This movie, which will from now on be referred to as CTHD, is a masterwork of film that achieved great success in the international market, particularly in the West. Its breathtaking scenery and outlandish fighting scenes in combination with a deeper, ideological conflict creates a movie fit to stun audiences worldwide. However, the Chinese people themselves were not nearly as impressed or enthused by the film, citing myriad reasons for their dismissal of CTHD. This persisting contrast between foreign and domestic reception of films is an ever-present challenge Chinese film directors face.
On the surface, CTHD is about Jiao, a young woman who is going into an arranged marriage while loving another man, the latter of which is too poor to contend with the former. Jiao is caught between her desire to please her parents and bring honor to her family and her overwhelming need for freedom. In many respects, this is a reflection on the competing ideologies of an “old China” versus a “new China.” Under the Confucian system, the family was the most important unit for the commonfolk, one that took complete precedent over one’s individual personhood. Everything one did was for the family, thus arranged marriages were established to improve a household’s social standing and wealth. Subsequently, this left many of China’s young women with no choice but to marry an often unknown man merely for the sake of their family. On the opposite end of this spectrum is the current wave of hyper-individuality overtaking China which is represented by Jiao’s intense desire for freedom. While set several centuries in the past, the social commentary of this movie is quite relevant to the modern era. In the end, perhaps in an overly theatrical manner, Jiao realizes that the only way for her to truly be free is for her to perish by her own volition.
The stark differences in reception also intrigued me in that this movie appeared to be one that the Chinese people could certainly relate to and appreciate. However, the reviews were not so kind. The four main actors, being from different regions in Asia, were criticized for their non-Mandarin accents. Only Zhang Ziyi, who plays Jiao Long, has a Beijing accent, coinciding with the location of the movie. While seemingly superficial, this critique reveals the ego-centric nature of Beijingers. Because it is the capital and largest city in China, Beijing tends to set the precedent for the rest of the nation. Its dialect is even considered to be the ‘standard’ Chinese dialect, although it is one of the only regions that speaks it.
Another critique is that CTHD is just another “wuxia” film, or one featuring martial arts as a central theme. I suppose this would be like a stereotypical teenage romance film from America being popular in China while Americans dismissed it as a slight variant on a clichéd theme. While it was never all that popular in China, it received dozens of accolades and praise from the international community and even became the best-selling foreign film in America for a time (and perhaps still). Interestingly, the movie was as highly praised for its ideological statements as its cinematography, a rare occurrence for popular films in the Western world. If the high-brow “artistic community” and popular community can come to a consensus on a film, it is truly a miracle. Thus a lack of support from the Chinese themselves is greatly disheartening yet understandable.
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