Raising the Red Lantern

This film is a testament for women living in a feudal society who find themselves powerless over long-standing traditions of their society forcing them to forfeit their hopes of happiness for a life term sentence of reality. walls of their living quarters strengthens this feeling of isolation experienced by all four women. As a result, the four women compete with one another to sway his affections by conniving and betraying the other for the sake of time spent with the Master. These rules act to further control women in an already repressive society of the time. The sound effects of bells and Chinese opera serves to enhance the intensity of their longing for real companionship. In addition to sharing the Master, each woman including their servants must obey strict rules of the household. This film is somewhat true to form because women of China especially during this period were very suppressed. The relationship between the Master and his four wives is purely sexual. The only color in their lives is the lighting of red lanterns signifying the sexual wishes of the Master Chen for that evening. This is both an asset and a liability for her because the others are very jealous of her and this isolates her even more than the walls. Although Chen had wealth, the women were still treated as objects of status without choices or hopes of some kind of personal happiness only sacrifice. This is reinforced by the conversations about the importance of having a son and how having a daughter was considered a wasted birth. Songlian struggles more than the other wives because she is younger and educated.