The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum

(Name Redacted)

Snow College

The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum 1

The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum

Introduction

Red Sorghum (1988) is a nationally acclaimed Chinese film from the 1980’s. It follows a woman through the latter half of her life, and depicts her journey toward overcoming her numerous trials as well as her gradual personal growth throughout the film. One significant aspect of the film is that it is based on the 1930’s and 40’s in China, when the Japanese caused upheaval and disaster for the Chinese people during their invasion of mainland China. More importantly, Red Sorghum has numerous symbolic scenes that add to the suggestive nature of the media. It deals with the connections between more sophisticated humanity and the primitive nature of man. This paper will focus on the subtle subtext in the film and the impactful subliminal messages that lie within (Sellnow, 2010). Red Sorghum impacts more than just the

Chinese audience for which it was originally intended (Pitman 1992), and does much to forward the more intimate view of the connections between humanity and nature, as well as showing the basic nature of man.

Red Sorghum

Red Sorghum begins with the main character, Jiu'er, on her way to marry against her will.

She appears to be complacent, although it is clear that she is unhappy with the arrangement. On her way to her future husband the sedan is stopped in the red sorghum that surrounds the house of her fiancé, and Jiu'er is nearly raped by a robber before the sedan carriers overcome him. The unfortunate bride is then brought to her old and leprous husband, who owns a wine distillery.

This marriage does not last long, as the leper dies soon after in suspicious circumstances. Against all odds, Jiu'er takes over the distillery and convinces the wine makers to continue working for The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum 2 her. She marries one of the sedan carriers, with whom she had had sex with in the sorghum while she was still married to the leper. They have a son, and for many years they produce wine and live well in the comforts of their distillery within the sorghum.

The happy and simple life of Jiu'er and her family comes crashing down around them with the invasion of the Japanese. The Japanese force them to cut down much of the sorghum in the surrounding area as well as cruelly torturing the native Chinese residents. One of the people who is tortured and killed by the Japanese a dear friend of Jiu'er who had worked and lived at the distillery with her. In retaliation, Jiu'er gathers together her family and distillery workers to fight back. They use the wine that they had produced to set a trap for the Japanese, but something goes wrong and it ends disastrously. Jiu'er and many others are killed, and the film ends with her husband taking their child back to their home in sorrow.

Perspective: Impact of rejecting cultural constructs and embracing primitive

behavior.

Modern views of human behavior come from the multilayered cultural constructs that have developed and changed throughout the generations. These cultural constructs often fail to encompass a broad spectrum of human behaviors and actions, thus limiting individualism.

Without even knowing why they do it, many people blindly follow these ideas. Their actions are based off what is expected of them rather than on their personal wants. Rejecting these constructs and embracing primitive behavior has a tremendous impact in life.

The entire film had scenes where the characters embraced their primitive wants rather than confining themselves to the societal and cultural structures that were in place. Particular scenes of anger in the film embrace the nature of man without the characters holding back their The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum 3 emotions. For example, the sedan carrier becomes enraged by Jiu'er’s rejection and urinates in a vat of wine. This doesn’t have any negative consequences for the wine- in fact, the wine is said to have been made better by his crude act. This is because the film director wanted to reinforce the idea that embracing primitive human nature is a positive thing. Jiu'er embraced her more primitive nature within the red sorghum when she had sex with the sedan carrier despite her marriage and the will of her father (Leiwei, 2007). It is also suggested that the sedan carrier killed the leper because he wanted Jiu'er for himself. Again, the director reinforces the idea that rejecting cultural structures and acting based on wants is a positive thing by removing any negative consequences to their actions.

This film is challenging the preconceived notions of how people should behave, and what a society without the current boundaries would look like. In the film, Jiu'er is told by her father to marry a stranger. She follows through with this despite her unhappiness because of the culture in which she was raised (Zhang, 1990). She was no doubt told that she should obey her parents, and did so despite the ways it would negatively affect her. She eventually overcomes her initial obedience to social constructs and embraces her more primitive nature, working to find happiness in a simple lifestyle that shirks many traditional aspects of her early life. In this way the film shows how the viewers should follow Jiu'er’s footsteps and embrace a cultural revolution that would change the negative constructs of their society. While this is not hidden in the film, it is not outright stated either. The director relies on the intuition of the viewer to discern the subtle messages within the film.

One of the ways that it supports the idea that cultural constructs are somewhat unnatural is through its mode of narration. The story is narrated with the voice of Jiu'er’s grandchild, and despite the fact that he is an adult while narrating, he is using the childhood memories of his The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum 4 father to tell the story. This gives the entire film a sense of childlike innocence, and removes some of the cultural barriers that would have affected the film it the narration was different.

When the viewers consider that fact that children are naturally unaffected by the cultural ideas of a society until they are taught to abide by them, it encourages them to reevaluate why they adhere to these views and actions in the first place. Red sorghum is extremely important in this film, as is suggested by its name. Without the sorghum none of the events in the film would have been possible, and not only because there would have been no way to produce wine. The sorghum also provided a location for many of the key scenes to take place, particularly those dealing with sex or death. The film ties all of the more basic life events back to nature by placing them within the context of the outdoors and the shelter of the red sorghum rather than having them take place within the confines of a home, or in a human altered landscape. More than that, the sorghum appears to have provided a type of safety for the characters in the film, and it wasn’t until the Japanese were forcing them to cut it down that their fates turned.

The ability of society as a whole to accurately distinguish truths is nearly nonexistent.

Although individuals can seek these truths out for themselves, it is extremely difficult for society as a whole to settle on a true view of any particular subject. This is because truths are generally multifaceted, and large groups are often incapable of recognizing the different dimensions of the same truth. For example, in the film the sedan carrier resorts to violence to protect Jiu'er, which is a good thing. However, the robber resorts to violence for his own gain and does not hold back from the possibility of harming innocent people, which is a bad thing. While an individual might recognize that violence is sometimes necessary to achieve good things, society as a whole will say that violence is bad. The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum 5

The life that Jiu'er and her husband live is not something that people can fully embrace without it negatively impacting their lives. Although one might be tempted to take things into their own hands, this is not something that people in real life are fully capable of due to the political and social systems that are set up today. It is impossible in the society that we live in to get back to the basics and fully embrace the primitive nature of man, and perhaps this is a good thing. There are parts of this unaltered view of mankind and self that would best be left alone for the good of the interconnectivity that we rely upon for our modern lifestyles. This includes the way that the characters of Red Sorghum embrace their ability to punish those that they believe deserve it. It is therefore extremely important to discern between media and real life. The things that happen in media are largely idealistic or at very least uncommon scenarios. One must acknowledge the differences between what is possible and what is not, as well as the probability of certain outcomes that occur in media frequently, but rarely in reality.

This piece of media leaves a legacy of questioning the preexisting social constructs of our society, and encourages individuals to embrace their primitive nature while questioning the ancient traditions and ideas that have been so ingrained into their minds. It uniquely challenges the common views shared between the people of a society, and encourages cultural change. It largely questions the relationship of tradition and morality, and what makes an action a moral one. The actions of an individual can be moral without following the traditions that have been passed down to them, and immoral while following these same traditions.

Conclusion

The subliminal messages in Red Sorghum show that one must be able to discern the difference between cultural standards of behavior and primitive human behavior. People everywhere blindly follow cultural and social constructs without ever questioning their origin or The Reclamation of Primitive Humanity in Red Sorghum 6 how reasonable it would be to apply old concepts to modern times. Despite the continuing dedication that people display for outdated and nonsensical cultural standards, these constructs are not always as important as they seem. This is exemplified by the numerous differences in cultures based on location. It is important to recognize the potential benefits of breaking free of these constructs and choosing to behave based on personal choices (Evelyn, 2014).

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References

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investigation on need for closure effects in two Western and two East-Asian societies.

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Leiwei. L.D. (2007). “capturing china in globalization: the dialectic of autonomy and

dependency in Zhang Yimou’s cinema. Texas studies in literature and language, 49(3).

Pitman, R. (1992). Video movies. Library journal, 117(2)

Sellnow. D.D. (2010). The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: considering mediated texts. Los

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Tianming, W. (Producer), & Yimow, Z. (Director). (1988). Red Sorghum [motion picture].

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Zhang, Y. (1990). Ideology of the body in Red Sorghum. East-west fil journal, 4(2), 38-53.