Readings before class:
1. “Influences of Culture on Asian Americans’ Sexuality” by Sumie Okazaki in The Journal of Sex Research (JSTOR)
2. Queer Theory: An Introduction by Anna Marie Jagose, “Introduction” and “Theorising same-sex desire” (pg 1-21)
WATCH MOVIE: WEDDING BANQUET, before or after
3. Asian America : Straitjacket Sexualities : Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies. “Asian American Manhoods in Hollywood.” (pg 102-110)
Discussion Questions:
- Did you watch the movie before or after reading the excerpt from “Asian American Manhoods in Hollywood”? How do you think it affected your experience? How would it have been different?
- Released in 1993 and set in Manhattan, even Wei Tung and Simon’s white neighbors are homophobic, shown when Simon and his friend look over to see their neighbor glaring at them. Simon and his friend laugh about it. Why do you think the creators chose to include this scene?
- Imagine if homosexuality was universally accepted. How would this movie be different? What would have been the new conflict? And why?
- Possible answers: having a child for Wei Tung’s parents’ happiness, interracial marriage (Wei Tung’s date with the woman who his parents flew in to see him said she had a white boyfriend but was too scared to confront her parents about it)
- If you were to write the ending of this film, would you have written it differently? Why or why not? If you would, how would you have written it?
- Do you think it was realistic?
