" The world is a cold place but we can bring warmth to it".
-- The quote from one the of characters Master Liang pinpoints a key theme in Wu Tianming 's movie The King of Masks, that is, the power of the true feelings in times of oppression and inequality. Wu Tianming is a representative of Chinese fourth generation filmmakers, who are known for a simple, natural and realistic way of storytelling as well as their thematic exploration of human nature and meaning of life . Masks is Wu's academic-winning work through which we can see his philosophy from the depiction of ordinary people and the trivial elements of daily life. The story takes place among 1930s in a small town of Sichuan, revolving around King, a street artist's change of perception from keeping to the feudal idea that his skills cannot be passed on through girls to finally allow his beloved adopted granddaughter Doggie be the heir. 1930s is a time of social hierarchy and gender inequality where the rights of minority are exploited; it is also a time of moral confinement, since most people do not receive education and unquestioningly follow the societal rules and customs simply because they are told to. However, Masks shows us that the power of true feelings and humanity can eventually allow people to overcome all the barriers and defeat injustice, as in the ending King is finally able to let go all of the societal restrictions to teach Doggie face-changing because he realizes that nothing is more important than their familial love and bonding. The film's emphasis on emotional depiction, accompanying by artistic cinematography, tranquil scenery and the charm of Chinese traditional art, all have contributed to the timelessness and immutability of the p...
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...s beliefs should be guided by conscience instead of fixed societal rules, and the cause of justice and liberty are worth fighting for.
Works Cited
Dodd, Kevin. "King of Masks: The Myth of Miao-Shan and the Empowerment of Women." Journal of Religion and Film 16.1(2012): Article 5. Accessed May 27, 2014. http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol16/iss1/5
Garcia, Maria. "King of Masks, The." Film Journal International News. Accessed 27 May, 2014. http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000697887 Jeff. "The Fourth Generation of Chinese Directors." China Culture. Accessed May 27, 2014. http://www1.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/18/content_67749.htm
Ribeiro, Luisa F. "Unmasked: A Glimpse Into a Lost World." Baltimore City Paper. November 8, 1999. Accessed May 27, 2014. http://www2.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=7639
History has encountered many different individuals whom have each impacted the 21 in one way or another; two important men whom have revolted against the government in order to achieve justice are Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. Both men impacted numerous individuals with their powerful words, their words carried the ability to inspire both men and women to do right by their morality and not follow unjust laws. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by David Henry Thoreau along with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, allow the audience to understand what it means to protest for what is moral.
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life. The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consists of three children, two older sisters and him the youngest, his two sister’s reside in Changsha 1. his father has an everyday occupation working as a journalist at a local newspaper. Things start to take a turn early in life for Liang Heng, his family politics were always questioned, the mistake made by one of his family members would impact his entire family and it would be something they would have to suffer through, it was impossible for them to live down such a sin.... ...
Reasonably, the moral citizen comes to clinch these obligations and establishments that bond them to their civic by their own wish. It is required in the space of these intertwining associations that drag us to one another that liberty has sense, and is given perseverance.
In his famous essay, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,’’ Martin Luther King, Jr. cites conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and defying unjust laws. In the same way, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” that people should do what their conscience tells them and not obey unjust laws. The positions of the two writers are very close; they use a common theme of conscience, and they use a similar rhetorical appeal of ethos.
To achieve this goal, he crafts a stylized capitalistic society that inflicts grave injustices upon his protagonists. The avarice inherent to this society governs everyday life within Street Angel. Xiao Hong, for example, lives with adoptive parents so corrupted by greed that they prostitute their older daughter, Xiao Yun. In a transaction that reflects the inhumanity of higher-level capitalism, these parents sell Xiao Hong to a local gangster. By juxtaposing the implications of this sale with Xiao Hong’s exaggerated innocence, Yuan appeals to his audience’s emotions, stoking anger toward social values that could enable such barbaric exploitation of the poor. Yuan employs a similar juxtaposition later in Street Angel, when Wang visits a lawyer’s office in a skyscraper – an environment so divorced from his day-to-day realities that he remarks, “This is truly heaven.” Wang soon learns otherwise, when the lawyer rebuffs his naïve plea for assistance by coldly reciting his exorbitant fees. The lawyer’s emotionless greed – a callousness that represents capitalism at its worst – contrasts strikingly with Wang’s naïve purity, a quality betrayed by his awestruck expression while inside the skyscraper. Again, this juxtaposition encourages the film’s audience to sympathize with a proletarian victim and condemn the social values that enable his
Disney’s 1998 classic tale, Mulan, is renowned as a timeless film, one that inspires young girls everywhere. It is by far the most girl-power filled film in the Disney Princess franchise due to its eponymous heroine who goes to war in place of her father by impersonating a male soldier. Not only does she singlehandedly save the whole country of China, but she also manages to get a husband in the process, with whom she lives happily ever after. Although this sounds like the perfect tale of girl power, some more sinister themes lay beneath the innocuous, picturesque surface.
Ralph Ellison lucratively establishes his point through the pathos and ethos of his fictional character, the invisible man. He persuades his readers to reflect on how they receive their identities. Ellison shows us the consequences of being “invisible.” He calls us to make something of ourselves and cease our isolationism. One comes to the realization that not all individuals will comply with society, but all individuals hold the potential to rise above expectations.
This includes the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws, based on the principle by Thoreau that we men should be first, and subjects afterwards. People have an important duty to refuse a government that is corrupt, and distance themselves from these unjust institutions.
In his semi-autobiographical novel, Confessions of a Mask, Yukio Mishima examines the struggle for acceptance by a man living outside of the socially accepted norms. A motif that strongly pervades this novel is death and the images of blood associated with it. Kochan, a Japanese adolescent living in post-war Japan, struggles with his homosexuality and his desire to be "normal." In order to survive, he must hide behind a mask of propriety.
Enderwitz, Susanne. “Shahrazad Is One Of Us: Practical Narrative, Theoretical Discussion, And Feminist Discourse.” Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 18.2 (2004): 187-200. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
A mask is a covering worn on the face or something that disguises or conceals oneself. All the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet hide behind masks to cover up who they really are, which contridictes a main idea, expressed by the fool, Old Polonius, "To thine ownself be true" (Polonius - 1.3.84). All the characters share strengths and triumphs, flaws and downfalls. Instead of revealing their vulnerabilities, each of them wears a mask that conceals who they are and there true convictions. The masks brought about feelings such as fear, hatred, insanity, indecisiveness, ambitiousness, and vengeance all of which contribute to the tragic ending of the play. Shakespeare reveals the idea of the masks in the first lines of the play, "Who's there" (Barnardo - 1.1.1). "Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself" (Fransisco - 1.1.2).
Examples of cultural constructions can be seen throughout history in several forms such as gender, relationships, and marriage. “Cultural construction of gender emphasizes that different cultures have distinctive ideas about males and females and use these ideas to define manhood/masculinity and womanhood/femininity.” (Humanity, 239) In many cultures gender roles are a great way to gain an understanding of just how different the construction of gender can be amongst individual cultures. The video The Women’s Kingdom provides an example of an uncommon gender role, which is seen in the Wujiao Village where the Mosuo women are the last matriarchy in the country and have been around for over one thousand years. Unlike other rural Chinese villages where many girls are degraded and abandoned at birth, Mosuo woman are proud and run the households where the men simply assist in what they need. The view of gender as a cultural construct ...
There has been a long-established controversy over the duty of a citizen in a democracy, on which the Athenian philosopher, Socrates, and the American writer, Henry David Thoreau, had their own thoughts. Both philosophers had varying views on numerous subjects relating to government and conscience. Should the citizen obey all laws, even unjust ones? Or, should they rebel for the sake of doing what is right? Democracy is ruled by the people, for the people. In both Socrates’ time, and Thoreau’s, the question remains on whether this was, in practice, true. The two iconic philosophers’ opinions regarding the duty of the citizen in a democracy, the role of conscience, and the importance of nonviolent resistance, still influence people to this day. Their views augment the understanding people have of the current democracy, how consciences deal with right and wrong, and roles as citizens questioning every issue. Philosophy is often ingrained in the history, politics, and the environment
Most American’s who hear the term masquerade will find a mental image of a ballroom dance floor with men and women dancing in a small mask that conceal one’s identity. Or they might find pictures of a Mardi Gra celebration and the famous parades rolling down the streets of Loisanna strolling through their memory. While both the masquerade dance and Mardi Gra celebration have their traditions, history, and cultural influences, yet, other masks garner many people's attention, and that is the masks of Africa. The art of the masquerade is a critical part of the culture in many African societies. Moreover, the masks are enriched with history and form a means of communicating their past with a somewhat secretive
There is an inherently [worrisome] aspect to the question of what is self and how can it be free. After all, is the self not so easily determined or identifiable? Should self not just be an identity shaped and defined by the specific individual? However, as recognized by Franz Fanon in Black Skin, White Masks, the concept of self is not so easily classified, nor is it so easily determined by the individual. Both observing and experiencing French colonialism in the Antilles, Fanon recognized the societal disparity that existed between black Martinicans and white colonialists. This social inequality between the black Martinicans and the white French demonstrated that whiteness, the physical skin color, determined humanity and anything less