Cumulative essay: Women's place in the society

As I was reflecting on all the films we watched in class, I can confidently say that gender politics, especially the role of women, and their place in this world, played a significant role in driving the plot, making a major impression on me. I could not help but to question the place of women and their depiction in society in each of the films, especially in Asia. In many of the films, women were seen as merely an object to satisfy the desires of men, fulfill traditional roles, or play the role of damsel in distress waiting to be saved men. The portrayal of women through these movies unintentionally or possibly intentionally belittled the existence of women, and shaped them to be a certain way. To fulfill the desires of men, they are put into a certain place in the society. I’ll be analyzing how women are oppressed and put into a certain status in the society by men through Fists of Fury, Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine, and Sandakan 8. 

Fists of Fury: Damsel in distress

In the film, Drunken Master, women did not take on a significant role. However, it is clearly shown how women are not treasured nor appreciated even from the minor role of women. In the film, Chao Mei is the only women figure in the household. She cooks, washes their clothes, and does all the work around the house. She takes care of the family and looks after them. However, when Chao Mei’s brothers go missing by Hsaio Mi and his workers, she has no other choice but to rely on Cheng Chao-an. However, Chao Mei’s problems and concerns are the last thing on his mind when he is promoted in the factory he is working at. Also, because the society emphasizes that only men has to be masculine, needs to go out to work, and provide for the family and women needs to stay home. From this, Cheng Chao-an doesn’t have the power and experience to go out to look for her brothers herself. Also, since she always relied on her brothers to bring in the money for the household, she is lost in how to go on and live her life. Also, when Chao Mei’s brothers are ultimately killed off by Hsaio Mi’s men, they decide to save Chao-Mei’s life. This is not because they considered her life more valuable than her brothers. Her life was only saved for a life of a servant, prostitute or possibly both.  It’s unfortunate that Chow-Mei has no other choice but to accept it because she has no power to fight or stand up for herself. She has to accept it as her fate, and just go with it. Later on in the film, Chow-Mei is saved from Hsaio Mi’s house working as a prostitute by Cheng Chao-an. She plays the damsel in distress and is saved by the “hero” from the villain. She relies on a man figure to come save her from her misfortune.  Women in the society is portrayed to be powerless and lost without men, and that it seems acceptable to label women in different costs and sell them off prostitutes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Raise the Red Lantern

Out of all the films we watched, I believe that the film, Raise the Red Lantern, is the one film that accurately depicts how tradition and role of men powerfully affects the women both psychologically, emotionally and physically. Raise the Red Lantern tells a story of a master who has 3 different mistresses in his household, and welcomes his 4^th mistress, Songlian, into his family. His household is strongly influenced by traditional beliefs, and these beliefs are greatly enforced on all the mistresses, slowly affecting and changing their beliefs and values as well.  In the beginning, Songlian starts off as an educated women attending college. However, when her father passes away, her step-mother encourages her to get married. In the scene where Songlian is talking with her step-mother about marriage, she says she would marry into a traditional, established household. Her mother interrupts by saying that if she marries into a rich household, she would only be a concubine. Songlian responds by saying “let me be a concubine, isn’t it a women’s fate?” Even from the very beginning, the place of women in the society is already shaped in a certain way.  It seems like women’s role is life is to get married into a rich family in order to better their lives. They are not given any other choice, but to just accept as their fate. So, Songlian is also very well aware that she has no chance of going back to college and continuing her education without her father, which I assume was her support system.  During her marriage ceremony, she refuses to take the “traditional” wedding procession and walk to her husband’s home, which shows that Songlian’s values and actions are separated from tradition and that she would not follow the orders of tradition. From the different camera shots, you can see that the home is very isolated and enclosed from the outside world. This made it seem like women was taken as a property and they were owned by the master. The women were completely cut off from the outside world, and caged inside as the property of the master.  On the very first night, the face of the master is never shown. By not showing the face of the master, it put all the focus on the women, displaying the domineering gaze on them by the master which shows the power of men that they have on the men. On their first night, the camera view is always in the point of view of the master. He orders Songlian to stand up, lifts the lantern close to her face, and quickly observes her. He finally orders her to lay on the bed. Even without having a conversation with her, or even closely looking at her face indicates that wives were just another part of the culture to him. By reinforcing traditional beliefs on having a son was a way for them to use women merely an object to fulfill their needs and wants. The master is never shown in the film other than spending the night with the wives, which further proves that the master only wanted the wives to fulfill his emotional and physical pleasures.

Even though Songlian seemed as she would not obey into the traditional ideas and values of China, she becomes brainwashed just like all the other concubines in the house. All of the wives became obsessed with the power and feeling of acceptance through having the lantern hung outside their room and getting foot massages. The feeling of being chosen by the master made them think that they were powerful and important. However, they did not realize that the lantern was only an item that was solely enjoyed by the master, and it was a source of entertainment for him while that lantern was leading his wives to destruction. This created tension among the wives, and ultimately led to death among some of them, and destruction to others.  

Farewell My Concubine

The film, Farewell My Concubine, also had one woman with a major role who was a prostitute. Juxian is a woman worked at the House of Flowers where men go to have fun with women. While Juxian is getting harassed by bunch of men, she is saved by Shitou.  Here, Juxian also plays the role of damsel in distress by having Shitou come and save her from getting harassed by other men. Her placement in society is very low and all she can do for a living is to sell her body to other men. She ultimately marries Shitou, and lives a short, happy marriage with him. She devotes her life into supporting him, and even loses her baby when he is running through the crowd to save his life. However, despite all the things she did for him, he easily betrays her and sells her out to the communist party to spare his own life. He blatantly tells the communist party that she is a prostitute and he never loved her. His betrayal eventually leads to Juxian’s suicide. Shitou’s betrayal to Juxian to save his own life shows that he only looked her as a source for emotional comfort and physical reliance.

Sandakan 8

Sandakan 8 was a film that represented and showed the mistreatment, and exploitation of women during the early 20^th century in Japan. A woman named, Osaki is sold into prostitution in order to support her brother back at home. She is given no other choice but to sacrifice her own body just to send all of her earnings back home to her brother. But after she comes back home, she is welcomed by judgmental eyes and whispers of gossip and shame. Her brother gives her the cold shoulder even though everything he owns is gained by Osaki sacrificing herself to other men. She is even betrayed by her own son when he tells her to go back to her hometown because he is ashamed of her past. The circumstances these women were put into to support their family gives them no reason to be treated in the way they were treated. They were repaid with hatred, but they should have been welcomed back into arms of respect and recognition. This movie thoroughly how women were only used and sacrificed to support men, but later betrayed depite all the things they did for them.

In these films we watched in class, the power of men is constantly exercised in terms of money, and power. I feel as though the films belittle women by portraying them as being powerless without men, giving them no other choice but to sell their bodies as prostitutes. Also, they are used as a source of entertainment to fulfill men's needs and wants and later betrayed and thrown away when they are all fulfilled with what they needed. The place of women can be question in these films because these films portray women as solely being an object that is powerless and an source of entertainment for men.

Film review on Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke

To be honest, it was my first time encountering a Miyazaki film when we watched Princess Mononoke in class. I instantly fell in love with the film, and I could not wait until I did a review on another film of his- which is why I chose to do a film analysis on Spirited Away. Miyazaki’s preference and style incorporated in Princess Mononoke was also reflected in Spirited Away. The portrayal of dominant role of female bosses, young female protagonists, and his personal take on environment was very similar between the two films, reflecting Miyazaki’s unique and personal style.

Brief Synopsis of Spirited Away:

While Chihiro and her parents are on their way to their new home, they get lost and stop in front of a mysterious tunnel, which led to an abandon theme park.

 

Chihiro and her mother going through the tunnel to find an abandoned theme park  on the other side

They discover piles of food inside the park, and Chihiro’s parents start to eat while Chihiro refuses. While her parents are eating, Chihiro decide to explore some more. While exploring, a boy named Haku appears and tells her to escape the theme park with her parents because it’s dangerous. Chihiro runs back to her parents to discover that they have turned into pigs. Frightened Chihiro meets Haku again, and he leads her to the bathhouse and insists that she needs to get a job to stay here to turn her parents back to humans.  Following the instructions of Haku, Chihiro finds her way to the boiler man, Kamaji, to beg for a job. Kamaji convinces a girl named Lin to take her to Yubaba (witch who runs the bathhouse) for a job.  Lin safely takes Chihiro to Yubaba, however, Yubaba sternly refuses. However, she gives in when Chihiro persists and makes her baby cry.  After Chihiro signs a contract for the job, Yubaba steals several of the characters of Chihiro’s name, renaming her Sen (Yubaba steals people’s identities to take control of them). Haku tells Chihiro that he is no longer able to remember his own name, and he is unable to find his home. He also tells Chihiro to never forget her real name if she wants to go back home. Chihiro also learns that Haku is a white dragon. While Chihiro, now refered to as Sen is working at the bathhouse, she encounters a silent, white faced spirited named No-Face. Mistaking him for a customer, she kindly leaves the door open for him to enter. No-Face becomes obsessed with getting Sen’s attention, and devours a frog worker to gain a voice, and creates a scene by offering gold for food. 

No-Name eats the frog to gain a voice and becomes greedy by demanding food  for  gold

After, Yubaba assigns Sen to clean a stink spirit, which later turns out to be a polluted river spirit. The river spirit rewards Sen with a magical cake for cleaning him well. 

The workers of the bathhouse help Chihiro pull out all the junk out of the river spirit

 While this is all happening, Sen sees the white dragon, Haku, getting attacked by birds. Haku flies to Yubaba’s room, and Sen runs upstairs to help, and one of the paper bird climbs onto Sen’s back. Sen finds Haku unconscious in Yubaba’s room, and the paper bird turns into Yubaba, but actually it’s her twin sister, Zeniba.  Zeniba followed Haku because he stole her gold seal. Disgusted by Yubaba’s giant baby, Zeniba turns him into a small mouse and turns Yubaba’s pet bird into a fly. Haku splices Zeniba into half, and she disappears. Haku and Sen fall into to the boiler room where Kamaji tells Sen that Haku is bleeding from the inside, so Sen gives Haku part of the herbal cake the river spirit gave her. Haku vomits up the gold seal and a slug, which Sen squashes. Sen decides to go to Zeniba to cure Haku. On her way to the train, Sen confronts No-Face, who is still terrorizing the bathhouse. He begins to vomit up all the people and things he’s eaten from eating the herbal cake, and turns back to normal. Sen, No-face, the mouse (Yubaba’s baby) and the fly (Yubaba’s pet bird) takes the train to Zeniba’s house. Haku recovers and goes to Yubaba to make her promise him that she will send Sen and her parents back to their world if he returns her baby back to her. When Sen arrives at Zeniba’s, she asks Zeniba to forgive Haku for stealing the seal and apologizes for killing the slug. Zeniba explains that Yubaba put the slug in Haku to control him, and that Haku is already healed from Zen’s love (AW!).  Haku comes to take Sen, mouse and the fly back to the bathhouse, and while on their way, Sen remembers that when she was very young she fell in a river, and the river carried her to safety.

Haku comes to take Chihiro back to her parents at the bathhouse from Zeniba's house 

 She suddenly remembers that the river’s name was Kohaku River, which is Haku’s real name. Haku turns back into a boy again, and Sen’s contract dissolves and she becomes Chihiro again. Free at last, Chihiro finds her parents and they walk back to the other side of the tunnel.

Dominating (good or evil?) female bosses/young female protagonists:

In both of the films, a strong role of a dominating female boss could be found. Females were the ones who took control, and possessed the power, and had people working under them. However, Miyazaki portrayed these bosses in a way that made it difficult to label them as good or evil.

Lady Eboshi with the women of iron town. They dominate the town and carry on the responsibility of men. 

In Princess Mononoke, Lady Eboshi was the ruler of the iron town. She had both men and women working under her, and they lived to obey her rules and demands.  She built the town by clear-cutting forests to produce iron, which led to conflicts with the forest gods. At first, Lady Eboshi seemed greedy and selfish. She was destroying nature to get what she wanted. However, throughout the film, it is revealed that Lady Eboshi took social outcasts under her wing and provided them with places to live, and offered them jobs to manufacture fire arms to defend against the forest gods. Does the fact that Lady Eboshi provides care for the social outcasts cover up the fact that she is destroying nature to satisfy her greedy nature?

A very similar female boss character appeared in Spirited Away named Yubaba. She is the witch the runs the bathhouse for the spirits. She has many workers under her, everything has to be approved by her, and her words are the law in the bathhouse. She is blinded by her greed, even leading to her putting Sen's life in danger to get the gold from No-Face. Her greed also blinds her from noticing that her baby had been turned into a mouse by her sister. Her greed and love for material makes her seem heartless and shallow, however, her love for her baby, Boh, made me think otherwise throughout the film. Throughout the film, all Yubaba wants to do is satisfy her baby. She even promises Chihiro a job if she quiets down so she doesn't wake her baby up. She also freaks out when she finally notices her baby missing, and agrees to free Chihiro and her parents if she gets her baby back. Her love for her baby is unquestionable.  Does Yubaba's endearing love for her baby give her the benefit of the doubt that she is a nice person regardless of the way she treats her workers to get what she wants?

Yubaba hugging her giant baby, Boh

 I thought Miyazaki wanted to portray these female boss characters in such an ambiguous way to accurately reflect the characteristics of the people in the real world. I believe that people aren't born "evil" or "good". I believe that people are ultimately influenced and shaped by their surroundings, which influences their actions. Yubaba and Lady Eboshi's greed for money blinded them to perform some cruel actions. However, Lady Eboshi's heart for the social outcasts, and Yubaba's love for her baby brings out the good in them.

Similar to the female bosses, Miyazaki also included young female protagonists in both of the films. Chihiro in Spirited Away started off as a spoiled girl. It was evident that she has never worked a day in her life. But, throughout the movie, she goes through personal growth through her independence from her parents. She is hard-working, compassionate, fearless, and wise.  Through her bravery and compassion, she is able to help Haku get his real identity back, and saves her parents from Yubaba’s spell. In Princess Mononoke, San expresses her bravery and fearlessness by fighting against Lady Eboshi to protect the environment and nature. She isn’t afraid to enter Lady Eboshi’s territory and fight against her.  Her kindness is reflected when she saves Ashitaka when he is stabbed by the men of Lady Miyazaki's usuage of young female protagonists with admirable characteristics allows the audience, especially young girls, to have someone to look up to, and admire them for their characteristics.

Chihiro

San

Humans vs. Environment:

Miyazaki included many of the similar themes in both of the films, however, I thought Miyazaki strongly portrayed his opinion on environment through both of the films. In Princess Mononoke, the main theme that revolved around the movie was human vs. nature. Lady Eboshi was cutting down trees and destroying nature to produce iron to satisfy wants of humans. Humans were portrayed as being ignorant of the nature they are destroying. The film portrayed constant struggle and battle between humans and nature. Humans were trying to destroy nature to get what they needed, and nature was trying to restore and keep what is theirs. Similarly, in Spirited Away, the problem of human destroying nature is brought up. In the film, a stink spirit enters the bathhouse. Everyone runs away from the spirit because of the smell. However, it is revealed that the stink spirit is actually the river spirit ut turned into a stink spirit because the river spirit was consuming all the pollution done to the river by the humans. Also, it is revealed that the reason Haku could not find his way back home was because his river had been paved over to build various apartment complexes. Through his films, Miyazaki reveals his thoughts and opinions about environment. I thought it was really interesting that in both of the movies, the characters complain about the "smell" of humans. In Princess Mononoke, while San is trying to save Ashitaka, she comments and complains about the smell of humans. In Spirited Away, all the workers at the bathhouse refuses to take Chihiro under them because how "stinky" she is, and complained that they couldn't take the smell of humans. I think that Miyazaki is trying to portray the hatred toward humans, and the consequence of what they have done. I thought it was also interesting how the love story between the two characters in both of the movies ends with them separating to their own worlds. In Princess Mononoke, San and Ashitaka's love story ends with San returning to the forest with her wolves and Ashitaka living in iron town. In Spirited Away, Chihiro also returns to her life with her parents and Haku stays behind with Yubaba and the other spirits. I thought this was Mayazaki's way of expressing his opinion that nature and humans would never compromise, and be able to "stay" together. 

Ashitaka and San parting their separate ways

Both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away contained so many similarities that portrayed Miyazaki's ideas and personal beliefs. It was really interesting to discover the similarities between the two films, and how Miyazaki's style is portrayed through these similarities. 

Formal analysis on Farewell, My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern.

Among the Chinese films that were shown in class, Farewell, My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern could be distinguished as more modern films compared to others. Being that they are fairly modern piece of work, the camera techniques, the color scheme, and different props used in the two films were quite alike. It was really interesting to analyze the mise-en-scene of both of the films, because these two films carry out completely different storylines yet convey similar meanings through its mise-en-scene.  

(Since we all watched the films together, I don’t think it’s really necessary for me to go into detail about the story-line of the films).

Setting:

Many of the pivotal scenes in Farewell my concubine, takes place at the Beijing opera training school. The Beijing opera training school is a big traditional house where they train the young boys to become opera stars. This opera house seems to be isolated from the outside with their own sets of rules and ideals set apart from the rest of the world. Even if these rules and ideals are made up of beatings and suffering, the boys in the house only had one goal in life, which was to become famous opera stars, and they would risk anything to acquire this dream. I thought this was very similar to Raise the Red Lantern. In this film, the concubines and the master live in a beautiful house. However, the way the house is built, creates a sense of isolation and separation from the outside world. The house is made up of high walls and doors that create a barrier between the society and the private life within the house. And, not only did these walls create barriers between the outside world and the lives of the people living in it, but it also created division between the wives. These wives don’t share any relationships with each other, other than feelings of competition and jealousy. This house is also made up of its own traditional system that dominates the lives of the concubines, and these concubines would also do anything to fulfill their desire, which is to win the attention and power from the master (which meant foot massages and getting the red lantern hung up). Also, when Songlian first enters the master’s house, she is overwhelmed by an enormous calligraphy written on a gigantic door. The calligraphy takes up the whole shot, dominating Songlian. This signified the rigidity of tradition and the value it holds in the household.

Props:

Props were one of the main factors that drove the story-line in the two films. First, in Farewell, my concubine, I thought the sword played a big role into driving the story. When Shitou admires Zhang’s sword, Douzi promises Shitou that he’ll, someday, get him that sword. Then, Shitou acts as if he were the king, and tells Douzi that he would make him his queen. I thought this scene, and the conversation that happened between them was very significant. The way Douzi promises Shitou to get him something that he admired, revealed/foreshadowed Douzi’s love for Shitou. And when Shitou said if he had the sword, he would make Douzi his queen, embedded this idea that Shitou also loved him the way Douzi loved Shitou. Later, Douzi sells his body to Master Yuan to present the sword to Shitou as his wedding gift. 

After Douzi gives up his body to Master Yuan to get the sword for Shitou.

Douzi’s obsession with becoming Shitou’s queen, or concubine, as it is in the opera, was represented through Douzi giving up his own body to give Shitou something that he desired, which was the sword. However, towards the end of the movie, when Douzi, Shitou and all the other opera members are getting tormented by the communist party, Douzi throws the sword into the fire after getting betrayed by Shitou. This had a great significance because by throwing the sword into the fire, it implied that Douzi was finally letting go of the bond that he had with Shitou, and also letting go of the desire becoming Shitou's concubine in real life. This similar scene appears in Raise the red lantern also. Instead of it being a sword, a red lantern takes a significant role in driving the story. The red lantern for the concubines meant power and love. If the red lantern was hung outside their room that night, that meant that the master would spend the night in their room. The idea of being chosen by the master stirred up jealousy and competition. The concubines fought for the attention of the master, and ultimately led each other to destruction. However, the desire for the red lantern didn’t only apply to the concubines. The servant girl, Yan’er, also became infatuated with the feeling with being wanted that came with receiving the red lantern. When Songlian finds out about the affair that Yan’er was having with the master, and finds all the red lantern she’s been hiding in her room, she becomes furious and burns all of them in the fire. Yan’er kneels down and quietly watches her lanterns burn in fire, and sits there until she is found dead. This scene is really similar to the scene in Farewell, my concubine. By having her lanterns thrown into flames, she was reminded that she desired something she could not have, and it finally led to her own destruction. The two props symbolized the obsession the two characters in the two films had. They simply wanted to taste and get the love and power they desired for in return.

Color scheme/camera:

One noticeable difference between the two films was the color scheme used in the films. Farewell, my concubine was filled with vibrant and fancy colors. The makeup and the costumes were made up of bright colors that really captured the attention of the audience. I thought these bright, vibrant colors were used to depict the traditional Beijing opera. The colors were used to compare the difference between the traditional Beijing opera and the modern Beijing opera in the film. When Douzi was lecturing his students about the Beijing opera, he says something like this: “The backdrop is too realistic, nothing pleases the eye. Beijing opera puts great value on ambiance. Song recitals, movements and acrobatics are part of this ambiance.” Douzi believed that the special aspect that made Beijing opera so popular was the elaborate colors that attracted the audience and set the mood for the opera. In Raise the red lantern, mostly neutral colors were  used, expect for the pops of red from the red lanterns. This helped to portray the importance of those lanterns and how the placement of the lanterns every night changed the mood of the narrative.

Neutral color was used for the buildings, which helps the color red to set the mood of the scene.

Another interesting mise-en-scene of the Raise the red lantern was the camera work used on the master. Throughout the movie, the master’s face was never directly shot. He was always kept out of the focus of the viewer. This technique allowed the movie to be more centered on the concubines. Also, this camera technique was able to represent the character of the master not as an individual but as the society and norms of China as a whole.  The concubines fell shortly of the seduction of power the master presents them with. They naively allowed the master to have control and power over them. “Men had the power and control, and women were adjuncts to their wants and needs” (Lee). The camera work done on the master successfully represent the customs and traditions of China.

All in all, mise-en-scene is a very important factor that drives the storyline, and depicts and conveys the meanings and ideas the films are trying to convey. 

The role of men and women

Closely comparing and analyzing through the four films that we watched in class, there was one concept that was commonly seen in all of those movies--which was the very distinct portrayal of women and men. In all four of the movies, men were the ones who flaunted their masculinity. They were the ones who were brave and took the spotlight of the film. They were the ones who fought for the good of the people, and were presented as the heroes. On the other hand, women were always the ones in the background. They had to reach out to the men for help, support and comfort. They were portrayed as helpless and futile beings, always presents as the weak target. They never took the central role in the films, and were hidden behind men for the most of the plot. Throughout the four different films, the portrayal of men and women are not exactly identical, however, it seems as though all of the films were trying to ultimately present the role of women and men by the descriptions I mentioned above. 

Even from the beginning of the film, The Big Boss by Lo Wei, men was portrayed as the powerful character that protected the fragile and powerless character of women. While Cheng Chao-an played by Bruce Lee, and his uncle are standing at the shaved ice stand owned by a woman, a group of men comes to taunt the girl. She is helplessly getting picked on by the men, and seemingly with nothing else to defend herself with. Oddly enough, Cheng Chao-an steps up to defend the girl and defeat the villain. Even from the very beginning, the film molds and shapes men into a hero who saves the helpless women. The Big Boss continues on to place an emphasis on the different roles of men and women throughout the movie. Throughout the coarse of the movie, Cheng Chao-an is shown to be very serious, mature and strong. He reveals his masculinity and redeems himself as a hero, again, by fighting Hsiao Mi and Hasiao Chiun for the vengeance of his cousins.

Bruce Lee fighting Hsiao Chiun as revege for the death of his cousins

And women figure is once again hidden in the background. Chiao Mei, Cheng Chao-an’s cousin but also his “love interest” appeared very helpless and lost, and relies on Chen Chao-an wholeheartedly to save and take revenge for her brothers. She has no other choice but to quietly wait for Cheng Chao-an to do something for her and her family. Towards the end of the film, when Cheng Chao-an defeats Hsiao Mi and gets arrested by the police, Chiao Mei runs to Chao-an and softly hugs him. I thought this scene well portrayed the role of men and women because it showed that Chaio Mei much relied on Chao-an, and she would be somewhat lost without him, and Chao-an softly touches Chaio Mei’s face to comfort her. This represents how men are the ones that comfort the women, and women are the ones who lean and relies on men for emotional comfort. 

Before Cheng Chao-an gets arrested, Chaio Mei runs to him and Chao-an comforts her.

The next film seemed to portray women and men in a somewhat different way than the previous film. In the Drunken Master by Yuen Woo-ping, the movie starts off by portraying Wong Fei-hung played by Jackie Chan, as a playful, immature, and juvenile men. He doesn't seem to take anything seriously, which is a very different portrayal of men than before. As the movie goes on, that set image does not seem to change. While Wong Fei-hung is joking around with his friends, he goes up to Tong Jing, his cousin which he is not aware about at that moment, and jokes around with her. If this scene was played out similarly to Fists of Fury, the girl would have been helpless picked on by the Wong Fei-hung. However, Wong Fei's aunt comes and defeats Wong Fei-hung. The image portrayed by women completely changes from Fists of Fury. Women is portrayed as being very powerful, and they are able to stand up for themselves. Ultimately, they are able to defend themselves from MEN, who were the ones that usually controlled the women figure and had power over them. The portrayal of women and men are completely changed in this scene. Even though there was such a little part played by a women, this time, women was able to play a powerful role, and not just hidden behind men.

Wong Fei's aunt defeats Wong Fei-hung. This portrays women as being powerful. 

Even though Wong Fei-hung seemed very immature and childish in the beginning of the movie, he starts to redeem himself towards the end of the movie. He is able to take revenge against Thunderleg for his father, and defeats him. Wong Fei-hung successfully restores his masculinity by fighting for his humiliation from before, and saving his father from getting killed by Thunderleg.

The next film, A Better Tomorrow by John Woo, also did not have women who played a central role. This movie was revolved mainly around brotherhood. This movie in particular successfully flaunted the steroetypical masculinity of men and was able to show the relationship of brotherhood very well. The characters in the movie portray masculinity of stereotypical men by taking revenge on Shing, who betrayed them for success. However, similar to the previous films, women did not, once again, have a central role. Jackie, who was Kit's girlfriend, seemed to be the one that was always ignored and did not have a significant role in the film. Whenever Jackie would try to talk and convince Kit into forgiving his brother, she was always ignored. She didn't have the power to convince her own boyfriend, however, Kit was given the power to control Jackie's feelings. For example, when it was Jackie's birthday, Kit was preoccupied with Mark and Ho that he completely ignored her. Jackie becomes upset, however, Kit is able to completely change her mood around by just giving her a little bit of attention. 

In the last film, The Fallen Angels by Wong Kar-wai, there wasn't really a specific and apparent portrayal of masculinity nor the stereotypical portrayal of women. I did not really find any difference between the role of men and women in the film. However, I noticed that both men and women looked to each other as a source of comfort. For example, the dispatcher looked to the killer as her comfort zone. She cleaned his room, looked through his trash, and went to the bar he goes to, to find safety and reliability. Similarly, He Zhiwu looks to Charlie for happiness and comfort. At the end of the movie, both of them find a feeling of warmth and comfort in each other. 

It's unfortunate to see that most of the movies we watched in class so far never had a women as a central role. However, I also think this was a quite natural thing to see back then. In many of the asian cultures, there was a defined hierarchy between men and women. Men were the ones who were in control over women, and women were suppose to be the support system of the men. As seen in the Hong Kong films, women were the ones who stayed home, cooked for the family, did the laundry, and quietly served the men. Whereas the men were the ones who went out and fought for the family, and showed off their masculinity through fighting for their loved ones. I don't think it's that women were insignificant compared to men, but it's more that men and women had different roles to take in the society. Also, in many of the readings, it talked about HK wanted to make a impression on other countries, so by showing masculinity of men, and giving them powerful characteristics, they were able to portray themselves as being a powerful, and masculine country. So, the very distinct characteristics placed on men and women in all four of the films watched in class made it very convenient for the audience to understand and absorb the idea of the two different genders that they directors were trying to portray throughout the films.