The Image of Women in Zhang Yimou's Red Trilogy: Silence and Resistance in Chinese Patriarchal Structures

Abstract

Introduction: Zhang Yimou's filmography is an important vector for the cultural diffusion and knowledge about the social reality of China. As a prominent director of the Fifth Generation, his works has been recognized by numerous international awards and is deeply rooted in the historical reality lived by the Chinese people throughout the different historical periods of the 20th century. His figure is important for the understanding of Chinese cinema from a female perspective because of the leading role of women in its films. Objectives: The study is aimed at describing the reality of female representation and making explicit the underlying feminist message into three films representative of the director's style in the initial stage of his filmography. Methodology: The study is based on the filmic analysis of three movies grouped as the Red Trilogy (Red Sorghum, 1987; Ju Dou, 1990; Raise the Red Lantern, 1991), focusing on the identity, role and subjectivity of the female protagonists. Results: Through the analysis, we evidence the narrative, symbolic and aesthetic mechanisms which give a voice and presence to women as the main subjects, developing an underlying feminist text in the context of rural Chinese society that places them as voices of resistance against violence, victimization and the silence that they must assume due to their own condition as women. Discussion: Zhang Yimou’s cinema is characterized by the central role of female figures that are endowed with their own voice within the context of strongly oppressive and patriarchal structures, which tend to reduce them to silence. The woman's own act of resistance arises as a process of self-awareness that ultimately leads to resistance and empowerment, although with an uncertain result, being marked and limited by the violence of the very structures that they challenge.