the right to choose independently and keeps a clear head from beginning to end.
The first is about the "right to choose freely". Throughout the film, Gu Weiwei's two choices have an important impact on the direction of the story. When Wei Tong and Simon proposed a "fake marriage", she could choose to refuse or agree; when she found out she was pregnant, she could choose to have an abortion or keep the child. When faced with these two great choices, neither side forced her or was powerful enough to prevent her from making a choice.
The second is about "clear heads". Although Wei Wei's admiration for Wei Tong is explained at the beginning of the movie, this is not the main reason why she chooses to fake marriage with Wei Tong. One of the most important reasons is that after "marrying" with Wei Tong, she can get an American green card, which undoubtedly provides great convenience and extra protection to her life in the United States. Therefore, in this choice, she is clear-headed and chooses interests. After finding out that she was pregnant, she decided to return the gift from the Gao family. At this time, Gao's mother gave her a brainwashing persuasion, telling her that "women are women after all, and husbands and children are the most important things", but Weiwei still clearly told Gao's mother, "I can't do it, and I also have my future. "She also expressed the idea of abortion to Wei Tong before going to bed at night. It can be seen from this that she has not changed her mind because of Gao's mother's words. Before going out the next day, in the face of Gao's mother's strong obstruction, she still firmly opened the door and walked out.
The above two points are analyzed from the standpoint of Wei Tong, Simon and the audience, but in the eyes of Gao's parents, it is a different story. (I will discuss what kind of image Weiwei looks like in the eyes of Gao's father)
2. Why did Gu Weiwei finally choose to keep the children and continue to live in the United States?
The first reason is that Weiwei is not completely indifferent to the child in his womb. She herself has a good impression of Gao Weitong, and this child was born on the wedding night under the catalyst of alcohol and her initiative. (Actually, I originally wanted to discuss the issue of "whether women have a natural instinct for their unborn children (not including those who were sexually assaulted)", but I really feel helpless. Lack of understanding makes it impossible to discuss. I will discuss it later after I have deepened my understanding of this issue.)
The second reason is that staying in the US is actually more attractive and a better option for Weiwei. In the first half of the film, it was mentioned that Weiwei came to the United States with the guarantee of her relatives. As an audience, it is not difficult for us to see that her life in the United States was poor and even difficult. She came to New York with her whole family to pursue her artistic dream as a painter. How could she easily abandon everything she had paid before and start from scratch when she returned to China?
On the night she made it clear to Weitong that she was going to abort her child and return to China, she once said, "Perhaps there are more important things in this world than hiding in the United States." Similar lines have appeared in countless literature and film and television works. According to the consistent development, the protagonist often has a new experience in life after experiencing some major events, chooses to say goodbye to his past self, and starts a new life. As the audience, we often burst into tears when we saw these plots, and we were moved by the protagonists' determination not to ask about the future, and began to reflect on why we couldn't show the courage to change the status quo. Luo Xiang once said in the "Thirteen Invitation" program:
"There are actually very few people who can really influence people. Many people who are so-called by you are only touched by you for a moment. In the end, they devote themselves to their previous lives."
I guess that's why we're so moved by episodes like this time and time again.
In "The Wedding Banquet", Ang Lee's approach is less idealistic and more realistic. In addition to the aforementioned reasons that Gu Weiwei and her family made a lot of efforts for her to come to the United States, it is more important to consider the background of the times at that time, in China in the early 1990s, there were still various artistic creations. With all kinds of restrictions and restraints, Weiwei's style is obviously not in line with the mainstream, so she also understands that returning to China not only means "forgetting all the previous achievements" for her, but also means cutting off her own future. It is true that Weiwei has had enough shocking experiences, but after careful consideration, she still chooses to avoid uncertainty and "invest in her previous life".
3. Two interpretations of the dialogue between Father Gao and Simon
Father Gao: "...Our secret."
Simon: "But why?"
Father Gao: "For the family. Sigh... If I don't let them lie to me, how can I hold my grandson?"
Simon: "I don't understand."
Father Gao: "I don't understand."
Interpretation 1: Simon's "don't understand" refers to not understanding the Chinese sentence spoken by Gao's father
The whole conversation between Simon and Gao's father was in English, but Gao's father spoke Chinese when it came to "holding his grandson". This is because Father Gao did not want Simon to know his thoughts and deliberately expressed it in Chinese. This shows that although Gao's father already knew about the relationship between Gao Weitong and Simon, as well as the scam, he still wanted the child in Weiwei's stomach to continue the incense for the Gao family based on his own subjective emotions, so as to satisfy himself and the whole family. Gao's face. Based on this understanding, the phrase "Gao's family will thank you" said to her holding Weiwei's hand at the end of the film can be interpreted as a kind of pedantic thanks.
Interpretation 2: Simon's "don't understand" refers to his incomprehension of Father Gao's move
Gao's father clearly knew the relationship between the two and adopted a tacit attitude, but still wanted Weiwei to give birth to a child for the Gao family, which made Simon unable to understand, and Gao's father immediately said that he did not understand either. I think by "not understanding" Gao's father refers to his incomprehension of his own behavior and the subtly Chinese-style social norms that drive him to do so. That is to say, from the depths of Father Gao's heart, it is not clear whether he really wants this child so much, and it can even be said that he is inclined to be negative. Wei's child is actually more because he needs to face the eyes of people with strong traditional Chinese thoughts after returning to China. Gao's father, who has been a teacher for half his life and has been immersed in traditional Chinese culture for a long time, obviously cannot bear such pressure. . Based on this, the last sentence he said to Weiwei can be interpreted as a kind of guilt. This kind of guilt stems from the unfairness that it is the responsibility of the group but needs someone to pay for it. And this expression of guilt is not only for Weiwei alone, but also for everyone who has experienced similar situations.
2. Several cultural points
These few cultural points have undoubtedly narrowed a lot today after 27 years, so the film may seem to have a certain stereotype at the moment, but I think from what I have observed, this difference is Still easy to spot. In the following points I will still focus on the analysis of what the film shows.
1. Chinese are more "form" than Americans
This is from the fact that the parents of the Gao family were dissatisfied with the simple wedding etiquette in the film and were obsessed with setting up a banquet, inviting so-called "friends and relatives" to sit at dozens of tables to support the "scene". Although some people in the feast did not even know whose wedding banquet they were eating, this did not prevent everyone who might have never met before to eat at the same table, wishing the "lovers" to tie the knot.
But it is undeniable that they have also harvested happiness from this big "form" and "ostentation". Gao's parents and Gao's mother truly felt happy at the wedding banquet, and those who came to the wedding and the bridal chamber also gained the most direct happiness from the booing.
For Simon, who grew up in American culture, substance seems to be more important. He knows Wei Tong's feelings for him, so he can propose a "fake marriage" method, and because of this, he can watch his lover swear an oath to marry another person, kiss in public and even have sex after drinking. While it's undeniable that a large part of Simon's actions was driven by frustration and compromise, this kind of disregard for form is indeed relatively rare in our culture.
2. The trade-off between family harmony and personal thoughts
There are a total of four "scams" in the film, including three mainline scams and one sideline scam, namely: Simon, Wei Tong and Wei Wei lie to Gao's parents; Simon, Wei Tong, Wei Wei and Gao's mother lie to Gao Father; Simon and Gao's father lied to Wei Tong, Wei Wei and Gao's mother, and Wei Wei lied to his own parents. At the heart of all four of these scams is the trade-off between apparent family harmony and real personal thoughts. And these four scams all went to the end of pretending to be peaceful and concealing the true thoughts of individuals without exception.
This is still very common in today's Chinese families. The practice of "reporting good news and not bad news" by wandering children is also very similar in essence to the four lies in "The Wedding Banquet". In a family, there are always one or several people who choose to hide some negative emotions and show the positive side to keep the whole family happy.
3. Unprotected Sex
According to the original plan, after Gao's father's blood pressure returns to normal levels, they will leave the United States, and this scam that has lasted for several weeks will finally end, no matter who can get what they want, and everyone's life will resume. will get back on track. But Wei Wei's unexpected pregnancy brought the film to a climax, igniting the contradictions among the crowd. What I want to discuss here, however, is how much we value "unprotected sex."
Undoubtedly, both Wei Tong and Wei Wei ingested a lot of alcohol on the night of the wedding banquet, and they were already a little confused. The relationship between the two under the catalysis of the ambiguous atmosphere seemed to be explainable. But as Simon said during his emotional outburst over breakfast, what we should really be concerned about is that two people who clearly lack a two-way emotional foundation and understand that it's all just a hoax are having an unprotected relationship. It follows from this that taking corresponding measures before a relationship occurs is not something our education teaches us to make into an instinctive behavior.
It's not just a matter of protection. In our culture, showing each other an "HIV test certificate" before having sex seems to be easily understood as an act of distrusting each other. But in today's time when medicine cannot completely conquer AIDS, it does provide us with more protection.
Although it has been 27 years since the release of "The Wedding Banquet", the core issue expressed by the film is also a hot topic at the moment. After the wedding banquet ended, a generation lingered and experienced countless compromises or struggles. Where is our progress?
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