Essay Raise the Red Lantern - 1980 Words

Raise the Red Lantern â€Å"All the world’s a stage; all of us are taking the elements of plot, character, and costume and turning into performances of possibilities†(Ward1999: 5) Raise the Red Lantern tells a compelling and sorrowful story of a young woman whose life is destined to be ruined in a male-dominated society. This can be an awakening of some sort to any woman. As Ward states in her text, women learn the rules of our half of the world as well as those of the other half, since we regularly move in and out of the male world. There she defines women’s culture. The term has also been used in its anthropological sense to encompass the familial and friendship networks of women, their affective ties, their rituals. It is†¦show more content†¦The lack of human presence couples with the absence of a wedding reception to create an impersonal atmosphere that prevails throughout the film. Songlian must as Ward mentions in her book, â€Å"swallow such customs as breaking and binding little girl’s feet.† Every evening, a red lantern is lit in front of the courtyard of the wife Chen chooses to sleep with. Contrary to it’s traditional symbolism red is anything but festive. There is no love among the wives only hatred. The relationships between Chen and his wives are purely sexual. Rather than helping each other out and raising their status within the family, the wives are constantly fighting among themselves to win favors from Chen. The wives who live in separate houses must compete for the affections and privileges of the master in accordance with his customs. Jealousy abounds between the wives and the scheming keeps the tensions high. Each night a lantern is lit in favor of whom the master will be with. Shortly afterwards all the lanterns of the wife’s home and courtyard are also lit and the privileges begin. In all human cultures most women marry and bear children regardless of what women personally want to do. Ward states, â€Å"We live our lives against a backdrop of the social structures, rules and expectations from a particular point in history and with in those cultural framework. Through the four wivesShow MoreRelatedDouble Standards of Men and Women in the Raise the Red Lantern699 Words   |  3 Pagesare treated, and this is shown in both Lu Xun and Qiu Jun’s essays as well as in the film set in 1920s China, Raise the Red Lantern. Set the scene: it is China during the 1920s and women do not have a voice. Zoom in to a woman walking into a house that looks like a gray prison-zone. This is her new home. She is the Master’s fourth wife, and her name is Songlian. 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There are a series of double standards and contradictions to how men and women are treated, and this is shown in both Lu Xun and Qiu Jun’s essays as well as in the film, Raise the Red Lantern. Set the scene: it is China during the 1920s and women do not have a voice. Zoom in to a woman walking into a house that looks like a gray prison-zone. This is her new home. She is the Master’s fourth wife, and her name is Songlian. In theRead More Chinese Culture Essay example814 Words   |  4 Pagesthought better of if you produced a son. This shows the male dominance in Chinese culture. Once a son was born the expectations for him were great. He was supposed to learn all great literature and be very scholarly (2). A girl, also was supposed to be raise to appreciate art and literature. Most of all though children were supposed to respect tradition. The traditions gave one a feeling of not the individual but the whole as a group. People grew up knowing their part in the world and strive to do that