MovieChat Forums > Gigantic (2009) Discussion > Motif of 'Foreign' elements (Chinese, Fr...

Motif of 'Foreign' elements (Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean)

posted 14 years ago by hellomynamewas
2 replies | jump to latest

I've skimmed the entire board, but can't find a discussion of the entire "foreign" motif that occurs throughout the film... Wondering what others thoughts were on the characters constantly referencing foreign things

-Chinese Baby
-French Restaurant that Dano's character goes to (And speaks French too)
-The other French restaurant Zooey, Goodman, Dano, and Goodman's date go to
-The Japanese businessmen (and Dano's brother speaking Japanese)
-French Cooking school Zooey is going to escape to
-The Korean guy Asner talks about to Dano
-Massage parlor (note that the clientele are Asian but the workers are all Caucasian, but in Asian garb, right?)
-Goodman's mention of how "It was very Chinese" how he got rid of his 'cancer'
-Probably more I'm forgetting...?

I dunno- there were so many overt references, I thought perhaps this was to get at how the characters all need some form of escape or are seeking answers or inspiration outside their 'normal' world.

Thoughts?

[–] glasshousesummer 13 years ago

Yeah, the references on foreign things were overt and frequent. I've been thinking about it for quite a while.

What I noticed was those mentions with slight mockery came mainly from Brian's dad, brothers and Happy's dad. On the other hand, Brian not only speaks French, but he can also cook French food, and have been wanting to adopt a Chinese baby for all his life. Happy also speaks French and tries to attend a cooking school in Paris. And didn't she mildly reprove her dad ("Dad?") when he referred to a Pakistani guy "Paky"?

So, my guess is that the director wanted to depict the generational difference on that matter. The older generation deals with foreign people and cultures mainly through business and has a bit of alienate (or even superior) feeling towards them. The piñatas of dictators implied Kirby's ”America as the leader of the free world" kind of world view. Younger generation like Brian and Happy merge more with foreign things.

[–] cthulhulurks 11 years ago

Strange kinda equals adopted here.

my vote history:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur13767631/ratings