Week 3: Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1994)

1. Traditional Chinese cooking as a way of expressing love

The expression of love is portrayed in different forms in this film, as it deals with lots of relationships between the characters. Mr Chu is portrayed as the stereotypical Asian parent who does not explicitly express his love towards his children in an outwardly affectionate manner, although he does it in other ways. For instance, the Sunday dinner that the family has each week is symbolic to their ritual, even though the daughters do not see it that way. Instead, they feel as if they are being dragged to the dinner every time and feel as if they have other better things to do.

However, Mr Chu chooses this channel to express his love for them - elaborate meals that require a lot of preparation into them. He also does it in other forms, such as doing their laundry, folding their clothes, making sure they wake up before they're late, scolding Jia-Chen for falling asleep on her desk, and of course, cooking for them. The daughters sometimes miss these expressions and they do not pay attention. They've grown up in a generation where Hollywood movies is a norm, and so are instances of verbally saying "I Love You," on their screens that it instilled different expectations for them compared to their father.

In these cooking scenes, it demonstrates just how much goes into food preparation for their Sunday dinners. The meticulous nature of it symbolises the care they take in making each dish. Mr Chu shows that when he expresses his love, he expresses it wholeheartedly.

2. Daughters' personalities according to Freud's theory of personality

Jia-Ning, the youngest sister among the rest. She resembles the Id, one of three in Freud's theory of personality. The Id runs unconsciously and urges one to take part in activities that are considered to be pleasurable (Lapsley & Stey, 2011). In the film, Jia-Ning was the first sister to meet her partner, then unexpectedly got pregnant and had to arrange a shotgun wedding. It was the most impulsive decision and could symbolise the Id.

Jia-Jen, the eldest sister of the Chu family. She was the second sister to get married unexpectedly, albeit not as impulsively as Jia-Ning. As a devout Christian, at least she gave a bit of thought into marrying her partner and the reasons behind it, unlike her younger sister. Jia-Jen represents the Ego in which she often represses her true feelings and functions with self-preservation (Lapsley & Stey, 2011). According to Lapsley and Stey (2011), "the internal drive stimuli attempts to control the demands of the instincts by judiciously deciding the mode of satisfaction, or if satisfaction is to be had at all." This mirrors Jia-Jen in several scenes, such as when she tells Jia-Chen that she will stay with their dad to take care of him, or when she daydreams about Mingdao but refuses to act on her feelings (but she eventually gave in and kissed him anyway). It shows how she holds back, especially due to her religion, but eventually, she can't help but have her emotions make her decisions. It could also be due to the pressure of being the eldest and from people surrounding her to remind about finding a boyfriend, which made her act impulsively in the end.

  

And Jia-Chen, the middle sister. She is the most responsible and most hardworking; she does things logically and rationally. She resembles the Superego -- it represents the moral sense of a personality, as it generates guilt as a response against the flaws and deficiencies of the ego (Lapsley & Stey, 2011). When she wanted to move out, she felt guilty for wanting to do so. And when she got promoted, she declined the offer to stay in order to take care of her father; she was worried about his health. Even in times of wanting to escape, or receiving great opportunities that can take her forward, she decided to stay and does what is morally right in her eyes.

3. Mr Chu's relationship with Jia-Chien

In the beginning of the film, Jia-Chen decides to buy a new apartment and plans to move out, but she eventually had to stay due to circumstances at that time. The irony of it all is that she was very vocal about wanting to move out at first, but ends up the one who stays after everyone leaves -- even the father leaves, when in fact, she stayed because of him.

As the film goes along, the characters' layers unpeel. We develop a deeper understanding and a certain depth to these characters as they unveil more layers and dimensions of themselves. It becomes more of a transformation on their part to be able to see how they progress throughout the film.

It seemed that Jia-Chen was the closest to her father, despite wanting to get away the most. Her relationship with Mr Chu is built on their passion for cooking, as she used to watch him cook when she was younger. This created somewhat of a special bond that she has with him that her sisters do not have. Moreover, certain scenes in the film show snapshots of their family portrait, and Jia-Chen appears to have an uncanny resemblance to her mother. Perhaps a contribution to their relationship as Mr Chu would be reminded constantly of his late wife.

Reference:

Lapsley, D. K. and Stey, P. C. (2011) Encyclopedia of Human Behaviour. Second edn. Elsevier.

Week 2: Awakenings (1990)

Synopsis

The movie is an adaptation of Oliver Sack's book (1973) based on a true story. He was a British neurologist who discovered the effects of L-dopa and administered these drugs to catatonic patients who survived the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica.

Leonard's Character (and Other Patients)

The experience of suffering was quite graphic with powerful scenes, conveying the pain that these patients went through. It showed the deterioration of the patients' health, such as being unable to do basic things (like to read or to talk) and having no control over their own body due to their condition.

Seeing the transition of how the patients were prior to the L-dopa medication and during the time of their medication itself created a sense of intrigue among the audience towards the patients, and caused us to empathise with the patients even more -- especially after seeing how much it affected their loved ones; the ones who stayed. During the medication, the patients' personalities were brought to the surface and engaged the audience even more. This made it compelling to watch their interactions with each other -- it humanised them, not just portraying them as catatonic patients who were 'asleep'. It was able to grasp the audience's attention as it was fascinating to see them finally 'come to life' and 'awaken'; to see their true selves. This linked the audience to the characters even more and formed more of a connection.

Moreover, the treatment of the patients was shown through a realistic light - that not every doctor treats their patients nicely. They just wanted to be treated like normal human beings, but instead, are viewed as sick and unable to do things on their own. Their label as patients had stuck to them that even the doctors themselves treat them as such, rather than viewing them as capable humans (especially during medication) who are willing to try and get better. These are the simple things that we take for granted, and definitely the take away message from this film.

Emotional Element

The movie touched the audience's hearts from arousing a range of emotions. The movie was able to build a connection with the characters at first, as we see how they are on a day to day basis. How difficult and challenging it is for their remaining loved ones who stayed to take care of them, and how much they hold deeply to every bit of hope that they have any chance of them getting better eventually. While for others, their families and spouses have left them - again, a realistic depiction as it happens in everyday life as well. It is such a tragic thing to happen to them as they have lost hope and the patients awaken to them not by their side anymore.

The connection we have with the characters toy with our emotions as we feel happy for them when they eventually got better. There were comedic reliefs that helped lifted up the spirit of the movie at times, as it would have been too intense to watch. This was more towards during the time of their medication, when everyone was better, which elevated the emotions felt.

However, towards the end when the effects backfired and the patients' condition were deteriorating, the mood plummeted again because of how close and connected we feel to the characters. We cried when they cried and laughed when they laughed. The movie brought out a fluctuation of reactions, making the audience feel as though they are on the journey with the characters, too.




Dr. Sayer's Character
His character is layered and complex, actually being displayed as a real person and not just one dimensional. As the movie goes along, we learn more about Dr Sayer, such as him not being a people-person, and it could be seen how uncomfortable he is with human interactions. But eventually, it is seen that the patients had an effect on his outlook on life, causing him to eventually try to be around people. It also shows his journey of how the actions of someone can have a ripple effect.

Week 1: Cinema Paradiso (1988)

The film showed what seemed to be a realistic side of Giancaldo, in the way certain social hierarchies were portrayed. For instance, the classicism was clearly shown in which the rich would have better seats on the upper side of the cinema whilst the poor and less wealthy would have their seats on the ground floor, with less good conditions. Furthermore, there were very strong religious tones that could be seen and it influenced how some of the characters interacted with each other. As well as how that influenced Salvatore’s upbringing, thus giving an insight towards how their village and their people interacted with one another. It gave us a look at how people from a different time and age were brought up and what their norms were. Especially in the context of how the children were treated (and today, many of their actions would be considered as child abuse) and how physically punishing them was common and normalized.

There was a strong nostalgic theme to the whole film, as well. The director was able to give the illusion of time in which decades have passed when in fact, it had been only two hours. The progression of how Salvatore had grown, how he goes through the different developmental stages from a young boy to a teenager and later to a more mature, young adult was also clearly seen. Towards the end of the film, when Salvatore returned back to his hometown, the depth of time could be seen. People who he grew up with him looked much older, the buildings aged and were run down, the modernisation of transportation causing there to be an increase of cars and buses - unlike how it used to be when he first left. Although not many developments happened, there was still a difference in how things had changed, e.g. Cinema Paradiso being an abandoned building when he returned - and this was powerful and even quite sentimental to see. It was almost as if the entire story was not even fictional because of how deep of a connection we could see in how the characters interacted and how detailed Salvatore’s life was shown.