Film Analysis of Women's Characters - Research Paper Example

Film Analysis of Women Character Affiliation Film analysis Introduction Chinese women have been a target group for people tostudy throughout world history. Many studies have been done on the characteristics of Chinese women of different generations under different backgrounds. In this paper, several characteristics of Chinese women after 20th century will be expounded through analyzing three films about Chinese women. The three films are Goddess, the Red Detachment of Women, and I do. The three films are made during different periods and represent Chinese women in three-time sessions. From the films, the audience can see that many of the characteristics of the female characters have been maintained from the earlier 20th century to today. However, there are also some characteristics have been changed completely (Zhang, 2012). Even though films are mostly fiction, the director made the movie based on the society and aim to reflect the reality. The Chinese twentieth- century cinema serves as a valuable source for people to understand Chinese culture, politics and society through the Chinese women image. The early Chinese film of 1920s and 1930s portrays Chinese experiences during the Republican period. During this period, the woman was symbolically shown to suffer. This presented the political, economic and environmental suffering that Chinese people faced during this time. For instance, the 193 Goddess film a nameless woman resorted to prostitution and manslaughter in order to protect her son. Through this, she is metaphorically compared to a goddess through her suffering and her strength. This film is given more light when the film`s lead actress, Ruan Lingyu committed suicide a year after release of the film only at 24 years old. The female characters were also used as political focal point to enhance Chinese government propaganda. This is during the traumatic era of Cultural Revolution under the Communist rule. During the Cultural Revolution, the women were told they were able to hold a half a sky besides their traditional position of Confucian servitude. Women experienced the gender erasure. For instance, in The Red Detachment of Women, the figure of sexless woman is used to politicize to spread socialist propaganda. These films metaphors the Cultural Revolution campaign that eliminated the traditional principle and upheld socialist principles to greater good of China rebirth. Other films use woman to show how Chinese government and its role in Cultural Revolution. The following analysis of the three films will explain in details the character of the Chinese women and what such characters represent. Goddess Wu Yonggang directs goddess. The director uses the tragedy story of a prostitute in Shanghai to reveal the dark side of lower social status women during 1920’s in China. The unfairness and the situation of people who live at the bottom especially women have been reflected by the central character in the film. Even though Goddess is a silent movie, the characteristics and emotions of the characters have been fully expressed by the experienced performing of actors and actresses. The central theme of the film is a story of a mother living in 1920s. Without anyone to rely on and any other way of living, the mother has to sell her body in order to raise her son. She has to suffer from not only the poverty but also the gossips from other people. Living at the bottom of the society, the only hope that she has is her son. She always has the worried look on her face when thinking about her own life, but every time when she looks at her son, her smile is from the bottom of her heart. Even though she is a prostitute, she is definitely a great mother: she does not mind how many difficulties she has to suffer in life, as long as her son is safely growing up, she is happy. However, the turnover of her life suddenly appeared. One day when she was trying to hide from the police, she accidently ran into the home of a bully. Since then, she is possessed by the bully—Zhang. Zhang uses her as a tool for making money and treats her like a toy. She tried to escape from him, but the bully found her and uses her son’s life to threaten her. Under the desperation, she has to keep living under the control of Zhang. As her son was growing up, she considered sending her son to school. She used the money she made by selling her body successfully registered her son at a local school, and her son has been doing extremely well in school. However, other parents and teachers have been doubtful about her profession. Thus, even though her characteristics touch the headmaster of the school as an excellent mother, her son still has to be expelled. Once again, she decided to move away from the bully, when she found out that the bully has stolen all of her money, she went to find him and spent all of her anger on the people and society of the bully by killing him. The other characteristics that have been giving her difficulties such as female neighbors who always gossip about her, the other parents who have insulted her job, the management team of the school those who expelled her son in order to maintain the reputation of the school and of course the bully. They all represent the “unfairness” and “evil forces” in the society at that time that made her life so difficult. Nevertheless, just under the pressure of these forces, the director successfully built a female character living in1920s. From her, the audience today can have an understanding of the condition and characteristics of Chinese women during 1920s (Chen, 2012). First, as a society was still feudal, there were still groups of women living at the bottom of the community. Like the mother in the film, without educational background, the best job for her to make enough money to live is a prostitute, which makes her status even lower. At the same time, all the unfairness and evil forces kept oppressing her. As in the film, the neighbors insulted her, and the bully treated her as a tool, and even her next generation—her son, who did nothing wrong had to be treated unfairly. The women who lived like her during that period truly suffered a lot from the society (Hurd, 2007). However, the hardness has shaped women like her the characteristics of being tough and strong. In the film, she frowned while thinking about her own life, being insulted by others or oppressed by Zhang, but she remains strong for her son. Zhang had warned her not to hide money, however, in order to send her son to school; she was brave enough to take the risk to hide the money. Facing the gossip and insulting from others, she always chooses to keep silence, only a strong enough heart can stand this and living in her own way (Yang, 2009). Another characteristic of Chinese women that has been reflected in the character is that never bow the neck to unfair forces. One scene that reflects this point was when the headmaster appeared at her home to tell her that other parents have requested to expel her son due to her “shameful” career. However, instead of accepting the news, she told the headmaster that she does nothing wrong to let her son receive education and have a better life. Even though other people cannot accept her career, but her heart as a mother is as strong as others’. She has moved the headmaster, but that has not changed the result. Again, when she received the final notification of her son’s elimination, she immediately decided to move to another place where nobody knew them to maintain the education of her son. She does not want to yield to the unfairness. Instead, she chooses to consist of her determination. At the end of the movie, because of her anger at both the society and the man who oppressed her for so long, she chose to fight back. As a result, she killed the bully. At that moment, all in her mind was anger and rage. The anger that builds up when she realizes that the money she had was taken. She has been staying with bully because of the fear she was having. She was effortless. The society is gossiping about her, and other parents have already found out she is a prostitute. She had a plan that possibly one-day things will go wrong, and she will need to move out of the place. She worked so hard for her child. She had a passion to her child and wanted him have the best life. This is a sacrificial and selfless behavior of the mother. The anger leads her to hit the bully and kills him and be for twelve years. In the prison, the principal visits her and she is willing to adopt her child. The mother with her passion agrees and requests the principal to tell the sonar she was dead. She wanted her son live a free life with no shame. This clearly demonstrates how selfless she is to her son. Lastly, without lack of color and dialogue, Wu Yonggang designs a film that has an impact on the viewers. The film successfully portrays the social unfortunate situations of 1930s in China that leaves viewers in tears. Red Detachment of Women The Chinese Communist Party survived a collapse in the late 1920s and 1930s following the dedicated members of the Red Army. By 1928, the Red Army had more than 12,000 strong army, and many peasants joined. The peasant joined the Communist party because the group actively helped them. This group because they had inadequate equipment, they adopted into the guerrilla warfare. The Mao is taught to have given birth to the communists. The Communist party trained its army the modern guerrilla-fighting tactic. In 1929, Mao led Red Army to southern Jiangxi because the supply of food in Hunan was not enough for a growing population. The journey to southern led loss of 50% of those in March due to cold, hunger and attack from the Guomintang. The survivors who got to southern Jiangxi took the landlords from power and gave the peasants their lands. By 1931, the land under the communists had one million people. The Red Army was involved in protecting the rights of the women. In the traditional peasant society, women did what the men commanded them to do. However, under the communists, women were given more rights though not full equality. The Red Detachment of Women film is on a real story that occurred in the 1930s were a young communist women military fought and won against wealthy and conservative governor. The story behind became a ground in which the ballet developed. Ballet was one of the Cultural Revolution in china. The ballet is despite the bad end of Jiang Qing. The position of a woman is in the revolutionary army and the Communist party of China in 1930s and 1960s (Dönmez-Colin, 2006). Women are into Women Army that was revolutionary. The women were presented as separate and equal. This gave the woman a different position from the traditional role of women. The film gives birth of a child that signifies Women Army as a whole. The film of Red Detachment of Women was made during 1960s, but the director, Xiejin, used the story of a particular group of women to represent the true spirit of resistance of women during 1930s. The film is in the background of the Second Chinese Revolutionary Civil War. The story is about how the main character Wu Qionghua grows from a slave to a revolutionary soldier. The director used realistic approach to reflect how the group of young women in 1930s fights for themselves and the society. Even though the story is mainly about Qionghua, she represents a particular type or group of woman during the transition period of China. The background time of Red Detachment of Women is very close to the one of Goddess, however, they represent two different periods of Chinese women. Qionghua and the rest of the girls in the detachment do have distinct similar characteristics with the mother in Goddess; however, a different background has shaped some of their unique characteristics. The first connection of the women in the two films is at the beginning of Red Detachment of Women. Though Qionghua is not a prostitute, as a slave, she had a similar condition with the mother in Goddess—living at the bottom of the society. Before joining the detachment, she was heavily being oppressed by Nan Batian, the feudal landlord who represents the evil force in this film. Similar to the mother, she was not willing to be controlled and bullied by the evil force and tried to run away for several times, though never worked out. Luckier for her, she was saved by the man who directed her to join the detachment, where she grew to an entirely different girl. The second connection between these two characters is that they both eager to express their anger. The mother in Goddess was quite impetuous that she killed Zhang when she found out that Zhang stole her money again right after they were discriminated by the society. Whether she actually meant to kill Zhang cannot be defined, but her expression of anger was apparent. Same situation happened to Qionghua. Nan Batian had oppressed Qionghua for years, so when she was doing a task at Nan Batian’s house, she could not wait and stop herself shooting at him. They both expressed their anger in an extreme way, and the anger in both of their heart has been overstocked for years and was stimulated at one moment. The prostitute mother living in 1920s as the revolutionary soldier girl has maintained the braveness, toughness, and anger expression. Different times give women different power (Xinran, 2011). The mother in Goddess has no one to rely on and has no power at all to fight back to the unfairness. Being a single mother and oppressed by Zhang at the same time, the ending for her was just being arrested for killing and never got what she hoped back, and probably never being able to the her only hope her son to grow up. In contrast, women living in this later period began to have revolt awareness. They realized that being controlled by evil forces and the feudal society is not the ending they desired; they want to fight for their freedom and liberty and know they have to find reliable forces to rely on. A group of young women turned their anger and desire for freedom into heroin. The revolutionary history background gives them the opportunity to use their wisdom fight back the forces have oppressed them; this is the chance that the prostitute mother did not have. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the long time in history women been being oppressed have turned their anger into motivation to become female heroes. The women realized that they have the potential, used the available resources, and formed a Female Army that fought. This shows a transitional era of women from the traditional oppressed women to the modern women who have respect and role in the society. The woman in the Goddess film also represents the motivation for the woman to make a society a better place to stay as a woman and her family. The Red Detachment of Women film portrays the changes that a woman has done in the Chinese history and the efforts she put in order to achieve such a change. I Do Transition of the society is also a development to the situation of Chinese women. From the period when women decided to stand up to fight for themselves, we have never stopped heard about feminism. Today we still hear about feminism event, but the overall condition and characteristics of modern Chinese women have been changed much from the old society during the transition period. Historically, Chinese women were to obey their husbands based on the Confucian teachings that fostered a patriarchal society. The advent of Western learning and Christians monogamy ideologies has shifted the Chinese intellectuals on how to treat the women. This means that they no longer view a woman as a tool for procreation and continuity of family lineage. In china, the modern woman can now access education at any level and can find jobs. Marriages are not for them, but rather they chose marriage partners of their choice. This has moved from the city where it was common to the countryside. There has been a big shift of how a woman is regarded from the traditional Chinese society to the Communist society and in the modern society. This implies that in the modern society the place, role and freedom of women are much better than what was seen in the past (Dönmez-Colin, 2006). Nowadays, many films describe stories and lives of Chinese modern women. One of the most popular one recently is I do, made in 2012. The main character in this movie is Tang Weiwei, a typical Chinese modern woman. She is a nearly 30 years old single woman with a successful career and rich life experience. She had a boyfriend when she was in college. After graduation, under the pressure of job, more and more conflicts began to appear among them. One day, her boyfriend, Wang Yang, left without a word. Seven years later, Wang Yang came back to Beijing as a successful businessman and tried to get Weiwei back. However, there is another man appeared in Weiwei’s life. After Wang Yang is leaving, Weiwei has not dated any man, as she did not believe in love anymore and wanted to focus on her career. One day she met Yang Nianhua at a speed dating. Yang Nianhua is a CEO of a public company who is even much richer Wang Yang. While in order to test whether Weiwei is a girl who loves money, he under covered himself. The competition for Weiwei began between these two successful men. Even though it looks like a love story movie, the characteristics of modern Chinese women have been reflected on the character Tang Weiwei. The traditional characteristics of Chinese women from earlier 20th can still be suggested though in different forms. In Red Detachment of Women, the group of women turned into the anger similar to the mother in Goddess. Today, the society is much more open to the community of women; most modern Chinese women no longer need to defend themselves from the social forces as they have an equal chance with a man on education and career. However, anger still exists, which may come from their personal life. For Weiwei, there is no doubt that she was angry when Wang Yang left her without a word; however, she also turned the anger into motivation—motivation for her career. During the seven years of Wang Yang’s absence, Weiwei focused herself on her career every second. She might have already forgotten Wang Yang, but on the scene when she met Wang Yang again, her anger got expressed. The characteristics of braveness and heroin maintained today and turned Weiwei into an independent woman. This is also the reason the two men are so obsessed with her. With these great characteristics of Chinese women, Weiwei lives in a complete change new society compared to the other two characters in previously introduced films. Weiwei can enjoy a much freer world. Apparently, she does not need to be oppressed or controlled by anyone. She can complete college education and enjoy a great career that she chose for herself. The society has provided much more opportunities for the community of women to enjoy equal life with a man. Weiwei is absolutely an icon of the modern Chinese woman who is independent. She has freedom of her education and the type of a man she wants. The ex-lover comes to her life again and because of the freedom the modern woman has, she will make a decision without coercion from anybody. This shows the advantage that accompanies such a change. Women are not subjected to marriage that they are not comfortable with. If it were in the traditional society, then she would not have progressed to the extents she is now. This is prosperity and high achievement of women in terms of their rights previous taken away from them (Peterson et al., 2001). Another interesting comparison between I do, and Goddess is on the theme of “selling her body”. In Goddess, the mother had to sell her body in order to make money to raise her son; in the film I do; it is interesting to notice that similar theme appeared. Weiwei has a colleague named Lisa, who also “sells her body”. Nevertheless, Lisa is not a prostitute, she is well known for selling her body to the client to get deals. She enjoys dating with rich and old guy and is proud of it. There must also be some gossip about her, but her friends or colleague does not distance her. It can’t be denied that today, there are still a lot of women live with being prostitutes and people still don’t see it as a real career, however, the society is slightly more open to women using their bodies. Presently in some countries, prostitution is legal, and the prostitutes have rights that the public has to respect. This makes a woman make earnings through sex in order to sustain herself financially. In the tradition society, a prostitute was viewed as an outcast and the community was not to associate with such women. However, in china, commercial sex is illegal (Chin & Finckernauer 2012, p.189). Today, modern women definitely maintained many characteristics from women in the past, but in different forms. The women now can get formal education to higher levels, unlike the traditional informal education. The role and position of a woman in the society is now apparently known to be equal to that of a man unlike the traditional view that women were subject to men. The women are autonomous in decision-making and in marriage; they can free select a man of their choice. This contrasts the traditional society was by a woman had no control on the man to marry. This is a major transition in the modern Chinese women (Gilmartin, 2004). Conclusion The traditional Chinese society views a woman as a tool to perpetuate the family. The suffering and the strength of prostitute woman in the Goddess film present a position of a woman in the traditional Chinese society. She had the necessary strength to ensure her son leads a successful life, but the society is limiting her. The bully man deprives her freedom and eventually takes away all her money. She is filled with hunger that kills the man. In the second film of the Red Detachment of Women, a woman in the communist society is treated better than the traditional society. This makes the women join in the Red Amy to fight for their rights. This shows a progressive change in the rights of a woman and the way a society views a woman. The classical, modern chine woman is presented in the third film; I do. This presents an educated woman who has a job. This woman has the freedom of choosing a man who is to be her marriage partner. She presents a contrast to the traditional woman and the modern woman. The three films have portrayed the challenges the woman has passed through from the traditional era to the modern era. The transitions that women pass through demonstrate her strength and the ability women have in the society. The Chinese Films have used a woman in their film to show her position in the society from the ancient times to modern time. References 1. CHIN, K.-L., & FINCKENAUER, J. O. (2012). Selling sex overseas: Chinese women and the realities of prostitution and global sex trafficking. New York, New York University Press 2. Chen, Y. (2012). Women in Chinese martial arts films of the new millennium: Narrative analyses and gender politics. Lanham: Lexington Books. 3. Dönmez-Colin, G. (2006). Cinemas of the other: A personal journey with film-makers from the Middle East and Central Asia. Bristol, UK: Intellect. 4. Gilmartin, C. K. (2004). Engendering China: Women, culture, and the state. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 5. Hurd, M. G. (2007). Women directors and their films. Westport, Conn: Praeger 6. Peterson, G., Hayhoe, R., & Lu, Y. (2011). Education, culture, and identity in twentieth-century China. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 7. Wang, L. (2011). Chinese womens cinema: Transnational contexts. New York: Columbia University Press. 8. Xinran, . (2011). The good women of China 9. Yang, M. M. (2009). Spaces of their own: Womens public sphere in transnational China. Minneapolis [u.a.: Univ. of Minnesota Press. 10. Zhang, Y. (2012). A Companion to Chinese Cinema. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Read More