This episode is sponsored by HelloFresh It was the 90s Facing challenges from Hong Kong cinema And rampant piracy Taiwanese cinema was not doing so hot, financially Keyword being "financially" Because, in terms of quality It was practically a golden age Dubbed "The Taiwanese New Wave" More specifically, the second new wave This period saw the emergence of internationally renowned films Such as Vive L'Amour An urban drama about love, sex, and gender expressions Or A Brighter Summer Day A teen crime drama set in the 1960s These are grounded films With a sharp focus on Taiwanese life Much different from the fantasy cinema of wuxia and kung fu That was popular at the time And then, there is Ang Lee The indisputable top director from this period "Thank you" You're welcome Unlike many of his peers Lee's perspective on Taiwanese and the broader Chinese culture Is somewhat foreign Having spent years studying film abroad Ang Lee is blessed with a distinct advantage: He doesn't just understand Taiwan He is also particularly sensitive about the growing Western influence As well as how to explain that to an international audience "You're witnessing the results of 5000 years of sexual repression" And that brings us to today's film: Eat Drink Man Woman This is Ang Lee's "homecoming" film His first feature to be filmed in Taiwan proper In a way, it's also his thesis regarding the shifting Taiwanese identity All condensed into the lives of a single Chinese family If you want to know Taiwan This is the movie you should start with So, let's take a look at what some may argue to be Ang Lee's best work, to date [Eat Drink Man Woman: What is a Chinese Family] [Chapter One] Eat Drink Man Woman is a drama about a family of four An elderly father And his three daughters Despite sharing a roof They mostly live their separate lives Only sit down and share a family dinner every Saturday As mandated by the father This is the iconic Chinese family image Like many other cultures Chinese culture also values big families Gatherings are, ideally, held regularly With all relatives and even friends invited Which... makes this image kinda odd-looking, right? It's only a family of four A lot of Taiwanese families are actually not that big Many of them came from the Mainland Fled to Taiwan due to the Chinese Civil War In a way, Ang Lee is questioning the feasibility For Taiwan to maintain this Chinese family tradition And judging by everyone's enthusiasm towards the food The tradition is barely alive Unlike in the West In Chinese dinner Everything is shared It is a very intimate act In which personal boundaries are crossed Food is the way Chinese people connect When we ask how people are doing We ask: "have you eaten?" When we want to insult people We tell them to eat sh#t Food is connection And since no one is eating much It would seem like no one really enjoys this family connection In fact, the second daughter criticizes it "The ham is a bit overcooked" Worse yet, she suggests father's sense of taste may be deteriorating Which, later turns out to be true This family is lost to the father This is just a shell of a family So, what causes that? Well, you see This elderly father is a semi-retired chef And since food is deeply intertwined with the core of Chinese culture The father is, of course, old-school Chinese With an old-fashion, tongue curling accent "Eat Drink Man Woman, basic human desires" "Can't avoid them" All of the daughters, however Speak a flatter Taiwanese accent "Is dad okay? Where is he?" The oldest daughter is the most traditional She's a high school teacher An occupation seen as fairly traditional for Chinese women Unsurprisingly, she's the one who plans to stay behind To take care of the father A very traditional family thing to do At the same time, she's also a follower of Christ She'd pray and thank God for the table full of food A move that, I'm not sure his father would appreciate much The second daughter is a career woman An executive for an airline An occupation less traditional But nevertheless praised in modern-day Taiwan Noticed how the first thing you see about her Is her computer screen, full of English text The youngest daughter is still in school Working part-time in a fast-food restaurant Practically the polar opposite of what her father does Now notice how the only speaking customer in this scene Is a white man Deliberate, isn't it? Ang Lee used his experience with both Eastern and Western culture To represent a generational gap This clash between East and West Is one of the reasons why this family is just a hollow shell New Taiwan is adapting to the Western influence so quickly No one knows what to talk about So, no one enjoys the food [Sponsored Message] While we are on the topic of food You are looking at my cooking Now, I do enjoy cooking for others But as you can see, I'm not the best cook And I absolutely hate going to the grocery That's why I love HelloFresh HelloFresh deliveries seasonal recipes And ingredients right to my door Allow me to jump right to the fun part The fun part being cooking and eating The recipes are easy to follow And can be done in just about 30 minutes Since ingredients are delivered pre-measured by portions It also reduces food waste Making my Chinese parents very proud Go to HelloFresh.com and use my code ACCENTED14 To get 14 free meals That's right, 14 free meals Plus free shipping! Annnnnd... done Looks good! Taste even better! Made with ingredients sourced directly from farmers Everything is at peak freshness when it arrives Go to HelloFresh.com and use my code ACCENTED14 And experience the joy of cooking, stress-free [Chapter Two] In school, the oldest daughter begins receiving anonymous love letters Having been hurt by love before And also, being a devout Christian She doesn't want to be bothered Yet, when she begins suspecting the new gym teacher To be her secret admirer Conflicts begin to brew in her heart Meanwhile, the youngest daughter meets a boy Who recently broke up with their mutual friend And since food is connection in this movie After some light flirting in a food stall They begin to get a bit... Too close In conservative Chinese culture Food belongs on the table And sex is an under-the-table subject That's what the title means, by the way Eat Drink is food Man Woman is sex The two primal desires To conform to cultural norms You are not supposed to talk about sex Even if it makes you unhappy In this film's condensed metaphor This image of a traditional Chinese family is the "cultural norm" If you bring the under-the-table stuff on the table You ruin the dinner "I'm pregnant..." It is another Saturday And before the family dinner even begins The youngest daughter puts sex above the food Literally the next scene The youngest daughter is moving out In the middle of a family dinner To live with her boyfriend A family of four, now a house of three But that sure didn't last long Because in the next family dinner The oldest sister brings home her boyfriend While her father is holding an axe, by the way "We can't wait any longer!" "He wants..." "I'm a Christian!" And they leave... Now, a house of two So much for traditional Chinese family, huh [Chapter Three] Growing up, the second daughter wants to be a chef She still enjoys cooking And that's the way she bonds with people But her father disapproved He wanted her to study hard And do something useful Which she did But to her... It wasn't a good thing "Nobody ever asked if I'd appreciate this" She's the one most willing to criticize her father's food She's the one who dislikes the family connection the most But, now that the traditional family structure is being torn apart She's having second thoughts about moving out One day, while she's visiting someone else She sees her father in the hospital, alone And he looks... old In an unlikely twist It's the second daughter who decides to stay behind And take care of the father... It seems like this is a tragedy About the fall of a traditional Chinese family But when another Saturday comes And the family dinner is livelier than ever Both oldest and youngest sisters have brought their boyfriends And the neighbor's family also joins in This is the first time Everyone gets to enjoy the food People are happy to be part of the family The connection is there But then... Out of nowhere Father announces that he's getting remarried This time, it's the father who brought sex above the table He's selling the house And moving out... Now, everyone truly lives their separate lives The Chinese family is no more... [Chapter Four] So... what is this story about? Well, it all comes together in the final scene The second daughter, now living in the old house alone Invites everyone to a family dinner But since everyone has their own lives to live now Only her father shows up The host is now a guest The key no longer works And he has to ring the doorbell He has to bring gifts to the host... His daughter Seeing the dilapidated house It's hard to accept that home is no more But at least, the family dinner is still here "Too much ginger in the soup..." Then... it all begins to sink in "Your soup..." "I can taste it" His sense of taste has recovered "Even living under the same roof" "We can still live separate lives" "The worry we have for each other" "Is what makes us a family" Ang Lee is essentially questioning the value of a big Chinese family Chinese people often get very hung up on the appearance of things The formality of it So much so, our inner desires have to be suppressed In order to maintain the facade Throughout the entire film Everyone is holding back Hiding secrets In order to act like a traditional big Chinese family "Ever since Chinese cuisine came to Taiwan" "Every style got merged into one" "They all taste the same" But, in modern-day Taiwan Do we really have to keep this old tradition going? An old man getting remarried may not be traditionally acceptable But is it really better to conform and be unhappy Or is it better to be happy And tear the family down? Ang Lee appears to choose the latter Now, with a new life of his own Free to pursue his desire, both food and sex The elderly father is happier Without the repression He can finally feel the family connection This family is in the process of moving on Just as Taiwan was in the process of moving into modernity So what if their lives are filled with a lot of western influences Not everything old Chinese is good Not when times are changing [Conclusion] So, back when I worked for a film festival I was the camera for an interview With a big name Chinese director When the host asked him To give some tips to Chinese film students in Montreal He told these students to go back to China He said it's impossible to make a good film If your cultural experience is sandwiched between two cultures Being an outsider to both And I was just standing behind the camera, thinking "WTF dude, I'm right here" Well, here's Ang Lee, proving that wrong Yes, making a good film requires a deep understanding of a culture But the scope is equally important Having experienced both the Chinese family and the American family Ang Lee noticed the shifting family culture in Taiwan Which allows him to make his masterpiece With a broader understanding of different cultures He understands what appeals to an international audience He knows how to present his culture to everyone It is never a bad thing to expand your horizon That's what this channel is about To introduce you to film cultures of different worlds So, if you want to expand your horizon Be it getting into Taiwanese Cinema Asian art film Or Chinese culture Let Ang Lee be your guide
