“Yi-Yi, a One and a Two” Film Assignment

â€Å"Yi Yi, A One and A Two† is a ?lm that has been talking about three families and their family members’ lives. Interestingly enough, it seems like that family members have been focusing on their own life most of the time through out the movie. Instead of showing closely connected families, the characters in the movie are living their own lives while living under the same roof. One of the examples is that when Min Min decided to move out, she didn’t even talk to NJ about this, and when NJ saw her getting on the bus to the mountains, he didn’t have the attempt to stop her or ask her why.Which is quite unusual to closely connected families. Below are the characters' relationship ?gure and theories applied to explain the events and the relationships I observed in the movie. 1. Bowen’s Family Systems a. Marital Con?ict Xiao-Yian and Adi’s marital con?ict was caused by the presence of Yun-Yun at Xiao-Yian’s party. Yun-Yun’s Adiâ⠂¬â„¢s ex-girlfriend. But it seemed like Xiao-Yian was not playing fair when the three of them were in a love triangle relationship, which worsened the relationship between the girls. Xiao-Yian got pregnant ?rst and kicked Yun-Yun out of the relationship.Since then, both of them had been hostile towards each other. Thus, Yun-Yun’s presence at XiaoYian’s party was de?nitely not something Xiao-Yian would want to see. Which caused Xiao-Yian and Adi’s marital con?ict. Min Min and NJ’s marital con?ict, on the other hand, was caused by grandma’s sudden illness. Min Min felt that all the burdens were on her, and she could not ?nd a way out of the routine work, which made her felt lost and hopeless in her life, eventually she could not take it anymore. But NJ was not doing anything before Min Min shouted all these out.However, it was all too late, Min Min decided to leave instead of staying and face all the complicated troubles. NTU B00610017 Joanne Lin-Ju ng Chiu b. Triangles /Emotional Distance / Emotional Cutoff There exists an emotional distance between Lily and her mother. Lily’s mother had been busy doing her job and spending lots and lots of time with her new boyfriend. And apparently, Lily’s not happy with her mother’s new boyfriend. Upon feeling neglected and feeling like an outsider, Lily acted like an outsider. Thus caused an emotional distance between Lily and her mother.As the distance kept growing and growing, Lily started to form an emotional cutoff between she and her mother. Instead of repairing the relationship with her mother, she started to rely on her new-formed relationships with Fatty and the other new boyfriend. 2. Brofenbrenner’s Family in Human Development a. Mesosystem Models To both Yang Yang and Ting Ting, they have their school and peer groups as the mesosystems. Take Yang Yang for example, his experience at school (bullied by the girls and humiliated by the teacher) did actual ly affect his behavior at home (i. . sad expression).However, Ting Ting’s mesosystem didn’t seem as much affecting to her life and behavior as Yang Yang’s in the movie. b. Exosystem Models Min Min and NJ both have their world of work and the neighbors as their exosystems. Min Min’s colleagues told her to go to the mountains so that she can escape from the dull life she had. Her colleagues was some sort of emotional support at the time. Also, the neighbors discussed with Min Min about the new neighbor’s private life.The neighbors were another emotional support and practical support when grandma fell ill. NJ met Ota at work, who led him to think deeply into life and human’s fear. This also gave him some support when NJ was facing his ex-lover and his current family. c. Chronosystem Models There are several transitions that can be found in the ?lm: Normative: Xiao-Yian and Adi’s marriage was obviously a normative transition. They got mar ried, shared their lives together. Ting Ting’s got a new boyfriend (though it only last for a very short time) indeed was a normative transition.But it seemed more like a normative transition to her own instead of to the whole family in the movie, the others weren’t aware of Ting Ting’s romantic relationship. NTU B00610017 Joanne Lin-Jung Chiu Non-normative: Grandma’s coma was a non-normative transition, which made Ting Ting felt worried and guilty, made Min Min stressed and helpless and made the family fell out of balance and soon fell apart. Min Min’s moving into the mountains was another non-normative transition. Min Min has always been the one whose been making a lot of effort to keep the family functioning.However, when grandma fell ill, the stress, fear and anxiety that fell upon her was far beyond the amount that she could handle. And thus she listened to her colleague’s advice and moved into the mountains. After she moved into the mo untains, the family looked unaffected because most of them were focusing on their own life. But, that was just how it seemed, the family was actually falling apart (not physically, emotionally instead). 3. Mating Preferences Women exhibit a stronger preference to the men with more ambition, social status, ?nancial wealth and desire for children and a commitment to family.That’s why Adi kept boasting how much money he has or earned, broadcasting what his ambition in work was and saying what he’s been doing at work made him a socially dominant man through out the entire ?lm, he wanted to be popular among women. On the other hand, men exhibit a stronger preference to the women with more features of youthfulness, health, physical attractiveness and attributes that indicates reproductive potential. This explains why Lily and Ting Ting both wore shorter skirts and shorts when dating with a guy —– that showed more youthfulness and are probably physically more at tractive to men.And this also explains why Adi chose Xiao-Yian over Yun Yun, Xiao-Yian was apparently more youthful and physically attractive than Yun Yun. 4. 9 Constraining Beliefs about Mate Selection (Larson, 1992) a. Try Harder Ting Ting fell into this constraining belief when she was trying to convince Fatty to have sex with her in order to show his love to her. Love isn’t something that can be improved only through hard work. b. FInding a New Love Should Be Easy Lily kept dating new boys and dumping the old ones.I think it could be that she did not think ?nding a love is something difficult or serious. However, love isn’t something that can be turned on and off like a switch of the light bulb. NTU B00610017 Joanne Lin-Jung Chiu 5. Marital Processes in Context a. Microcontext: Life stressors & Transitions Adi tried to commit a suicide at home but failed, this traumatic event strengthened marital ties for Xiao-Yian and him. Xiao-Yian and Adi were ?ghting all the ti me for many reasons such as Yun Yun’s presence, Adi’s living habits and money. But after Adi’s attempt to suicide, Xiao-Yian tarted to realize how much she needed him, and thus strengthened their marital ties. Grandma’s death also strengthened Min Min and NJ’s marital ties eventually. Soon after grandma’s gone, Min Min went back home from the mountains and realized how much she needed her family and that life was not as difficult as it seemed like. NJ went back from Japan and learned a lot from Ota. They started to face the events coming to them together. Their marriage ties strengthened, the family was united again emotionally. b. Microcontext: Children Adi and NJ’s children both stabilized their marriage.NJ was struggling between Min Min and his ?rst love Sherry after he met her again at Adi’s wedding banquet after 30 years. Sherry was trying so hard to convince NJ to start a new life with her. But after a second thought, he decided to stay with his family instead of going off with Sherry. I think apart from what he said in the movie (â€Å"I would make the same decision if I have the chance to live twice†), Yang Yang and Ting Ting should be one of the main reasons why NJ chose to stay. Adi was not over with Yun Yun like what he had said to NJ and Xiao-Yian at all.They still have sexual relationship and ?nancial partnership after they broke up. The main reason why Adi married Xiao-Yian instead of Yun Yun should be XiaoYian’s pregnancy, which is quite obvious. And the newborn baby became a strong bond that ties Adi to Xiao-Yian somehow. Adi took video tapes for the baby and they took the baby with them when they visited NJ, all these showed that because of the baby, Adi began to make more effort in the family and the baby became something that Adi and Xiao-Yian shared. The baby surely stabilized their marriage in some ways. . Parenting Styles The parenting style in Lily’s family coul d be Uninvolved Style. Thus Lily showed moody, impulsive and alienated characteristics. In the movie, Lily’s mother spend most of her time with her boyfriend. Lily’s mother chose to give Lily money and ask her to watch a movie with Ting Ting and spend time with her boyfriend at home instead of going to the movie with her daughter. The parenting style in Ting Ting’s family, however, is more like Authoritative Style. We could see that Yang Yang is a friendly and explorative child, while TingNTU B00610017 Joanne Lin-Jung Chiu Ting is independent and optimistic. NJ always shows an positive attitude towards Yang Yang’s questions and problems. For example, when Yang Yang was asking NJ questions like â€Å"what people see and what people cannot see? †, NJ didn’t show any negative expressions, instead, he answered each questions Yang Yang asked patiently. NJ also taught Yang Yang rules. When Yang Yang was being impolite by staring at the neighbor in sunglasses, NJ told him not to do so and explained why it’s wrong to do that after they got to the parking lot.