The movie starts with a scene of Master Chu preparing his weekly Sunday gathering dinner with his three daughters. The family dynamic and interaction seemed distant at first, as the second daughter, Jia-Chien, was shown to be at odds with both her father and her eldest sister. She was the rebellious child who wanted to get away from home, while the eldest Jia-Jen assumed the responsibility of taking care of their father at the expense of her own happiness. The contrast between both sisters, as well as the youngest Jia-Ning who was carefree and innocent (*spoiler* this was what I initially thought but now I beg to differ), reminded me of Alfred Adler's birth order theory, in which the order a child is born will have a profound and lasting effect on his or her psychological development.
According to Adler, first-borns are generally high-achieving, responsible, conservative, competitive, and organized (Gilmore, 2016). They also crave attention as it is seen as something taken away from them when they were no longer the only child. Meanwhile, the middle child is the one who often lacks a sense of belonging and will seek attention from friends instead of family members, while the youngest are often the most agreeable and are generally more open to new experiences (Gilmore, 2016). Jia-Jen demonstrated all traits of being an eldest child during the first part of the movie, as shown from her conservative dressing style as well as her intention of not getting married to stay with her father and take care of him; Jia-Chien did not feel belonged in her family mainly due to her father not recognizing her ability to become a chef, and sought comfort from a man who is committed to another woman; Jia-Ning on the other hand was the friendly and adventurous daughter who was not afraid of trying something new (quite literally).
An element from the movie that had me thinking was the fact that every character experienced a dramatic change as the story progress. Jia-Jen went from a reserved high school teacher to a fashionable woman who got married on a whim, and Jia-Ning got pregnant with a man whom she has only met for a few times, contrary to her initial image of the innocent youngest child. Jia-Chien's change was the most shocking as I never thought she would be the one to stay behind while everyone, including their father moved on with their lives. Speaking of their father, even though I personally kind of predicted something going on between him and his to-be wife when she confronted him about his packed lunch, until now I still couldn't fathom if the arrangement is simply for entertainment purpose, or to portray Master Chu's desire to finally live the way he wants to live instead of living for the sake of others (taking care of his daughters and the restaurant for example). This also shows that humans are not one-dimensional characters with a single set of personality as we change and adapt to things that happen around us.
Also, this is a movie about family. Even though most of the time it shows the three daughters living their separate lives, the scene in the end where Master Chu and Jia-Chien reconcile over their dinner table sends us a message that family is irreplaceable. This theme actually strings the whole story together, Master Chu, a typical Asian parent who lacks the ability to verbally communicate his love to his family, used a more subtle approach to gather his children every week by preparing large feasts for them to enjoy. He reminded me a lot of my own father who never spoke of love, but will always support his children with actions and effort an outsider will never bother to invest in.
Despite being a light-hearted and motivational (to some extent) movie, it has a lot of loose ends left untied. For instance, why did Jia-Jen lied about her having an ex-boyfriend when she actually didn't? and what happened to Jia-Ning's friend when she found out their relationship? The most unsettling question is what happened to Auntie Liang? Since Master Chu and Jin-Rong eventually got married, I will just have to assume she cut off family ties with her daughter, judging from her massive breakdown at their dinner gathering. But hey, what can I say, real life is sometimes even more unpredictable and unexplainable than this movie, so might as well just accept it as it is and not fuss over it too much.
References:
Gilmore, G. (2016). Understanding birth order: A within-family analysis of birth order effects. Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies, 3, 3-8. Retrieved from https://apps.carleton.edu/ujhs/assets/gracegilmore_birthorder.pdf
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