Raise the Red Lantern

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 A look at Raise the Red Lantern : Dominance or empowerment

The film Raise the Red Lantern is a stark and beautiful portrayal of life for women in China in the 1920 ‘s . Within this film there are many nuances of Chinese culture and history , but most of all the movie deals with the way that women were viewed and treated in early 20th century China , giving the viewer a vivid look at the way traditional Chinese society operated and what place women had within a world that was [banner_entry_middle]

br completely dominated by men . While the women within this film were given limited empowerment by becoming the wife of a wealthy man , the house that they came to occupy would become more of a prison than a home because of the traditions that had been created simply to keep women within a certain realm of Chinese culture

Chinese society in the early 1900 ‘s was a place full of traditions that shaped the way that people lived and worked within the culture . In the film tradition is talked about a great deal as it relates to the four mistresses of the Master , Chen . The film opens with Songlian giving her to her step-mother and agreeing to marry because she can no longer attend university . From the time that Songlian , the fourth mistress arrives at the house of the master she is greeted with tradition : the lighting of the red lanterns to signify who the master chooses to spend his night with , the foot massage to the master ‘s woman of choice , the favored mistress getting to choose the menu of the day , and the ritualistic way in which she had to go to each other mistress because that is the way it was always done . Songlian finds herself in a world that is shaped by ritual , simply because that is the way the Master ‘s family always had it , therefore it would not change . This shows the importance of ancestor ‘s to Chinese culture , as well as the importance of keeping traditions , whether good or bad . The second mistress ‘s introduction also showed a traditional side of Chinese culture , as she introduces Songlian to her daughter , who she calls useless ‘ because she is only a girl . The value of the female sex was obviously not important to the Chinese people and throughout the film the mistresses stab each other in the back and manipulate the Master all with the hopes of getting pregnant with a son , because only then would they gain true respect within the household . Perhaps the most startling of all traditions that we see portrayed is in the fate of Meishan , the third mistress of the house , who has an illicit affair with another man . When she is found out , she is put to death by hanging as other women in past generations had been killed for their sins

The vision of the film is to show the viewer a realistic portrayal of what… [banner_entry_footer]