Cultural Distinctions of Chinese and American Families—Analysis of the Movies Pushing Hands & Everybody’s Fine (2)

Chapter 2 Family Member Relationship Presented in the Two Movies

2.1 Pushing Hands

Pushing Hands tells a story about Mr. Zhu, recently widowed elderly Chinese Tai Ji Quan master and grandfather who emigrates from the rigors of a Beijing life to settle down in the suburbs of New York after his retirement to live with his son Alex, a computer engineer, American daughter-in-law Martha, a home novelist and grandson Jimmy, a primary school student. After his settlement in his son’s home, however, Mr. Zhu found that life is totally different from what he had in Beijing.

The initial problem is language barrier, Martha complains Mr. Zhu about his unwillingness to learn English that they have no communication at all in addition, she can't stand having him around the house interrupting her writing work, while Mr. Zhu would not like to make any change either, spending his days watching Hong Kong videos vocally critiquing the Kung Fu moves much to the obvious chagrin of his American daughter in law, and he believes that Alex is going to provide him with a leisure and happy life for his old age rather than bothers and restless. Obviously, the American lifestyle cannot make him comfortable.

Conflicts are more and more intense through things always related two types of completely different culture and costume, like when having dinner, Jimmy wants to watch cartoons, Martha requires that he has to finish his meal first and then can watch TV but Mr. Zhu judges from which that Americans are talking requirements all the time, even though in front of EATTING, the most significant thing in life he believes. Gradually, the gap between the old Chinese man and young American lady expands without a doubt, thus Mr. Zhu feels himself regarded an outsider even in his own son’s family, which makes him lonely and bored, therefore he attempts to adapt to his new surroundings in choosing to teach pushing hands, a term of Tai Ji martial arts, for enthusiasts at weekends in the local Chinese school.

“Pushing hands” is a name for two-person training routines practiced in internal Chinese martial arts like Tai Ji Quan, which is an oriental exercise that teaches the art of keeping one's balance while unbalancing an opponent, it is where the film title comes from.

At the school, Mr. Chu meets Mrs. Chen who came from Taiwan, teaches a cooking class. After a short talk they immediately found resemblance of each other for being in the same uneasily and discomfortable situation. When Mr. Zhu knows that his son is making a match between him and Mrs. Chen, he decides to leave the family to live alone. During his struggling period with his son and daughter-in-law, he occupied himself swilling plates at a restraint where he was witnessed a Tai Ji master fighting against hoodlums hired by the shopkeeper who doesn’t want to employ old Mr. Zhu any more for his laggardness. Finally Mr. Zhu was taken away by dozens of policemen. This accident was all out of his bad mood about his life in New York.

At last, both Mr. Zhu and Mrs. Chen moved to live at China town alone as a result of culture distinguishes between young and old, Chinese and American. Their children would visit them every now and then, which was an ending of the movie with profound meaning.

2.2 Everybody’s Fine

This film is set about all around the hero, Frank Goode, recently widowed retiree, is getting ready for his children to come and visit him. Yet one by one each of his children calls to cancel the reunion at the last minute. Feeling a bit down by the rejections, Frank decides to set off on a trip across the country, visiting each of his kids, despite warned by his doctor that he should against travel in case of getting sick without opportune care.

Frank takes a train to New York City to visit one of his sons, David, an artist, who does not appear to be home and never shows up. While he is waiting for David, he sees one of David's paintings from a nearby art gallery window, so Frank decides to leave him a memo card and leaves town to see his other children.

The next visit is to his daughter Amy in Chicago, who tells him it's a bad time to visit. She had turned down her father's earlier invitation to visit, saying that her son Jack was sick. However, once he gets to Amy's, Frank realizes Jack wasn't sick and Amy was just making up an excuse. At dinner, the atmosphere is uncomfortable with tension between Jack and his father. The next morning, Frank accompanies Amy to her office and audienced her agency's pitch for a TV advertisement. Afterwards, he was taken to the train station to pay the next visit to his son Robert in Denver.

As Frank travels to each of his children's homes, the film cuts to phone conversations between the siblings. David has some trouble in Mexico, and Amy is heading there to find out what had happened; the sisters and Robert agree to not tell their father about David until they know the fact.

Frank arrives in Denver expecting to see Robert conduct the city's orchestra. It turns out Robert is "only" a percussionist. Robert also tells Frank his visit is at a bad time, as the orchestra is flying to Europe the next day, which is only a lie. So within hours Frank prepares to take a bus to Las Vegas to visit his daughter Rosie. Frank is adamant that each visit be a surprise, but Robert calls Rosie to warn her of his arrival.

After missing his bus, Frank catches a ride part-way to Reno from a female truck driver. But in a lonely hall of its train station Frank encountered a drug addict, he offers money to the him, however, the young drug addict takes the money but doesn’t pay any gratitude which enraged Frank and they get into a quarrel, and the drug addict tries to take all of Frank's money but fails. In pulling and drugging, Frank's pill jar falls onto the floor, and in retaliation the drug addict stomps on it crushing them. Frank cannot but scrape up some of the crushed pills.

Rosie meets him at the station in a stretch limo and tells him she was in a big show that ended the previous week. She takes him to her huge, fancy apartment, where her friend Jilly brings over her baby for babysitting. Frank overhears a message being left on an answering machine, indicating the apartment is actually borrowed from Rosie's friend. During dinner, Frank asks Rosie why his adult children never talked to him and told him things, while they told their mother everything. He is not comfortable, having a feeling that all his kids are lying to him.

Against the norm Frank flies back home and in the plane's lavatory has a heart attack bringing on a dream of his kids as young children; in the dream, everyone is sitting at the picnic table outside. Although his kids are all young again, they're discussing all of their problems as adults. Frank knows Amy's husband has left her for another woman and that's why Jack was so hostile around him. Amy's co-worker that he met at the train station is a man that Amy is dating. It's revealed that Jilly's baby is actually Rosie's baby (their mother knew about it, but never mentioned it to Frank). David tells his dad that he can't tell him where he is and starts laughing. While Frank believes he was encouraging his kids, they thought he was pressuring them and would be disappointed in how their lives really turned out. The scene turns in the hospital, where he wakes up in bed with Amy, Robert, and Rosie standing around. Frank tells them that he knows something's wrong with David and asks what's going on. Robert reveals that David died from a drug overdose in Mexico. During the night, Frank has a vision about a young David being in his hospital room. Frank tells him how he was never disappointed in him and he never would be however David grew up. On his release Frank then visits his wife's grave and talks to her. He tells her all about the kids and how they're all doing fine.

Frank goes back to the Art Gallery below David's apartment to buy David's painting, but it has already been sold. After Frank’s leaving, she realizes the family connection and runs out to tell Frank about how great his son was. She offers him another painting by David she remembers is in storage — a landscape showing PVC-covered power lines made out of glue and macaroni, as if recognizing his dad's own work efforts. The last scene shows the family at Christmas. All three children are around the house helping cook and decorate the tree. It's also revealed that Rosie and Jilly is a couple and are raising the baby together. Amy's co-worker whom she is dating is also at the gathering. The film ends with Frank walking into the dining room, to his family, with David's painting hanging on the wall.