Raise The Red Lantern

Raise 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 women 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 the arrival of Songlian, and he guides her to her new room through the house's elaborate structure. To her surprise, in a long walk from the front door to her room, she doesn't see a single person. The lack of human presence couples with the absence of a wedding reception to create an impersonal atmosphere that prevails throughout the film.

Songlian must as Ward mentions in her book, "swallow such customs as breaking and binding little girl's feet." Every evening, a red lantern is lit in front of the courtyard of the wife Chen chooses to sleep with. Contrary to it's traditional symbolism red is anything but festive. There is no love among the wives only hatred. The relationships between Chen and his wives are purely sexual. Rather than helping each other out and raising their status within the family, the wives are constantly fighting among themselves to win favors from Chen. The wives who live in separate houses must compete for the affections and privileges of the master in accordance with his customs. Jealousy abounds between the wives and the scheming keeps the tensions high. Each night a lantern is lit in favor of whom the master will be with. Shortly afterwards all the lanterns of the wife's home and courtyard are also lit and the privileges begin.

In all human cultures most women marry and bear children regardless of what women personally want to do. Ward states, "We live our lives against a backdrop of the social structures, rules and expectations from a particular point in history and with in those cultural framework. Through the four wives they portray types of work. The number one way a woman can become powerful through work is reproduction. Having and raising children as well as care for others, is a way to develop a mask of some sort that can imply power.

Another type of work would be work as status enhancement. These activities promote prestige and social worth. To further explain the text states, conspicuous consumption, effective consumerism and social climbing are still work and are often highly valued. A final type of work could be work as moral, caring, repairing and integration. Women often create community, build bonds that hold groups of people together, and provide crucial services to others in time of trouble. This is very much displayed throughout Raise the Red Lantern. They also had body-work. Their concerns were in areas of sexuality and reproduction, that which would bring status. Everywhere in the world women's bodies are controlled, but in a community of women restricted by customs of a master, what better tactic then use your body.

The portrayal of female political relations is detailed with emphasis on well timed hostilities which act as a mask of more pointed assaults on their standing within their family. The film allows us the enter into a sealed world of a rich man's house, and see how jealousies fester in its hothouse atmosphere. Each of the four wives is treated with the greatest luxury, pampered with food and care, servants and massages, but they are like horses. They are cared for the whim of the master. Songlian is at first furious with her fate. But she then begins to learn the routine of the house, and is drawn into its intrigues and alliances. If you are only given one game to play, it is human to try to win it. Work is at the heart of the theoretical swirling around gender relations. (Ward 1999: 3)

We are the way we were raised to be and that varies dramatically between families, cultures and subcultural differences. Four women of different age groups are held prisoners in the estate of a rich man. Although they occupy houses of their own and have got personal maids, they are held like slaves, who have to be prepared to do their master services of love, whenever he feels like it. Then lanterns are lit in front of the respective house, just to signal the other concubines that they don't enjoy the master's favor this night.

Songlian is a newcomer in this miniature world. She didn't want to move into it: After the death of her father she was sold to the rich man in order to ease the financial worries of her stepmother. Therefore she can't lead a self-determined life and continue