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Wayne Wang
Hong Kong–born American film director (born 1949) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wayne Wang (traditional Chinese: 王穎; simplified Chinese: 王颖; pinyin: Wáng Yǐng; Jyutping: Wong4 Wing6; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong-American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood. His films, often independently produced, deal with issues of contemporary Asian-American culture and domestic life.
His best known works include Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989), the Amy Tan literary adaptation The Joy Luck Club (1993), Chinese Box (1997), and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007). Other films include the Harvey Keitel and William Hurt–starring comedy Smoke (1995), the family film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), the romantic comedies Maid in Manhattan (2002) and Last Holiday (2006), and the controversial erotic drama The Center of the World (2001).
He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Bodil Award, a Silver Bear, two Golden Shells, with BAFTA Award, Sundance Grand Jury, Golden Lion, and César Award nominations.
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Early life
Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong, and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne.[1] When he was 17, his parents arranged for him to move to the United States to study, to prepare for medical school. Wang, however, soon put this plan aside when his "eyes were completely opened" by new experience. He turned to the arts,[1] studying film and television at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.[2]
After graduating from film school, Wang returned to Hong Kong and briefly worked on a popular soap opera at RTHK[3] before being fired and returning to the United States.[2] While in San Francisco, he supported himself by teaching English to new immigrants in Chinatown.[4] The unique group of people he met teaching would go on to inspire many elements of his film Chan Is Missing.[5]
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Career
Wang has also collaborated with the author Paul Auster on the films Smoke (1995) and Anywhere but Here (1999),[3] which deviated from his typical subject matter of Asian American life.
In 2001, Wang released his film The Center of the World without a MPAA rating because he refused to make cuts to the film's sexually explicit scenes.[6] Wang has said the film's commercial and critical failure set his career back and led him to work on less personal films[7]
Wang has also worked within the mainstream Hollywood studio system on the films The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Maid in Manhattan (2002). Despite these being his some of his most financially successful films,[8] Wang has described the experience as largely negative, and after the production of Last Holiday (2006) resolved to work exclusively on independent productions.[3]
He won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2007 for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
In 2016, he won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.[9]
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Personal life
He is married to actress Cora Miao, a former Miss Hong Kong. They live in San Francisco and New York City.[10]
Legacy and impact
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Perspective
Wang is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in Asian-American cinema. His earlier works, such as Chan is Missing (1982), are often cited in film scholarship as foundational works that were instrumental in establishing a distinct Asian-American narrative in American filmmaking.[11] The film's cinema-verité approach, nonprofessional actors, and its focus on the street level everyday life in San Francisco's Chinatown distinguished Wang as one of the first filmmakers to center the experiences of Chinese-Americans in a detailed and nuanced character driven depiction.[11] Some scholars have argued that the film's influence warrant recognition beyond its value as an early Asian-American milestone, instead to consider it one of the most significant American films of its era, irrespective of its ethic categorization.[11][12]
Wang's mainstream breakthrough came with The Joy Luck Club (1993), which he directed. It was only the second major American studio film to feature a large majority Asian cast, following Flower Drum Song (1961).[13][14] While Flower Drum Song holds historical significance as an early major Hollywood production featuring an large Asian ensemble cast, some scholars and critics have noted that its influence on Asian-American cinema and storytelling was limited; the film offered little engagement with Asian and Asian-American identity, did little to alter industry and public attitudes towards Asians and Asian-Americans in Hollywood and the country, and did not lead to increased opportunities for Asian and Asian-American narratives.[15]
By contrast, the Joy Luck Club marked a significant cultural shift in expectations about Asian and Asian-American representation in Hollywood as it presented complex Asian-American characters and family histories.[16] Additionally, its commercial success demonstrated the viability and potential of Asian-American narratives in mainstream films.[16] Furthermore, unlike Flower Drum Song whose crew was almost entirely non Asian and instead white writers and crew[17], The Joy Luck Club had a significant number of Asian and Asian-American behind the camera.[18] For example, an Asian-American writer, Amy Tan; costume designer, Lydia Tanji; and a Chinese-American Editor, Maysie Hoy.[18][14] For these reasons, Wang's work has become a major reference point for later conversations and discussion of representation, paving a way for subsequent Asian-American narratives such as Crazy Rich Asians.
Filmmakers of the next generation, like the Crazy Rich Asians director, John M. Chu, have directly mentioned and cited Wayne Wang's work such as The Joy Luck Club as being a formative experience. He recalls that when he was a child, his parents took him to a Sunday matinee, and it was the first time he had seen households resembling his own depicted on the big screen. He and his family "went to dim sum afterwards and sat for three or four hours talking about the story and learning about our own parent's journey."[19] While developing Crazy Rich Asians, he recognized that it carried a historical weight as the next major studio film to follow the path opened by The Joy Luck Club.[20][14]
In recognition of Wang's achievements and impact, he has received several lifetime honors, including the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Diego Asian Film Festival.[9] His films continue to be felt and studied for their contributions to Asian and Asian-American representation on and behind the camera as well as to the evolution of American independent cinema[21].
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Filmography
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Awards and nominations
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References
External links
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