Aahana Swrup
‘Left-Handed Girl’ is a Mandarin drama film that centers around a Taiwanese family as they settle into a new norm after moving to the bustling city of Taipei. Shu-Fen is a single mother to two daughters: the left-handed young kid, I-Jing, and the rebellious older daughter, I-Ann. The move to the new city, which involves the opening of their family business of a noodle stall in the busy night market, presents the family with its own share of complications. However, more than anything, it’s the secrets and trauma of their past that continue to haunt them. Even though Shu-Fen has separated from her husband, she continues to pay off his debts and, when his terminal disease worsens, she is ultimately stuck with his funeral bills. However, debt isn’t the only thing her former partner leaves her with. Among some of his belongings is a Meerkat, which the mother and her two daughters end up adopting. Yet, despite the relative safety of life in a city apartment, danger eventually finds the GooGoo. SPOILERS AHEAD!
GooGoo Tragically Dies in a Car Accident
When GooGoo first becomes a part of She-Fu’s family, he’s eagerly accepted as a loving pet. I-Jing in particular takes swimmingly to him, christening the meerkat and showering him with love and affection. In fact, she manages to teach him a trick or two, involving the game of fetch, which soon becomes a favorite hobby of his. However, around the same time, the kid begins undergoing some troubling complications. One extended visit to her grandparents’ house exposes her to some harmful ideas regarding her left-handedness. I-Jing’s grandfather, harboring old and prejudiced views, continuously deems left-handedness to be inherently wrong. In fact, he believes in the ancient discriminatory myth that the left hand is the Devil’s hand and can only be used to do his bidding.
While the grandmother attempts to shut down his prejudiced ideas in the beginning, once she leaves the town for some work, there’s nothing stopping the grandfather from sharing this myth with I-Jing. Throughout the stay, he forces her to use her non-dominant hand for everyday things, including pushing the elevator buttons and coloring. While this doesn’t push the kid into right-handedness, it does instill a troubling belief in her mind. I-Jing begins to believe that her left hand was the work of the devil. Initially, this manifests in harmful behavior like frequent shoplifting since the kid can excuse her behavior and explain it away as the Devil’s doing as long as she uses her left hand to steal everything.
However, things take an adverse turn during one game of catch with GooGoo, the meerkat. While half-distracted by her coloring, I-Jing throws the ball for her pet to fetch with her left hand, as per her natural instinct. Unfortunately, the ball ends up bouncing past the open balcony doors and onto the street downstairs. In his enthusiasm, the meerkat follows the ball all the way down and ends up getting in the way of oncoming traffic. As a result, GooGoo dies, leaving I-Jing traumatised and anguished. Worse yet, her belief that her left hand was inherently devilish compels her to blame herself for the accident, which results in her growing resentful of her dominant hand. Although she’s eventually able to overcome this insecurity with the help of I-Ann, her pet’s fatal accident stays with her, likely leaving an indelible mark on her.
Read More: Do Shu-Fen and Johnny End Up Together in Left-Handed Girl?
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