Blog 3: Saving Face

The main thing that I took away from the film was the idea of the Grandfather and how his reputation got affected multiple times throughout the film due to things that his Daughter Ma and Granddaughter Wil did in the film. This was shown first when the grandparents found out that Ma was pregnant and decided to banish her from Flushing, then there was also when Wil told her mom that she was gay and didn't react to well to the news. This idea of reputation being affected by the actions of family was shown in the previous film “Eat a Bowl of Tea” and also in the short story “From Monkey King” in the book Bold Words. In the book it has the concept of model minority myth  in how the women in the story gets divorced and leaves her job which leads to her to being viewed as successful or hardworking. The model minority myth is a key component of the film Saving Face. This is shown a lot by Wil throughout the film. It shows that she is an intelligent hardworking in that she is a doctor and has her own apartment and seem to be doing fairly well for herself. But then when people find out that she is gay it affects her moms view of her by when she said “Im not a bad mother, you are not gay” with the idea that she isn't a model minority. But it is also shown with the Grandfather in that he says it will affect his reputation among the community. 

It shows the pressure the parents and even grandparents place on the kids/grandkids to start a family like at the beginning when they were at the party and the parents were talking to each other hoping their son or daughter would meet someone nice.It is also shown when Ma tells her parents about her being pregnant and won’t tell them who the father is or doesn't want to marry the father which was what caused her to being banished from Flushing. Then later it is showed again in that she finds a man to marry to please her father and for her fathers honor. Even though she doesn't even love the man she was about to marry.