Thus, for filmmaker Xie Jin, he had to first solve the following question: how can film governed by the criterion laid out in Mao Zedong’s 1942 “Talks at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art” represent a high standard of revolutionary purity and be wildly appealing. Jin found his answer by developing a unified style to evoke meaning. Red Detachment of Women is an engrossing depiction of the transformation of household slave, Wu Qionghua, as the essence of the communist revolution taking over China. She is the embodiment of the lowest working class, while her mentor and savior Hong Changqing is the political commissar. This film presents a classic revolutionary melodrama where propaganda is represented throughout the film as an element of
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While walking along the path where the stone boundary marker lies, she notices a marching group of revolutionary recruits and Hong Changqing, the man who earlier emancipated her from proletarian servitude in that exact location. The stone boundary marker is especially important as it also divides traditional China from revolutionary China – between the influence of the immoral Nationalists and the virtuous Chinese Communist Party. The clip opens from a fade transition of the medical officer who healed Qionghua to an establishing shot of her walking along a dirt road at a low angle. Jin’s use of low angle shots make the proletariat heroine appear both powerful and …show more content…
Walking up the hill the camera slightly pans left as Qionghua notices revolutionary troops approaching her. Through the application of an eyeline match, the camera then cuts to a long shot of the revolutionary troops marching towards the camera as their diegetic singing is heard. Off-screen space is treated as “alive,” with the recruits walking toward the right borders of the frame composition and mark the films fictional reality. Changqing, a participant in the march, approaches and looks into the camera at 0:24 as he is about to exit the borders himself. This technique reveals that he noticed her, and is complimented by a close up reaction shot of her calling out to Changqing. The two then greet each other and inquire about what has transpired since Changqing was forced to leave her bedside because of his
While walking along the path where the stone boundary marker lies, she notices a marching group of revolutionary recruits and Hong Changqing, the man who earlier emancipated her from proletarian servitude in that exact location. The stone boundary marker is especially important as it also divides traditional China from revolutionary China – between the influence of the immoral Nationalists and the virtuous Chinese Communist Party. The clip opens from a fade transition of the medical officer who healed Qionghua to an establishing shot of her walking along a dirt road at a low angle. Jin’s use of low angle shots make the proletariat heroine appear both powerful and …show more content…
Walking up the hill the camera slightly pans left as Qionghua notices revolutionary troops approaching her. Through the application of an eyeline match, the camera then cuts to a long shot of the revolutionary troops marching towards the camera as their diegetic singing is heard. Off-screen space is treated as “alive,” with the recruits walking toward the right borders of the frame composition and mark the films fictional reality. Changqing, a participant in the march, approaches and looks into the camera at 0:24 as he is about to exit the borders himself. This technique reveals that he noticed her, and is complimented by a close up reaction shot of her calling out to Changqing. The two then greet each other and inquire about what has transpired since Changqing was forced to leave her bedside because of his