"Xifuhui" is based on the Chinese female writer Tan Enmei's novel of the same name, the novel set off a frenzy in the American literary world at that time, showing 4 new female images, showing the estrangement and understanding between Chinese mothers and daughters in the American patriarchal society, in the different cultural atmospheres of China and the West, they also need to find their own positioning, break through the barriers of race, gender, culture and other aspects, thus providing a feasible direction for more Chinese.
01. The dilemma of Chinese mother-daughter identity stems from the cultural dislocation
The four mothers are all first-generation immigrants, they set foot on foreign lands with a yearning for a better life in the United States, but they cannot well integrate into the atmosphere of mainstream American culture, and then they have lost themselves, and the oriental cultural genes allow them to impose Chinese values on the growth of their daughters, resulting in The Chinese daughters being despised and disliked.
Mothers try to accept Western culture, daughters try to resist Chinese culture, this cultural dislocation makes both mother and daughter into an embarrassing identity dilemma, due to racial and gender discrimination, mothers can only wander outside the mainstream society in the United States, and daughters can not obtain a new cultural identity, they meet in the "Happy Blessing Society", this form of gathering with Chinese cultural characteristics makes Chinese culture isolated from American culture, enjoy the happiness and independence of the Chinese, However, this is a kind of psychological comfort like a paradise, and it does not play a substantial role in solving the problem.
Chinese mothers are accustomed to educating their children in a reproachful way, while second-generation immigrants receive the double impact of Chinese and Western cultures, both implicit and introverted, but also open and independent, the biggest obstacle is reflected in the marriage process of marrying Americans, the two different cultures are vividly reflected, and several relationships focus on breaking up, proving that the daughters cannot resist Chinese identity and cannot integrate into mainstream society.
02. Refutation of the subordinate status of women in a patriarchal society
The film reflects the common encounter of Chinese women, under the suppression of the patriarchal society to accept the idea of obedience, family and marriage are their only destination, Gong Linda because of the words of her parents to spend her life to fulfill the promise, at an ignorant age to marry a naïve teenager, become a tool for reproduction. Although she treated her mother-in-law's family with a kind heart, she could not exchange it for sincerity and kindness, but was violent and insulted.
Xu Anmei's mother resolutely remarried after her husband's death, which was criticized by her family, but she bravely got rid of the shackles of traditional conservative ideas, which can be seen everywhere in China, men become the masters of society and control women's life and death power, but when they leave China, the different exotic cultures make them equally repressed and excluded, and they can only continue to resist to obtain independent social status.
The women in the film pursue equality between men and women, marriage freedom and self-worth, which is largely the common voice of Chinese women. Daughter Ruth insisted on choosing Ted before marriage, but after marriage, she was greatly disappointed in the marriage, and her husband became more and more vulnerable, losing the strength of men, and making the marriage relationship precarious. When Ruth discovers that the marriage has lost its meaning, she decisively signs the divorce papers and argues for reasonable property.
The new male image facing the failure of marriage is actually a refutation of the subordinate status of women, they defend their legal rights with practical actions, and the second generation of immigrants who grew up in the United States is no longer as indecisive as their mother, but bold and strong, which is caused by the completely different cultural atmosphere of the two generations, and the biggest enemy of a person is not others, but a loss of confidence in themselves.
03, the awakening of female consciousness to achieve reconciliation between mother and daughter, blood is thicker than water
The daughters in the film are very similar to their mothers in their temperamental personalities, and the mother uses her own experience to teach them to face up to their identities. The four pairs of mothers and daughters on the mahjong table are full of contradictions, the mother's memories are extremely sad, as if to tell the daughter how to grasp the initiative in life, the daughters can not understand the mother's various practices, they always confront the mother at first, but in the end they understand the mother's approach, eliminating the barrier between each other.
Whether it is a mother or a daughter in the "Happy Blessing Society", the understanding of the body is one-sided, they always use the body to please men, when the body is trampled on and will be extremely desperate, they did not realize this female consciousness at first, but when the suppressed emotions were guided by the mother, the daughters completed the awakening of independent individual consciousness, which is especially important for Chinese women, in the white male-dominated society, women have to awaken to resist more pressure from the outside world.
Daughters recognize the importance of consciousness through communication with their mothers, and they work with their mothers to fight against racism and patriarchal oppression, from strangeness to familiarity to reconciliation, and every viewer can see the growth process of women, which is actually the process of consciousness awakening.
In life, women to constantly seek themselves, find freedom, first of all, to find their own positioning, while constantly resisting the patriarchal oppression and cultural impact in society, "Happy Blessing Society" is through the story between four pairs of mother and daughter to present us with the process of awakening female consciousness, only by recognizing this change, can we better embrace life and enjoy life.