Don'T Tell Her: The Oriental Love In A Transnational Perspective

Ren Ming

In the late stage of lung cancer, the family members who lived in New York, Changchun and Japan decided to hide their illness. The wish of their last reunion in the name of a wedding was to "The Farewell" ("farewell"). The film, which won the Golden Globe Award for best actress in the United States, released only 4 million yuan at the beginning of the year, compared with its overseas $about 19000000 box office and the praise of the big media.

From the point of view of propaganda and development, the movie has a great distance from the mainstream box office market in the mainland: Kafina is the rising Asian pop star in the United States (Chinese and Korean mixed blood), but most Chinese audiences are ignorant of her, and have little interest in her talk show and rap music. This theme is not felt by domestic audiences. They are not very concerned about the observation and experience of a "ABC" female director. Although there are many comedy moments with exaggerated colors from a cross cultural perspective, the keynote is the exploration and affirmation of the Chinese roots of the overseas Chinese by the overseas Chinese, which is not understood and shared by the majority of the audience in China.

However, compared with the 238 million dollar box office in North America in 2018, but also in the same place as "Waterloo", it is also a leading lineup for all Asian people. The $30 million Golden adventure is like a "ice cream for the eyes" that is enjoyed by the sea, the car, the villa, the handsome man and the beautiful woman. While satisfying the Western curiosity and imagination of the extravagant life of the "Asian rich", the Asian creators themselves have also had an addiction to cultural imagination and commercial appeal on the big screen -- born in the United States. Zhu Haowei, a descendant director, has successfully replaced the eastern face of the classical narrative of Cinderella in the West. The film is popular in the mainstream market of the United States, providing a breakthrough template for the presentation of Asian actors and Chinese culture in Hollywood. But what this article wants to explore is not to tell her the box office is not as good as "picking gold". Its IMDb (7.7 VS 6.9), rotten tomatoes (98% VS 91%) and bean score (7.3 VS 6.1) are far ahead. Why?

"Don't tell her" tells the story of a 31 year old New York girl, 6 years old, who moved to the United States with her parents. After learning of her grandmother's incurable disease, BIE, who grew up with her grandmother, bought a credit card ticket and went home to see the story of her internal conflict because her family decided to hide her illness from her grandmother. The film is based on the real experience of the director, under the slightly exaggerated character conflict and the way of speech. It is the details and scenes that the domestic audiences are familiar with and heart to heart. Whether or not the "Chinese" argument, the hotel service staff learned that when Bi Li came from the United States, she asked the curiosity and persistence of "China is good or the United States", the curiosity of Bi Li cupping cupboard to the mirror, Lu Jian's concern over her aunt's milk for many years and her future life in the wedding space. The film's aunt milk is played by the director's real life aunt, whose original acting skills are no less than a professional actress. The director's sincerity and intentions are moving. The grandmother in the film is an image of a strong woman who has been involved in the army, fought a war, and grasped a lot of things at home. Her love for her and her grandchildren is known to all. Therefore, the vast and inarticulate Hao Hao cried at her wedding ceremony, and was interpreted as "tears of joy" by her aunt. In addition to Alka Fina, Hao Hao and Japanese girlfriends, the actor and actress, will be naturally young and natural in their long history and their awkwardness and embarrassment. Lin Xiaojie, who plays Bi Li's mother Lu Jian, has starred in the movie "happiness is not drizzle" before she went abroad. In her don't tell her, she shows a middle-aged woman who has experienced a struggle in foreign lands, struggled in Chinese and American cultures, and has a straight mind and fairness.

The theme of the film was expressed by the mouth of uncle, though it was a bit stiff, it showed the director's confession and unquestioning attitude to this question: "you regard life as an individual, which is the cultural difference between the East and the West. Orientals regard life as a collective, family and society. You want to tell Grandma the truth because you are afraid of taking responsibility because it is too big a responsibility. If you tell her, you will have no burden. The reason why we didn't tell her was to share her ideological pressure. Bi Li thought that it should be true to grandma because she thought Grandma had the right to know, "what if she had something to do?" "What if she wants to say goodbye?" The differences between individual rights and responsibilities do reflect the cultural differences between China and the United States: Americans believe that people can and should be responsible for their own affairs, no matter how important or helpful family members are, and the Chinese believe that when the crisis comes, family members should unite to survive the crisis and be willing to bear the crisis for the loved ones. This kind of responsibility passed down from generation to generation is reflected in whether Bi Li asked her aunt whether she should tell Grandma the truth. In the face of her doubt, aunt said firmly, "I don't think I can tell her now"; "how do you know?" asked green. Aunt milk replied, "I just know." After asking closely, she realized that her grandmother had done the same thing to her father. However, the assurance of the so-called "timing" is undoubtedly due to the tacit understanding of getting along with each other.

Some problems do not have a real answer. The quality of culture can not be judged solely by reason. Just like when discussing whether the two sons who migrated abroad were Americans or Chinese, grandma said "we are all Chinese". Like the end of the film, the child walking alone on the streets of New York looks lonely and lost in the crowd. She walks and walks suddenly. She suddenly stops and smiles. "Roar, ha," she spit out a sulk in her heart according to the way grandma taught her.

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