Janet Su
Professor Xue
October 21 2015
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon The film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee revolves around ancient chinese martial arts, highlighting 2 specifically skilled women warriors (Jen Yu and Shu Lien) who break out of the traditional social norms set in chinese history. The director of this film really brought out the capability of women leading strong and independent roles, instead of the typical weak, timid, and compliant roles. He compared and contrasted the gender roles set for women back in the day, and used Jen Yu and Shu Lien’s characters to reflect on how women feel trapped in the set social norms. The most obvious trait that Jen Yu and Shu Lien possesses is that they lead strong, independant, willful and somewhat rebellious roles. Women were conventionally see as the weaker sex and unable to defend themselves against males. However they are shown to be as powerful as some of the men warriors in the movie. In one specific scene, where Shu Lien is chasing down the thief of Mu Bai’s sword (later known to be Jen), the men were unable to catch up to the
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However throughout the film, it can be seen that Jen Yu and Shu Lien had little to no expression of love for their man. Jen Yu and Shu Lien have expressed their love for their man but never did it get to the point of being emotional for them, such as crying. Shu Lien didn’t cry for Mu Bai until his he faced his death. Jen Yu was so desperate to run away with the man she loved, but towards the end of the film she decides to leave the man. This showed that she wasn’t emotionally dependant on her man and you could see through the film as she flew off the bridge, that the man expressed more pain than she did. Both these characters were strong hearted and didn’t live up to the social norm of being over emotional and dependant on their
Shen Fu’s work doesn’t construe the treatment of women during this time, but provides a glimpse into an exception to the rule. Women were harshly treated and received little attention during the Qing Dynasty. They were regarded as property and not allowed to leave the house without a man to accompany them. It was highly discouraged that they learn to read or write and they were not allowed to lead fulfilling lives, as they were bound to their husbands. Shen Fu does express some of these characteristics, such as being with courtesans and other mistresses, but he truly had a heartfelt love
“Steel Magnolias” is a story about the close-knit relationships between six eccentric Southern women living in a small town in Louisiana. The film has a home spun, unpretentious feel to it. The plot alternates between humorous, everyday events with good-natured quips and the seriousness and heartaches to life’s unexpected crises. Through the laughs and tears, the six women learn to endure hard times and emerge from the struggles with grace and dignity. The film is set in the 1980’s with a tight knit homespun atmosphere. The Southern belles who are goofy on the outside but strong enough inside to survive any challenge that life deals them. Friendships help with a
During the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the thought of communism instilled fear within many Americans because it was portrayed in such a way that confined diversity and corroded political culture while the United States was supposed to be the land of the free. This fear of communism was nicknamed the “Red Scare” and was fed by Joseph McCarthy’s accusations of hidden communist in the country. The Manchurian Candidate was a black-and-white American film released in 1962 that depicted the Cold War and the affects of that paranoia had on the nation. It was released at the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the spread of communism. This film was about Raymond Shaw, the son of a right-wing political family, who was brainwashed to act as an assassin
In Six Records of a Floating Life, Shen Fu writes of his wife, “Yün came to this world a woman, but she had the feelings and abilities of a man.” (Fu: 89) Shen Fu and Yün considered each other to be intellectual equals. However, their relationship was still constrained within the gender roles set by their society. They lived during the Qing dynasty, which was a prosperous time for China (“The Manchus”: 266) but also a time when, as Professor Scarlett states in the lecture Daily Life in Imperial China, “the outside world was for men and the inside world was for women.” Shen Fu and Yün’s relationship was pushing the bounds of their culture, but they still kept (mostly) within the lines of social acceptability.
A Sequence Analysis: “The Bamboo Forest Fighting Sequence” in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The theme of “voiceless woman” throughout the book “the woman warrior” is of great importance. Maxine Kingston narrates several stories in which gives clear examples on how woman in her family are diminished and silenced by Chinese culture. The author not only provides a voice for herself but also for other women in her family and in her community that did not had the opportunity to speak out and tell their stories.
Maxine Kingston in “The Women Warrior” presents a traditional Chinese society that anticipates women not to decide what is best for them all by themselves. Kingston creates a woman who goes beyond this ritual culture constraint and who take up
However, they cannot gain the respects and positions without their strong character-traits. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan are three of the strongest women ever with brave, kind, adroit and so on. They know how to catch their opportunities, in the movie, after receiving the denying from her partner, Paul, she still tries to ask permission from the boss, and gives him the clearest explanation for her troubles with all the respects. Similarly, Mary Jackson does not give up her dream to be an engineer even though she does not have the encouragement from her husband, the one who suppose to believe her in any circumstance. In addition, Dorothy Vaughan shows to her children that everything should be equal that disregard their race or their gender. They always keep the fire inside them to fight for their rights, their family and their future that become the biggest self-motivations. In my opinion, it is so impressive for women who have truly reasons to keep the fire in their mind, they don’t want to see their children live under the inequalities society that the people has more rights because their gender and their race. There is a lesson that you should never give up your works and your dream even it is impossible to
Each character in the film represents some type of Social structure in China. Focusing on Li Mubai, Yu Shu Lien, and Jen Yu, you are able to get a sense of the social and ethical ideals of each class. Begging with Li Mubai, who embodies the stereotypical “monk”. He is always proper and resilient to negative influences. He spends the greater part of his life studying Kung Fu, and is the master of the Wu Dong clan. He is arguably the strongest character in this movie. He is the embodiment of restraint. This being most
Using the language of the moving image, which includes cinematography, editing, sound, music and mise-en-scene, this essay will investigate the ideology of Racism in film. OxfordDictionaries.com describes racism as “Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.” When we, the audience think of racism in film, we traditionally think of movies for adults and often overlook the sinister aspect of racism in children’s films. I have chosen to contrast a recent R-rated film with a G-rated Disney movie from the 1990s. Disney films, even up until the 1990s have persistently reinforced the image of blacks or latino and asian races as being below whites. The
The idea of heroismhas been traced back to centuries of years throughout history. Greek Mythology is the father of this concept of heroism and this concept has continued to grow and develop through stories, writings, and films over the years. Humans have always been intrigued with the idea of heroism which is why many movies, books, and stories are written after this very idea. In Linda Seger’s “Creating the Myth”, she argues there are 10-points into creating every “hero myth”, using Luke Skywalker in Star Wars as her hero myth example; in the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry follows Seger’s 10-point system of creating a
6. What is the relationship between jen and li? Jen is the love of all man while li is a set of rules, or rites. Practicing li seems crucial to the successful integration into society in ancient China but without jen, is one only getting half the benefit? This reminds me of saying you love Jesus but not following the ten commandments or vice versa.
In this time in China, the role that women and men had were very different from each other. Women were expected to be quite, obedient, and respectful. While men were the provider, the intellectual and the decision maker in the family. In Shen Fu and his wife, Yun marriage it started out like the typical relationship in eightieth century China, each one fulfilling the roles that society had in place for them. But as they became to know each other more, Shen Fu saw Yun real personality and wanted someone to experience life, so he started to encourage her to be herself and told her she didn’t have to live up to this gender stereotypes for women. They both were always
In life there are no ordinary moments and everything happens for a reason. The movies “Click” and “The Peaceful Warrior” portray these messages. Both of these movies show how every moment in life is important. Living in the moment and knowing that all things happen for a reason can improve one’s life and let them enjoy every second of it. “The Peaceful Warrior” shows viewers that they should focus more on the present and not as much on the future. The movie shows this by giving the main character a mentor that helps him realize that every moment is important, even through the hardships he has to face. In the other movie “Click” Adam Sandler, the main character, tries to skip through the irritating or uneventful moments in life. The
When most people think about Disney movies, their mind often goes to the stereotypical princess movies in which the protagonist wears a pink ball gown. Time and time again these princesses must fight their way through the story in a luxurious ball gown in order to end up with a prince. However, there are many Disney movies that work to challenge these gender stereotypes. The movie Moana is a recent example of a Disney production that works to break the imposed stereotypes placed on children from an early age.