Post by klep on May 14, 2018 6:56:47 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/14: Raise the Red Lantern
SADIE HAWKINS WEEK!
When Songlian (Gong Li) decides to get married in the opening moments of Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern, it is already apparent that it is not something she wants to do. Over the course of the film, the details are filled in - she was in university, but her father died and she could no longer afford it, leaving marriage her only option. Those details provide color to her depression, but they aren't strictly necessary for understanding it.
Songlian arrives at her new husband's estate on foot, still defiantly retaining some independence. But she is soon dehumanized as "Fourth Mistress" by the staff, and the nature of her new prison is readily apparent. She isn't a wife in any more modern sense of the word, she's merely a toy - the possession of a rich man. Whatever aspirations she had for her life are now closed off, her fate is to be a pretty bird in a gilded cage.
Songlian is largely free to spend her days in it as she pleases, it's luxuriously appointed, and she has a servant to tend to her needs. But she also has a Master (Jingwu Ma, rarely seen and never in closeup) who expects her to be sexually available on his schedule, and a group of sister-wives (Mistresses First through Third) with whom she must compete with for the perks of Master's affections. It's a grotesque misogynistic system in which the women are second-class people forced by the patriarchy to compete with each other in a Machiavellian nightmare. Only the current favorite can choose what to eat. Only the current favorite can get a nice foot massage. And everpresent is the threat of the little room on the ramparts where women in the past were hanged for infidelity.
Songlian does try to play her part, however reluctantly. But she chafes against the customs and expectations by which she's expected to abide. She's only 19, and her life is suddenly confined to this claustrophobic estate with several older women whom she cannot trust and cannot befriend. Where once she was curious and independent, now she is forced into quiet servitude and sexual slavery; her life pleasant only in proportion to how well she pleases her Master.
So she lashes out, attempting to assert some control over her life in the only ways available to her. She feigns pregnancy and abuses her servant. But the terrible truth of systems like this is that control is always an illusion, and the architecture of oppression forces her plans to pit her against the women who should be her allies. The cage is gilded but its bars are strong, and there may never be an escape.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/21: Rear Window
BOTTLE FILMS WEEK!
For Bottle Films Week we turn to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window follows Jimmy Stewart as a man laid-up with a broken leg who thinks he witnesses a murder through his binoculars. Join us next week for one of Hitchcock's most famous films! Rear Window is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is only free for Prime members with a Starz add-on.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 5/15: X2
This week's podcast examines a pair of films about superhero team-ups. In 2003, the second X-Men film saw the franchise's heroes and villains band together to stop a threat to them all in X2. We'll have a thread up for discussion of this well-regarded entry into the X-Men franchise on Wednesday. X2 is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
SADIE HAWKINS WEEK!
When Songlian (Gong Li) decides to get married in the opening moments of Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern, it is already apparent that it is not something she wants to do. Over the course of the film, the details are filled in - she was in university, but her father died and she could no longer afford it, leaving marriage her only option. Those details provide color to her depression, but they aren't strictly necessary for understanding it.
Songlian arrives at her new husband's estate on foot, still defiantly retaining some independence. But she is soon dehumanized as "Fourth Mistress" by the staff, and the nature of her new prison is readily apparent. She isn't a wife in any more modern sense of the word, she's merely a toy - the possession of a rich man. Whatever aspirations she had for her life are now closed off, her fate is to be a pretty bird in a gilded cage.
Songlian is largely free to spend her days in it as she pleases, it's luxuriously appointed, and she has a servant to tend to her needs. But she also has a Master (Jingwu Ma, rarely seen and never in closeup) who expects her to be sexually available on his schedule, and a group of sister-wives (Mistresses First through Third) with whom she must compete with for the perks of Master's affections. It's a grotesque misogynistic system in which the women are second-class people forced by the patriarchy to compete with each other in a Machiavellian nightmare. Only the current favorite can choose what to eat. Only the current favorite can get a nice foot massage. And everpresent is the threat of the little room on the ramparts where women in the past were hanged for infidelity.
Songlian does try to play her part, however reluctantly. But she chafes against the customs and expectations by which she's expected to abide. She's only 19, and her life is suddenly confined to this claustrophobic estate with several older women whom she cannot trust and cannot befriend. Where once she was curious and independent, now she is forced into quiet servitude and sexual slavery; her life pleasant only in proportion to how well she pleases her Master.
So she lashes out, attempting to assert some control over her life in the only ways available to her. She feigns pregnancy and abuses her servant. But the terrible truth of systems like this is that control is always an illusion, and the architecture of oppression forces her plans to pit her against the women who should be her allies. The cage is gilded but its bars are strong, and there may never be an escape.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/21: Rear Window
BOTTLE FILMS WEEK!
For Bottle Films Week we turn to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window follows Jimmy Stewart as a man laid-up with a broken leg who thinks he witnesses a murder through his binoculars. Join us next week for one of Hitchcock's most famous films! Rear Window is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is only free for Prime members with a Starz add-on.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 5/15: X2
This week's podcast examines a pair of films about superhero team-ups. In 2003, the second X-Men film saw the franchise's heroes and villains band together to stop a threat to them all in X2. We'll have a thread up for discussion of this well-regarded entry into the X-Men franchise on Wednesday. X2 is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.