In The Wedding Banquet (Dir. Ang Lee, 1993) The Inner...

In The Wedding Banquet (dir. Ang Lee, 1993) the inner conflict of â€Å"coming out of closet† is constantly at play as the main character Wai Tung (Winston Chao) juggles his partner Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein), a fake marriage and his parents. Coming out of the closet for some is seen as a form of both vulnerability and liberation, while remaining in the closet may be seen as a form of survival. For Wai Tung coming out of the closet would mean that his father’s dreams of continuing the family name would die out but remaining in the closet for Wai Tung means having to marry Wei Wei (May Chin) and alter his life with Simon forever. In one of the earlier scenes of the film Wai Tung is seen filling out an application for a singles club his†¦show more content†¦Simon clicks his tongue out of frustration and almost impatience with Wai Tung still being in the closet. In response to this Wai Tung rolls his eyes and shifts his weight away from Simon. This can be read as Wai Tung’s frustration with the conversation and that he knows that Simon would never be able to understand the difference in their families. Simon goes as far as ridiculing Wai Tung and attacking his masculinity and independence. Simon and Wai Tung in this scene represent the two extremes of coming out of the closet or remaining in it, respectively. Towards the end of the scene Wai Tung starts to debate what he is doing by keeping these secrets from his family. He admits that it isn’t the best but also acknowledges that it s something he has been doing for a while and is used to it. This scene really tugs on Wai Tung’s thoughts on coming out, at first he is very comfortable with his space in the closet because it is just from his parents. He still has his life in New York with his gay partner and his parents think that he’ll eventually find someone through the applications for his perfect women. For Wai Tung the â€Å"closet [is] a relatively libera ting place to inhabit† because he knows he can push away the familial responsibilities for a bit (Lim, 52). In a later scene set in the kitchen of Wai Tung and Simon’s