The Meaning of Liberation: From The Joy Luck Club to Face and Saving Face

The film The Joy Luck Club (1993) adapted from Amy Tan's novel of the same title is considered a classic in the representation of Chinese Americans, especially Chinese American women in the past few decades. In many ways, two other films, Face (2002) and Saving Face (2004), share similar themes with The Joy Luck Club: the conflict between mothers and daughters and the tension between Chinese culture and American culture. The conflicts are eventually resolved to some degree, to everyone's satisfaction, to the satisfaction of the Chinese audience in particular. It is important, however, to see the films as a window to American life and society: the theme of liberation presented in the films is to be understood in the context of American topoi, namely, the pursuit of the self and the search for the value of life in a multicultural society. To a large extent, the three films address the American audience rather than the Chinese audience. While they tend towards the promotion of the social status of the Chinese community in America and engage in the representation of the different Chinese cultural features, the films endow the contemporary Chinese Americans with a prominent national identity that is American rather than Chinese.