The Red Sorghum

                                                                       The Red Sorghum

“红高粱”是表达中国传统的农村道德和现代价值之间的冲突的电影。本文通过人物之间的冲突呈现现代变革的焦虑，展现时代发展的思维变化。

“The Red Sorghum” is a film which expresses the clash between traditional Chinese rural morality and modern value. In the film, the anxiety about modern change is presented through the clashes between the characters. “My grandma’s” unwillingness to marry the “big head Li” between her father’s demand is a clash between modern Chinese idea of free marriage and the traditional appointed marriage. The same goes to the various other clashes, like “my grandma” and “my grandpa’s” sexual relation in the sorghum field, “my grandpa’s” urinating in the wine pot, all stands for the Chinese peasants’ resistance of traditional ideas. But the anxiety lies in “what to do next”. Though “my grandpa” succeeded in taking over the wine distillery and making the famous “Nineteen miles of Fragrance”, their lives carries on just as traditional as it used to be. It is only after the Japanese invasion (which can be considered as another form of “modern change”) that the changes take the place in the village. Chinese anxiety of modern change actually lies in two ways in the film—one is that their resistance against traditional values are fierce, but after the resistance succeeds, they cannot jump out of the traditional values; two is that Chinese people can look for a way to modern change by themselves, but the change must be a voluntary process, not in the way which is forced by the foreign invaders like the Japanese.

The people in the village, especially “my grandpa” and “my grandma” hope that they can lead a peaceful life which is in accordance with their wishes. The same goes to the other workers in the distillery. But the Japanese invasion has made this an entire dream, and the nightmares are brought into the dream. The Chinese people are eager to get rid of the chain of traditional values, but the invasion has become another chain which tightly strangles their dream. The death of “my grandma” and many other workers is a revelation of the nightmare and the breaking of the dream. The death and the warfare have all eventually become the psychological scarring of “my grandpa”, the movies says that after those things, the world he sees has become a scarlet one. When the simplest dream of life of ordinary Chinese people is destroyed, their anger, anxiety and sadness become the scar for the rest of their lives.




51Due网站原创范文除特殊说明外一切图文著作权归51Due所有；未经51Due官方授权谢绝任何用途转载或刊发于媒体。如发生侵犯著作权现象，51Due保留一切法律追诉权。