The film Raise the Red Lantern illustrates the tactics that women and men use to retain power in the home. The concubines and the master use various tactics like lying to ensure that they dominate the affairs of the house. Competition is especially fierce among the women who need the master’s adoration to control the household. Deception, need for control, and oppression pit the members of the master’s family against each other as they viefor power.

Deception is a tool of power among the concubines. The four concubines use their charm and wiles to get the attention of the husband. On the wedding night of Songlian, a servant comes to call the master in distress.Comparatively, in the text, the third mistress was watching Lotus (Songlian) the whole time she was consummating her union with Chen Zouqian (Master) (Tong, 1990, p. 17).After spying on lotus, she eventually sends for Chen. In the film and the text, the husbands protests against seeing the sick third concubine, but he yields eventually. However, it is apparent on the next day that the third concubine has recovered completely (Yimou, 1991, 14:49-15:14). The third concubine pulls this ailment trick another time, and the master still falls for it.

The second concubine, Zhou Zhou manipulates Songlian by pitting her against the third concubine. Due to the deception, women cannot trust each other. Songlian even admits that she has been fooled the entire time she was married. Towards the end, she is seen drinking in celebration of her 20^th birthday and talks to the young master (Yimou, 1991, 1:41:15- 1:43:43). She admits that the deception has worn her down and that she has lost hope of living.

Cruelty and oppression are notable regardless of eachwoman’s status. In fact, women instigate abuse against one another. Songlian mistreats Yan’er whom she orders to clean her hair and clothes because she suspects that she is lice-infested (Yimou, 1991, 25:18-26:26).The text also highlights this cruelty although Swallow (Yan’er) brings this misfortune upon herself by being rude to Lotus (Songlian) when she arrives at the premises (Tong, 1990, p. 13). In the film, Yan’er is not merely as rude as she is in the film making Songlin’s cruelty unjustified.To punish the second wife, Songlian humiliates Yan’er by exposing her lantern secret despite promising to keep it. In the end, Yan’er dies in the hospital for having knelt outside in the cold all night long.

The red lanterns symbolize the oppression of women (Deppman, 2013, p. 128). The red lamps are used to control the women in the text and film.The pathway and room of the woman with whom the master wants to sleep are lit with red lamps.Consequently, the women obsess over whose turn it will be to have red lanterns. Notably, when it is discovered that Songlian feigned her pregnancy, the master orders her lights to be put out. On the other hand, Songlian herself uses these lamps as justification for persecuting Yan’er. Even the servants shift their loyalties from concubine to concubine depending on whose lanterns have been lit the most. Consequently, the lantern symbolizes the sexual and emotional oppression that the master subjects the women.

The household hierarchy means that women cannot rebel as they would be severely punished.The text and filmhighlight the plight of women in a feudal system which puts the heaviest burden on women(Deppman, 2013, p. 133). Women are not just victims but equal participants in oppressing each other. The text and film majorly depict the women as rivals for the attention of the master, whom they have worn out emotionally and sexually (Tong, 1990, p. 16). Oppression of women is notable in the way they treat each other and the master’s use of the red lantern.

Control is important in retaining one’s power. It guarantees a person will get what they want. All the concubines want to control the husband. Each of them needs to prove to the other women that the master will do her bidding. Songlian is intoxicated by her ability to win over her man. In one scene, she states that she will not join the other women for a meal. The master protests that the concubines will start talking to which Songlian responds that she does not care (Yimou, 1991, 54:06-55:19). Eventually, the servant runs in the rain to bring the food. In the text, Chen’s frail masculinity is a weakness that not Lotus and Coral are aware of and use to manipulate the master (Zeppman, 2013, p. 132). The women are acutely aware that Chen is a defeated man although he thinks he is in control.

The old master is the symbol of control in the film and text.He uses food and sex to control women (Zeppman, 2013, p. 145). A special menu is created for the woman with whom he is pleased. Additionally, his order of switching the lanterns on and off is absolute. Worse still, he makes the women witness the activity as if to remind them who is in charge. When Songlian is accused of being mad, he takes on a fifth wife whose room he ensures is decorated with lanterns, although there is no mention of lanterns in the text.Control is the ultimate goal of every member of the master’s household, although as a patriarch, he uses sex and food to keep the women in line.

Deception, need for control, and oppression pit the members of the master’s family against each other as they jostlefor power. Zhao’s film illustrates the artificiality and riskiness of relationships in a household infested with competitions for power and control.The master uses his position to control his cunning wives. Even though family members may momentarily attain power but the whole family suffers as a consequence. Songlian feels guilty for Yan’er’s death. Equally, the master’s four wives wear him out,as they incessantly demand he meets their conjugal needs (Zeppman, 2013, p. 131). Even so, the women suffer the most as the master easily replaces and forgets them. Indeed, the film excels in depicting family dynamics in a polygamous household in the feudal Chinese society of the early 20^th century.

References

Deppman, C. (2013).Body, space, and power: Reading the cultural images of concubines in the works of Su Tong and Zhang Yimou. Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, 15(2) 121-153.

Yimou, Z. (1991). Raise the red lantern. Yang Zhou.

 
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