Film analysis on Farewell, My Concubine Arts Research Paper

Farewell my Concubine
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Farewell my Concubine
Peking Opera is a legendary art of that speaks to the different forms of art that Chinese culture relishes. This historical artistry that was inaugurated conglomerates all the aspects of entertainment such a fighting, dancing singing, musical pieces and all sorts of creative performances. The performers of these pieces are the main characters in the Peking theatre while writers and directors behind the performances take second place. Even with the dramatic events that marked the evolution of the Chinese culture, the core elements of Peking Opera remained unchanged over the decades. Due to this, Peking Opera’ has inspired various Chinese movies and forms of entertained. One of the movies whose inspiration was Peking Opera is Chen Kaige’s popular dram film named Farewell My Concubine that was debuted in the year 1993.
Several themes emerge and develop throughout the film, Farewell My Concubine creating a complex staged performance. However, amidst all the events that collectively make up the movie, the director intentionally illuminates the role of Peking Opera in the society in a significant way. He demonstrates the high place of Peking Opera by using it to develop the main theme. The opera is the platform of the events as well as the home to the main characters (Concubine, 1993). Moreover, the film director delves into the intricate relationship between the main character’s lifestyle and their acting professions.
The film’s main characters are Dieyi and Xiaolou. The two spend literally all their lives perfecting their act in the Opera. They are portrayed to have first-hand encounter of the historical events even as they play their roles in the play. The performances held in the Opera therefore, become a normal part of their daily life.
Throughout out the movie, the director elaborately captures and shows hallmark events of the Chinese history. The events are re-played purposely to give the viewer a step into history and to help to reconnect viewers with the long-forgotten history. Some of the events depicted in the film include invasion of China by Japan, the famous World War II, The Cultural Revolution, the Communist Regime and the civil war that rummaged China (Concubine, 1993). All these events happened between 1925 and 1977 at the watch of the film’s main characters. Besides this, Peking Opera plays a pivotal role in the film as it is the arena for the events. At the same time, Peking Opera is, in the film, the life of the main actors.
Therefore, it is important to understand why the film director pays so much attention to the role of Peking Opera in the movies. From a general understanding, theatres have always played a key role in the lives of the Chinese people and so does Peking Opera. First, theatres, through the diverse performances embody historical, social and cultural perceptions of the people (Concubine, 1993). Second, theatres evolved to become places of liberations from social ties where the people shared power to end gender and ethnic discrimination. The Peking Opera offered an ideal space for political and social discussions for social growth. Additionally, theatres hosted drama and art performances that were communication tools regarding social attitudes and political issues. These functional elements of theatre collectively demonstrate the place of theatre in the society.
In this light, the performances in this theater shaped the people’s mindsets largely by enlightening them on political, social and cultural issues. The performances in the theater helped to cultivate social perspectives and political ideas that were good for harmonious living. It is for this reason that the lives of the main actors are centered entirely in Peking Opera. Here they got first-hand experience of the various dramatic events that impacted their lives holistically.
In one of the film scenes, the director makes use of exaggeration to drive home the intensity of a love a triangle. Dieyi, Xialou and Juxian all have exaggerated emotions in the love story as can be observed in the performance of their roles (Concubine, 1993). This great performance in this love story had made the actors popular in related performances where a king had a concubine. What is more important is that the feminine and masculine roles of the actors are also evident in their personal lives.
As is, the gender shift evident in Chinese art performances has direct impact on the understanding of gender roles and Chinese people have been socialized about different sexualities. Owing to this, Peking Opera stands as a symbol representing one’s life and how they have to fit into the roles associated with their gender. However, there exists some concurrence between the art performances and the real life social expectations.
In the theatrical performances, the causes of tragic events are more often a result of high emotions. This trend is also witnessed in the film where Dieyi’s extra finger is chopped off by his mother (Concubine, 1993). The director accompanies this horrific scene with the details that this brutality was meant to have Dieyi accepted into opera school.
More emotive scenes of the film are the difficult times in the boy’s school life that can be compared with the appealing performance in Peking Opera. The contrast between the two scenes only serves to indicate the eclipsing of real life difficulties in real life with the theatrical performances.
As well, Peking Opera clearly represents a people culture through keenly selected scenes by the director. The Director, Chen Kiege uses a high level contrast between the film scenes and the historical reality to develop and build the film’s themes.
Through the historical context of the film, the Director creat...