Coming Oct. 20: Is "Eat Drink Man Woman" Really a Jewish Film?

When Ang Lee and James Schamus, the co-authors of the screenplay for Eat Drink Man Woman, went to Taipei to prepare for the film, Schamus brought Lee a first draft. Lee thought it wasn't “Chinese" enough, so Schamus re-imagined all the names as Jewish and re-wrote the script with these characters in mind. When he brought it back, Lee thought it was much more Chinese. Is this film about Chinese, Jewish, or universal values?

We will begin with a brief introduction to traditional Chinese values, watch the film, and then discuss it, briefly noting that it has been re-made as Tortilla Soup, set in Southern California.

BI member Louis Friedler periodically teaches a course on Chinese film at Arcadia University, where he is Chair of the Computer Science and Mathematics Department. He recently led a group of students on a tour of Shanghai and is currently working on a cross- national study comparing calculus performance by university students in the U.S. and China.