A Symbolic Way of Showing the Effectiveness of the Cultural Revolution - Essay Example

Section/# “The Last Emperor A Biopic Film Analysis One of the unique ways in which history is understood throughout the world concerns the manner that it is represented in film. For better or for worse, tens of millions of individuals around the globe come to identify with historical events based upon how they interpret and appreciate cinema as a vehicle of historical truth and accuracy. More often than not, the historical representations that are exhibited within films are often faulty; leading the viewer to assume that events transpired in a much different way than they in fact actually happened. For the purpose of this particular paper, the analysis will focus on the film entitled “The Last Emperor”. As such, rather than detailing a point by point plot summary or analyzing different motifs of film-making, the analysis will instead seek to grapple with the issue of major underlying themes that is presented throughout this biopic film. Accordingly, the focus of the essay will be concentric on the film itself; using the three distinct segments of the film to highlight the underlying sense of an end of an era that is represented within the life experience of the main character; Puyi. Likewise, it is the hope of this student that the following discussion will not only be beneficial towards assisting the reader in understanding the film to a better and more complete degree, it is the further hope of this student that the forthcoming analysis will help to reveal core trends and key understandings concerning the interpretation of modern Chinese/Asian history within the era in question. Within the first segment of the film, an imprisoned Puyi experiences a series of flashbacks that depict a much different time than the one he currently finds himself in. Within these flashbacks, the viewer is taken back to a much simpler period of Chinese history; one in which the order of royal succession provided a baseline of expectation and legitimacy that helped to define all of the Chinese Empire (Geier, 1993). As such, Puyi experiences these flashbacks as he considers a very uncertain fate at the hands of a cold and calculatedly divergent regime; at least as compared to that which is represented within the warm and contended feelings that are represented within the flashbacks. Within these flashbacks, a unique trend is represented; one in which the life of royalty in all of its splendor is represented alongside the realization that the remainder of China at the time depicted was much harsher and worse than can even be imagined. Whereas many film makers would have chosen to represent this understanding in terms of a direct comparison and contrast, the film maker in question chose to illustrate it without the life of the average Chinese being represented side by side; as compared to the early life of the emperor. As such, the viewer is left to assume that the differential between the two was ultimately part of an “untold” story which helped to explain why the rise of the communists was so effective in wresting control from the nationalist Chinese that had sought to determine China’s future for so many decades (Kuznetsov & Karasov, 2005). Even as Puyi’s hardships and difficulties of ascension to the throne are depicted, the viewer is left in awe of the type of deference that this young child is given throughout the kingdom and the way in which this ruler is practically worshipped by all around him. The comparison and contrast to the “current time”, as is represented within the film, comes in terms of the way that Puyi now finds himself beholden to the “crimes” he has committed against his fellow Chinese and the extent to which the Communist Chinese leadership is intent to punish him and make a lesson out of his failures as an exemplification of the moral depravity and “rot” that imperialism created within the Chinese system. The life of the emperor that is displayed within the flashbacks also holds a unique level of historical relevance due to the fact that the representation of young Puyi was one of a child that did not wish to be emperor. This is interesting due to the fact that the life in confinement that Puyi now experiences at the hands of the Chinese Communists is also a life that is defined for him; and one that he would not have selected of his own free will. As the course of Puyi’s experience unfolds this same factor is adequately represented within the lives of almost each and every individual in China; at least during the period in question. The reason behind this has to do with the fact that uncontrolled factors define the environment in which individuals live; whether or not they might have had a contributing role with respect to these changes. In such a way, Puyi finds himself a victim of circumstance in a much different way as he is confined by the Chinese communists; as compared to the life of confinement he experienced as the supreme emperor of China as a youth. As a way to engage the viewer’s understanding that the reality of the situation was profound, the film depicts Puyi attempting suicide as a way to free himself from these harsh realities. Yet, rather than being successful, the attempted suicide instead pushes Puyi back into another round of dream-like recollections concerning how life “used to be”; before everything changed. This element of change is a distinct representation that is depicted tie and time again throughout the film (Diones, 2009). The underlying reason for this, as is understood by this student, is to highlight and underscore the fact that an epoch had passed and that a new world and a new era, on that Puyi was neither comfortable in or willing to be a part of, had occurred. As the opulent lifestyle that he had experience in the past gave way to a pauper’s existence at the hands of those proletariat that he had lorded over, the snide irony of Puyi’s life is represented to the viewer in an ever more complex manner than might otherwise be possible. As a way of even further representing the tone of change that was represented throughout the film, Puyi is eventually rehabilitated; something that helps to differentiate the way in which enemies of the state were treated in communist China as compared to the way that they might have been treated elsewhere (Corliss, 2014). In the end, it is the ideological victory of communism over the way of governance and societal control that had been exhibited under Puyi and previous emperors that is most effectively illustrated. By continual interrogation, coercion, and deliberately breaking Puyi’s spirit, the communist Chinese were able to gain a psychological victory that allowed them to continue to have the power to deny Puyi the birthright that he felt he was originally entitled (Coughlin, 1992). Whereas it is of course true that the Communist Chinese could have summarily executed Puyi, the effect of this would have been markedly less than the effect of forcing him to “repent” of his sins and admit that the communist paradigm was a superior way of organizing society and structuring life (Woo, 1988). Once again, the focus on an epoch ending and a new era beginning is represented to the viewer as Puyi is depicted as nothing more than a humble gardner that goes about his normal day-to-day routines without even recognition for the life he previously lived of the deference that he had once commanded amongst what were formerly his subjects (Godfrey, 2010). As China moved forward into the Cultural Revolution, Mao and others within leadership encouraged massive and long-lasting change that would forever remove the PRC from comparison to prior regimes and empires throughout the nation’s long and storied past. As a symbolic way of showing the effectiveness of this Cultural Revolution and the extent to which it was adopted by and practiced amongst the population of the People’s Republic of China, Puyi illustrates but a single individual, albeit a former emperor, that accepts his role and goes about performing mundane functions within the organized and increasingly hierarchical structure that has been foisted upon the population by the new Communist ruling elite (Zhu, 1988). Yet, rather than holding a grudge or longing for the days of yesteryear that have since passed, Puyi accepts these changes, as have hundreds of millions of his fellow countrymen, and falls in amongst them without lamenting the past or desiring to revisit it. Although this is merely a fictional portrayal of a historical occurrence, it bears a litany of similarities to the true events that helped to inspire the film. Of all of the understandings that were reflected within the film, the means by which Communist doctrine, culture, and interpretations of history were adopted by the public as de-facto truth during and after the Cultural Revolution is perhaps the most salient take-away that can be had. Additionally, the lack of resistance that Puyi comes to exhibit illustrates the way in which successful regime change allows for a gradual shift away from the understandings and culture that had defined a previous era. Bibliography Corliss, R 2014, ‘The Last Emperor and Chinese Movies, Time.com, 8 January, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Coughlin, EK 1992, Research notes: Bertolucci film `The Last Emperor is said to imply an anti-feminine vision, Chronicle Of Higher Education, 38, 32, p. A8, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Diones, B 2009, VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR, New Yorker, 85, 9, pp. 16-17, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Geier, T 1993, Fact and fiction at the movies, U.S. News & World Report, 114, 8, p. 16, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Godfrey, L 2010,Fact or Fiction in ‘The Last Emperor’’, Cinema Review, 5, 11, p. 14, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Kuznetsov, S, & Karasov, S 2005, The Last Emperor of China: Internment in the Soviet Union, Journal Of Slavic Military Studies, 18, 2, pp. 207-226, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Woo, FJ 1988, The Last Emperor, a film by Bertolucci, Chinese American Forum, 4, 1, pp. 27-29, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Zhu, M 1988, The Last Emperor (Film), New Yorker, 64, 6, p. 15, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 July 2014. Read More