Gender Identity : The Raise The Red Lantern And The Wedding Banquet Essay

Ever since filmmakers started to explore the idea of focusing the story idea around ‘queer’ figures, people in society have been having mixed feelings about them. ‘Queer’ figures are basically people who are not within the male-female dichotomy. It is a term used to refer to homosexuals, transgenders and others who are unclear about their sexual preference. The queer film phenomenon was introduced in fall 1991 at Toronto’s Festival of Festivals, the best spot in North America for tracking new cinematic trends. (Rich 2013, Page 16) This got the ball rolling for more filmmakers to make films of different genres and subjectivity on this group of people. In this academic essay, the following thesis statement will be discussed – “The violence and

Since 1950s, after the Chairman Mao Zedong’s Yanán conference, art and literature had strictly become tools of promoting the ideology of Communist Party, that is, the product of art and literature in China can be classified as highly popanganda. Chairman Mao Zedong and his Communist Party strongly suggested the equality of both genders - male and female. To promote Mao’s theory, certain kind of strong female character's image had been created in films since 1950s, and furthermore, the images of these female characters were changing during the time period.

Have you ever been stereotyped? Well, this story gives a clear example of it.The story “The Dinner Party” is about a woman who was gender stereotyped by a male colonel. At dinner, a cobra enters the room and interrupts their party. Mrs. Wynnes does what's best for everybody and saves the day. The theme of short story “The Dinner Party”, by Mona Gardner never makes claims you can't support. When you make claims you can't support with no evidence of why you are right, you can offend people.

5) and it was said that it was a man’s world, “Now, this is a grownup’s world for you, and it’s a man’s world.” (Chen pg.5) We can also see women going through some of the same struggles in The Dragons Village as they did in The Death of Woman Wang, such as not getting to choose who they marry and being owned by their husbands. Ling-ling’s uncle married her aunt for her dowry as said by Chen on page 3. Dowry is property or money, which means Ling-lings uncle married her aunt for money, not love like every young girl dreams of when thinking about her future marriage. Ling-ling’s aunt says “Young Bob Lu and you are suited to each other. Isn’t that so? If we combine forces with the Lu family we’ll have more bargaining power with both sides.” (Chen pg.6) It seems that women are perceived as a piece of property, if they marry into a powerful family then their family will gain more power which seems to be the goal in life in this

As a young girl, Maxine is coming to terms with her transition into “womanhood,” which is complicated by the societal expectations of Chinese girls and the differences between the expectations for girls in Chinese and American societies. Maxine’s own experiences with Chinese cultural ideas are visible through her interpretation of the story of the No Name Woman when she writes: “Imagining her free with sex doesn’t fit, though. I don’t know any women like that, or men either. Unless I see her life branching into mine, she gives me no ancestral help” (Kingston 8). Maxine tries to imagine her aunt as a more sexually liberated woman, but her experiences with Chinese traditions and culture complicate her interpretation of these events.

In addition, the two stage brothers spent their childhood in an academy (Chen). Following the death of Chen, the lives of the major characters in the movie are tied to the happenings that took place in the twentieth century in the history of the Chinese people. Chen who was brought up to take care of the female roles in the society meets Duan and falls in love with him. However, the attraction he had towards her is not reciprocated. Rather, Duan decides to marry Juxian who was a courtesan. In most parts of the film, the relationship that existed between the brothers is emphasized as a form of true love. As such, various masculine and feminine issues are presented in the films that will be discussed in the following passages.

Both mediums instruct audiences to believe that attitudes and beliefs that differ from the norm are responsible for creating oppression, alienation and discrimination. The Woman Men Don’t See by James Tiptree, Jr (1973) and Thelma & Louise (1991), directed by Ridley Scott, both incorporate the effect stereotypes and beliefs that differ from society’s as the central idea. The texts depicts the difficulties that some face due to their gender, race or opinion of their institution.

First and foremost appreciate your stand on the critics logics used on the essay. I also sensed, the reviewers of the three movies focusing on the gender precise critic style rather than centering on the visual, social and historical aspects of the contents. The makers of the movies have their own virtuous vision and concentration on the subject but also unintentionally inherit the gender characteristics of the society of the specific time.

Gender Identity in Twelfth Night In 1600, under the great social influence of Queen Elizabeth, William Shakespeare was favored by the monarch as well as the whole English society. He is an Englishman lived in mystery even “[w]hether William Shakespeare was born on 23 April, as tradition holds, is not known” (Andrews). The play Twelfth Night, written in William Shakespeare’s mid-career, is among one of his works being widely spread and highly praised. For instance, it is titled “the last play of Shakespeare's golden age” by a twentieth-century director and critic Harley Granville-Barker (“Twelfth Night” 892).

The film deals with male’s identity and gender issues. Laura Mulvey feminist criticizes Hollywood cinema as phallocentric. Yet, Steve Neale argues males can be subservient like females. Steve Neale’s

In both film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women), the 2009 Swedish film directed by Niels Arden Oplev , and the 2011 American version, renamed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , directed by David Fincher, the two principle characters only meet halfway through the film. For a significant portion of the movie, they interact only by spying on each other. As a film that addresses differences between male and female interactions, the presence of a male or female protagonist is important for the viewer’s understanding. Though almost equal presences on screen, the perspectives from which the film is told vary between the two adaptations.

In feudalist China, the idea of female inferiority has been preserved in the Confucian ethic—“男尊女卑.” This guiding principle in China to gender roles and gender relations in Confucianism has instilled the idea of “male as superior and women has subordinate” within Chinese culture for over 2,000 years. Chinese cinema often times embodies a contradictory relationship to its own traditions, particularly considering the abuse and treatment of women. Many popular Chinese films such as, Yellow Earth, Judou, and Raise the Red Lantern from the late 1980s to the 1990s attempt to expose a suppressed history, however instead they are more inclined to reinforce and preserve the image and ideology of women’s suffering to modern audiences. Male directors

While Li-zhen and Mo-wan were not engaging in any scandalous activity, the threat of them just being discovered together forces the two to wait in the room, scarcely making a sound. Li-zhen vocalizes her fears throughout the film, constantly reminding Mo-wan that they shouldn’t be seen together because their neighbors would talk. True to Wong Kar-wai’s artistic style, an evenly panning camera coupled with the reflection of the dresser mirror plays with the viewer’s perception of the space – although the room is cramped, the composition of this shot conveys a sense of the strained, awkward emotional distance between the characters in the intimate space. Furthermore, Wong Kar-wai utilizes the “highly sexual and highly repressed” qipao (Brunette) in the mahjong scene; Li-zhen is clad in a blush, form fitting qipao true to her costuming throughout the film. While the qipao’s shape and color lends it an almost erotic nature, Li-zhen’s stiff movements turn the gown into a metaphorical straightjacket. Li-zhen is a beautiful young woman with a desire to go out and enjoy her life, yet she is restrained by an unfaithful husband that is never home and the opinions of her neighbors. Wong Kar-wai’s utilization of mise-en-scene presents the almost tragic story of the two lovers, whose emotions are restricted by the social boundaries they break.

The play itself attempts to serve a purpose to spread the message that Chinese women need to get back to relishing the simpler things in life. One argument from the director states, “As China continues to evolve, people’s expectations will be able to settle down, and so will all the unmarried women.” Women in China are turning materialist as well as becoming identified as a realist.

Most Martial arts films in China generally tend to foreground issues of gender. In addition, these films portray a fixed line of gender separation. The Chinese Martial arts film culture has always been more receptive to the general idea of the female character in what Westerners would indeed consider exclusively male role such as the action hero (Castillo 3). In the martial art films several actress have even established their entire reputations as action stars. The action heroes were also held up as the idea of masculinity with all of its inherent characteristics of control, privilege and agency. This is actually adopted from the western archetypes of male action hero which emphasize connotations of physical presence and prominent body musculature. The emergence of the Chinese martial arts has resulted to convergence of social, economic and political pressures that along with creative talents of producers, writers, actors and directors, have indeed forged a national cinema that captured attention of the world wide cinematic consciousness. Majority of the Chinese martial arts movies are distinctively known in cultivating the concept of gender roles. A close analysis of these movies ultimately portrays that multiple characters from the both genders not only play an immense role in the martial arts aspect of the films, but indeed symbolize Chinese themes as well as some of the issues that the country was going through at that particular time. In these regard, in most of the