n both Raise the Red Lantern as well as in In the Mood of Love the protagonists struggle, mostly silently, without their partners. In both films, each protagonist forces themselves to live a certain way based on ideologies they have declared. In the opening scene of Raise, main character Songlian announces to her step-mother that she will marry for money. She has bound herself to this fate. In Love, both Mr. Chow and Su Li-zhen silently suffers because that refuse to back the code of marriage that they vowed too, even though their partners have broken it already.
All of the characters are alone, and War Kar-Wai and Zhang Yimou make this apparent by purposefully leaving out their spouses from the films. This conscious choice isolates the main characters, and makes them more reflective individuals. The viewer is studying each character individually. Both films are artfully shot, carefully trapping the melancholy emotions of each character in a beautiful frame. This effect dramatizes the isolation of each character, and makes the viewer more connected to their personal struggle because that is all the viewer has seen.
In Raise, Songlian begins the film as a frustrated young woman. She angrily agrees to this marriage. The close-up of her face as she states her decision show her true emotions about what she is agreeing to do. This tight close-up also makes the viewer look her directly in the face, and at no one else. Songlian is warned by her stepmother that she will only be a concubine.
Dramatically, and rife with emotion, Songlian asks her: “isn't that our fate?”. Her apparent disenchantment combined with her fierce nature allow the viewer to identify with her choosen struggle. When she moves into her new husband’s complex, it is lar...
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...ses as to further show these restraints of society.
The effect of each director’s choice to only show the main characters, and not their partners, changes the viewers perception of the narrative. The viewer becomes dependent of reading the scene from the main characters individual emotions. The conscious choice of both directors to isolate all of their the main characters ultimately makes them more self-reflective.
The viewer is forced to study each character individually, and to understand how isolation effects each personality. The way both films are so artfully shot, and how each scene is so carefully composed, further isolations the emotions of each character, each frame a beautiful picture of discontent. This effect dramatizes the isolation of each character, and makes the viewer more connected to their personal struggle because that is all the viewer has seen.
The speaker's relationship with her husband had to go over a few changes. At first, she did not want anything to do with her husband, she was still fourteen years old consequently feeling unready on handling such a big responsibility, but she had no other choice but to stay with him as she was a part of an arranged marriage. Later on, the speaker accepts her relationship with her husband and
...disrespect from Tea Cake. She threatens him, saying if he leaves her again without her permission she will “kill yuh” (124). Within Janie’s past marriages her husbands treat her comparable to a slave and isolate her from the community. Even though her voice is still developing, she will not allow her husband to show her contempt. During the trial, Janie both matures and shows control over her voice, as she faces the horror of retelling the story of Tea Cake’s death to the court room. While giving her testimony, Janie knows when to talk; however, when she is through “she hushed” (187). By expressing and controlling her voice in court, Janie ultimately reveals her new found vocal maturity, but it is only because of her final marriage to Tea Cake that Janie finally develops an understanding of when and how to use her voice.
In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.
marriage. She was to do just as he said, without so much as uttering a
Finally, even though, for a long time, the roles of woman in a relationship have been established to be what I already explained, we see that these two protagonists broke that conception and established new ways of behaving in them. One did it by having an affair with another man and expressing freely her sexuality and the other by breaking free from the prison her marriage represented and discovering her true self. The idea that unites the both is that, in their own way, they defied many beliefs and started a new way of thinking and a new perception of life, love and relationships.
is very upset and think that they are the cause of her "death". Also, the Friar
the end of the play and it seems that every step of love they reach a
Ninety percent of Americans marry by the time that they are fifty; however, forty to fifty percent of marriages end in divorce ("Marriage and Divorce"). Love and marriage are said to go hand in hand, so why does true love not persist? True, whole-hearted, and long-lasting love is as difficult to find as a black cat in a coal cellar. Loveless marriages are more common than ever, and the divorce rate reflects this. The forms of love seen between these many marriages is often fleeting. Raymond Carver explores these many forms of love, how they create happiness, sadness, and anything in between, and how they contrast from true love, through his characters in "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". Four couples are presented: Mel and Terri, Nick and Laura, Ed and Terri, and, most importantly, an unnamed elderly couple; each couple exhibits a variation on the word love.
The article, “Measurement of Romantic Love” written by Zick Rubin, expresses the initial research aimed at presenting and validating the social-psychological construct of romantic love. The author assumed that love should be measured independently from liking. In this research, the romantic love was also conceptualized to three elements: affiliative and depend need, an orientation of exclusiveness and absorption, and finally a predisposition to help.
Karen Horney “Distrust between sexes” proceeds go into the different aspects of Love and Relationships. In this book Horney gives examples on how women deal with emotions which transitions from childhood to adult life. The fundamentals of documentation are displayed in unavoidable ways in most occurrences people run into. People are blind to the fact that love in relationships can be destroyed by overt or covert? In some cases lack of sympathy is then blamed, when relationships don’t work out between two individuals. Some couples fall into social, economic defaults which impacts the relationships. These are issues people never stop to think about, all they want to do is shift the blame to one another in a relationship. Self-preservation is a basic instinct for everyone and is present at birth. This can enhance the natural fear of losing ourselves in a relationship (Horney 1930). In Horney discussions I found that a person only feels despair because of the deep emotions of abundant from “Love” during childhood. That can develop more mixed emotions that turn into mistrust, which causes delusions that tell them they are not getting love from their partner (Horney 1930). With these types of feelings mistrust sips into relationships, starting from a child carries over into adult life. Reasons are when a child comes into the world learns everything it needs to know from its parent. If the child’s emotional needs are not taken care of when the family increases, the child will feel a need to compete for affection from the parents, which could turn into a painful situation. With this being said the child grows into an adult with suppressed aggression. If he/she has not learned how to deal with...
the viewers. Even though all aspects of the film are important, one that draws my attention the
Robert Nozick’s Love’s Bond is a clear summary of components, goals, challenges, and limitations of romantic love. Nozick gives a description of love as having your wellbeing linked with that of someone and something you love. I agree with ideas that Nozick has explained concerning the definition of love, but individuals have their meaning of love. Every individual has a remarkable thing that will bring happiness and contentment in their lives. While sometimes it is hard to practice unconditional love, couples should love unconditionally because it is a true love that is more than infatuation and overcomes minor character flaw.
...y, but ultimately achieves the same conclusion of overcoming their individual isolation. They also do a great job of demonstrating their isolation theme in different ways. Being isolated can be demonstrated in writing very effectively when used the right way.
All of these examples prove that this film uses strong cinematic techniques that further immerse the audience into the film. The visual experience is one that is significant to film itself; therefore it is the most important element to this medium. Without a strong idea of cinematic technique, the film would not be succesful. This film successfully suspends reality, and for about two and a half hours, the audience feels as if they are in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s during the civil rights movement.
Despite the authors writing the stories decades apart, there are striking similarities between the protagonists. Defying the societal standard of the time, they rebelled against their marriages and strove for any feeling