Analysis of Red Sorghum Essay -- Red Sorghum Zhang Yimou China Movies

Analysis of rose-cheeked Sorghum WHEN Zhang Yimou made his directorial debut, Zhang Yimou made his directorial debut, chromatic Sorghum, in 1987, he was better known as a cinematographer whose talent had been crucial to the success of critically acclaimed films like Zhang Junzhaos One and Eight (1984, released 1987) and Chen Kaiges Yellow Earth (1984). Not only did sanguine Sorghum become a seminal film of the Fifth Generation, it also won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1988, becoming the first mainland Chinese film ever to be awarded the highest honour at a major international film competition. Set in the 1920s and 30s in northern China, Red Sorghums narrative centres on the fate of a young woman who is forced to marry a rich old leper but who eventually falls in love with a younger man. The motif of female oppression in feudal China is repeated in Zhangs next two films, Ju Dou (1990) and Raise the Red Lantern (1991). The films form a loose triptych, linked not only by similar them atic concerns but also stylistic elements. The latter include the gamy use of colour, lighting and bold composition to create the sensuous images and metaphors which have distinguished Zhang as an original auteur. Equally prominent be the silences and spare talks music and sound are used with precision -- nothing extraneous is added. This article focuses on how visual and aural components in Red Sorghum are employed to enhance the dramatic aspect of the narrative as well as to convey philosophical and metaphoric meaning.RED SORGHUM is narrated as lots by its write upline as by its splendid images and aural qualities. The film is photographed by Gu Changwei (who also shot Chen Kaiges (Farewell, My Concubine) in Cinemascope the music is smooth by Zhao Jiping, who has since composed the rest of the music scores for Zhangs films. The opening sequence establishes the vibrant mood and mythical atmosphere of the film and introduces the themes of passion and freedom through powerful im agery and music. It also establishes Zhang Yimou as a visual sensualist. In a deserted setting comprising mainly sand and stone, a strain of espousals music grows progressively louder. A traditional red sedan chair carried by a group of shirtless men, followed closely by a retinue of trumpeters and drummers, laud the harsh landscape. Inside the covered sedan chair, the pretty face of a young br... ...vineyard. The workers revolt against the Japanese, and after their uprising is crushed, the Japanese order two of the local people skinned alive in front of the others. This sequence, shocking in its detail, is a dramatic change from the fable that went before. Red Sorghum perhaps apprize be read as a parable of Chinas development, or as a hymn in praise of the way the workers resisted the Japanese invaders. Western audiences in all probability are going to be more interested in the melodrama and the overwhelming visual quality of the film. It is some kind of irony that when Holly wood switched over to cheaper and high-speed forms of making color films, classic Technicolor equipment was dismantled and sold to China - which now makes some of the best-looking color films in the world. The cinematography in Red Sorghum has no desire to be subtle, or muted it wants to splash its passionate colors all over the screen with abandon, and the sheer visual impact of the film is voluptuous. If the story is first naive and then didactic, that is one of the films charms Hollywood doesnt make films like this anymore, because we have forgotten how to be impressionable enough to believe them.