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Title: Me, Mom & Mona Rating: 2.3 out of 4 Reference: Director, Mina Shum.
Reviews and Numerical Ratings 2 The positives: a) the video strikes at the differences in generational standpoints on gender & cultural conflicts by focusing on & making central only these three women, without much else for props. b) the video attempts to dispel notions of “ethnic communities” as cohesive & keeping to one’s kind. The mystery/absent father acts as a back-drop to their conversation, embodying a culture to be challenged & providing audience with a scandalous feeling of knowing family secrets. c) the video challenges typifications around “asian identities”, particularly for women. The negatives: the video is dated by the orientalising music and scenes from old Chinese films. It seems a bit too essentialist in intent, and somehow, by situating this as a particularly Chinese “family problem”, the video takes away from the contemporising move of using three women’s perspectives. In some areas the video might lack historical-contextual specificity. E.g., when the women speak of abuse and concubinage, the uncritical viewer might read this as a way of living of all present-day Chinese culture. Ellen Chang 2 This candid discussion is humorous but a little bit unsettling. It appears that these women from an Asian culture are living two separate lives: one for the husband & father and one for themselves. Mom has perfected the art of telling lies on impulse and her daughters have followed suit. It is understandable that due to cultural pressures they cannot reveal certain things to the patriarch in the family - indirectly they are being controlled by him anyway. I suppose it is their way of coping. Recommended for cultural studies courses and for students at any level of the programme. Jennifer Lewis-Phillips (undergraduate) 1 This video did not sufficiently deal with any sociological issue. It mentioned patriarchy in passing, but the three women’s stories were not really exemplary examples of the power that patriarchy still exerts over women. The conversations that these three women engaged in were quite tedious - they could have been conversations among practically any three silly women. Having a strict father is not exactly the most pertinent issue that should be brought to one’s attention when discussing the permeation of patriarchy. The video does not discuss cultural expectations, so we’re left guessing about how the women’s country of origin contributes to their conversation on patriarchy. And an image of a woman wringing out a wet cloth over a basin does not exactly make a profound statement on women’s roles in society. The abstract actually says that these women employ strategies to satisfy patriarchal expectations “in order to survive.” Please! I expected so much more. For students at any level. Belinda Godwin 3 Interesting video. A good assessment of familial/gender/patriarchy/ ethnicity negotiations. Visually interesting even though the colour is off. Lecture topics: family, feminism, diaspora, patriarchy, family violence, masculinity, femininity. Angela Aujla & Riley Olstead 3.5 Beginning section, about lying to Dad, really
likable - great timing, humour, use of old movie clips. Then there’s
a middle section on grandmother, grandfather, & mistress, and family
violence - hard to know to interpret the change in tone. Is it normalizing
family violence? Could be a good discussion topic. The end has a liberal
individualist “I can succeed if I try hard enough” angle.
Kathy Bischoping & Sujatha Varghese
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