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.