MovieChat Forums > The Joy Luck Club (1993) Discussion > Timeline, ages and years confusion

Timeline, ages and years confusion

posted 14 years ago by Vixen_32
3 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie again after years the other day and I'm still confused on the time line of things and everyone's age.

June's mother leaves China due to war (WWII and the Japanese invasion of China), so I assume all the mothers when they were younger were living in 1930s China.

Yet, when there are the June and Waverly flashbacks to their piano and chess days it's clearly the mid to late 1960s. In one scene when June's mother tries to force her to practice the piano and she makes the comment about wishing she wasn't her daughter, June is seen watching TV and you can hear the theme song to The Monkees which aired 1966-1968.

So I put June and Waverly playing the piano and chess in 1966-1967 at 9 years old. So they were born 1956-1957 and since all the girl were suppose to be the same age so were Lena and Rose.

Sooo, ALL their mothers came to America and waited 17-20 years to have more children? Even Waverly's brothers were young like her in the flashback dinner scene.

So how old were the mom's suppose to be? I know Ying Ying was 16 when she met her husband but I figured she was about 18 when the baby drowned. Lindo left her marriage at about 18 as well since she married her child groom at 15 and stayed 'for the next few years'

So they were all just moving around China town for almost to 2 decades learning English and living life before finding men and marrying? It just felt off. I can see them waiting 10 years then getting married and having children but 20 years seems like a error in the time line years.

[–] johnnyjetwad 14 years ago

I noticed that as well. The only thing I can think is that the book came out in 1989, still just four years before the movie, but maybe the daughters scenes were set earlier.

I've noticed that in other movies, How to Build and American Quilt, and Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood come to mind and just wondered if the 60's seemed more interesting than the seventies at the time the films were made.

[–] Vixen_32 14 years ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed.

The 70s weren't as interesting culturally as the 60s. 1960-1969 was huge globally. The Vietnam War affected everyone and EVERYONE had an opinion on it. Civil rights was huge, the Cold War was starting/heated and communism was a global problem, the space race, etc. The 60s just affected nearly everyone and had a big impact.

[–] johnnyjetwad 14 years ago

True, but when you have 25 (ish) year old characters in 1993 and they flash back to being 9 and it's before they were born just because it's more interesting, it doesn't make sense.

the other thing to think is maybe in the book, it takes several evenings to read rather than seeing it played out in two hours and the time gaps aren't as apparent.