Chinese Cinema and Society Final Paper. Chinese Cinema and Society

Chinese Cinema and Society
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Chinese Cinema and Society
One requires unique characteristics to develop a film that relates and impacts society in different ways. To an artist, insight, ambition, skills, and techniques are just a few inputs that must be invested in monumental artistic outputs. Works with clear insights into society are relatable and entertaining. These works also culminate in accumulating multiple awards. One then asks for the combination of factors that deliver such immeasurable success. One artistic setting that has consistently delivered high-quality works amidst turbulence in China. Rich in history through its various dynasties and value of health, China has had a consistent history of developing films that relate to society. Uniquely, some of the cinematographic and artistic inputs in various films with Chinese decent depict unrelenting attachment to the society that has become challenging to emulate. This paper critically analyzes two of the films that showcase the intrinsic relationship between Chinese cinema and society. The two films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Ang Lee and Unknown Pleasures/Let it ride (2003) by Jia Zhangke showcase allegiance to the society through the thematic expressions of happiness and freedom that are worth exploring. A critical analysis of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Unknown Pleasures/Let it Ride” is a current necessity bearing the two films' unique exploration of the themes of happiness and freedom amidst unrivaled cinematography, styles, and representation.
Each person yearns for happiness and freedom at one point or the other in their lives. The pursuit of happiness or freedom is a consistent path that people cannot ignore until they diminish. In film, happiness is a feeling. Happiness is a feeling of contentment or pleasure. One tends to show the feeling of happiness when something good has happened or is just about to happen. While developing their films, filmmakers understand happiness and a mobile feeling. Happiness in films is not static and changes within short periods of time. In fact, happiness is in constant competition with other feelings such as sadness. Filmmakers extrapolate their expression of happiness by implying its external and internal prospects. One does not need to show happiness just externally, it can happen internally too. Those who have mastered the techniques understand that prospects such as editing, transitions, camera shots, and camera angles can play an integral role in the manner in which the audience perceives happiness. The same applies to the thematic exploration of freedom. In films, freedom triggers happiness. Combining the two detailing themes, however, does not limit their distinctions. Freedom is expressed in how one acts and what he/she speaks. As opposed to happiness that requires cinematographic elements to depict explicitly, freedom can be seen in actions and it can be heard in words. In Chinese films, both freedom and happiness are marked with ecstasy bearing the path that China has explored to reach the heights of cinematographic freedom and the amount of happiness that they manifest today. Both “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) by Ang Lee and Unknown “Pleasures/Let it Ride” (2003) by Jia Zhangke does not disappoint when it comes to addressing these two themes.[Zhang, R. The “Corporate Era” of Chinese Cinema in the New Millennium and Feng’s Post-New Year Productions. Hong Kong University Press, 2008: 143] [Zhang, Y. Of Institutional Supervision and Individual Subjectivity: The History and Current State of Chinese Documentary. Hong Kong University Press, 2010: 101]
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is intentionally structured to showcase the theme of happiness in multiple constructs. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” comes out as an action-packed movie, relatively big-budget epic whose emphasis is on the happiness and delicate beauty as opposed to blood-pumping intensity. One prospect of the film that showcases happiness is the intricate fight scenes. These scenes are nothing but ambitious pieces of art that uniquely quell the intensity that would otherwise characterize such a film. Barely are the audiences treated to the impacts of the blows. The awe effect is missing even when a policeman finds a sickle-blade embedded in his skull. Instead of the awe element, they represent a subtle representation in which the stillness and the unspoken feelings of the characters overshadow intensity and toughness. Happiness is a feeling that conservative societies scarcely want to detail. In this film, one easily marks the similarities between calligraphy and fencing. There manner in which the characters fight oozes of formal beauty, a sense of florid, and a fluid expressiveness. With just that, the feeling of contentment is unavoidable.[Zhang, R. The “Corporate Era” of Chinese Cinema in the New Millennium and Feng’s Post-New Year Productions. Hong Kong University Press, 2008: 147]
The fluidity by which the film expresses its fight scenes still remain a factor to explore in relation to Chinese society. The humidity surrounding “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is one in which people are tucked and coerced to hide their feelings. The society in the setting treats a free expression as a violation of social norms that attracts severe punishment. The Lien and Yu fight scene, for instance, is an exploration of the feeling of love that society has always limited among its people. The two characters are motivated to revitalize the value of repression. They use the fights to express their feelings, some of which they have bottled up in the observance of societal obligations. When such characters use the fight to show that they are no longer attached to the sacred expectations of the society and are able to express their feelings, happiness fulfills every person.
Ang Lee understands the complexity of the film's characters that bore reliance on multiple aspects of cinematography to deliver the theme of happiness. Happiness is a feeling expressed both internally and externally. In films, it is a short-lived feeling that could be overlooked if emphasis is not put into the details. One of the scenes in which the artistic application of cinematography is explored is in the bamboo forest scene where Mubai and Long showcase their budding relationship. The camera is raised to an extraordinary height. The camera travels with the characters who showcase the fluidity of their movements over a 360 degrees angle. The audience can easily tell the delight between the characters who are finally finding an opportunity to be genuinely happy. The hint of a lingering platonic romance is further showcased in close-up shots of both characters to depict detail of their inner feelings. The audience is accorded a rare combination of gentle access to the character’s inner feelings and the ephemeral touch into the fight movements.
Ang Lee’s contrast of the western and eastern expression of freedom is evident in the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Being an individual of eastern origin who has spent most of his life in western culture, Lee attempts to draw the comparisons. Freedom is one of the most dominant themes that are evident in his films that anchor the comparisons. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is driven from the Taoist philosophy of ancient China. The Taoist philosophy marked the perception of eastern culture with collectivist values that included self-control and endurance aimed at seeking an infinite realm. The western culture is more individualistic where values such as seeking happin...