I never noticed that my personal narrative was not presented in pop culture, whether it is movie, news, or television drama. I always thought that my story was probably too specific to be presented in pop cultures. When I watched the movie Little Big Women, it was the first time that I see myself in a movie, and it was stunning to know that I was never alone.
Little Big Women was directed by Joseph Hsu, a film that reflective the story of many Taiwanese families. The main characters of the film are a grandmother named Lin Shoying and her three daughters. On Shoying’s birthday, she found out that her husband, who was long absent from her life, passes away. Shoying’s husband cheated on her and left the family while she worked hard to raise her family. She has to run a street-side stall all by herself. Yet, Shoying refused to divorce her husband and wished that her husband would eventually come back to the family. While Shoying arranges his funeral, she begins her journey to track down his most recent partner, with who her husband spends his last ten years of his life with.
Ever since I can remember, I have three grand moms, two on my father’s side and one on my mother’s side. Most of my older cousins call the other grand mom “Aunty.” I still remember that before my biological grandmother passed away in the hospital, she insisted to see my grandfather even though he has left the family. My biological grandmother took care of my uncles and my father all by her own, but my grandmother still loved my grandfather her entire life, and she never signed the divorce paper before her passing. All the dramas and struggles that happened in the movie also reflects to my family, such as the arguments between my father and my uncle. Me, as the youngest grand kid in the family, asking tons of questions when I was younger. I did not understand why most of my cousins do not talk to my second grand mom.
I was unsure why I felt so triggered when I watched Big Little Women until I read the article from the Washington Post (Laughlin, 2019). Wendy Hsu, an art researcher based in Los Angeles, said that representation is not just about seeing yourself in art or culture but seen as part of a larger community. Humans are social animals therefore, it became important for people to have a feeling of belonging. Things such as culture, language, background, and familiarity are essential aspects of people’s well-being. It’s often important for people to have this feeling of belonging, and it comes with things like social comfort, familiarity, the language that you speak, things that are usually pretty intuitive like your family and social connections. “Those aspects are essential elements for people’s well-being” (as cited in Laughlin, 2019, para.7). Hsu said that “All of this is the stuff that artists and musicians write about. The things that make up the narratives of who they are and who their communities are. Is an important space to have” (as cited in Laughlin, 2019, para.8).
Most of the Hero in Disney or Marvel movies are White males. The movies that I felt more related are probably Mulan and Montana. Before watching Little Big Women, I did not realize that I was so desperately to be represented in pop culture.
APA Reference list
Laughlin, A. (2019, April 28). Why it’s so powerful to see yourself represented in pop culture. Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/05/05/why-its-so-powerful-to-see-yourself-represented-in-pop-culture/
Winkelman, N. (2021, February 05). ‘Little big women’ review: Heartbreak is a family affair. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/movies/little-big-women-review.html