Catfish In Black Bean Sauce Analysis

Catfish in Black Bean Sauce:
A Look at the Bicultural Struggle and the Different Approaches Toward It
A melting pot, a metaphor for a mix of multi-ethnical and/or multi-cultural people who come together to make one harmonious society and culture, is a common term to refer to the United States of America. Many people from numerous places all over the world pour into this land. However, the transition from one country and culture to another does not come easily to all. Some struggle to conciliate the new culture into their own, while others assimilate so well into the new environment that they near forget, and sometimes, reject, their roots. In the movie Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, excellent examples of both of the mentioned approaches
Dwayne and Mai, the latter being ten, were Vietnamese refugee children. Mai, the older sister, fought hard to keep them together, and succeeded when a kindly African American couple, Harold and Dolores Williams, adopted them both and reared them into adulthood. Twenty-two years later, Mai is already married to an Asian man named Vinh, while Dwayne is preparing to propose to his girlfriend Nina, an independent, attractive African American young woman. Their choices of romantic partner are an example of their responses to the new culture. Mai clings steadfastly to her original Vietnamese heritage. Dwayne, on the other hand, takes to his second culture fully, occasionally slipping into Ebonics in his speech, and working as a manager at a mainly black-employed
This news, declared right after Dwayne’s proposal to his girlfriend Nina, throws the family into chaos. Dolores is hurt at Mai’s abrupt decision without any prior warning, and bitterly tells her daughter that she thought Mai had already given up on locating her biological mother a long time ago. Mai just stares back defiantly. Harold, on the other hand, shows delight and congratulates her, and Mai responds favorably, showing a clear contrast in her attitude toward the two parents. Nina also gives her congratulations to Mai. Dwayne, conversely, seems frozen, not knowing how to take the news. Whereas his sister has always expressed a wish to be with their birth mother, Dwayne is fine with his life the way it is. He has a more or less good job, a beautiful fiancée, and a loving family; this news does nothing but careens him into a path of confusion and conflicts. In a comedic fantasy about what his mother would be like when she arrives, he imagines her as a stout, elderly Vietnamese woman who is clinging to the arm of an Southern American gentleman whom she met on the plane. After a few exuberant words to Dwayne about how happy she is to see him, she goes off on a date with the man, and there the fantasy ends. Obviously, his hazy image of the forgotten mother is not in a