What We Desire

                What we do in life is not always what we wish it to be.  In many cases we do things because we feel obligated to do so, or that we are trapped by others into fulfilling some kind of expectation.  When it comes down to the eleventh hour we will often be forced to choose between what we want and what we are told to do.  Some people will live their lives according to what they want and may feel less torn, but many are controlled by society at large into roles they may not wish.  This is often the center of artistic direction in many mediums but especially in film.  Some of the films we watched this year looked at what it is people truly wish for and what they ultimately end up doing.  Four such films to touch on the subject are A Better Tomorrow, Yellow Earth, Farewell My Concubine, and Ikiru.    It is the struggle within the characters that makes these films so compelling on a deeper level that we can all feel.

                A Better Tomorrow is a gangster movie, so naturally the issues of family and loyalty are core to the story, but the heart of it is the struggle of the main players who wrestle both with themselves, and each other.  In the forefront of this conflict is Ho who when we meet him is a member of a counterfeiting operation run by a gang centered in Hong-Kong.  It is here that he works with the other members some of which are like family to him.  He does though have an actually family member in the form of a brother Kit, who is in fact working towards becoming a police officer.  When Ho is caught, during what he hopes is his last transaction for the Triad, he is sent to jail but still remains loyal and does not give away any names.  For all that he wants to go straight and cut ties with his old gang he holds on to a sense of obligation to them.  Although he might get reduced time he still avoids giving names even though he has no intention of going back to them. 

                Part of this dilemma is worsened when he finds that his record now makes him unwelcome in the general work force as well as in the home of his brother.   He faces similar issues with his partner in crime Mark, who has been crippled but still remains with the triad as a low ranking lackey.  He wants to be more with his brother but his past prevents it, he also wants to be with his friend but he does not want to continue with his past life.  Ultimately he feels obligated and indebted to Mark that he helps him with blackmailing his former gang.  He wants to make a clean break but because of the harassment from the gang he is unable to continue as such and is pulled back in because  he wants his own life and for him and his brother to reconcile.  In the end he sacrifices his own ambitions and desires for what he wants for his brother, so that at least he might have a chance at promotion and getting on with his career. 

                Another case of conflicting wants was in Yellow Earth, in which many of the characters in the story want something but all find that they end up with nothing.  It is the story of Comrade Gu, who comes to the rural village in order to allegedly collect folk songs, to repurpose them for use by the soldiers of the Communist revolution.  He comes wanting to spread the word of the Communist revolution and to endear their ideals to the villagers.  The family he stays with is a poor peasant and his two children, a daughter and a son.  Gu tells stories of the army and its ideals and the daughter Cuiqiao takes the tales of equality to heart.  Her father wants her to be married so that her brother will have the money necessary to find a good marriage himself.  So it comes that Cuiqiao wants to run from her marriage to an old man and asks Gu to take her to be a part of the revolutionary forces, to which Gu says he will come back for her but that she cannot come right now. 

                The characters here are pulled by what they want as an individual and what the group wants of them as a whole.  Gu does seem to legitimately want to take Cuiqiao with him, but he is forced to consider the will of his superiors.  Since they would not want to sour the relationship with the village by stealing a bride they would most likely deny the request.  Gu is forced to leave Cuiqiao behind to her fate even though he may have wanted to bring her along.  Cuiqiao does want to help her family and does show that she cares for her father and brother, but she has no desire to be wed and wishes for an escape.  Even the father is shown to want only what is best for his children, displaying his melancholy at having to sell off his daughter so that his son may have a chance.  He regrets having to split up his family so, but he goes with what he feels would be best for his children, even if it is not what he wishes for.  Everyone is forced into doing things that they do not want and even if they change their minds later it is already too late, Cuiqiao dies trying to leave and the father is left without a daughter, and Gu cannot come back and take her away.  In the end everyone is left wanting and regretting the decisions they made. 

                In Farewell My Concubine we are told the story of China during the first half of the 20^th century through the lives of Dieyi and Xiaolou to actors in Beijing Opera.  The tale is one that parallels the story of change and revolution in China to match that of the main characters.  The two find themselves as gaining fame and acclaim, most notable for their rendition of the play that is the name sake of the film.  As the story goes on though they find that what they each want from life is different with Xiaolou wanting to start a family of his own, while Dieyi wants him to remain true to the opera.  This tug of war continues throughout the movie, with the desires of the two facing the tests put forth by the turmoil in their own country. 

                Sometimes the choices made are an attempt to have the other side cross over to share their choice, or at least accept it.  Dieyi performs to free Xiaolou from the Japanese in the hopes that by doing so the wife will honor her promise and leave Xiaolou.  In another case Xiaolou confesses during the Cultural Revolution in order to remain free from being persecuted, even though he in the process sells out his friend and wife.  What they both want is difficult for each to obtain, mainly because they both have trouble compromising and it pulls at them both. 

                Finally we have Ikiru which rather than focusing on the conflicts and wants of many people, looks closely at what the main character wants.  Watanabe struggles with his own mortality and so he goes on a quest of sorts to find what he really wants from his life.  As he goes along he wrestles with what he wants and ends up latching on to others and what they want in hopes of finding a purpose.  He tries to be free and debauched with the author but finds it does not fulfill him.  He tries to again find a bit of fulfillment by clinging to his young co-worker but once again falls upon the realization that it is not enough to make him feel alive.  This is how he ends up finding out that he wants to do one last thing with his job, which has not been a source of pride before. 

                Since his job has never before been what he wanted to do he makes the switch and decides that he can do something more. Before all he did was sit around stamping papers and throwing people into the mess that is the Japanese bureaucratic system.  With his last effort he makes it his sole goal to clean up a community by replacing the still water with a park.  He runs up against the same bureaucracy that he has worked in for 30 years but by making it his last mission in life he muscles through.  His want and desire find purpose in his pet project giving him strength and the ability to press on.  His desire makes the vision a reality changing the world for the better in his last few months.  It tells of how with enough desire and drive we can do amazing things with our lives but are often inhibited, clinging to others and not pushing forward ourselves.

                It is the human condition to want things, to desire what is out of our reach.  It is here that directors look for core motivation, making films where the conflict is the desire.  Since everyone wants something they will naturally be forced into confrontation when these desires clash.  Often times we will be shown these conflicting wants and desires, juxtaposed with the cost of following them.  It is from these that we get our stories, tales that we can relate to and see because they are a part of who we are and we naturally wish to relate with these characters and feel for them.  Their drive and motivations are what keep these films in motion and give life to each of the roles within, for they are the force that moves all people forward whether we dwell upon it or not.