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Introducing the 'Mom-Com': Tiger Mom Movie Headed for Hollywood
APDiscussions with two producers of a highly successful '90s film "The Joy Luck Club" (based on another bestseller with a Chinese-mom theme), bring up questions about the mainstream potential of Asian-American actresses. Would the project have more success as a vehicle for television, where Asian faces are more numerous and visible? (In my perfect world the Tiger Mom, a Yale law professor, would be reconceived as a fictional news reporter juggling her neurotic family life with a chirpy public image.)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ron Bass (who co-wrote "The Joy Luck Club'' screenplay with novelist Amy Tan) sees the potential for one Tiger Mom film at the very least. But he sounds almost inscrutable when he says it "wouldn't" be a comedy.
Seriously, Ron? It seems obvious that the Tiger Mom movie we're longing to see is an au courant mom-com playing to the deepest hang-ups of multi-ethnic, Obama-loving, blue-state America. Chua's Jewish husband as a super-liberal provides material for an excellent comedic foil.
TigMo knows how to play to Asian stereotypes (and Jewish ones, too) because she's done way more homework than you realize. Before sitting down to produce a bestseller, she published two geeky political-history volumes. "Day of Empire" is TigMo's guide to winning and losing world power, while her first book "World on Fire" uncovers the secret behind her current success by explaining ethnic hatred and "market dominance." Think Chinese business families in the Philippines, Jewish oligarchs in post-Soviet Russia. Chua is frank about the scary things that happen when people live up to negative stereotypes. It's not pretty.
Fast forward to "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." With TV hosts like Stephen Colbert and Joy Behar, TigMo plays the pushy Asian mom whose strict Chinese parents were poor immigrants in search of the American dream. In reality her family background is more colorful.
Chua's father had some well-to-do relatives. Reading between the lines, you realize that her struggling parents made a tough but savvy choice when they left the Philippines, where the Chinese community is seen as insular and privileged. Chua, who gets slammed for being shallow about ethnic issues, is anything but. In this episode of Conversations With History, she's sharp and ballsy, expressing empathy for the non-Chinese servants who killed her Chinese father's sister, and she does it without sounding like a wimpy liberal or a heartless lawyer. This takes brains and courage -- try pulling that off in a three-minute segment.
TigMo knows ethnic politics can be your worst enemy or your best friend, and her enemies must be plenty annoyed. As a featured dinner speaker at this year's Davos World Economic Forum she was pitted against former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. He scored a point reminding her that a Tiger Mom won't be raising the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. Those particular billionaires dropped out of Harvard, something a Tiger Mom would never tolerate.
Larry's right, but TigMo's having the last laugh. Behind her catchy banter about forbidden play dates, competitive piano class and American values, there's a shrewd mind at work. Is this woman talking down to her newest readers or showing us how to game the system? In other words, should we hate? Emulate? Or wait for TigMo's movie deal to change the way America talks about motherhood.
Tracy Quan is a frequent contributor to The Daily Beast and author of the bestselling novel 'Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl.' She lives in New York. Filed Under: MyDaily Originals, Book Club, News & Culture
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I'm all for Tiger Mom. Go! Tiger Mom. Don't lose your kid to a very lazy parenting style. Keep your traditions. If a movie gets made, I'll be in the front row cheering.
February 26 2011 at 11:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyEvery ethnic group that cones in contact with America finds that contact to be both (eventually) empowering and (usually) disturbing. For some the melting pot is complete in the third generation, but others whose distinctive ethnic features prevent blending-in have to deal with stereotypes that could never have applied to them even if they could sometimes have applied to their grandparents. But the biggest conflict is not between immigrants and the society they have joined, but between immigrant parents who want to maintain their identities and children who want to be just like all of their peers as all children do.
February 11 2011 at 11:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyA movie!!! already SPARE US,something is wrong with a parent who let their kids have other kids
over to spend the night.it's just fun lady.I dont think she knows the meaning of the word
Too bad this author wasn't left in the woods to die like a lot off little Chinese girls are. If the US is so bad, if we're such a bad influence, why'd her parents come here? If Chinese rearing is so much better, why isn't she rearing her girls in China. I hate this b**ch. and I wouldn't pay a nickel to read anything by her or about her, much less give money to watch something by her stipid a$$..
February 10 2011 at 11:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis article sounded good untill the spoiler: One mention of radical-left, secular progressive, politically correct people like Steven Colbert and Joy Behar, has doomed this project! Too
bad, it could have been interesting. The "politically correct" movement is dead. It has done
enough damage to our country, and we are just now starting to wake up to the fact.
Hers is a recipe for childhood suicide.
February 10 2011 at 7:15 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyA movie similar to this abusive mother came out a number of years ago. It was called "Mommie Dearest".
February 10 2011 at 3:32 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySince when is it considered abuse to be strict with your children and expect them to do their best always? We have become this society where everything comes easy and our kids seem to think that everything should be given to them without any hard work being put in. That is not how it should be and even today not how the world works.
What harm does it do our kids to praise them when it is warranted but to expect a lot from them and NOT praise them for the things that they SHOULD be doing? As adults nobody will praise them for doing their job as they should. They won't get a pat on the back for doing what is required of them and won't get high praise or coddling if they don't live up to their expectations. Bosses will expect a lot of them, college professors etc.. why should we, as parents, expect any less?
Praise your kids, love your kids, hug your kids but don't expect less than what you know is their best. Discipline them, raise them to respect you as the parent, be strict. It won't hurt you child in the end.
Before anyone comes back at me with a "Oh well you must not have kids" kind of thing, know that I have 3 boys, ages 15, 11 and 5 who are polite, well rounded individuals who know that a whole lot is expected of them. I would not say I am a "tiger mom" but my husband and I do rule with an iron fist in a lot of respects. The kids know we love them but they also know what is expected of them as individuals.
Tracy Quan has an interesting perspective on the Tiger Mom hoopla. Will be interesting to see how all this eventually plays out.
February 09 2011 at 4:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
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