Katie Skarvan
December 8, 2013
CHI 321-001
Identity. What is it?
How do we define it? Is it what
our name is? Who are parents are? Where we were born? Places we have been or seen? How we act in certain situations? Relationships we have made? What we wear or how we wear it? Whatever it is, the whole concept of identity
is not a simple one that can be summed up in a sentence or two. Although we cannot answer who we are or how
we define our identity in a single sentence, we can have a relatively sound
idea of the concept if we organize it into five basic categories:
relationships, experiences, possessions, location, and clothing. The purpose of my final project is to explore
the concept of identity from these five different perspectives and to use the films
we have viewed in class to demonstrate how these five facets can define the
concept of identity.
One way that a person can define his/her
identity is through the relationships that they have made with people, be they
sexual relationships, friendships, or family relationships. In Ann Hui’s film Post Modern Life of My Aunt, Ye (the main character in the film)
depends heavily on her relationships with other people. For example, when her beloved Pan cheats her
of her money and leaves, Ye’s hair goes completely grey. The greying of Ye’s hair can be used as a
symbol of her dependence on others to maintain sanity. When she loses Pan, it is as if she loses
part of herself.
In the film Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, director Ang Lee follows the lives of an
average family of three girls and their father.
Throughout the course of the entire film, one could argue that each of
the three girls’ goals in life is to take care of their father until they get
married off. The attitude of the two
girls that get married completely changes upon announcement of their engagement
to their respective fiancés. They go
from depressed, robotic prisoners to liberated, joyous women full of hope,
jubilee, and an entirely new outlook on life.
The expressions on their faces change from depressed and dark to bright
and gleaming. These women’s
relationships with their future spouses appear to completely define their identity
and fulfill what they view is their purpose in life.
In
Li Yang’s Blind Shaft, Fengming (the
boy who gets killed) is forced into a relationship with a prostitute. In a private meeting, one of the killers says
to the other killer, “Feng can’t die now, he’s never been laid!” (01:02:10). This quote shows that the con artists want Fengming
to experience sex before his death because they feel that this experience is a
defining moment from turning a boy into a man.
In the eyes of the con artists, identity is defined by one’s experiences. They feel that if you have not experienced
certain things by the time you die that you have not truly experienced life. One can conclude this because if the men did
not feel this way, then they would have went ahead and killed Fengming without
going out of their way and spending money to find the boy a prostitute.
In another scene in Blind Shaft, one of the con artists yells at Fengming because he
has not shaved his face. This scene
further supports the idea that one’s experiences and actions define his/her
identity. Another scene that supports
this idea can be seen at 01:17:27, where one of the killers says, “Congratulations,
Fengming! You’ve grown up.” This is said
when Fenming first drinks alcohol.
Earlier in the film, the two killers discussed making Fengming drink
alcohol alongside having sex. The fact
that they had specifically planned these events out for Fengming shows that these
characters believe that identity is based on the experiences that one has had
in life.
Aside from experiences and relationships,
possessions can also be used to contribute to one’s idea of identity. For example, in Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle, the two protagonists
rely heavily on a bicycle to define their individual identities. Guei, the countryside protagonist of the
film, relies on the bicycle to make money for himself, while Jian, the
protagonist from the city, relies on the bicycle as a means of social
status. Jian stays up late at night
practicing bicycle tricks to show off for his love interest, and when Guei
steals his bicycle back from Jian, Jian gathers his gang of friends to hunt
Guei down and beat him up. The following
still frame shows how attached Guei is to the bicycle. This frame is from one of the scenes when
Guei and his friends try to steal the bicycle away from Guei. The agony and distress shown on Guei’s face
shows his passion and attachment to the bicycle. Without this bicycle, Guei has no job, and
without a job, Guei has no money to pay for anything. To him, this bicycle means the world because
without it, he really does not have a whole lot to claim as his own.
Xiaoshuai,
Wang, dir. Beijing Bicycle. Pyramide Productions, 2001. Film.
Location, like possessions, and
relationships, can also arguably contribute to one’s idea of identity. In Peter Chan’s Comrades: Almost a Love Story, Li Xiao, the main male protagonist,
and Li Qiao, the main female protagonist, both come from the Chinese mainland
but migrate to Hong Kong to take advantage of new job opportunities. Even though the two characters live in Hong
Kong, they are not from the area. Li
Qiao seems to have more of an identity crisis in comparison with Li Xiao. This could be partly because she is so enamored
by Hong Kong life and the multitude of opportunities that it presents with
people like herself to make money. Li
Xiao, on the other hand, seems more certain about his identity. This might be because he has spent less time
in Hong Kong than Li Qiao, or it might also be because of his love interest
back home. Either way, one can see the
progression of Li Xiao’s identity as he falls in love with Li Qiao and evoles
from a true Chinese mainlander to something else. By viewing this film and analyzing the
effects of living abroad, one can see how a person’s location can have a big
effect on his/her perception of identity.
This film can also be used to
illustrate how clothing can define one’s identity. For example, in the still frame below, Li
Qiao is wearing her McDonald’s uniform.
The McDonald’s uniform can be used to symbolize Li Qiao’s passion and
desire to make money, while Li Xiao’s regular clothing could arguably represent
his inadaptability to function in multimillion dollar corporations like
McDonald’s.
Chan,
Peter, dir. Comrades: Almost a Love Story. Golden Harvest Company, 1996.
Film.
Be it through relationships,
clothing, location, experiences, or possessions, most people can agree that
identity is defined by a combination of things.
It cannot be explained in a single word or phrase; rather, it is a conglomeration
of the five above-mentioned facets that shape who a person is. Through analysis of Chinese films, one can
see how various scenes can be used to support this idea.
Works Cited
Chan,
Peter, dir. Comrades: Almost a Love Story. Golden Harvest Company, 1996.
Film.
Hui, Ann,
dir. Post Modern Life of My Aunt. Beijing Poly-bona Film Publishing
Company,
2006. Film.
Xiaoshuai,
Wang, dir. Beijing Bicycle. Pyramide Productions, 2001. Film.
Yang, Li,
dir. Blind Shaft. Bronze Age Films, 2003. Film.
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