Macro-history and Micro-history in To Live - Essay Example

Project "To live (a Chinese film)" juxtaposes macro-history(civil war, the Cultural revolution etc with micro-history(marriage, school,job, family life, etc.)Which do u think is more important in the film? What does this juxtaposition demonstrate about history, master narratives, fiction, and non-fiction? To Live (1994) is a Chinese movie directed by Zhang Yimou in 1994, starring Ge You, Gong Li among others. It is set in the background of the political unrest in China in 1940 – 1970. This film is based on a novel titled Huózhe by Yu Hua. (James 1994). The movie starts off with the drunken protagonist (Xu Fugui) gambling away his family fortunes in a local pub in 1940. This impacts his personal life, as he is left penniless, and his wife abandons him because she had previously requested him to leave his gambling habit. The film covers four decades of Chinese history, the revolution in 1960, the Communist regime in China and Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ (1958-1963). The film covers the personal setbacks of the protagonist, how he loses everything, which, ironically proves to be a boon in the end, estrangement with his wife, how they reunite, grief of losing his son, his daughter becoming deaf and mute. Moreover, his personal struggles are shadowed by the historic revolution in China, how Mao envisions rivaling USA as an economy but fails. The film captures the cultural movement in China in the fifties sixties and seventies. It juxtaposes macro-history of China at that time (civil war, the Cultural Revolution etc.) with micro-history of the central character Fugui (marriage, school, job, family life, etc.). The plot revolves around the protagonist, a noble reduced to being a commoner and how his life is impacted by the cultural movement and Civil War in China, how he is arrested by Nationalistic forces, liberated and then held captive by the Red Army. The film dives into the depths to explore Communist culture in China, how people were forced to give up everything they owned. How, any opposing viewpoints were met with execution. The Civil war and, eco-cultural movements form part of his story as he struggles to find direction into life. The movie is the story of Fugui and his family. Fugui loses his family wealth in gambling to Long’er. His wife leaves him after her repeated requests for him to kick his gambling habits go unanswered. Fugui ends up on the street as a day laborer, struggling to make ends meet. This is where he finds his calling. After being given a pair of shadow puppets by Long’er, he realizes his talent as a performer and teams up with Chunsheng to perform all over town. He soon gets arrested by the Nationalistic Forces on charges of being a Reactionary, and is forced to perform for the Communist Party of China. However, he is liberated by the Red Army after a long battle but, is held captive by the Red Army. He is again forced to perform for the Red Army. After CCP’s victory in the Civil War, he is reunited with his wife. He attends a trial where Long’er is pronounced guilty and executed for amassing huge amounts of wealth (including Fugui’s extravagant house). It is ironic to note here that if Fugui had not lost his house in gambling he would have probably been tried and executed as well. The story advances by a decade, during Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward.’ his daughter is now of marriageable age and falls in love with a local leader of the Red Guards, Wan Erxi. However, tragedies seem to have besotted Fugui and his family. His daughter, who is now pregnant, goes to the hospital for her delivery. However, all doctors are absent, as they have been instructed to engage in manual labor as they have been branded "reactionary academic authorities" However, Fugui manages to find a doctor, but the doctor is famished. Fugui buys seven buns (Mantou) for the doctor. However, as the doctor eats the buns too quickly and with a lot of water, each of the buns becomes the size of seven buns, and the doctor looses consciousness. The total buns in the doctors stomach becomes forty – nine (seven times seven). It is interesting to note that 1949 was the year when CCP formed a stronghold in China (Yick, 40). Thus, we can see, during the course of the film, the cultural movements, civil war are in collocation with the struggles of Fugui (the central character). The cultural changes in China during that time are clearly envisaged in the duration of the film and how it was affecting Fugui, his tragedies and hope for a better future. Hence, in my opinion, even as Zhang juxtaposes macro-history with micro-history, it is the factors of the Cultural Revolution that impact the main characters. Fugui and other have little or no impact on the revolution themselves. So, essentially, this film places more emphasis on the historic changes of China, keeping in mind the troubles of the Chinese people (in the movies case: Fugui). Fugui is rendered helpless, much like the shadow figures he uses to perform, and becomes a mere puppet in the hands of his destiny. The movie covers not only the lives of the characters but also it has deeper connotation than simple story-telling. It also portrays antiquated ideas in Chinese society at that time. The central characters are there to support the emergence of a strong autocratic communist belief, and how it impacted the lives of the normal Chinese people during the time. For example, how everyone is forced to ‘donate’ all of their scrap iron to help the Nation produce weapons to invade Taiwan. The audience gets a firsthand experience into the prevalent culture and the biased ways of life in Maoist China. However, at the end of the movie, Zhang offers hope for the future. Fugui, as he sits down for supper with his family, says "and life will get better and better" suggesting an end to the oppressions and sufferings. This was true, as in 1978 China opened up to Economic reforms, which had cultural liberations as well. Zhang runs a simple story with eco-cultural events side by side. He demonstrates how this juxtaposition of history, master narrative has an impact on the lives of the people at that particular time in history. The story of Fugui may be a fictional one. However, through the story of a ‘nobody’ Zhang uses a trans-historical narrative to unearth events from the Chinese culture at that time. In order to make this movie gripping, Zhang tells us a story but essentially he captures Mao’s regime during the sixties. A similar parallel can be drawn from other movies. For example, the movie Pearl Harbor (2001) by Director Michael Bay starring Ben Affleck and Kate Beckensale is a simple love story and a story of two friends going into war. However, it is set against the events leading to World War 2, and how USA gets dragged into war with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. To Live is a classic example of Iconography in movies. According to Panofsky, "Iconography is that branch of the history of art which concerns itself with the subject matter or meaning of art, as opposed to their form”. (Panofsky 31). In this case, Zhang uses the story of Fugui (Icon) to reveal the meaning of the film as the strife that took place in China at that time. These works of iconography portray the essence of the work in a different and unique style. It helps create a certain type of genre which symbolizes the subject as more than just a story. It holds a certain innuendo, a dark message sometimes, a satire or a parody at other times. Whichever the case may be, we have to agree Zhang has truly created a masterpiece. Even though this movie was banned in Mainland China from screening and its director and lead actress banned from working in movies for two years, the fact remains that this film has won worldwide recognition in its unique approach to film making and storytelling References: Panofsky, Erwin, Meaning in the Visual Arts. Chicago: Chicago UP Yick Joseph, Making Urban Revolution in China: The CCP-GMD Struggle for Beiping-Tianjin, 1945-1949, M.E. Sharpe, 1995 Yimou, Zhang, To Live, Shanghai Film Studio, 1994 Read More