Raise the Red Lantern
“All the world’s a stage; all of us are taking the elements of plot, character, and costume and turning into performances of possibilities”(Ward1999: 5)
Raise the Red Lantern tells a compelling and sorrowful story of a young woman whose life is destined to be ruined in a male-dominated society. This can be an awakening of some sort to any woman. As Ward states in her text, women learn the rules of our half of the world as well as those of the other half, since we regularly move in and out of the male world. There she defines women’s culture.
The term has also been used in its anthropological sense to encompass the familial and friendship networks of women, their affective ties, their rituals. It is important to understand that woman’s culture is never a subculture. It would hardly be appropriate to define the culture of half of humanity as a subculture. Women live social existence within the general culture. Whenever they are confined by patriarchal restraint or segregation into separateness, they transform this restraint into complementarily and redefine it. Thus, women live a duality- as members of the general culture and as partakers of woman’s culture. (Lerner 1986:242)
Much like the quote stated, Raise the Red Lantern is set in Northern China in the 1920’s. For thousands of years the people of China have formed family life around patrilineal decent. The assessment of traditional China life was patriarchal. A basis of this set up would be from Confucius.
In childhood, Before marriage, Obey your father
In adulthood, During marriage, Obey your husband
In widowhood, After marriage, Obey your son
States in the text, the lowest moment of a woman’s life was her wedding day. Cut off from her natal family, the young bride was an outsider and the object of deep suspicion in her new husband’s household. The only was to earn a place for herself was to have sons.
Songlian quits college after her father has passed away and becomes Zuoquian Chen’s fourth wife. When Songlian, who chooses to walk from her house to Chen’s house instead of riding in the wedding carriage, arrives at Chen’s house, there is no sign of a celebration, an omen of things to come. Bound by tradition and inflamed with jealousy, none of the three wives come out to greet the new bride. An old housekeeper welcomes and acknowledges ...
... middle of paper ...
...y. Much as the film was, as it was structured, this film could be a parable of some sort. Songlian would be the individual, the woman. The master would be the government and the customs of the house are the laws of the country. It is an archaic system that always rewards those that play and pay but destroys those who violate.
One thing I found appealing about "Red Lantern" is that while the film portrays a brutally patriarchal system in which women are clearly very oppressed and dependent on their lord and master for everything, it does not idealize the women or turn them into doe-eyed, sweet, saintly victims. The wives and concubines are resourceful, smart, competitive, and very determined to make the best of their situation... in any way they can. They can even be cruel and downright evil. Forget the cliche that men are interested in power and women are interested in love. These women are definitely interested in power and status -- though, of course, the only way they can obtain it is by winning the husband's favor. Yet their power struggles are just as ruthless as anything that happens in the "male" world of politics, business, or war, and just as fascinating to watch.
Imagine this, it is the 1800’s and you’re shopping for sugar. You see the sweet, pure white sugar and look down. Wham! The price makes your stomach drop. You need a cup of sugar, and the price is five dollars per teaspoon. That’s two-hundred and forty dollars, and you only have two dollars with you! In the articles, How Candy Conquered America by Lauren Tarshis and This Cupcake is Trying to Hurt You by Kristin Lewis and Lauren Tarshis it talks about how the consumption of sugar changes over time from the 1800’s to today. Two ways sugar consumption in the United States differed in the 1800’s than today is how much sugar we eat and how it affects our bodies.
This story represents the suffering induced by the isolation. In the time period on which this history was reflected, it was socially tolerable for wives to be
"The Red Badge of Courage" is the story of one young boy's journey through the Civil War and his quest for manhood. Henry, or The Youth as he is known in the book, is very naive in the beginning of the book. He sees war as something more glamorous and romantic than it actually is. He is very innocent and unaware of what war is truly like. Henry's only wish is to be seen as a hero and he believes that fighting in war will grant him that.
Before women could fully take advantage of birth control and the liberty of the sexual revolution it remained illegal in some states. The Supreme court in 1965 ruled Connecticut’s1879 anti- contraception statue to b...
Since nearly the invention of commercially sweetened foods and advertising that celebrates their goodness, sugary foods and drinks have been identified as the cause of several chronic diseases, contributing to poor health. When a person’s diet contains a lot of sugar, especially when it begins early in life, it is likely to cause health problems and possibly death at a young age. For these and many other reasons, it is essential to carry out research in order to establish the extent to which these foods affect people’s health. In gaining more information on this issue, the argument can be made that the government should ban sugary foods and drinks should be sold in elementary and middle schools.
...show us that the choices for women in marriage were both limited and limiting in their scope and consequences. As can be seen, it came down to a choice between honoring the private will of the self, versus, honoring the traditions and requirements of society as a whole. Women were subject to the conditions set down by the man of the house and because of the social inequality of women as a gender class; few fought the rope that tied them down to house, hearth, and husband, despite these dysfunctions. They simply resigned themselves to not having a choice.
Valerie has successfully portrayed the picture of change in gender role within the ethnic community. She has cited an example of Sansei. In the book, it is said that the older generation was purely patri...
The concept of culture refers to the perceived generation to generation and is somewhat durable. To call such behavior cultural does not necessarily mean that it is refined, but rather means that it is cultured. Hence it has been acquired, cultivated and persistent. Social scientists have invented the notion of a subculture to describe variations, within the a society, upon its cultural themes. In such circumstances, it is assumed that some cultural prescriptions are common to all members of society, but that modifications and variations are discernible within the society.
the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut court case was a landmark case it involved the connecticut law from 1879 that banned the use of any drug used for birth control. the supreme court ruled that the use of contraceptives is protected under the right to marital privacy and government intrusion in the matter is unconstitutional. this right to decide whether or not to have a child applied only to married couples, the 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird case changed that. in 1967 William Baird, after giving a lecture, gave a condom and a box of Emko Vaginal Foam to an unmarried 19 year old woman and ...
Rosaldo, Michelle Zimbalist, “Woman, Culture, and Society: A Theoretical Overview”, in Lamphere, Louise & Rosaldo, Michelle Zimbalist, Ed. Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press. 1974.
She states “that when it comes to sugar the average adult consumes 23 teaspoons a day”. She explains that the excessive sugar intake can lead to obesity and other health issues (Mansfield Sugar Surprise). This can pose as a major health concern in adults and children. In the Sugar Overload: Corporate Profits vs. Public Health, Serge Ahmed, a researcher in Southern France, states “that a child consumes an average of 100 grams per day of sugar”. He also concludes that children are at risk 60% more than the average adult and sugar has been a direct link to obesity. (Ahmed Sugar
Constitutional patriarchy instilled by the government in Central Europe greatly affected women during the time period following World War I. Communism attempted to give women more rights and promote their equality among men, but it failed to do so often. As a regime, patriarchy favored masculine gender roles throughout numerous aspects of society. Loves of a Blonde, Man is Not a Bird, Daisies, and A Woman Alone display the effect of patriarchy on women and how women could be successful or unsuccessful on attempting to go against it. The women in the films showed how women were pressured by society to accept relationships and a role in family, which were repressive. However, not all women conformed to the pressure and attempted to change their lives by taking different attitudes and actions toward the situation. By observing these films, a viewer can receive a viewpoint on how patriarchal society affected women and how women acted on their positions.
"The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. It cast its eyes upon the roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper thoroughfares. A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile camp fires set in the low brows of distant hills" (Crane 1). The above quote is the opening paragraph of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. Just this one paragraph foreshadows the themes of change in color and its underlying messages, and the subtle idea of social heritage. Crane, through his detailed writing, colors the war as an ever changing psychological standing as well as the changing ideals of the socially learned heritage.
The first step is to understand the effects of sugary drinks on the human body. Daines states that, “Many factors contribute to obesity, but there’s one pernicious one: added sugar” (632). Consumption of sugary drinks alone has held an increasing placement in our daily eating routine. As stated in A Tax That Invests in Our Health, “We consume about 300 calories more a day than we did 30 years ago, and most of those calories come from sugar-sweetened sodas, energy drinks or fruit-flavored drinks” (632).
A study done in India in 2015, by the Department of Clinical Psychology, at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, records the increase of caffinated product use by teenages. According to their study, usages have increased up to 70 percent in the past 30 years, “Consuming common caffeinated beverages like sodas may enhance the preference for sweet foods throughout the lifespan when regularly taken during childhood It can contribute to excess caloric intake and have a negative impact on one’s nutrition intake” (Kumar, 1).