Singapore Dreaming

This film is a story about a typical family in Singapore who dream of wealth and success. The movie is centered around a lower-middle class family living in public housing in Singapore. Each person in the family has very different personalities yet each person is struggling to find the key to happiness and success. While we are watching the families success and failures we are reminded that the real thing that matters in life is love and family.

The mother in this film wants what is best for her family. She forces herbal tea on everyone, always looks for the best bargains and is constantly treated as a doormat. She lives her life to please others. The daughter in the film is very similar to her mother. She does have a career but allows her manager and family to take advantage of her just because she is a woman. There is a very clear sexist theme throughout this film, showing that men are superior and deserve more opportunities then women. The father would do absolutely anything for his son. The father is so concerned with becoming rich that he practically forces his son to go to school in America. I believe the only reason he sends his son to school is so that he will someday reap the benefits of having a son with a college education. The son is the worst of all. He takes advantage of everyone in his family. He is the kind of person that expects to get rich without putting in any effort. The son was given endless opportunities to make something of himself yet failed and still expected his family to support him financially. I felt sorry for each family member at certain points of this film. Each member of this family was just so pathetic and weak. Happiness can not be bought and unfortunately this family thought that wealth was the answer to all their problems.

The landscape of this movie was very urban . We see a lot of businesses with high skyscrapers. There are a lot of people that live on this island and not very much space. We can see that status is one of the most important things in Singapore. Belonging to country clubs and living in luxury is a high priority to most of the people in Singapore. There seems to be a lot of competition between jobs and status since there are so many people and not a lot of opportunities. There is just such a high standard for luxury living yet a low standard for the quality of life.

This film is a great reminder to us all to not take the simple things in life for granted. Money can be handed to you on a silver platter and there will still be struggles in life. We must remember that character is more important than wealth. I am pleased that by the end of this film most members of the Loh family developed their character and showed us a little bit of integrity.