Isabella Tianzi Cai
April 6, 2009
Thank you (Professor Ye, Megan, and others) for organizing this event. It’s wonderful to be here and talk about Zhang Yimou! (We do it for a week! Awesome!) I assume that most people here today have not seen Ju Dou. I hope by the end of presentation, some of you will be interested in seeing this film. It will be screened here tomorrow at 3 pm.
Freedom and Morality in Ju Dou
We say that a man is free when he or she is free to think and act, both for his own good. Perhaps in different cultures, the means to the same end varies drastically. However, it is absurd to think that people would harm to themselves for no good reason. This is why I think that the story of Ju Dou was tailored to awaken the thoughtless, unreflective, and apathetic lot, who has continued to live like dogs in China even today.
Yang Jinshan (Jinshan meaning a gold mountain) is a miserly silk dyer. He has an adopted son, Yang Tianqing, who is about forty years old. Jinshan has had two wives, who were rumored to have died in his hands without leaving him an heir. Ju Dou, the third woman bought into the household, much younger than the men, suffers no less. However, she rebels. Encouraged by Tianqing’s love (or lust, which I am not sure here), she takes control of her life and does not die tragically under Jinshan’s tyranny.
The film provokes our moral sentiments at various twists and turns of the plot, most of which centers on Tianqing, whom I would like to characterize as a chained man who is afraid of freedom. One night, Jinshan tortures Ju Dou again. Ju Dou screams at the top of her lungs. Tianqing, not more angry than scared, grabs a hatchet and cleaves a wooden stair which led to Jinshan and Ju Dou’s room. Why does the director make us witness Tianqing throughout this scene without an insert of what actually happens in Jinshan and Ju Dou’s room? In the end, Tianqing retrieves. A potentially revolutionary effort is stifled, and most distressingly, this event habituates Tianqing to cowardice.
Tianqing is presented with a perfect chance to kill Jinshan at one point. Jinshan lies unconscious on the way home after falling off his mule. Tianqing finds Jinshan in the dark. Carrying Jinshan on his back, Tianqing could have easily thrown him off the cliff. Especially after all the unthinkable maltreatment that Jinshan has committed against Ju Dou, we expect nothing to stop Tianqing from doing so. Yet, Tianqing is hesitant. He cannot bring himself to kill a person who has already killed his two wives and who, if lives, remains a threat to Ju Dou. Are we to conclude that Tianqing is too kind? Or are we supposed to question the man’s notion of freedom and morality?
Tianqing respects Jinshan because of Jinshan’s title. The hierarchy in the extended household is set: Jinshan is the head of the household whereas Tianqing is only an adopted son. As long as a male with a blood tie to Jinshan or Jinshan himself lives, Tianqing will not be recognized as anything more than a family slave. Tianqing understands the hierarchy, but it seems that as long as he can live, he does not challenge it. In his mindset, the hierarchy is something permanent, just like how our ancient Greek philosopher Thales views water as the ἀρχή or the first principle.
In contrast to Tianqing, Ju Dou does not condition herself to the hierarchy. She remains silent when it is necessary, but whenever she notices a chance to improve her wellbeing, she seizes it. She speaks of death frequently; she is so ready for it that she is no longer afraid of breaking the rules and the traditions. No question that she has her brief moments of happiness when she smiles beautifully, but Tianqing, with wrinkles all over his face, always smiles with incredible reserve and ineffable ache.
The story has a tragic ending. All the efforts that Ju Dou and Tianqing have made to live in peace end up no more eclectic than self-destructive. The apparent conclusion is that if you go against a rigid system without actually changing its structure, the system will crush you. When Ju Dou suggests that Tianqing and her son shall leave the village and start a life somewhere else, Tianqing says, “Don’t bring that up again. We have been through it all before. We have to look after the business and think about Tianbai.” For Ju Dou, the desire for freedom is her drive. For Tianqing, freedom does not matter that much. He is satisfied with sneaking out with Ju Dou and having quick sex under a scarcely frequented bridge. Throughout the film, he is the same old coward who waves the hatchet but who never confronts his authority.
On the other hand, we shall also ask ourselves if this man is really free to go if he makes such a choice. His reputation will follow him everywhere, and his life will be equally hard too. Whereas a woman, who is a subsidiary wherever she goes, wrecks no greater havoc than being called bad names, a man has to bear real burdens like supporting a family. Ju Dou has already produced a son. While she can count on her son to take care of her during her old age, Tianqing can only count on his labor. He sleeps in a different household and comes to work for Ju Dou in the day. He is afraid that by giving up this life, he will have no life.
Gladly that age is far gone. There are traces of China’s feudal hierarchy which persist in the Chinese mindset, but to think China as a country where arranged marriages happen everywhere is absurd. During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese eradicated bad traditions along with those good ones. Peasants freed themselves from their oppressive landlords, but students also purged their teachers and professors. In other words, freedom and morality have failed to go hand in hand. As a filmmaker, Zhang Yimou has captured the root of the problem with Chinese culture especially in the 1920s. Chinese culture instills morality like respect, filial piety, and other values, but it chains every newborn to what his or her ancestors believe. Tianqing’s words still ring in my mind, “Don’t bring that up again. We have been through it all.” Many scholars have used the word “circular” to describe the East. I think that the function of Ju Dou is exactly to help divert this circular path by being provocative in an efficient way.
