History Literature / TheJoyLuckClub

* EvilMatriarch: Huang Taitai in "The Red Candle" is pushy and demanding toward not only a young Lindo but her own son in an effort to gain a coveted grandson despite them being too young to have children, especially Tyan-yu. Second Wife in "Magpies" makes her look like a saint in comparison with her manipulative behavior and bouts of pretend suicide to get what she wants and making sure no one else can get the benefits that she does. Both of them do get humbled in their own ways by the end of each story.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the book, the first sign that Ted is a terrible person is when Rose tells him about his mother's racist statements and he's angrier at Rose for not standing up for herself than at his mother's racism. Notably, due to his [[LighterAndSofter nicer]] and redeemable portrayal in the movie, he is present when said racism is directed at Rose, and he rightfully calls his mother out [[spoiler: and he and Rose are eventually able to reconcile their marriage]].

** In Lindo's case, a forceful abusive mother-in-law who puts a lot of pressure on Lindo and her son to conceive a child.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Ted in the film is depicted as redeemable, thus [[spoiler:being attentive enough to save his marriage with Rose]]. Harold is a more blatant emotional abuser in the film, whereas the book counterpart is just unintentionally condescending.

** Being forced to abandon your baby girls to the elements in the ''desperate'' hope someone will find and take care of them, because you simply ''can't carry them any more.''

** 4-year-old Bing's death. While at the beach, he is left unattended for a moment, and ends up accidentally drowning.

* AmbiguousSituation: In the book, the state of Lena's relationship with Harold is up in the air. Also, while it hints that Rose will get the upper-hand in her divorce with Ted, Rose's arc ends abstractly enough. [[spoiler: The film avoids these by showing in the present day Lena is with a new man she’s visibly happier with and Ted, who was [[AdaptationalNiceGuy written as less of a jerk]], was able to reconcile with Rose.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Arguably, the fate of Ying-Ying's first baby in the movie. [[spoiler:In the book, Ying-Ying gets an abortion. In the movie, Ying-Ying carries it to term but later drowns it, acting listless the whole time]].
* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:Four-year-old Bing Hsu (drowned) and Ying-Ying's sons (the first one was aborted because it belonged to her awful first husband and the second one was born with a hole in its head and no brain).]]

* ExtremeDoormat: Tan makes it pretty clear on just how terrible the consequences can be if a woman acts as such and the book is quite critical of a culture that encourages such.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the book, the first sign that Ted is a terrible person is when Rose tells him about his mother's racist statements and he's more angry at Rose for not standing up for herself than at his mother's racism. Notably, due to his [[LighterAndSofter nicer]] and redeemable portrayal in the movie, he is present when said racism is directed at Rose and he rightfully calls his mother out [[spoiler:and he and Rose are eventually able to reconcile their marriage]].

* LoveMartyr: Rose's believes that her submissiveness respects her husband Ted. Of course, she outgrows this mindset.

* OddNameOut: Matthew, Mark, Luke and Bing.

** ''Entirely'' unwillingly, on [[spoiler:Suyuan's]] part.

* PetTheDog: The introduction of Second Wife seems to be this. She gives An-Mei a "genuine" pearl necklace as a welcoming offer. Then An-Mei's mother exposes the necklace as fake to An-Mei, hinting to Second Wife's conniving and manipulative nature...

* PrettyInMink: Waverly's fiance giving her a mink coat.

* RichBitch: Ying-ying in her youth, before she was broken by her terrible first marriage. The Second Wife in An-mei's story is this to a T.

* SexlessMarriage: Lindo's and Tyan-yu's marriage, being he has no interest in her and is down right terrified at the idea of consummating the marriage. Also there's the fact they're ''children'' when they're married.
* StageMom: Suyuan and Lindo in regards to their daughters' piano playing and chess playing. Suyuan especially counts since the only reason Jing-Mei picked up the piano in the first place was because Suyuan was trying to force her into being a child star.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: "Together we look like our mother." [[spoiler:Jing-Mei, finding her lost sisters.]]

* RedFlag: In the book, the first sign that Ted is a terrible person is when Rose tells him about his mother's racist statements and he's more angry at Rose for not standing up for herself than at his mother's racism. Notably, due to his [[LighterAndSofter nicer]] and redeemable portrayal in the movie, he is present when said racism is directed at Rose and he rightfully calls his mother out.

* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Implied by Mrs. Jordan when she speaks to Rose at an outdoor barbecue.
* YouKnowWhatTheySayAboutX: Again implied by Mrs Jordan to Rose.

* YourCheatingHeart: Rose's husband and, even more severely, Ying's first husband.

The novel was adapted into a 1993 film, directed by Wayne Wang. It starred Creator/MingNaWen, Creator/TamlynTomita, Creator/LaurenTom, and Rosalind Chao as the daughters, and Lisa Lu, Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, and France Nguyen as the mothers.

* {{Adorkable}}: Tin Jong in "Double Face" could be counted as one after his proposal to Lindo. He speaks Cantonese and she speaks Mandarin but they're both learning English which is the only way they could speak to each other from the time despite it being both their second languages. It leads to some rather humorous dialogue between the two.
-->"Lindo, will you spouse me?"

* DeathOfAChild: [[Spoiler:Four-year-old Bing Hsu (drowned) and Ying-Ying's sons (the first one was aborted because it belonged to her awful first husband and the second one was born with a hole in its head and no brain).]]

The novel was adapted into a 1993 film, directed by Wayne Wang. It starred Creator/MingNaWen, Creator/TamlynTomita, Creator/LaurenTom, and Creator/RosalindChau as the daughters, and Creator/LisaLu, Creator/TsaiChin, Creator/KieuChinh, and Creator/FranceNguyen as the mothers.

* AmbiguousSituation: In the book, the state of Lena's relationship with Harold is up in the air. Also, while it hints that Rose will get the upper-hand in her divorce with Ted, Rose's arc ends abstractly enough. [[spoiler: The film avoids these by showing in the present day Lena is with a new man whom she’s visibly happier with and Rose and Ted were able to reconcile their marriage.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Arguably, the fate of Ying-Ying's first baby in the movie. In the book, Ying-Ying gets an abortion. In the movie, Ying-Ying carries it to term but later drowns it, acting listless the whole time.
* DeathOfAChild: Averted with [[spoiler:four-year-old Bing Hsu and Ying-Ying's sons. The first one was aborted because it belonged to her awful first husband and the second one was born with a hole in its head and no brain.]]

* InfantImmortality: Averted with [[spoiler:four-year-old Bing Hsu and Ying-Ying's sons. The first one was aborted because it belonged to her awful first husband and the second one was born with a hole in its head and no brain.]]

''The Joy Luck Club'' is an 1989 novel by Creator/AmyTan, which was adapted into a 1993 film, directed by Wayne Wang.

* AmbiguousSituation: In the book, the state of Lena's relationship with Harold is up in the air. Also, while it hints that Rose will get the upper-hand in her divorce with Ted, Rose's arc ends abstractly enough.

* BaldOfEvil: Lena's boyfriend Harold's baldness is a visual cue to his cold soullessness, along with the grey clothing and furniture. His replacement is notable for having thick, luxurious hair, symbolic of his warmth and goodness.

* SexlessMarriage: Lindo's and Tyan-yu's marriage, being he has no interest in her and is down right terrified at the idea of consummating the marriage.

* PetTheDog: The introduction of Second Wife seems to be this. She gives An-Mei a "genuine" pearl necklace as a welcoming offer. Then An-Mei's mother exposes the necklace as fake to An-Mei, hinting to Second Wife's conniving and manipulative nature..

* SexlessMarriage: Lindo's and Tyan-yu's marriage, being he has no interest in her.

* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: When Suyuan scolds little June for playing the piano badly, she tries telling the little girl that there are "Only two kinds of daughter: obedient or follow-own-mind. Only one kind of daughter could live in this house: obedient kind."

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Ted in the film is depicted as redeemable, thus [[spoiler: being attentive enough to save his marriage with Rose]]. Harold is a more blatant emotional abuser in the film, whereas the book counterpart is just unintentionally condescending.

* InfantImmortality: Averted with [[spoiler: four-year-old Bing Hsu and Ying-Ying's sons. The first one was aborted because it belonged to her awful first husband and the second one was born with a hole in its head and no brain.]]

** ''Entirely'' unwillingly, on [[spoiler: Suyuan's]] part.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: "Together we look like our mother." [[spoiler: Jing-Mei, finding her lost sisters.]]

* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard'' with [[spoiler: four-year-old Bing Hsu and Ying-Ying's sons. The first one was aborted because it belonged to her awful first husband and the second one was born with a hole in its head and no brain.]]

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Ted in the film is depicted as redeemable, thus [[spoiler: being attentive enough to save his marriage with Rose.]] Harold is a more blatant emotional abuser in the film, whereas the book counterpart is just unintentionally condescending.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: (InUniverse) Lindo's mother-in-law cannot understand why her son hasn't [[IWantGrandkids sired any children yet.]] It's because he hasn't hit puberty; in other words, he's ''physically too young'' to be a father.
* ArtisticLicenseMusic: At the end of the section Two Kinds, she mentions playing two songs from Robert Schumann's ''Scenes from Childhood'', ''Pleading Child'' and ''Perfectly Contented'', thereafter realizing that the two songs are actually two halves of the same song. The two songs, actually known as ''Bittendes Kind'' and ''Glückes genug'', are actually separate songs from the same book, ''Kinderszenen'', only that they are beside each other. At least the German names were translated into the English names properly.

* RedFlag: In the book, the first sign that Ted is a terrible person is when Rose tells him about his mother's racist statements and he's more angry at Rose for not standing up for herself than his mother's racism. Due to his [[LighterAndSofter nicer]] portrayal in the movie, he present when said racism is directed at Rose and rightfully calls his mother out.

* ExtremeDoormat: Tan makes it pretty clear on just how terrible the consequences can be if a woman acts as such.

* PrecisionFStrike: In the film adaptation, Ted gives this to his own mother after she makes remarks towards Rose.

* LoveMartyr: Rose's believes that her submissive respects her husband Ted. Of course, she outgrows this mindset.