Spicy Love Soup is a Chinese movie made in 1997. The movie takes the viewer on a journey of navigating dating, marriage, and divorce. Using snippets of scenes at different times, the viewer is introduced to 5 couples over the duration of the film. Each couple is shown to have a scene or two between them, exhibiting the different varieties love can entail. Whether it is a teenager just discovering what he believes is love, to having a family broken up because of the parents falling out of love, to somehow a couple finding their way back to each other. The five instances display an array of different feelings, evoking the viewer to be more intrigued with each different scene wondering who will fall in love, who will find love, or in some cases who will fall out of love? With each scene opening a new door, the viewer is taken on a one of a kind experience.
Something that I had learned about Chinese culture that I didn’t know before watching this movie is the formality that seems to be prominent in not only the culture but also throughout the informality that one would assume that comes with dating, which could then lead to marriage. It stood out to me how prevalent the parents seemed to be a part of the lives of the children. In each of the stories the viewer follows throughout the movie, the aspect of parenthood seems to be one of the most prominent features. Contrary to the normal roles the parent and the child might have, the roles were reversed for the parents and the
Throughout the film memory is used to show the contrast in traditional Chinese culture and American culture. During a scene Ying-Ying comments on her disastrous marriage and sacrifice of her child. Through Ying-Ying’s memory Tan is able the cultural differences in America and China. Ying-Ying explains how her husband grew from a loving and passionate husband to an inconsiderate cheater and abuser, “He took everything from me, so I took what I could from him” (Tan). Knowing that her husband’s prize was their son, she drowned their child and sacrificed her baby’s life for her revenge. In both America and China there are sour marriages, cheating husbands, and cases of domestic abuse but in Ying-Ying’s story the emphasis in cultural contrast derives from the importance of a son in Chinese culture. Ying-Ying (representing the Chinese culture) is able to find retribution through the death of her child because of this status of worth placed on males while in America Ying-Ying is able to escape this gender compliance because in America they do not weigh sons as such a necessity over daughters. Ying-Ying as a young woman felt that through the death of her child she is able to survive. This idea of
The movie Parenthood cover’s many of the topics we have discussed this semester in class. But it obviously focused very strongly on parenting and marriage. During the course of the movie we see the four Buckman children’s very different style of parenting. Although all four were raised by the same parents the culture of their individual families are all look very different. Gil Buckman felt abandoned and ignored by his father and therefore responded, with his wife Karen, by being a very active and attentive parent. Gil and Karen are on the authoritative end of the parenting spectrum, and their families’ culture revolves around activities such as baseball games, Kevin’s baseball game, Birthday parties, school plays and basically having fun together (Lecture, 4/22). On the opposite end of the parenting spectrum are Nathan and Susan. They are very authoritarian and reminded me of the “tiger Mom’s” of China. The culture of their family means that they don’t have their daughter in preschool, they are waiting a prescribed amount of time to have a second child and Nathan is continuously drilling facts into their daughter. Susan feels like she should be playing with children her own age but Nathan’s feelings have taken over their family’s culture.
Amy Chua stirs up a controversial topic of the differences between Chinese and Western parenting styles in the article “Adapted from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”. One may believe that the Chinese way is too harsh as others may believe Western parents are too lenient. Any parent can relate to one or both parenting styles that Chua is discussing. This article is reaching out to parents who are unaware of the Chinese and Western parenting styles. To give the readers a better understanding of how each parenting style works. This article was based on Chua’s personal experiences as a Chinese parent.
Amy Chua suggests that it is important for the children to acknowledge their parents and respects them. Chua expands on this positions when she states “Despite [the Chinese] parents’ brutal demands, verbal abuse, and disregard for their children’s desires, Chinese kids end up adoring and respecting their parents and wanting to care for them in their old age” (Chua 211). This shows that even though it seems like Chinese parents and their children are always bickering and arguing about things, it is only out of love and respect. Although the relationship between daughter and child in this book seems bleak, it is clear that Amy loves her kids very much and would never imagine losing them. The love conveyed between Amy and Lulu is evident because after they fight, they sit down and laugh together. Amy Chua considers herself a typical Chinese mother who aspires that someday her children will grow and take care of her and her husband.
Raising children is something the vast majority of the human race will challenge themselves with at some point. How to raise children is a common issue but nonetheless a sensitive and a conscious one. Should you strictly and authoritatively lead your children the way because you love them? Or should you – with the same reason in mind – give them space to follow their own passion and make their own individual choices. The Wall Street Journal publishes the article Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior in which Amy Chua composes a persuasive essay where she argues in favour of an authoritative upbringing. Her comment on the issue is characterised by a provocative language and a creates a contrast between the so-called
‘In The Mood For Love’ is a Romance melodrama and is Directed and written by Wong Kar-Wai which is a Hong Kong film and released in the year 2000. The film’s plot takes place in 1962 which tells the story of two married couples that move into the residents of Shanghai living in rented rooms of a neighbouring apartment, a newspaper editor Mr Chow (played by Tony Leung) and his wife, Mrs Chan (played by Maggie Cheung) and her husband a representative of a Japanese-owned company, both couples become neighbours. Mr Chow and Mrs Chan both being the main protagonists in the story discover that both their respective spouses are having an affair, the betrayal brings both of the protagonists together to meet and discuss about their spouses’ secret affairs and practice their countermeasures with one another towards their respective spouses. As they both meet day by day, they begin to have an uncertain affair and at times deliberately try to avoid one another perhaps due to ethical concerns, and yet deeply miss one’s company. Unfortunately, Mr Chow and Mrs Chan’s relationship comes to a regretful end. The following analytic essay will attempt to demonstrate to provide information in detail about the key concepts of the film’s style and the director’s
Both stories investigate the difference between American and Chinese parenting styles from two women’s point of view – Hanna Rosin and Amy Chua.
According to Amy Chua in “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, the parenting styles of “Chinese mothers” are much more effective than “Western parents”. Chua writes her title most likely in an attempt to attract attention and cause controversy. She argues that the parenting styles of Chinese mothers may seem as though they don’t care for their children, but that isn’t the case. Chua states that Chinese mothers push their children so they “can be ‘the best’, and that ‘academic achievement reflects successful parenting,’” (Chua 262). She states, on the other hand, that Western parents are too worried about their child’s self-esteem. She argues in her article that Chinese parents can get away with things Western parents can’t such as calling their children “garbage”, their children owe their parents everything, and the parents know what is best for their children and override all of their children’s own wishes. Although Chua raises the point that Chinese mothers tend to have more successful children than Western parent, the children’s mental health, and sometimes physical health, from these extreme acts of parenting can put the child in
Parenting styles differ from generations, as well as, from different countries across the world. When two different cultures collide, that leaves parents in a limbo in trying to decide what parenting technique would be the most beneficial for future offspring. Amy Chua, a Yale Law School graduate of Chinese descent, wrote a story about the details of her and her husbands’ choice in how to parent their children. The book is entitled “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” which she proclaims that “Chinese parents are better at raising children than westerners”. At creation of this book, Chua has received an enormous amount of feedback, mostly negative. However, the article “Amy Chua is a Wimp” written by author David Brooks, offers a different take on Chuas’ book. Which leaves everyone wondering what really is the best way to set up the next generation to reach their highest potential.
The stories "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" by Amy Chua and "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan portray how children are raised in Chinese-American culture and what beliefs predominate in Chinese-American communities. In Chinese-American culture, mothers approach raising their children differently from many other American parents. While there are many similarities among these Chinese parents, variation can still be seen in the level of persistence and determination each individual parent pours into their parenting. These differences in persistence can be what make the difference in the results.
Having a child is one of the most wonderful moments when a person becomes a parent. Although it is foreseen that each couple always hope their children succeed academically, sometimes they overestimate their children’s potential and put a lot of expectations on them. In Asia, such as Japan, China, and South Korea, these expectations become burdens for the children, which may lead them to become rebels. The story “Two Kinds” of Amy Tan will illustrate Asia parents’ expectation throughout the aspects of the educational system, parental involvement, and single-child family as well as the gender issue.
Childhood is the foundation of an individual’s growth; it will create the mindset that the child will take on for a substantial portion of or even their entire life. Raising a child in a very strict manner is a lottery-esque upbringing; it can set them for life or it can haunt them until their grave. The two articles, “Complexion,” by Richard Rodriguez and “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” by Amy Chua, factor in how these writers got through their childhood and the results of what they went through. Chua and Rodriguez both endured stricter parenting during their childhoods, however, their experiences and their parents focus on how they should act sets apart how their maturity developed. Chua and Rodriguez both displayed in their articles
This movie depicted different life experience of four pairs of Chinese mother and daughter. Though distinct grievous life stories they had, these four Chinese mothers were all born and bred under the background of feudal Chinese regime, cultivated by Chinese traditional feudalism, and fatefully, their lives were poisoned and destroyed by malignant tumor of Chinese backward culture and ideology, for example, women are subordinated to men. More unfortunately, the four daughters who were born and educated in America, assumed to avoid from the influence of Chinese feudal culture, still inherited deformed character, like without self-value and spirit; extended last generation’s tragedy—misery marriage. The
One day, Amy Chua decided to write an essay called, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” Amy Chua is a professor at Yale Law School. Chua is a Chinese woman with two daughters. In the essay, Chua compared the differences between Chinese and Western parenting styles. There are different ways of parenting being used everywhere; the four main parenting styles include, Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Uninvolved. In the essay Chua made it clear that Western and Chinese parenting styles differ. I tend to agree, as well as disagree with the examples and statements Chua used to compare the way they differ. I believe Chua did an amazing job contrasting Chinese and Western parenting styles.
Many issues are addressed in Shanghai Girls. The main one is the social and political conditions of Chinese people at the time (1930-50’s) living in the United States, and how difficult it was for them, especially for women, to find their place. Another important issue is the importance of the family, more precisely the role each member plays and how they must obey the patriarch.