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.