Why was Joy Luck Club the Asian-American story that became so popular among white people?

(originally published May 30, 2016)

I saw Joy Luck Club (the film) for the first time since I was very young. It’s good that it’s a story about women and their complex relationships with their mothers, but the narratives and circumstances of the film’s (and novel’s) popularity bothered me.

While practices of sexism, abuse, and oppression of women by Chinese men deserve criticism, the movie depicts the white male partners as more desirable than the Chinese ones (except for one guy that had 0 lines). I think Amy Tan has the right to tell whatever story she wants to tell (some parts were based on her own experience). However, given the history of anti-Asian male sentiment in the US (that video so many people shared on May 25 gives a good summary–see a few posts down), I’m not surprised that this story, among other Asian-American stories, became so popular in the US as a novel and as a film to the point where it was one of the only known Asian-American stories in “mainstream America.”

This narrative of white males being more desirable, or a white savior, exists in too many stories about non-white women (or non-white people): including The Wolverine (the one that takes place in Japan). Wolverine was my favorite superhero too.

If you are someone who would only watch (or green-light) a movie about PoC if there’s a white hero/savior in it, what is it about your identity that makes you feel…