Film and Theater Studies, Farewell My Concubine - Movie Review Example

Film & Theater Studies: Farewell My Concubine

Outline

I chose to look at some of the major themes of the film Farewell My Concubine, as well as the interests I picked from it. The themes include Suicide, Loyalty, Betrayal, Brutality, Vocational training, Prostitution, Sexual identity confusion, and Political indifferences. The interests I picked are among: Juxtaposition, Allegory, Motifs, and Symbolism, all amounting to imagery.

The introduction entails a brief synopsis of the film, citing the events that unfold time after time. This summary will help in building up to how I came up with the themes and other aspects of the film. Each of the issues is illustrated in different paragraphs, giving a clear description with references to certain scenes in the movie. The topic sentence introduces the idea, followed by supporting sentences for the theme, as mentioned earlier.

In addition to the themes, the interests I picked come after the arguments, each with a scene to support why I think the said imagery is present. At the very end is the conclusion, depicting my view of the film and how I feel the director utilizes the camera for the most lasting effect on the audience.

Farewell my concubine

The critically acclaimed Chinese film Farewell My Concubine, directed by Chen Kaige, premiered in 1993 (20th century), set at a time when China was in political turmoil, with the existence of almost a decade-long Cultural Revolution, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the civil war as well. The two and a half-hour film is an adaptation from the novel by Lillian Lee with the same name, written in 1985. Farewell My Concubine follows the story of two men that are actors at the Peking Opera. Douzi and Shitou are introduced as young boys during training for the opera. The story carefully follows their lives, citing friendship intimacy between the two male characters, all in the midst of a time where there was extensive national noise during its setting.

Young Shitou (played by Yang Fei), is already recruited to train for the opera when young Douzi (portrayed by Mingwei Ma), is seen to arrive for the same training. Douzi’s mother is a prostitute, who can no longer tend to him at the brothel. She, therefore, decides to take him to the opera school, hoping he will amount to someone better in the future. Master Guan (delineated by Lu Qi) is their trainer, who is portrayed as a harsh person in late Qing China. Douzi is trained for dan or female roles since he has a feminine physique, while Shitou is trained for jing or male roles due to his more masculine nature.

Years pass by, and the boys are all grown up, having mastered better skills and showmanship. They are renowned for their impeccable rendition of the play Farewell My Concubine. Douzi takes up the stage name Cheng Dieyi (now played by Leslie Cheung), while Shitou takes up the stage name of Duan Xiaolou (now portrayed by Zhang Fengyi). In the play, Xiaolou takes up the role of king Xian Yu, while Dieyi portrays the concubine Consort Yu. This confusion of gender has Dieyi always messing up his lines, where instead of saying “I am by nature a girl, not a boy”, he explicitly begins with “I am by nature a boy”. This irks their troupe master and Shitou, who is seen at one point to jam his tobacco stick down Dieyi’s throat as a threat.

The film depicts numerous themes that were either acceptable or not. First and foremost, prostitution is very evident in the film. Being an adaptation from the novel by the same name does not make it any different. Xiaolou is seen to marry a prostitute, Juxian (depicted by Gong Li), who is a perverse sex worker at a high-end brothel. In addition to that, Douzi’s mother is seen as a prostitute who, in hard times of desperation, decides to drop off his son at the opera training, hoping for the best for him.

Society in 20th-century china viewed prostitution as a criminal activity full of indecency. While not trying to glorify or condemn the act, I, however, think that prostitution should be viewed as an unfortunate outcome of women's lives. In the film, Douzi’s mother was desperate at the moment to have her child survive, to the point that she sexually offered herself as a bargaining chip so that her son can be accepted into training. She also cuts off Douzi’s 11th finger in solidarity with the king’s abhorrent remarks and reactions about it, in a reluctant bid to accept Douzi’s recruitment.

Another theme alienated is that of sexual identity and gender roles. The film brings out Douzi as a gender-confused being, who is torn between his love for his co-star, Xiaolou, and his self-affirmed identity as a man. Douzi is seen mistaking his line of ‘I am by nature a girl, not a boy’, for ‘I am by nature a boy, not a girl’. This mistake is not well received by master guan, to the point where he attempts to escape from training for the brutal treatment he faced for mistaking his lines. Dieyi’s unreciprocated love for Xiaolou keeps growing and does not help his situation, and it is further worsened when Xiaolou marries a woman prostitute, Juxian. Dieyi is unable to be himself as he does not feel like a woman, which is the character he portrays, explaining why he was confused about his attraction to another man in a culture that does not tolerate such atrocities of homosexuality.

Suicide is a theme seen as somewhat constant in the film. As a child, Douzi had another friend, Laizi, who is seen to suffer abuse and mistreatment. Laizi was fed up with the maltreatment, and attempts to run away with Douzi. Douzi takes Laizi to the theatre upon which he saw a performance of the play Farewell My Concubine. Laizi is utterly moved by the main character's performance and begins to cry, thinking of the punishment he had to suffer to become a great star. Douzi afterward takes Laizi back to the training troupe, where Laizi takes his own life out of fear of the inhumane punishment. Douzi takes on this punishment, suffering in silence.

Juxian also takes her own life after Xiaolou denies his love for her to save himself from prosecution. This comes after Dieyi outs Juxian to the guards as a prostitute, leading to Xiaolou’s denial and ultimate heartbreak for Juxian, who commits suicide. At the end of the film, Dieyi kills himself with a sword since he felt ashamed to exist in a society that does not accept him for who he is, a man attracted to a fellow man.

Brutality and the existence of vocational training are intertwined themes. During training for the Peking Opera, the trainees are treated harshly, with the portrayal of horrible living conditions in the bleak training arena. Extreme exertion is laid upon the boys as if they were in a military facility training for war. Their bodies are manipulated into what was termed as a tenacity for having a good physique. Douzi, for instance, is constantly teased for being the son of a whore. While true, this is a very crude way of referring to him, further depicting brutality not only in the physical form but also in the form of words.

Betrayal is constant, especially among the three characters, Dieyi, Xiaolou, and Juxian. Their complicated relationship based on love in different forms leads to the existence of these themes. Dieyi becomes jealous when Xiaolou marries Juxian, to the point of betrayal by outing her to the guards as a sex worker. Further, Xiaolou betrays Juxian by denying his love or her to save himself from prosecution. Dieyi also betrays Xiaolou by telling of his union with Juxian to the guards.

Loyalty, a complete contrast to betrayal, is also present. Dieyi is seen to have a chance to escape the harsh treatment during training, but he instead chooses to stay. He seems devoted to the opera now more than ever. Also, Dieyi and Shitou have been life-long friends, and no matter their situation, they stuck together to become the stars they were. This is despite their different political ideologies during upheavals, which brings me to the next theme.

Political turmoil in china in the 20th century spared nobody, not even the stars of farewell my concubine, Dieyi and Xiaolou. Their bond is strengthened by their drive and enthusiasm for the opera's success. No matter the epoch, the opera bonds them in the sense of a safe place that stabilizes their friendship since childhood. As such, they each seek to maintain their performances amidst differences in political ideologies. Dieyi has no problem performing for any audience, even Chinese communists, whose ideology of communism completely contrasted that originally developed by Karl Marx. The Red Army is portrayed as tyrannical, subjecting them to a rule that was based upon violence and fear. Especially to the Chinese considered less advantaged. Xiaolou does not agree with this but acknowledges Dieyi's commitment to the opera and rolls with it, persevering regardless of his take in the matter.

Presented above are some of the major themes throughout the film, but what interested me the most was Chen Kaige’s use of motifs, allegory, and symbolism. At one point, we see Dieyi being sexually abused by Zhang (played by Di Tong), who is a wealthy and successful man. This I interpret to be a symbol of how rich people abuse the lesser fortunate in society. Dieyi's background shows that he was not very resourceful, and he comes to the training in search of greener pastures. Zhang is well aware of this, as seen in the scene where he lures Dieyi to a potentially dangerous scenario. He ultimately succeeds in taking advantage of Dieyi. Much like the society in the then China, people in a higher social class tend to manipulate those in lower social ladders and inadvertently blame them for their naivety. This, to me, is pure evil.

The juxtaposition of two massively talented opera performers clearly points out each character’s flaws and struggles. Douzi pretends to be Shitou’s love interest, unknown to the audience that he actually is in love with his co-star. Douzi’s character, Dieyi, shows his struggle with his sexual identity as he had to denounce his recognition as a man. This is an allegory of Douzi’s subconscious, and how incompatible he feels his sexuality and character are, especially in a society that views homosexuality as taboo, so to speak. He cannot even hope for a better future where he can be himself without fear of rejection.

Suicide in the film is seen to always come after a low point in a character’s life. For Juxian, that point was when she was outed as a prostitute. For Laizi, suicide came as a result of the endless suffering in the training that was similar to a boot camp. Dieyi’s suicide came as a result of sexual identity confusion, and his unrequited love for Xiaolou. Since these instances of suicide follow a low moment, they are motifs of the characters’ shame of existence in a world where they are suffering.

In a nutshell, the director of Farewell My Concubine, Cheng Kaige, and the cinematographer Changwei Gu, really utilized the cameras to create a lasting visual experience to the audience. Mixing up of the timelines from teenage years, to childhood, and ultimately to adulthood, all unfold together beautifully, bringing out authenticity. The highlight of the film is the where the line between real life and theatrics is thinned when Dieyi develops actual feelings for Xiaolou. The director ensured that he drew accurate parallels between theatre life and history; art and real life. This order is represented by Dieyi and Xiaolou, where Dieyi’s sexual attraction to Xiaolou was considered a veer off the norm.