The Influences of an Urban Setting to an Everyday Living
Introduction
The Goddess is a story of a struggling, lower class woman in China in 1930s who is left with no choice but to submit her life into prostitution and degradation in order to survive and make a living to provide for her son. It is important to highlight that she belongs to an era where prostitution was a taboo subject (Wordpress, 2008, p.1). It is the intention of the film to make a social analysis of the current times, based on the situation of a woman who is forced to sacrifice herself in doing extreme actions in order for them to survive with her son rather than developing around a story of a typical prostitute of today who is branded with a heart of gold (Graca, 2005, p. 1). Yi-Yi is a Taiwanese film that chronicles the life of a businessman and father who strives so hard to provide the needs of his family, especially his children. It basically evokes a middle-class household and the situation within that touches on socio-economic aspects. Chung King Express is a film that describes loneliness in a relationship. It depicts about two police officers who had troubles with losing their girlfriends. It also touches on the theme that despite living in a very modern life where opportunities present here and there, there can still is a lonely spot within the person that affects his totality as a human being. The spaces and objects in the film reflect back stories of heroism, sacrifice, and love that describe how one person can do so much for the sake of someone valuable to his or her life.
It appears that the gangster was the villain in the film, but in a deeper analysis, it is the City of Shanghai itself. The image of modernization, portraying a sleepless city – the soaring buildings in the night and bright neon lights all points to the city being the villain. A vivid picture of this portrayed in the film was when Ruan looks at the Shanghai night, and before her son, is an expression of an inner longing to run from the city, to escape the harsh reality in the society – a society that rejects her and does not allow her to live a normal life. The dramatic impact of the movie was heightened when functional framing and camera movements were highlighted (Graca, 2005, p.1).
Just like Goddess which depicts the harsh reality of human society, Yiyi also involves a story about a family in Taipei whose members asked hard questions about life’s meaning as they live through everyday difficulty. It portrays a detailed and intricate psychological representation of an entire family and how they behave as a group and as individual. This movie also reflects how objects can be so powerful in arriving at a deeper understanding of one of the characters in the story.
A character of N.J. who is an executive of a software company but at the same time a husband and a father of two children is an illustrative example. He spends most of his time, even in the presence of his family with his headphones, listening to classical music. The character begins in a minute way, someone you hardly notice and just in passing, but gradually, it becomes one of the most essential things that reveals about this man. His constant use of his headphones, listening to music, the classical ones, reflects of his longing to escape. There is something missing in him which he finds it in music. He can simply get lost there. He depicts an image of a good man and responsible father but there is a crack in his psyche – missed dreams and opportunities coupled with lost hope (Malley, 2009, p.1).
On the other hand, Chung King Express is a film consists of two stories linked thematically. The opening shots of this film are fast and furious, convening a rapid pace of the business life of Hongkong citizens. Although the stories revolve around common scenarios, its appearance becomes pretty interesting due to the excellent camerawork, rich visual textures and an appealing timeline (Toh). Chung King Express describes purity and near absolutism in love. It tends to believe that affection can surpass memory and forgetfulness and would even transform a person’s resolve to something remarkably heroic. In fact, during the marketing of the film, it uses the tagline “If my memory of her has an expiration date, let it be 10,000 years”, which denotes a notion of infinity or forever that is a famous concept among Asian countries.
Conclusion
The objects as well as the set-up of the characters of these films play an important role in the overall impact of the movie. The modernized setting seems depicted as a negative place as the characters were in the very situation of facing life’s questions and battles. However, their inner struggles turn out to be the very strength that they needed to survive in the society they belong to. The movie somehow formed a common theme – involving the struggles of men, the difference is how each character of these three films face their battles and how they ended up fighting with those.
Bibliography
Wordpress. (2009) Wu Yonggang – Shen nü / The Goddess (1934). [Online] Available from:
https://somewordsandplaces.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/wu-yonggang-shen-nu-the-goddess-1934/. [Accessed: 10th June 2015].
Graca. (2005) The Goddess/Shennü. [Online] Available from:
http://www.asia.cinedie.com/en/goddess.htm. [Accessed: 10th June 2015].
Malley. (2009) Yi Yi (2000); Dir. Edward Yang. [Online] Available from:
http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=9771. [Accessed: 10th June 2015].
Toh. Wong Kar-wai: Time, Memory, Identity. [Online] Available from:
http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/article.php?id=347&feature. [Accessed: 10th June 2015].
