Yes, I think the film takes a stand against communism. Here, one can see that there is no distinction between what is public and what is private since Communism is all about everyone being equal and sharing in everything that they have. In all of these tragedies that the family had encountered, they can all be rooted to the imposition of communism to China;s society. This then leads to the main question that was raised earlier, up to what extent should the public govern the private? In my point of view, I see the film only as a medium showing an honest portrayal of how life is during the early decades of communist rule in mainland China. Materialism is also a dominant theme in this film as one can see how important for Fugui it is for his family to have a comfortable life since they suddenly became peasants from being the elite ones.
But does explicitness makes the conveyance of political socialization ineffective? Of course no actually society has achieved this level of being communal; but the movie gave me the image that a society following that kind of order is not at all bad. Jiazhen refuses to take it. Despite a conscious change of style, the whole plot of The Story of Qiu Ju also rests on having sons. And when I look at it, To Live goes beyond the conventional when it comes to portraying significant stages in one's life that is in turn, shaped by the society and other forces. These were considered private transactions before. He is resigned to his fate and is merely trying to live a simple life with his wife. No one helps put out the fire because Long'er was a gentry.
Likewise, the tragedy brought about by the inefficiency in the hospital proves this point. He called on fathers to liberate the young and so liberate society. In addition, Zhang Yimou has always objected to any suggestions that his films carry social criticisms of the Chinese system and has insisted that his films are really about universal, human issues. Archived from on 15 March 2016. Yellow Earth is today widely considered the inaugural film of the Fifth Generation directors.
Soon after, some boys begin picking on Fengxia. In addition, the film was all about change. This tradition of intrusiveness has always been present in Chinese society and was merely amplified during the Maoist era and, of course, it is carried on in many other parts of the world, as well. The film was eventually banned because of its supposedly anti-communist nature — an idea which is still debatable. These benefits include the establishment of communal kitchens to promote equality symbolically and practically and job generation e. Things seem to be going well at this point, but tragedy strikes when Fengxia goes to the hospital maternity ward.
Zhang, Yinjing, Screening China, Critical Interventions, CinematicReconfigurations, and the Transnational Imaginary in Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Zhang Yimou: Globalization and the Subject of Culture. This red force quite literally becomes the black-white power of yin femininity and death under ancestral rules enforced from father to son in both Judou and Raise the Red Lantern. Moreover, he also very skillfully uses eye-contact to maintain smooth continuity in a scene, even though he regularly separates and fragments a scene into specific points of view. Instead of looking from above, the movie emphasizes the life experiences of the ordinary people as they try to cope up with these changes brought by the Chinese government. The film is very much subject to varying interpretations. It can be said then, that the film was able to portray both the good and the bad sides of communism with examples which can somehow be considered as exaggerated.
In this case the unseen horror is the always-lurking potential for disruptive calamities that haunted the Chinese people during this era. Transnational Chinese Cinemas, Identity, Nationhood, Gender, Ed. Not only that, what he is doing is still shaped by the society where he lives. He also learns that a severe illness has made his young daughter a partially deaf mute. He was considered too old for admission by the time the reopened after. Zhang Yimou pays tribute to the great sacrifice of these people without taking guns to the borderlands. Unity is definitely no question in the community.
Politics and Film: To Live: Choices Within The Historical Context
Whether or not the movie was made to rally against communism, I can say that the movie is very effective in showing its viewers the real images and emotions with what happened during this challenging time in Chinese history. This is not to minimize the ingenious organizational techniques that the Chinese developed over the course of history to manage vast societies. For me, the film had a good portrayal of what China was like before since it gave me an idea or a picture of how life was like for the Chinese people back then. Fengxia is now grown up and her family arranges for her to meet Wan Erxi, a local leader of the. I think overall, it was an effective channel for political socialization, for it gave the viewers a clear picture of what was indeed happening in China at that particular point in time without overpreaching, and only subtly but effectively conveying its message. This page also includes links to other articles and an essay on the Fifth Generation filmmakers a generation that Zhang is generally thought to be part of.
Living now depends on what the government say or do not say. Seeing the changes on the economic status of lead character and his family, it is argued that these changes are brought about and are influenced by the personal doings of Xu Fugui- of the individual himself. He is eventually put on trial and is sentenced to execution. In this case Fugui's behavior was quite innocent and unselfish, although he will later blame himself for what happened. Their change in lifestyle was one example. It is an intense film that tackles about the essence of living and the inevitable changes that shape us and make us a the person we are right now.
Even more, it shows the development of Chinese politics from Civil War China to Communist China up to the status that it has right now. There is a quiet desperation to depart from this particular ideological form of government, as seen in the struggles of the protagonists. It is an inspiring movie that can surely make you stop and look back in life to scrutinize each and every action you have done in your life. The prioritization of individual thoughts over the alleged collective goodness intermingles with every affair that confounds Fugui and his family. They sacrifice some part of their lives example: the puppets so they can conform to the current rules.
On the one hand, it can be said that the film is really anti-communist. In 1989, he was a member of the jury at the. These events include the end of the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the communist government in mainland China, the Great Leap Forward period, and the period of Cultural Revolution. It is a good film worth watching. No matter how close they are to their community and to their friends, they cannot find the same amount or kind of happiness that they find inside their home. The triumvirates — Zhang Yimou, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and Chen Kaige — of this film-era began their studies in Beijing Film Academy and entered into the industry after the end of Chinese Cultural Revolution.
