Raise the Red Lantern Film Analysis

Raise the Red Lantern is a film that has played an important role in the history of China. Therefore, I want to make a more detailed analysis of this film through what I have learned in this semester, including scene analysis and film analysis. For scene analysis, I chose the very beginning of the film: when Songlian was just entering the Qiao Family Compound, based on what Songlian said with housekeeper and Yan'er was worth exploring.

Scene Analysis

Figure 1:

First of all, Figure 1 shows the moment that Songlian first enters the house. This image uses a median-shot to show a 20-year-old girl, Songlian. Songlian was dressed in pink, with long black hair and a double ponytail, with two baby blue bows tied at the bottom of her hair. Songlian is placed at the bottom of the middle of the screen; there’s still a lot of room on her head, but her lower body is cut off by frame. Songlian's eyes are not flat but upward looking. Behind Songlian, there is a huge wall of boxy Chinese characters, there are so many words engraved on it, and on the wall are all the rules written in Qiao Family. The light on the left side of the picture is brighter. Songlian's left face and the rules wall on the left side are brighter. The light on the right side is a little dim. Songlian's right face and the rules wall on the right side are rather dim.

Figure 2a:

Figure 2b:

Second, Figure 2a and Figure 2b are shot from different camera angles. In 2a, director Zhang Yimou takes a long-shot with the housekeeper on the left and Songlian on the right, both are down the middle of the screen. In front of them are very old gates and very delicate sculptures. The camera position is on the right side of the screen, showing the two people's behavior from the side angle. After that, a realy quick camera movement, goes to the Qiao Family's next compound, the housekeeper and Songlian are shot from behind. Housekeeper now stood on Songlian's left as before, with his left hand pointing forward to lead Songlian to her room; Songlian's right hand hold the suitcase and follow the housekeeper. In front of them was the old compound door again. On either side were compound rooms, the middle of the window covered in red paper.

Figure 3:

Figure 4:

Third, most people say that the film uses an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but some other resources say 2.35:1. From the lens, we did not find that movie screen of the aspect ratio is much exaggerated, in general, it gives us a relatively comfortable feeling. Therefore, the film is not using a widescreen aspect ratio like 2.35:1, but should be 1.85:1. In addition, we can also see the changes in lighting effects. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show Songlian enters the center of compound with the housekeeper. Starting from Figure 1, the lighting effect is not obvious. The overall visual style is dim. However, as the film goes on, the boundaries of each frame is a compound gate. Whenever Songlian crosses a gate, we can feel that the brightness of the whole picture has been raised to a higher level. It is because of the angle of the sun, and the right side of the picture is always brighter than the left. This is the same as our daily life, there are always places where the sun does not shine, not deliberately by the director. Hence, here we can call it "lighting naturalistic."

Figure 5:

Figure 6:

Fourth, the movie also shows a lot of shot-to-shot content, and editing match has to be mentioned at this time. When Songlian met Yan'er, Yan'er was sitting in the fourth mistress's yard, washing clothes, as shown in Figure5. When the film turned to the next scene, that is, when Songlian sat next to Yan'er, Yan'er was still washing her clothes. This is a very typical action matching which the physical action in the first shot continues in the second shot. Later, when the housekeeper says "Fourth Mistress, please come in," we can see that Yan'er looks straight ahead, as shown in Figure 6. It can be seen that the position of the camera must be facing Yan'er, and the height is the same as the height of Yan'er's eyes. It is one of the classic editing matches too, which is called eye-line matching. Finally, the two pieces are very smooth and there are no other interludes. Eye-line matching and action matching are generally employed to smooth over cuts rather than call attention to them. Thus, this clip also matches the third point in editing matching, which is called graphic matching.

Figure 7:

Figure 8:

Figure 9:

Finally, sound is indispensable in this film. In this scene, there is no other voice expression, all the voices are just the dialogue between Songlian and Yan’er. Among them, the most classic one must belong to Songlian and Yan'er's last dialogue. In Figure 7, Yan'er says "so you are the fourth mistress". The camera gave Yan'er a median-shot. From her voice and expression, we can see Yan'er's disdain and anger. After that, we moved to the angle of another camera, facing Songlian and Yan'er sideways, and stretched the distance to put Songlian and Yan'er into the same picture. As shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9, Songlian says "Yes, I am the fourth mistress, bring my suitcase inside." From her tone and face expression, we can also feel Songlian's inner dissatisfaction and show Yan'er the majesty of the fourth mistress.

Overall, the detailed description of characters, the movement of cameras, the description of lighting and aspect ratio, the analysis of editing match and the analysis of sound, all of these show the whole process of Songlian from entering the Qiao Family Compound to her own residence. Later, I will expand the scope of discussion to the analysis of the whole film, such as other related characters and contents: master, color, symbolic content of the film, sound and so on.

Film Analysis

Thinking back to the Raise the Red Lantern that I saw at the beginning of the semester, I finally got a chance to calm down and think about the benefits of this film. What I like most about this film is its concise narrative style. Besides, the political metaphor also makes it so good. Zhang Yimou leaves almost everything at the surface level, never try to explain deeper to the audience, so as give us a chance to have more self-understanding. He is entirely relies on lens language, music sound effect to build depressive feeling. The use of long shots and fixed scenes naturally brings the audience into the narrative, as if the story is happening around them, which is the real daily life.

First, everything in the movie is symbolic. Let's talk about the red lantern. What does the lantern symbolize? Probably power or reputation? In a word, it is all sorts of people are fond of "outside things". Second, the three wives are individuals with different personalities. They have means and ambitions. They may everything they want through their means, but what they lack is freedom. They chose “outside thing” over freedom. The film is called "Raise the Red Lantern", and perhaps Zhang Yimou wants the audience to realize that we should put our lives on the line and not give up our most precious freedom for the sake of our lives.

Second, the master who never showed up is also a highlight of the character setting: the master doesn’t show up means that the film is not just criticizing the situation of the rich family's male superiority, on the contrary, it is a kind of general reference to the men of that era. Women of that era were born with the destiny of being male slaves, and their marriage and destiny itself were a kind of victim. At the end of the film, Songlian, the fourth wife, is so mad that he doesn't feel sorry for her at all. Instead, he naturally marries the fifth wife. At that time, men generally regarded women as a kind of consumer goods. Because men were all like this at that time, there is no need to be accurate to a specific man in the film.

Next, I would like to make some analysis on the role of Yan’er. The role of Yan’er is quite special. Her status is not equal to that of other wives. She has no power, also no education. However, she calculated and pursued the same things as the wives. Finally, she froze to death in the snow because she refused to admit her mistake. The result was also tragic. I still remember that Songlian pushing the door open and seeing the house full of patched lanterns is the most unexpected plot of the film, which is so real and sad when you think about it. Zhang Yimou may want to use this character as a comparison to wives, in order to show that no matter what class you are in, pursuing fame and fortune will not end well.

Also, the color of the film is really deserve to be discusses. In this film, red, black, white and blue are used alternately. Bright red, originally regarded as the most festive color in China, has become a shackle here. Black, the deepest color of security, but a layer of darkness over the feudal forces. White, a really pure and transparent color, has become the stage of death. Finally, the red lantern is always surrounded and closed by dark blue brick walls, which also reveals the theme of the work: behind the red, the essence is bound by backward feudal thoughts.

Another thing that is worth mentioning is the music sound of the film. The hammering of the feet seemed to strike the heart of the audience. There's not lot of music in the film, but every time that the music shows up, it is always at the appropriate time. Meishan's several stanzas will present the reminiscences of the past, as well as the sadness of the reality incisively and vividly. In addition, the female chorus between Songlian and Yan’er, a simple tune, gets faster and faster, and then comes to a screeching halt. These music are full of sadness and desolation, indicating the inevitable tragedy.

Last but not least, the whole movie portrays the house as a closed world. The burning and extinguishing of lanterns meant victory and defeat for the people. New women constantly join the stage, but everyone is confined to this repressed space, unable to escape, just like the crazy Songlian and the dead third wife at the end. At the end of the film, a burst of firework ushered the fifth wife. It represents another cycle, like the film's four chapters “summer, autumn, winter, summer”, and so on. Director Zhang Yimou made mockery of the authoritarianism in the feudal society in the film, and also expressed deep regret and sympathy for the destruction of women at that time.