Season 9, Ep. 1: The Joy Luck Club

Saturday School is officially back for Season 9! Brian and I are here to teach your unwilling children about Asian American pop culture history (which includes Russell Wong and watermelons). The theme for this semester is "Stars of Asian American Cinema." In recent years, it's been fun to see Asian Americans starring in Hollywood hits and winning prestigious awards, because for so many years, we were told that the reason Hollywood wouldn't make any Asian American films was because there were no bankable stars. But as longtime followers of the Asian American indie film scene, we had our own stars -- those who we could count on to shine on the big screens of Asian American film festivals, even if they never landed on the covers of Entertainment Weekly. 

We start this season with "The Joy Luck Club," not because it's a groundbreaking Hollywood studio film, but to remind ourselves that when the film came out, none of them were considered "stars." But looking back at it 31 years later, it's a parade of stars-in-the-making. Yes, it's a meaningful story about mothers and daughters, immigrant struggle and intergenerational trauma -- but also everyone is very vulnerably charismatic, joyfully campy or entertainingly villainous. And it's ridiculous that Tamlyn Tomita, Ming-Na Wen, Lauren Tom and Rosalind Chao still kinda look the same.