English 232 essay

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a motion picture fantasy drama that falls under the category of wuxia , which means chivalric martial arts film . The film gained so much popularity in Asia , it managed to make its way to the states and win four Academy Awards , including best foreign film . The film was made on a 15 million budget using Mandarin dialogue , and it grossed 128 million . The plot of the film is set in the Qing Dynasty in China during 1778 , the 43rd year under Emperor Qianlong . The

Quing Dynasty is often referred to as the Manchu Dynasty This dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China from 1644 to 1912 . So apart from being an action film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is also very historically relevant to Chinese culture . Along with the beautiful cinematography , the film also has a deeply metaphoric plot

A major reason why this film has had such a successful reception is because it exceeds the expectation of just being a simple action film Within all of the films historically relevant wardrobe , and artistic fight scenes , lies a plot line that makes a sociological statement about the lives of the Chinese living during this era . When I first viewed this film , like many others , I was confused by the ending scene where Jen casts herself off of the cliff to die . After some research and further analysis , I see this as a reaction to her societal obligations On top of this , this scene was not meant to be taken literally , but figuratively as to the growth in maturity she had attained by the end of the film . This is seen in all of the contrasting relationships . Jen is representative of youth . Though she is talented , she lacks the same restraint to which Shu Lien and Li adhere . They are elder veterans , and they represent contributing citizens of society and the status quo . The audience is made aware that Shu Lien has a lot of self control by the fact that he has not yet married Li , when there is a sense they should already be wed and have a child around Jen 's age . In fact , the prude level to which either Li or Shu Lien refuse to act on their feelings is cringe worthy for the amount of emotional tension it musters . On the other hand , Shu Lien 's relationship with Jen bs between being fatherly and sexual . The most key and symbolic scene that justifies this notion is the final fight scene where Jen lunges the sword straight at Shu Lien . The sword has long been metaphorically identified as a phallic symbol , and the fact that Jen is such an attractive empowered female aggressor , Western critics couldn 't help but eat this up . This exact scene is often viewed as a release of Jen 's sexual frustration , or symbolic of her aggressive male like courtship of Shu Lien , making him the female . In fact , all of the battles between these two...