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The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet

Date: Dec 13 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

A young man is living happily with his lover in Manhattan. He finds out his parents are coming all the way from Taiwan to visit him. But there’s one problem: He’s gay and his parents don’t know it.

Instead of coming out to his parents when they arrive, he decides to cover up his New York life. This is the plot of The Wedding Banquet, a film by Ang Lee that came out in 1993. The film is in Mandarin Chinese.

Listen to Toby and Kevin talk about this great movie.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kevin

Kevin

Toby

Toby

Kevin:  I saw the movie The Wedding Banquet recently. Have you seen it?

Toby:  Yes. I saw it when it came out. I love that movie. It’s poignant and funny and I think it covers a lot of really interesting issues.

Kevin:  Yes. And actually, it was recommended to me by a guy who I used to date who is Asian, and he said it would help me understand a little bit more about the view of gays in Asian culture. And I thought it was very interesting…

Toby:  What country was he from?

Kevin:  Um, Japan.

Toby:  And, what was his experience being gay in Japan?

Kevin:  Well, Japan is funny because it’s… you don’t get that, sort of, religious homophobia that you find in the West, but there’s a… there’s also sort of a lack of understanding, um, towards being gay in Japan. It’s very odd, um…

Toby:  Do you think that’s true of Asian countries in general?

Kevin:  Well, I know, for example, in Thailand, it’s much more open. I mean, I think Bangkok is one of the best cities in the world for gay people to live, ya know?

Toby:  Yeah. yeah, The Wedding Banquet was awesome, but it was really sad how this guy felt like he had to totally lie to his parents.

Kevin:  Yeah, I know.

Toby:  I could not imagine having relationships with my parents like that, you know?

 

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Discussion

Kevin saw The Wedding Banquet because his ex-boyfriend recommended it. His ex was Japanese, and told Kevin the film showed a little about how Asian cultures deal with gay people.

Kevin says that how homosexuality is perceived seems to vary from country to country. He says that the people in Thailand are very open-minded.

When Kevin mentions the “religious homophobia” in the West, he’s talking about the fundamentalist Christians who think that homosexuality is a sin. Some even believe that gays and lesbians should not have any rights in society, and that they should not be allowed to get married or have children.

Toby empathizes with the man in the movie. She thinks it’s sad that he felt like he had to hide who he really was from his parents.

How does your culture treat homosexuality?

 

Comments

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zeinabou

zeinabou

Egypt

it s disgusting

02:13 PM Mar 12 2008 |

naosika

naosika

China

t's just a comedy

12:15 PM Feb 19 2008 |

bruno100

Haiti

The story is so amazing! HOMOSEXULITY IS NOT ACCEPTED IN HAITI, MY COUNTRY!

 

09:50 PM Nov 24 2007 |

bruno100

Haiti

The story is so amazing! HOMOSEXULITY IS NOT ACCEPTED IN HAITI, MY COUNTRY!

 

09:50 PM Nov 24 2007 |

Jimmy Zhu

Jimmy Zhu

China

I want to see.

06:39 AM Nov 23 2007 |

Josh K

Josh K

Guatemala

Good movie

01:19 PM Apr 28 2007 |

amplesummer

Germany

Oddly, I found Asians are more open-minded on homosexuality. Not legally, but mindset-wise… Besides, it was an old movie by Ang Lee.

03:04 PM Dec 15 2006 |

1 person likes this

shoko_poland

Poland

I think the last lesson about cheaping was more….lively :)

08:32 PM Dec 13 2006 |

teddy008

teddy008

China

Kevin is Gay ? Really?

07:15 AM Dec 13 2006 |

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