Zhangyimou's Ju Dou is revolutionary because of its creative use of color and erotic themes of adultery. Ju Dou challenged the conservative and stagnated Chinese cinemas. In addition, due to its avant-garde styles and erotic themes, Ju Dou was the first Chinese film nominated for Oscar, but at same time raised enormous controversies in China. The film is about a beautiful young woman (Judou) married to an abusive owner (Jinshan) of a dye mill in rural China. Later on, Tianqing (Jinshan's brother) had an affair with Judou. The responsibility to confirm with the ethical code of Xiao (Filial Piety) and their sexual lust of Yin lead to many conflicts which eventually lead to the tragedy of death.
In short, the current essay analyzes the two dominant…show more content… In the first section, I will try to show that both Yin and Xiao have alternatively dominated the protagonists’ behaviors in different scenes of the film. I will also use some of the artistic aspects of the film to support my ideas. The last section analyzes how the conflicts between the two dominant forces of Yin and Xiao have generated tremendous pressure and stress which eventually overwhelm the characters and lead to their death.
Yin refers to sexual drive or list. Yin is one of the major motivations that dictate Judou's and Tianqing's behaviors. According to the traditional Chinese culture, women are supposed to withhold their sexual desires. To further prevent women from realizing their sexual fantasy, they would have to wear tiny shoes to limit their freedom. These examples show that Yin is undervalued and criticized in the mainstream Chinese culture because Yin represents selfish desire rather than family devotion. Throughout the film, Yin serves as a powerful drive that suppresses the motivation of Xiao and…show more content… However, Xiao and Yin are like fire and water. They cannot be compatible. Eventually, they have to run into each other and cause conflict. According to Freudian theory, people have three kinds of self; ID (Yin), Ego (self-control), and Superego (Xiao). The conflicts between ego (Yin) and superego (Xiao) cause stress which lead to many behaviors (ex., defense mechanism) (Larsen, 266). For example, lust might urge Judou and Tianqing to have sex which subsequently leads to guilt due to superego. Guilt can also reinforce the value of Xiao. However, the dominance of Xiao leads to self-depletion (exhaustion of the will power), which allow lust to occasionally creep back and lead to self-indulgence. This whole process creates a positive feedback which maintains and reinforces the conflicts throughout the film. In other words, Yin reinforces Xiao, and Xiao reinforces Yin. The two protagonists are in this endless curse of Yin and Xiao that cannot be broken. For example, the conflicts between Tianqing and his son Tianbai are directly resulted from the interactions between Yin and Xiao. Yin causes the birth of the Tianqing; however, Xiao causes Tianqing to have guilt and to respect the traditional value of name which prevents him from telling the truth to Tianqing. But at the same time, Tianqing still is controlled by Yin and have sex with Judou which eventually
