The Lost Women of China
During the early
half of the 20th century China as a whole underwent a major shift in
its political and societal beliefs.
What is accepted in the old is washed away by war revolution and
revolts, creating a complex history from upheaval that occurred in a few short
decades. From this transition in
thinking we get many films out of China that exemplify the new ideas that are
introduced as well as views of their past and history viewed through the lens
of the modern age. The films we see are
created to tell a story that belongs to a point in China’s past that then gives
us perspective to better see how the issues of today apply to those who lived
in the past. In many of the films that do address the past the issue of a woman’s
place in the world comes up. Often the
conditions for a woman in a man’s world are less then ideal especially a
century ago, it is here that directors focus their gaze to better analyze this
crucial time in history. They seek to
construct stories that conjur images of the past and what life was like with a certain
focus on the women who lived them. It is with this vision of the past that each
director seeks to project and show a certain view and to critique the culture
of the time. With each film one gets a
chance to explore what it meant to live in China past going into the modern age.
Raise the Red
Lantern is a film that historically takes place before the Communist revolution
and thus shows us a culture steeped in traditions and the idea of doing things
the old fashion way. The film centers on
Songlian who as a woman who through circumstance is compelled to marry into an
old established family and become the fourth mistress. It is here that we see the stage set for a
play that has been enacted for as long as anyone can remember. The entire complex is all we ever see and
every inch of it drips with tradition and customs being a very traditionally
styled mansion. It is here that Songlian
is subjected to the traditions of the master’s household as she is slowly
integrated into it. At first she is apprehensive
and does not appear to care for the attentions of the household being put off
by the strangeness of it all. As time
goes on she begins to crave the attentions of being the favored wife as the
traditions pit the mistresses against each other. The trappings and the traditions cause unnecessary
conflict between women who are supposed to be “sisters”. In the end the system causes death and madness
amongst the ranks of the four wives with its senseless rules.
The whole commentary
is focused on what is happening to the women in the story and how the
traditional values and practices can create tension. The way the women are naturally programed by
the traditions to tear each other apart.
The film as a whole focuses on this tradition bound house hold as a kind
of microcosm of pre-revolution China and how the women were treated. Using the senseless traditions and comparing
it against the women’s plight it draws attention to the traditions patriarchal nature. This therefore draws attention to the
stifling nature of the patriarchal society and the past of China as a commentary
of the pitfalls of such a society.
Another film that
observes the nature of the Chinese culture was Yellow Earth which is a movie
set right after World War II when the Communists and Nationalists were fighting
for dominance. Its focus is on a young
man, Gu from the Communist Eight Route Army, coming to collect songs from the
local peasant village. He ends up
staying with a peasant family of three including a young girl named Cuiqiao,
the woman of the house being without a mother.
As Gu stays with the family he is slowly exposed to the families quiet
plight and watches the dynamics of a family that must do without a mother. He must watch as they struggle to make ends
meet working the earth and how their life revolves around try to make the best
of things. Part of this is the marriages
that the father seeks to arrange, since they will provide much need connection
needed to ensure his children’s future.
As such Cuiqiao must be sold off as a bride to ensure that her brother
will have the opportunity to marry and have a future in their farming community. The problem is that Cuiqiao has no desire to
do so and is enthralled by the tales that Gu weaves about the equality preached
by the Communists. So when she hears of
her impending marriage she asks Gu to take her with her but is refused.
The Cuiqiao is ultimately
left with no options and is forced into her marriage left by Gu to her
fate. It is because of this that she
runs away risking herself for anything other than her current lot in life. She becomes a tragic figure that is the victim
of the men in her culture and the nature of her status as a female in a society
that values men. Even though Gu talks
about equality and liberation for the masses he leaves her simply because she
is not considered worth taking as she would hurt relations with the rural
villages. She is just a game piece in
the scheme of things passed around and rejected because she is not useful and so
can be discarded at will. It is not saying
that the men in her life such as her father and Gu look at her in that way but
the powers that they are beholden to, the village tradition and the Communists respectively. As men they are not directly affected but
they are forced to assume the role of the enforcers of these unfeeling entities. Even as times begin to change the women are
left hanging by both the old and the new generation both treat her life as
secondary to the other issues.
Although many film
directors are in fact male themselves, there is still the possibility to
present the time period in an accurate manner that lets us see how the power structure
of the time controls people. Though the
nature of these movies does show both genders suffering from their suffocating circumstances
it is very clear who has the short end of the stick in older Chinese society. It is by bringing these issues to the forefront
that we can remember what was like and in some ways what it is still like to be
a woman stuck in a patriarchal society.
Subtle use of the characters emotions and their development helps set up
a strong narrative that makes one able to feel sympathy for those woman who are
traded and treated as objects rather than functioning human beings that could
contribute to their community. It is
always important that film not forget that its characters have a context and
that when placed in such a way they giving meaning to the setting and the
time. Both of these movies make good use
of their characters to better portray the time in which they live, giving it
greater clarity then a text book could ever hope for.
