Analysis of Farewell My Concubine - Movie Review Example

Farewell My Concubine Farewell My Concubine is a Fifth Generation film that examines the development and relationship of two opera singers as they live and experience a large portion of 20th century Chinese history. One of the central concerns of the film is the development and transformation of Dieyi. While the film significantly examines Xiaolou’s trajectory, it’s clear that Dieyi is the main protagonist. At the beginning of the film Dieyi’s mother is forced to chop his finger off so that he can be accepted to the training academy. This narrative element is used as it demonstrates the urgency Dieyi’s mother has to get rid of the child; the superfluous finger also functions to characterize Dieyi as unique, as the viewer will later discover that he is destined to become a renowned opera singer. One of the central thematic concerns of the first half of the film is identity construction. The scenes in the training center explore the nature of gender identity and demonstrate an elaborate process of the destruction and construction of Dieyi’s persona from masculinity to femininity. Throughout his transformation the film interrelates images of discipline and destruction with the gradual deconstruction of Dieyi’s masculinity. Such outward manifestations of this deconstruction are seen in the frequent punishments the boy receives. His transformation is also symbolically evident after he is punished for running away; Dieyi begins to attack his face and cover it with blood, symbolically indicating the destruction of his past masculine identity. Eventually, the last remnants of his former self are restricted to the verbal utterances that refuse to utter the feminine lines. It’s only after his mouth is physically assaulted with the tobacco pipe and he bleeds that he transformation is complete. In this sense his masculine identity is physically destroyed, with the blood spewing from his mouth the physical remains. Raise the Red Lantern From the opening scenes of Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern it’s clear that the film offers a critical interpretation of Chinese society that offers considerable insight to an uninformed Western viewer, as well as a powerful comment on the nature of human sexual relations. When watching the film one might also consider Mitter (2008) who uses a description of early 20th century Chinese values to describe the 21st century landscape. The setting of the estate seems expansive and this vastness plays into the emotional detachment of the forth mistress; just as she is isolated and separated from the others, so is has her humanity become detached and minimized. Another of the most prominent examinations is the morality inherent in the woman’s lives at the estate. When the fourth mistress first encounters the first mistress, the older woman is cordial to the newcomer, but one can detect the overwhelming sadness in her soul. She utters the words, “Such sins, such sins,” allowing the viewer insight into the psychic toll the woman has experienced, as well her detachment, and seemingly repressed sense of disgust. As the fourth mistress encounters the second mistress we discover that she has had to leave college because of the early death of her father. From a Western perspective it is significant as one begins to consider the nature of Chinese society and the effects the economic structure has on social customs. The scene with the second mistress also adds insight as the woman’s daughter emerges, and the woman remarks, “How useless, I only have a daughter.” In this instance one contextually experiences the Eastern privileging of the male over the female. Throughout the film the narrative is largely restricted to the fourth mistress and the viewer comes to identity with her and experiences her discoveries and character transformation. She is depicted as ‘educated’ for having attending college. The constant reference to this functions to give the viewer the impression of her as cunning and aware of progressive values. Eat Drink Man Woman Where Farewell My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern explored historical aspects of Chinese society, from the opening shots of Eat Drink Man Woman where motorist are pictured drinking along a highway it’s clear that Ang Lee’s film is an exploration of the contemporary social milieu. Throughout the film a number of thematic oppositional elements are established: Western versus Eastern culture, old world versus new world values, conservative versus liberal morality. As the film unfolds, a number of disparate narratives are presented, each embodying differing cultural values, and then they are ultimately united at the dinner table for the Sunday dinner that the father has prepared. As the family begins to interact one of the film’s central concerns of the nature of relationships is explored as the two sisters clash on old world vs. new world values. Throughout the film food is another central concern. In one sense the father’s cooking represents the old world values, and in certain scenes it signifies his life and perspective on the world; just as he is aging and a remnant of an older generation, so does he worry that his taste in food has deteriorated. In one scene his recipes are discussed just as one might discuss writing down one’s personal experience through literature. In another scene, one sister remarks, “We communicate by eating,” when referring to the neighbors who are engaging in karaoke. (this reference also functions to draw attention to one sister’s earlier karaoke scene with her love interest) The film also offers a contemplation on death. After the father’s associate is sent to the hospital one of the daughters sees an apparition of her father walking throughout the hospital. The occurrence is symbolic of the daughter’s internal deliberation on her father’s advanced age and upcoming death. The next scene includes a close-up of a live fish that the father pauses before killing. One can assume that he is considering his own mortality. Beijing Bicycle Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle is a Sixth Generation Taiwanese film that examines a number of thematic concerns through the journey two boys, Guei and Jian, take regarding a bicycle (WLT 2007). The underlining nature of the narrative as motivated by the theft of a bicycle is clearly indebted to Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 Italian Neo-Realist Classic Bicycle Thieves. In addition to examining contemporary Chinese society the films offers a critique of youth culture and delinquency, as well as class differences between the film’s two protagonists. Elizabeth Wright (2001) notes that the bicycle has become a symbol of mainland China. After the bike has been stolen the two boys engage in a symbolic demonstration of strength and will power in a battle to assume ownership of the cherished bike. The two boy’s different backgrounds represent contrasting thematic strands. Jian’s family is more well-off and their concern with getting Jian’s sister to go to a prestigious school is what draws him to purchase the bike; conversely, Guei is a working class boy who has worked long months to be able to purchase the bike from his employer. These contrasting backgrounds represent the film’s symbolic contrasting of socio-economic status and the conflict that arises within society over these concerns. Wright (2001) argues that, “Just as it represents status and pride to Jian, so it does for Guei. It symbolises his participation and success in the city of Beijing and makes him less of an outsider.” While in great part the bike is an object of status for both boys their differing backgrounds lead them to define status in contrasting ways. For Jian the bike is a means to an end of achieving time with a girl, while for Guei it ultimately represents an acknowledgment that he has succeeded within the Beijing economic stratosphere. Happy Times Zhang Yimou’s Happy Times is a tragicomedy that examines the life of a man as he renovates a bus into a hotel to fund a wedding for the woman he hopes to marry. The film also examines the contemporary city life of China. Indeed, many of the scenes in the film were shot with hidden cameras to capture a more accurate and unencumbered reflection of Chinese city life. In many respects the film is a comedic investigation of the rising trend of mainstream capitalism within contemporary China. The protagonist, Zhao, represents a sort of comedic version of a failed capitalist, as he is unemployed and his only venture comes to be a bus/hotel that is eventually towed away. The film is notably less grand as some of Yimou’s other efforts, including Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and is far less somber than his tragic art house effort Raise the Red Lantern; although the second-half of Happy Times comes to take on a more serious tone. Indeed, the underlining tone of Happy Times as part comedy and part somber drama seems to give the film a unique feel that transcends a more traditional genre exercise; interestingly, it’s this element of the film that led director Yimou to chastise the film by stating, “Happy Times seems to be floating somewhere in the middle. Neither the style nor the inner philosophical underpinnings of the film ever really came out, and it is a weaker work.” The hybrid structure of the film functions to draw the viewer into the character’s lives while the turn to tragic action in the second half becomes a element that creates the film’s poignant conclusion that so many critics have noted (Urban 2003). The Banquet Feng Xiaogang’s The Banquet is a loose Chinese adaptation of the Shakespearean classic Hamlet that is set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of 10th century China. Like similar epic Chinese films, such as Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the film is a sprawling epic that advances the narrative throughout operatic ballet numbers. In addition, some of the film’s thematic undertones seem to have an indirect influence from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The film’s extravagance functions to reduce the in-depth characterization of Shakespeare’s protagonists and in many degrees the actors seem secondary to the film’s splendor. The film retains the dramatic scope of the Shakespearean drama and unlike epics such as Hero and Crouching Tiger the director chooses to foreground these dramatic subtleties over the splendor the actions sequences. Other elements that diverge slightly from the original Hamlet include an increased emphasis on the sexual relationship between the protagonist and his mother; while in Hamlet the connection was latent, The Banquet purposely changes their connection to stepmother and stepson to advance the sexual connection within the narrative. In this regard the film functions to bring light to the original drama through an Eastern lens. Even as the elements of the Hong Kong action genre (indeed the film’s choreographer, Yuen Wo Ping, was also the primary choreographer from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Matrix) are readily present, the ultimate effect is one that transcends mere genre or cultural conventions and instead brings to light the underlining mythological themes found in the English drama and allows the viewer a deeper and more pragmatic understanding of them. Suzhou River While other representations of Suzhou have painted the area as an Eastern version of Venice, Italy, from the opening shots of Lou Ye’s Suzhou River the gritty realism of the area is revealed. Indeed, revealing the gritty urban realism of contemporary China has become a stylistic defining characteristic of 6th Generation Chinese filmmakers such as Lou Ye. The opening voice over narration that is slightly clever and ironic has much in common with similar devices implemented by Godard and Truffaut; the French New Wave connection is further advanced as a number of jump cuts are implemented throughout the film. One of the film’s opening lines speaks to the nature of filmic reality, immediately drawing one’s attention to the famous Godard quote, “Film is reality at 24 frames per second.” Other Godardian elements include a self-reflexive acknowledgment of plot devices and character development, and a post-modern assemblage of a variety of filmic techniques, notably film noir. One of the film’s central concerns is the Suzhou River. The River comes to represent a sort of life-force for the people of Suzhou who gather around it for lack of other things to do. The River is often described in transcendent terms. The River is frequently the backdrop for scenes. The film is shot in documentary like style that functions to draw give the viewer the impression that they are a participant in the drama, as well as give the film a grittier and more true to life feel. Even with these techniques, the film’s stylistic elements seem to dominate its narrative concern References Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies, 3rd Edition. New York: Norton, 2009. Mitter, Rana. Modern China: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Urban, Andrew. ‘Happy Times Review’ Urban Cine Film http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=6492&s=video_files Senses of Cinema. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/18/beijing_bicycle.html. Speaking in Images: Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Filmmakers. Ed. Michael Berry. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. World Literature Today special issue on "Inside China" (July/August 2007) Wright, Elizabeth (2001). "Riding Towards the Future: Wang Xiaoshuais Beijing Bicycle" Read More