One of my favorite movies this summer and this year is the romantic comedy & tragedy (500) Days of Summer, following the ups and downs of a relationship between Tom and Summer over 500 days in non-chronological random order. At 87% “fresh”, there are certainly a lot of other films which have larger marketing budgets and are more promoted, but a lot less enjoyable than this film.
But there’s one scene in the movie when both Tom and Summer are playing “house” in an Ikea store in Los Angeles where the two are lying down on a bed and see a family watching them, and Tom makes the observation and comment:
“Honey, I don’t know how to say this, but there’s a Chinese family in our bathroom.”
When I watched that, I thought to myself, “Why does Chinese equal comedy here? ” I wonder how moviegoers would have felt or reacted if the family had been black, Hispanic or Native American? How about just:
“Honey, I don’t know how to say this, but there’s a family in our bathroom.”
Isn’t it funny enough that there would an unknown family in a bathroom while the two were playing house in their supposed Ikea bedroom? Maybe I am being a bit over sensitive, but I thought I’d call this out while still encouraging all those who haven’t seen the film to see it. If you’ve seen the film – what do you think?
Besides the clever execution of the storyline, the soundtrack to the movie is just fantastic and really adds to the mood of the movie, including Sweet Disposition, Vagabond and She’s Got You High.
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11 Comments to “(500) Days of Summer’s Chinese Family Scene”
Dan W wrote:
I think the scene is kinda ok. Not very overbearing in that sense,but it's quite understandable why this scene is sorta uncomfortably iffy. I think you're fine pointing it out and it's not being over-sensitive.
On a separate related note, this sort of a generational issue where the word “Chinese” is used in a comical sense. I remember several occasions of hanging around with some older people (non-Asians and AA's but non-Chinese) who were born around the 60s and early 70s who made jokes or humorous comments with this. Most of it was so-so, not that offensive while a rare few was quite blood boiling for me. I couldn't get the humor for a long while and neither did some of my friends of the same generation. I'm pretty sure there are some younger people who got the joke, but using Chinese in that context is really fading away.
Posted on 30-Aug-09 at 11:17 am | Permalink
Dan W wrote:
Sorry I should be a little clear. I meant using the word “Chinese” as a joke in itself is fading away rather than the other racial inuendos we often hear today.
Posted on 30-Aug-09 at 11:26 am | Permalink
erika888 wrote:
Dan W makes a good point, though I don't think that sort of humor is going away. “Chinese” = “weird/foreign”, in that sense, and I've seen “Indian” used in that context as well…
Posted on 30-Aug-09 at 12:51 pm | Permalink
cheeselesspizza wrote:
In terms of joke construction, the laugh comes from the fact that they're playing house and there's a family of a different ethnicity in the bathroom. It works the other way around, too:
CHINESE GUY AND CHINESE GIRL LAY DOWN IN EACH OTHER'S ARMS.
CHINESE GUY: Honey, I don't know how to tell you this, but… there's a white family in our bathroom.
THEY TURN AND SEE A FAMILY OF WHITE PEOPLE STANDING THERE, STARING AT THEM.
The joke requires the mention of some ethnicity other than the characters' own to hit the laugh.
Posted on 30-Aug-09 at 1:45 pm | Permalink
moye wrote:
That's how I interpreted the scene, too. I didn't find it offensive, because the comedy in the scene was on finding the most unexpected people in your family bathroom. It's not like they were wearing a bamboo hat with a gong.
Posted on 31-Aug-09 at 10:35 am | Permalink
solshine7 wrote:
I thought the same thing! The film would have been perfect if not for that “Chinese” bit.
Posted on 01-Sep-09 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
TheWhiteGuy wrote:
I agree with CheeselessPizza. I think as a comedy construct, the joke works. I also think “Chinese” should be interpreted as a nationality vs. a race. The joke is equally funny if I say:
“Honey, there's an Albanian family in our bathroom.” or
“Honey, there's a Peruvian family in our bathroom.”.
It's a “fish out of water” joke, or a “one of these kids is not like the other” joke.
I DON'T think the joke works if you interpret this as race and substitute “a Hispanic family” or “a Black family”. That's not funny to me.
John – I think you've been over-sensitized.
Posted on 01-Sep-09 at 9:45 pm | Permalink
catherine_sr wrote:
“Honey, I don't know how to say this, but there are a couple of hipster cliches on our bed.”
(Don't get me wrong. I'm part of the demographic contingent that loves Zooey D., listens to Iron & Wine, reads Lula Magazine and considers watching “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” one of the defining moments of my youth. But, heck, I'd be the first person to call myself a hipster cliche…)
Posted on 04-Sep-09 at 3:04 am | Permalink
johnklin wrote:
@ TheWhiteGuy – Well, sometimes I blog about things to get people to comment
. It's not too often you see Asian Americans in media, so I'm also just highlighting the appearance of a Chinese family in the movie.
I think the joke might have worked with a white family and using the comment, “There's a family in our bathroom.” or “There are strangers in out bathroom.” But probably not as funny. I also agree with cheeselesspizza's analysis.
Posted on 06-Sep-09 at 1:37 pm | Permalink
maliwi wrote:
I felt this way watching the pilot episode of Glee. During the scene where Mercedes (Amber Riley) tells Finn (Cory Monteith) “Ok, you're good white boy, but you better bring it.” I felt uncomfortable as soon as I heard the dialogue. I wasn't offended but as a white male I couldn't imagine myself saying “Ok, you're good black girl…” to anyone. I decided I was being over-sensitive.
Posted on 11-Sep-09 at 11:37 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » Watching TV on a Sony Bravia HDTV can improve my Chinese? wrote:
[...] Timberlake can be quite the comedian. But I have to wonder, are we going to see more Chinese and Chinese families being the comedic twist in commercials, television and movies as China and Chinese language grows in global prominence and [...]
Posted on 29-Sep-09 at 12:01 am | Permalink
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