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Title: Dirty Laundry Reference: Director, Richard Fung. Abstract: A young Chinese Canadian man ponders the link between his uncle's possible homosexuality and his own personal desires as he takes a train ride through the Canadian Rockies. The history of Chinese men who immigrated to Canada, with commentary by scholars, is intertwined with the young man's sexual and emotional attraction to a handsome train attendant. Library of Congress subjects: Reviews and Numerical Ratings (3) An odd film that seeks to "excavate" prostitution and homosexuality within the history of Chinese immigration to Canada in the 19th century (hence, the “dirty laundry"). There is a poorly-acted and contrived plot that links a present day Chinese-Canadian man with a potentially homosexual grandfather, a tree-planting Chinese lesbian, and a randy homosexual Chinese conductor. A bizarre gay sexual liaison between the main character and the conductor hints that there is a thematic historical continuity to be gleaned, but the film never delivers on this in a serious way. The movie also advances a critical approach to the production of Chinese history in Canada, but the effort is overshadowed by the cheezy story line. In a pinch, the movie might be satisfactory as a point of departure for a discussion on sexuality and race. Adam Green (1) It is a shame this movie was made with such hokey theatrics because it focuses on part of the Canadian Chinese history that is rarely told. Nevertheless, it effectively puts the Chinese experience of racism, homosexuality, and prostitution in context by it relying on historical records. I found the dramatization to not only be very distracting, but also to slow down the pace of the film, thus making it almost unbearable to watch. Sarah Newman (3) I liked the film but from the perspective of enjoying learning about the history of Chinese culture in Canada – all I usually hear about is railroads and laundry. The men who immigrated, they said, had temporarily or permanently left their families, and the video showed that from their cultural perspective, the affection & intimacy they shared was acceptable and wasn’t necessarily of a sexual nature, whereas the authorities were demonizing these men as sodomites. What I didn’t like is that the video was very drawn out and, while that may have been the technique or intention of the filmmaker, it wouldn’t be suitable for a tutorial and probably wouldn’t be for a lecture either. It took a long time for points to be made: my students’ attention span seems much shorter. I’m conflicted between rating this video a “3” for what it was (where I’d give a high rating, as I found it interesting) and rating it for its use in the university context, where I’d give a lower rating, especially for courses in areas where I’d be likely to teach. I’ve never seen anything else like this. Chris Sanders (2.5) Sleepy pace & unconvincing dramatization
of contemporary characters, intermingled with useful historical information
on late 1800s Canadian perspectives & laws about race and ethnicity.
As reclaimings of history go, this is an uncommonly quiet one, but it
started to grab me as it went along. This video is vastly better than
the other Chinese Canadian histories I watched, which had zero sociological
content or were even more soporific – I don’t know why this
topic, which is so interesting, gets such treatment. The video does
well at introducing ambiguities and tensions, at speaking of the Chinese
context as well as the Canadian one, at touching on Chinese women’s
histories in Canada as well as Chinese men’s. It has most potential
for use in a class on race & ethnicity, or on historical methods.
Kathy Bischoping
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