Pushing Hands (1992), Wedding Banquet (1993), and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) are Ang Lee’s award-winning trilogy that established his unprecedented success in both film critic and global market. In Ma’s article, he defined Ang Lee’s trilogy as domestic tragicomedy, the word “domestic” refers to not only family, but also nation and Chinese culture; and “tragicomedy” indicates the elaborated melancholic immigrant culture in both Chinese and Chinese diaspora with a light-hearted tone (193). Indeed, Lee’s bold innovative presentation of immigrant subjectivities challenged conventional Chinese value of sexual orientation, love relationship and marriage (Ma 191). However, Lee also presented the conservative aspect of Chinese tradition in the films
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Ma argued the traditional wedding ceremony express public humiliation of newlyweds, which could be interpreted as challenging Confusion code of propriety (礼) and filial piety (孝), a transgression of “five thousand years of sexual repression” (198). In turn, this representation of traditional Chinese culture was regarded as consciously packaged for the world market to satiate the urge for …show more content…
In fact, the food motif reoccurs in the trilogy, and usually functioned as a battle field where family conflicts outburst. Also, it transformed from a symbol of disjunction with Western food in Pushing to a lavish feast visually illustrated in Eat through the troublesome ritual Sunday night banquet. Ma points out Lee’s conscious choreography of food making scenes “confirm global audience’s preconceived notion of a mysterious and inviting East”
Ma argued the traditional wedding ceremony express public humiliation of newlyweds, which could be interpreted as challenging Confusion code of propriety (礼) and filial piety (孝), a transgression of “five thousand years of sexual repression” (198). In turn, this representation of traditional Chinese culture was regarded as consciously packaged for the world market to satiate the urge for …show more content…
In fact, the food motif reoccurs in the trilogy, and usually functioned as a battle field where family conflicts outburst. Also, it transformed from a symbol of disjunction with Western food in Pushing to a lavish feast visually illustrated in Eat through the troublesome ritual Sunday night banquet. Ma points out Lee’s conscious choreography of food making scenes “confirm global audience’s preconceived notion of a mysterious and inviting East”