Ruan Lingyu：center stage （1992）

For more than a century film has been described as serving the function to “Catch reality on the wing”, it’s a blend of imagination which inspired from reality and the world of possibilities, reflects as a mirror of culture, society, economy and most importantly, the emotion shared by filmmakers and spectators. In China, motion picture was introduced around year 1896 but not until 1905 was the first film, a recording of a Peking opera “Dingjun mountain” was officially shown on the screen. My research topic is about female characters in contemporary Chinese films. The research is spitted into four parts: 1. the characteristics, features, development and transformation of female characters; 2. Directors of female films and their styles ; 3. The comparison of females characters from foreign culture (mainly about Hollywood and the UK film industry); 4; The difference among films from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

 

The post-1930 era is called the first "golden period" of Chinese cinema, where several talented directors, mainly leftist, worked. The period also produced the first big Chinese movie stars, namely Hu Die, Ruan Lingyu, Zhou Xuan, and Jin Yan. Among them, Ruan Linyu, as an icon of that age, left behind 29 silent films and a piece of posthumous paper with words: ‘gossip can kill’, committed suicide in Shanghai on March 8, 1935. In the year 1992, film <Ruan Linyu> was produced by Golden Way Films Ltd in memory of this legend actress after five decades; she is still popular and remembered by many, she is living in our heart. “Ruan's acting was so natural, accurate and graceful that, even after 70 years, her films still seem fresh. She was adept at conveying meaning through her whole body, thus overcoming the limitations of early silent films.” (1) From 1927—1935, she had successfully performed in 29 silent films, but only 9 copies of these left today.

                             Maggie Chuang and Ruan Lingyu

Due to the difference of social ideology, the appearance female characters in early western films were presented in an obvious distinction. As Mulvey, Laura wrote; “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy on to the female figures which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibition role woman are simultaneously looked at and displayed. With their appearance coded in strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” (2) Traditionally, actress in Hollywood films in last 1930s served the basic two functions: 1. as erotic object for actors and spectators; 2. as a balance of the tune of a film. In Chinese philosophy male is called “Ying” and female is called “Yang”, only when “Ying” and “Yang” are in harmonious proportion can anything be composited in a right way. Actress in Hollywood in 1930s such as Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman were highlighted as features of beautiful, elegant and sexy, but few of them worked as a “leader” in a film. The hidden message was “Male honorable, female inferior”. The trend extended to the 1950s, when Marilyn Monroe’s maiden work “river of no return” (1951) was shown on the screen, it was like a blockbuster in the America and worldwide range. There were a big amount of close-ups of her legs or face as a burden of sexual objectification of male spectators. “Camera technology and movement combine with invisible editing, all tend to blur the limit of screen space. The male protagonist is free to command the stage, a space of spatial illusion which he articulates the look and creates the action.”(3) Either on the storyline or the technique wise the foundation was built up for the female characters.

When look back over a distance of 80 years, 1930 was the year of state awareness, political awareness and nation awareness for Chinese people, especially for women. More and more women were educated, commenced to fight with the feudalism and strive for the social states they deserved. The film ‘Ruan Lingyu’ is a biopic which combined drama and documentary in order to restore her 25 years legendary life, includes her splendent career and tragic personal life experience. As an actress, someone used to comment: "This is an actress who shows excitement down to the curl of her fingers, and whose face reveals every kind of mercurial change." She can be a seductive prostitute, a cordial mother or desperate nun, in the film ‘three modern ladies’, Lingyu concurred controversial voices and denials and volunteered to perform an Impoverished female factory worker who is seeking happiness and freedom in the cruel world, set a role model for female spectators. 

Ruan Played a prostitute in film 'Goddess' who can sacrifices herself for her child. This impressive scene of film is when she envisages the bully and tries to protect her little boy. The camera was set between the bully's legs, highlighted the brave of her and the pathetic fate of women lived in low-class.  

Compared to the life attitude of women in 30s and 90s, the difference is obvious. The film includes short interviews of Maggie Chuang and Jialing Liu, the main actress in this film. When the director Kuan asked Maggie if you were Ruan will you make the same decision to finish your own life, Maggie answered: “ As a actress, a celebrity, I totally understand the pain and pressure she was taking at that time, but I am a girl who never give up fighting, I am afraid I will let them disappoint.”

Bibliography

1.       http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/film/165476.htm (25/03/13)

2.       Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism （1999）Mulvey, Laura

3.       Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism （1999）Mulvey, Laura

Reference

1.       http://brightlightsfilm.com/64/64ruan.php (25/03/13)