Because China’s 1st film being nominated to get an School Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Ju Dou mainly depicts a woman named Ju Dou who is in feudal moral code and feudal superstition quagmire in struggling to carry out resistance in early 20th century in non-urban China. Ju Dou is definitely adapted with a well-known China novel “The Obsessed”, which can be written by Liu Heng. China famous director Zhang Yimou directed this kind of film with Yang Fengliang. Zhang provides his personal unique type of artsy expression and color schemes. His characteristic of director fine art embedded with this film. Ju Dou is actually a typical asian cinema that combines oriental beauty and eastern classic social issues. The film successfully narrates a China style misfortune within a feudalistic environment simply by put a large number of contrast approaches into use. The film applies contrast techniques generally in its characterizations, color app, and metaphorical expressions.
“Ju Dou” is not only the title of the film, but as well the name of the leading character. The storyplot begins because Yang Tianqing is time for his uncle’s house. The uncle referred to as Yang Jinshan is operating a business, which is a dye mill to color fabrics intended for villagers, in his house. Someone tells Tianqing that Jinshan has just bought a new partner. The new better half is Ju Dou. Jinshan has tortured two prior wives to death. To get Ju Dou, Jinshan enables her operate the coloring mill in day and tortures her at night. This individual really wants Ju Dou to bear a boy as a heir also to get his big family and the dye generator. Because Ju Dou can be described as young and fabulous woman, Tianqing cannot help himself needs to pay close attention to the young aunt. He finds out her showering area and spies onto her in the days. Also, since Jinshan is not able to be a true man, Ju Dou seems the same way about Tianqing while Tianqing will about her. Soon, that they engage in sexual activity. Till Ju Dou contains a boy referred to as Tianbai, Jinshan does not see what happened among his better half and his nephew and feels that the youngster is his own son. When Jinshan discovers Ju Dou and Tianqing’s affair, he desires to kill Tianbai and neglects. Ironically, one day, when Jinshan carelessly falls into the absorb dyes vat, Tianbai just happiness and looks at him struggling though Tianbai offers called Jinshan “father” for years. After Jinshan dies, Tianqing has to go out to avoid stimulating suspicion. They will still discuss with each other by different locations and have sex. However , Tianbai hears several muttering that his mom and his “brother” have deceptive trysts in the field. As a rage-filled teenager, he vigorously rejects Tianqing. In the end, Tianbai drowns Tianqing inside the dye value-added tax and Ju Dou then simply burns the mill down.
The technical characterizations shape two typical contrary types of features with penetration in Chinese se?orial society and make the tragedy more practical. For the heroine, the moment Ju Dou’s face initially appears for the screen, we see a woman using yellow outfits and twisting her curly hair into a loose bun as being a normal laboring woman. She actually is beautiful. Her eyes look innocent with water-like tenderness. Such a conventional rural girl feature makes audience believe that she could be very gentle and obedient like many other girls in that era. When the lady tells Tianqing that your woman keeps the virgin for him and calls Jinshan “old thing”, we simply discover her rebellion and potential desire. In Oriental feudal world, even though Jinshan and Tianqing do not have blood vessels relationship, Ju Dou and Tianqing’s illicit sexual relationship is regarded as commit incest. This sort of a behavior is strictly forbidden and commits huge sins, especially for Ju Dou. This is because women within a low situation at that time and in addition they have to be obedient, compliant, acquiescent, subservient, docile, meek, dutiful, tractable to men. It is without doubt that Ju Dou is unique because the lady desires to rise ? mutiny against a woman’s arranged destiny simply by men and break through traditional social restraints to get what she really wants. It is a figure could almost be stated a little sharpened. When the lady thinks that the existence of Jinshan may well threaten their very own peaceful your life, she has considered to kill Jinshan and she never display sympathy to Jinshan’s disability. She feels that the reality Tianqing is definitely Tianbai’s father is true, then it can be unquestionable to tell Tianbai the simple fact regardless of what may happen. It is an serious feature that stacks against traditional women. She shakes off the fetters of the outdated system to fall love with her husband’s nephew and never feels guilty in this kind of environment.
Intended for Tianqing, it is an opposite physique to Ju Dou. Within a man-dominated society, Tianqing is definitely cowardice. He almost completely obeys his uncle. Nevertheless , it is not his nature to get obedient. This individual has wants and his very own thinking, yet he simply does not care to behave against. When he has emotions for Ju Dou, he just spies on her throughout the small opening and watches her tightly in the aspect of quiet attention. At night, when Jinshan tortures Ju Dou, Tianqing feels furious but are not able to do anything. There is also a scene that Tianqing are not able to suppress his rage to hear Ju Dou’s scream in order that he sees an axe one nighttime. When he is actually emotional to try to cut the wooden set of stairs, Jinshan instantly stops and asks so what happened outside. At that moment, Tianqing returns to senses and realizes what he just performed. His facial expression displays his fear and loss. It seems that even himself feels surprising about his previous behavior. The plot tells audience that Tianqing provides his own emotions and thoughts in the deep brain, but he just do certainly not dare to show them. For the reason that he is still restrained by simply feudal code of integrity.
The contrast of Ju Dou’s doughty and Tianqing’s weak point is very interesting because in this dark age in China, a woman contains more shackle than a gentleman does. The film has a tendency to use the comparison to satirize feudalism. Ju Dou has mentioned repeatedly that the lady wants to keep the community with Tianqing and Tianbai, and then they could have a new existence. However , Tianqing does not have enough courage to get started on over. Also, he seems that if perhaps they keep, villagers and family relatives is going to realize their very own incest. Tianqing is so frightened to staying condemned by public. Incredibly early on, there is also a popular classic saying that “a woman was going to be subordinate to her dad in youth, her husband in maturity, and her son in old age. inches As the role of Ju Dou’s actual husband, Tianqing has never been as much fearless as Ju Dou should be to oppose the society. His weak individuality is one of the reasons that lead Ju Dou’s tragedy. It is a satire intended for the patriarchal society that men get the dominated electrical power but they may not be mighty whenever they should be. The film ingenious portray two contrastive primary characters to make the Chinese style tragedy realistic, clearly organized, and meaningful.
Colour contrast inside the film helps you to strengthen the tragic flavour. Zhang is really good at application of colors. At the start of the film, when Tianqing leads the horse by, the heavens looks mixture of grey and white. Additionally it is reflected the first phrase of the story, which is “The sky is usually hazy, the same as an egg yolk soaking in pumpkin soup” (Liu Heng, 5). Mists layers heavy about persons in those years below feudalism. Zhang uses colors to be in harmony with development of and building plots. In the first half part of the film, the key tone can be red. After which it slowly but surely transfers to blue gray. When Ju Dou and Tianqing stay together, have sex and experience happy to think about a better existence in the future, the tone is usually red. When ever Tianbai phone calls Jinshan “father”, the develop is darker. It seems that the director gives the scenes when ever main characters are optimistic bright color tones, and share the scenes that character types are too weak to break through dark color tones. This sort of contrast of bright sculpt and dark tone makes audience experience excited to acquire repressed by the change of colours.
The strongest color contrast is between the dazzling colors of dye fabrics and the white wall and black roof-tiles. Variety digs deeper in the choice of the place, which is a dye mill, the director really wants to express distinct meanings to audience by help of colours. The fabrics that are put up in the color mill are always in dazzling colors, which will bring sharpened contrast to audience if the bright colours are popular existed inside the black and light yard. The white wall structure and dark roof-tiles represent the disappointing feudal environment. The colorful fabrics signify the nature of revolt of the primary characters. In any other case, at incredibly start, Ju Dou generally hangs yellowish and white colored colors. These kinds of colors aren’t loud shades but nice so that the views seem tranquil. When Ju Dou understands that Tianqing is looking at her, there exists a blue material behind her. Blue is additionally bright, but it really belongs to chilly tone. The cold strengthen conveys the data to the viewers that Ju Dou still keep rational and calm when the girl sees Tianqing, which means Ju Dou would not has feelings to Tianqing yet. The moment Ju Dou sobs away her thoughts to Tianqing that your woman does not wish to live similar to this way any longer with Jinshan, she holds a reddish cloth. The red color is warm, bright, and fierce, which presents the passion and hope of the main personas. Against the grayscale white area, the glowing fabrics synchronize to tell a story that should not occur in the big house. Also, the bright shades make the whole yard end up like covering having a warm-colored fogging in mildness.
Red color is actually the most important color employed in the film. It also consists of contrastive solution to render the tragic fine art. When Ju Dou and Tianqing finally have the lovemaking relationship, Ju Dou coincidently kicks throughout the stick that supports the wooden tyre, red material falls into the dye vat that is stuffed with red dye. The field that comes with gorgeous artistic natural beauty stands for the 2 characters have time from capturing powers of society. When ever Tianbai is born, he is twisted in reddish colored swaddling clothing, which symbolizes delight of any newly created. In these parts that uses red, the red provides positive feelings to all of us audience. In China, crimson has blessed implied which means. Chinese persons use red color in many ways in joyous events. However , the director even so give the reddish dye a lot of opposite symbolism like blood vessels, death, and despair in a few later scenes. Two many impressive displays are that Jinshan and Tianqing drown in the coloring vat. They are all struggle in the red dye. The red liquid is like blood surrounding these people. Also, in Tianqing’s too much water scene, a red cloth drops rapidly into the vat. In prior comfortable views, red delivers joy and hope of reborn. In comparison, in the later on two depressing scenes, crimson strikes audience’s eyes and rouses audience’s mind. The colour brings a dreadful sight.
In addition , the comparison of same objects with different metaphorical connotations that are applied in the film emphasizes the characters continue to be too fragile to save the fate of the situation underneath feudalism. As I mentioned above, when ever Tianqing is drowning in the dye value-added tax, the reddish colored cloth falls down little by little into the absorb dyes vat in rapid speed, which is the same as the scene that Tianqing and Ju dou first have sex. The falling red fabric implies the campaign to the feudal ethics and the relieve of libido. When Tianqing and Ju Dou 1st have sex, the campaign and release commence. When Tianqing dies, the campaign halts and it does not get achievement. The distinction is obvious between two similar moments for the that inside the later scene, which is Tianqing drowning, the red material is completely produced from the wood wheel. This stands for the full tragic story’s end since Tianqing’s death also will take Ju Dou’s hope away. Audience feels grieved to view two contrary implications gifted in extremely alike scenes. The compare between the starting and the stopping of the two main characters’ campaign as well makes target audience get more outstanding about the shot so that it strengthens the characters’ tragedy.
Besides, another thing with two different metaphorical meanings is a hole. With the very begin, Tianqing agents on Ju Dou through a very small hole. It implies that they have tiny awakening to revolt the feudal values. In comparison, once Tianqing and Ju Dou have their last secretive tryst in the basement, the entrance of the cellar is a big hole. Yet , the big pit is not representing their progress built during the plan with the society. Instead, the top hole means that they can just wide open such a little space compared to the big whole world to find sunshine. It is helpless to alter the fact that their romance is a shady light part of the world. The compare of the meanings of two holes shows the brutality of actuality in solariego society.
In the bottom line, as Rey Chow explained in “The Force of Surfaces: Defiance in Zhang Yimou’s Films”, “these stories of gothic and often abnormal oppression will be marked by then contrast while using sensuous screen design of the films. Zhang’s film dialect deploys delightful colors in the depiction of ‘backwardness’ inches (143), the director is absolutely good at applying color compare to strengthen the tragic atmosphere and to disclose the psychic of his characters. The use of bright hues of the dyed cloths is actually a masterstroke inside the film. Although not only that, the comparison techniques which can be applied in characterizations and metaphorical expressions also craftily strengthens the tragic ambiance and emphasizes what the director wants to convey to audience. The opposite people of Ju Dou and Tianqing is thought-provoking. The comparisons of numerous meanings in the red dyed cloth and the holes will be sad ironies. Ju Dou and Tianqing are just no person in solariego China. Regardless of desirable they can be to escape, the fog of feudal ideology will not easily lift.
