The difference of female films between
Chinese and western was growing within culture and social ideology. The fable
from Milton’s <Paradise lost> explained the origin of women as a rib of man
which is wild accepted in the western world. Thus it can be seen that the
social status of men and women was delivered by the religious belief. French psychologist
Lacan Jacaueo summarized it as the famous “Phallogocentrism”: The privileging
of masculinity in the construction of meaning; phallocentrism with a view to
logocentrism.” The Chinese folklore indicates that human beings were created by
a goddess called ‘ nv wa’, she was kind-hearted and selfless, when there
appeared a big hole in the sky, she scarified herself to fill it up. It can be regarded
that the women was respected and admired in some way in ancient China. As time
passed the system of enfeoffment had taken root in China, women were gradually placed
in asymmetry, imparity and adverse position. Man dominated the society while
women were on a passive position and be imprisoning in the structure of
morality. In the 1900s the world was concussed by the feminist trend of
thoughts, promote gender equality and oppose the perpetuation of gender
discrimination in economic, political, legal, and social structures.
British feminist film theorist Laura mulvey
came up with her analysis of female film in her thesis “Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema” as: “ Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look ”. In her
opinion, the pleasure films give us was due to the scopophilia. “There are circumstances
in which looking itself is a source of pleasure, just as, in the reverse formation,
there is pleasure in being looked at …Woman displayed as sexual object is the
leit-motif of
erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to
striptease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she
holds the look, plays to and signifies male
desire. Mainstream film neatly combined
spectacie and narrative.” (1). Briefly speaking,
female characters work as the function as a ‘decoration’ in western films, for the gaze of
male spectators.
In the history of Chinese film the
definition of female film is controversial. Nowadays most think that a female
film ought to signify Equality consciousness, express the evaluation and desire
of women. Although many of male directors such us Xie Jin and Zhang Yimou(
represent the 5th generation director in the mainland China) has
created many classic female characters such as Juer ( Red sorghum) and Judou (
Judou), some critics deemed that only female directors can transmit the “keenly-felt
pain” as a woman to viewers.
