Thursday, July 22, 2010

Movie: Raise the Red Lantern

Along the process of tidying up (ie. reformatting) my four-year-old laptop, I am starting by removing the numerous sticky notes on my desktop screen.

During the summer vacation, I had the chance to watch the award-winning Chinese movie Raise the Red Lantern starring Gong Li. I just watched it because of Gong Li (that woman is really pretty and talented, I swear). I didn't know anything about the plot but to my surprise, I found myself thinking about the movie's message right after watching it. It was definitely a gothic film. Perhaps dark is the right term? I'm not really sure. But I'm sure that it is a very good film. Somewhat educational in terms of older Chinese culture.

The following are my thoughts that I typed away on a sticky note on my desktop.

"The movie Raise the Red Lantern speaks of the importance given by the Chinese to traditions. It also shows an attempt of the younger generations to break the tradition yet at the same time, hides themselves underneath the said old traditions. The result of such half-hearted attempt will only lead to despair, madness and death. This also shows that in order to fully break away from the 'chains' of traditions, the Chinese women should be firm in their resolve and actually choose which path they want to go. Indecisiveness will only bring suffering not only to one's self but others as well."

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