The new Chinese woman featured in Goddess (1934) can be seen as a manifestation of the chasm between the reality and people’s ideas on the new world that is also manifested through the difference between visual and textual documents focusing on the issue.
It is necessary to note that the Chinese society was transforming and people concentrated on the change into the new (modern) world. New issues arose and women’s question was also brought to the fore. However, this question was seen and discussed differently in different settings. The perspectives of male socialists dominated textual documents while visual documents revealed different aspects of the real life of the new Chinese woman.
First, it is important to consider the way the question arose and the media used to discuss it in the society. The very notion “new woman” came to China from the debates that were held in the United State, Europe and Japan (Harris 249). Initially, the notion referred to women who were politically active and fought for females’ rights in regard to suffrage, birth control and labor. However, soon the meaning changed and people started focusing on females’ rights concerning their marital and other freedoms, their socio-economic status and so on.
The phrase acquired its own connotation in China. The concept of the new woman or the woman question appeared in China in 1918 when A Doll’s House in Chinese theatres appeared. Due to the influence of the culture and specific distribution of gender roles in the Chinese society, the concept was mainly associated with females’ marital freedom and their ability to choose the right alternative.
Since socialist movement was very strong at that time, the majority of those participating in the debate saw the alternative in the woman’s ability to perform the right role in the society. It was believed that women, in the vast majority of cases, were unable to handle the issues of the capitalist society and they had to “remain in the sheltered space of the home rather than face commodification under capitalism” (Harris 251).
Importantly, these ideas were largely spread through textual documents (magazines, journals, newspapers). In these written texts, authors tried to reveal their views and persuade their contemporaries that the concept of the new woman was quite distorted. It is even possible to assume that the authors tried to ‘explain’ how it is necessary to understand the notion. As has been mentioned above, it was important to differentiate between the truly new woman and a substitute who focused on pleasures of the capitalistic society.
Though some critics providing textual documents argued that filmmakers revealed idealized concepts, it is possible to note that films were closer to the truth than other sources were. For instance, there were hundreds of women who had to be prostitutes to make the ends meet and provide for their families. This kind of woman is depicted in the film Goddess (1934).
Thus, Ruan Lingyu creates a very realistic image of a woman who has no power and has no means to stand for her rights (Goddess). Dominance of men (be it a police officer or a gambler) is overwhelming and many women have few opportunities to resist. Females only can try to escape to come across another man who will take a total control over them (Goddess).
There is a vivid difference between what was written and shown in the film in question. The major reason for this contrast is the fact that the filmmakers focused on the story that could happen (and often took place) in China at that period. There was little ideology or debate in the film. Notably, the new woman in the film was even more oppressed than the old woman.
Without even noticing, films revealed the contrast between the ideology and reality. Thus, the new woman was (or, at least, was supposed to be) free from the man. In a way, the protagonist of the film was free as she did not live in her father’s house and she was not married. At the same time, the woman depended on men who were potential clients, police officers and the gambler who simply stated that she was in his power. Of course, the protagonist had little to do with the new woman created by authors of textual documents who were concerned with the right social niche for a woman.
Nonetheless, it is possible to identify one major peculiarity between the textual and visual documents. In both cases, there are little hopes that the Chinese female can be the true new woman, at least, when it comes to women of the 1930s. The male-dominated society was unready to let the woman free. In textual documents, women were still seen as too vulnerable to be successful in a capitalist society.
There is also a feeling that the authors believed the woman should not succeed in the society. Actually, it was achieved through the distribution of gender roles, as only some areas were available for them. At the same time, the film in question shows that the female is unready to stand up to men’s power. At the end, the woman is punished for her attempt to be independent. Importantly, she is dreaming about her son’s future and it is clear that even though he is an orphan, he may succeed in life because he is a male. Therefore, it is clear that the two types of media had quite a similar view on the prospects of the new woman in the Chinese setting.
In conclusion, it is possible to note that there was a great chasm between the way the new woman was seen in textual and visual documents. This chasm was based on the fact that textual documents revealed male’s views on the new woman and her place in the Chinese society while visual documents depicted true stories. In various articles, male authors (or female authors who mainly supported the view of the majority) tried to convince their contemporaries that only a few women could take up certain roles which were important for the development of the society.
Whereas, the rest of women had to remain under care (but, in reality, under control) of men as females were unable to survive in the capitalist world. Such visual documents as the film Goddess (1934) did not contain ideology but they simply depicted reality, which was often quite ugly. Irrespective of the major difference between textual and visual documents, they also had quite a significant similarity.
In both types of media, the idea of women’s inability to be truly free is brought to the fore. Again, in articles, it was revealed through moral admonition and criticism while in films real-life stories were shown. It is clear that the new woman could not exist in China in the 1930.
Works Cited
Goddess. Web.
Harris, Kristine. “The New Woman Incident: Cinema, Scandal, and Spectacle in 1935 Shanghai.” Transnational Chinese Cinemas: Identity, Nationhood, Gender. Ed. Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997. 239-263. Print.