The Beautiful Country
- I’ve noticed that Binh doesn’t look people in the face, almost always the shoes. They mention it in the movie, but I feel like there might be more to it. Maybe having something to do w/ how he’s been treated all his life.
- Sidenote: noticeable differences in class when looking at feet
- Nice shoes vs. no shoes
- Sidenote: noticeable differences in class when looking at feet
- Bui doi= less than dirt= Americans
- White savior behavior w/ ship’s captain
- somewhat nicer to Binh and offered him a job and new life
- also probably had something to do with Binh being half white.
- Another thing I noticed when looking up the movie is that the cover for it is weird.
- I think it’s weird that the main character is considerably smaller than the other characters, who had less screen time than him.
- The two white characters weren’t in the movie for even half of it, yet they fill up more of the picture than the Binh
- The Asian woman (Ling) is not only smaller than the two white characters and bigger than the Binh, but she is also super sexualized in this image
- Difference between meeting his mom vs. his dad
- Mom runs up to see him, bursts into tears, hugs him tightly, promises to talk after she’s done with work, and visibly forces herself to go back to work
- Also starts crying harder when she looks at his hands, which I think is because his hands are rough from work, something I don’t think she wanted for him.
- Dad walks past him. Also, doesn’t react a whole lot when he asks Binh why he’s there in Texas.
- Mom runs up to see him, bursts into tears, hugs him tightly, promises to talk after she’s done with work, and visibly forces herself to go back to work
- Tam’s death= loss of innocence
- Ling able to adapt to the U.S. really well
- in the diner, Ling had a huge plate of fries while Binh had a small plate of vegetables.
- Binh is starving for the whole journey, then when he gets to the U.S. and gets a job, it immediately shows him throwing leftover restaurant food into the trash