Skip to main content

Reading Journal in Asian Cinema History Before 1945: "Cinema As Reflection of the Times"


Cinema As Reflection of the Times
(December 5, 2016)

In the early 1930’s, during China’s cultural politics, Chinese cinema was a boon for filmmakers to transgress societal conventions and explore and depict narratives of real confrontations. Sometimes subtle, sometimes strikingly shocking, these narratives became a trend known as the “fallen women”. As Kristine Harris (2003) wrote, “[…] the 1920s and 1930s New Youth culture emerging in Chinese cities, the complex ‘fallen woman’ figure embodied the predicament of individuals flouting restrictive boundaries of social convention” (129). In addition, the director of one of the films I will be discussing in this paper, Wu Yonggang’s early education in cinema was filled with themes of fallen woman films from the West, and the social economic environment of Shanghai during those times provided a glimpse to the reality that was embodying this theme (Harris, 129). It is no surprise, then, that his directorial debut on The Goddess (1934) would receive numerous acclaims, in particular, for fearlessly portraying the tragic life of a mother who resorts to prostitution in order to provide for her and her son, and the struggles against an overtly Confucian conservative society that leaves no other option to the fallen heroine, and that men hold power (either for good, such as the case of the “Principal”, or for bad, such as the case of the “gambler who took advantage of her”). This particular film also brought the leading actress Ruan Lingyu to the pinnacle of her career as her ability to convey emotions or show resistance in her movements encapsulated the beauty and power of the silent film era.

In the companion documentary film Center Stage (1991) by Stanley Kwan, the semi-biopic of Ruan Lingyu, we get to understand the intricacies and circumstances that led to her tragic death. Ruan, who is best known onscreen for her portrayal of fallen women characters, would also be exposed to the same environment as the director, Wu. The cultural-political climate of China generated an image of activism and critical dialogues, and so cinema became one medium of such. For Ruan, however, her own experiences in life would create a profound impact in her acting career, as seen in the documentary that she would often be pushed to act out by reliving moments of her own life (or at least resembling certain scenarios of her life). Logically speaking, by having familiar ties and the cinema projecting a reflection of one’s real life, anyone could be lead to insanity, though in Ruan’s circumstance, her private life showed her desperation by seeking familiarity and security with men who cared for her. Unfortunately, because of a scandal brought about by popular resentment by critics of her last movie New Women (1935), Ruan was similarly left with no other option than to take her own life as she realises her own imprisonment in a cruel society.

Juxtaposing Ruan and the characters she portrayed, in particular the nameless woman in The Goddess, her exposure to media and gossip, and to the power of the directors or producers and critics, resemble that of a goddess (slang terminology for prostitute at that time) as she would have to bear herself to the people’s gaze both on and offscreen as a public figure and actress.

What makes Ruan significant as an example, however, is a confirmation of Harris’ remark on the social climate of China that made fallen women films the norm. It is the resemblance, the familiarity of the theme that echoes with the audience, and Ruan’s ability to be natural, that in her time of death, thousands gathered in her funeral to pay their respects. In the end, the tragic heroine that was portrayed in many films, was in real life, Ruan Lingyu, as well as any other woman or society as a whole that continues to struggle.

Words: 630

Reference:
1. Center Stage. Directed by Stanley Kwan. Performed by Maggie Cheung. Hong Kong: Golden Way Films, 1991. Film.
2. Kristine Harris, “The Goddess: Fallen Woman of Shanghai,” in Chris Berry, ed. Chinese Films in Focus II
3. The Goddess. Directed by Yonggang Wu. Performed by Lingyu Ruan. China: Lianhua, 1934. Film.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bibliography: " Game Design as Narrative Architecture" (2004) by Henry Jenkins

Jenkins, Henry. 2004. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” In First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game , edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan, 118–30. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. In this article, Jenkins examines games less as stories than as spaces ripe with narrative possibility. He list downs the characteristics of games as defined by current Ludology versus Narratology debates such as: (1) not all games tell stories but they do have narrative aspirations, follows genre entertainment and previous narrative experiences; (2) narrative analysis need not be prescriptive; (3) games should not be reduced to the experience of a story; and (4) if games tell stories, they are unlikely to tell them in the same ways that other media tell stories for games as a medium, specifically, is what distinguishes them from other narrative traditions. He also lists down the problems and limitations within the current game study discourses, often pointing out how ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Precis + Critical Response Paper: " The Imaginary" (2006) Chapter 1 part 1 by Claudia Strauss

Reevaluating Scholarships (October 17, 2019) In Claudia Strauss’s article “The Imaginary” (2006), she gives a detailed discussion and analysis of the major scholarships in cultural studies regarding the matter of the Imaginaries, such as the works of Castoriadis, Lacan, Anderson, and Taylor, in order to map out the essential arguments that are more popularly being used/cited in cultural studies research, before she examines how Ivy uses these concepts with regard to the national-imaginaries with the Japanese socio-cultural sphere. In summary, Strauss explains that Castoriadis was concerned with "concepts of cultural abstraction, reification and homogenization, while Lacan used the concept of the imaginary to explain fantasies, and Anderson and Taylor used the concept for explaining cultural models as potentially valuable when used with person-centered ethnographic methods to study real rather than abstract cultural subjects” (323). Despite the summation of the the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Precis: "The Invention of the Martial Arts: Kano Jigoro and Kodokan Judo" (1998) by Inoue Shun

In Inoue Shun’s “The Invention of the Martial Arts: Kano Jigoro and Kodokan Judo” (1998), Inoue explores the modern invention, and subsequent reinvention, of the Japanese martial arts by an examination of Kodokan judo (163). This is done through a detailed discussion of Kano’s decision and active participation of creating the new martial arts such as: conception, process of modernization through scientification of the martial arts, promotions and competitions, institutionalizations and adoptions into various agencies (government institutions, universities, etc.), establishment of the Kodokan Cultural Association (promotion of the basic principles of Kodokan judo as well as serving as a legitimate infrastructure and governing body that actively promotes the new martial arts ideology), its inevitable re-invention post-Kano years by the Dai Nihon Butokukai (leading to an ultranationalistic role), and finally, a return to the sportification of budo post-WW2 in order to escape censorship wh...
Post a Comment
Read more