Waubonsee Community College

Mah Jong orphan, produced and directed by Honey Fisher, Fishtales Productions

eng

videorecording

For High School; College; Adult audiences

Mah Jong orphan

electronic resource

747799272

produced and directed by Honey Fisher, Fishtales Productions

45

Reminiscent of Amy Tan s Joy Luck Club, this real life film focuses on the widening chasm between a Chinese mother, Suzan, a first generation immigrant, and her daughter Lilly, eager to assimilate. The mother and her friends are all avid mah jong players, which serves to connect them to their old country. Lilly, like most children of immigrants, wants to fit in with her Caucasian friends and rejects her mother's values. Their conflicts are both generational and cultural.In this fresh and spontaneous film, the audience has the rare privilege of simultaneously sharing in the women's poignant and sometimes humorous discoveries about themselves and each other. Suzan talks of her disappointment at Lilly's choice of a non-Chinese husband. Lilly, to her own surprise discovers a deep need to pass on her cultural heritage to her son. Having a grandchild heals the rift between the generations.The universality of the issues and the difficulties seen in this mother/daughter relationship transcend any particular race, culture or class and strike a collective nod of recognition among us all

general