Without Husbands: Film Analysis

Superior Essays
It was believed that there was a region of China known as Li Chang where people did not get married and there was no commitment to one person. This all changed when a wave of modernization took place, changing China. Marriage was enforced, and it was said that the marriage arrangements resulted in suicide, due to individuals’ inability to marry for love. Today, even with a modernized China, there is still a region where marriage does not exist in the Mosuo Province. The film Without Husbands or Fathers follows the people of the Mosuo Province, using the typical roles of the people to establish the familial structure without the use of marriage. The matrilineal kinship pattern gives the most power to the women of the household. The film maker …show more content…
The film describes their view on reproduction, where the fetus is already formed but the man initiates the completion of the fetus. They are not seen as the father, only a person that provides an “ingredient”. This eliminates the father role, since they are not a part of the child. The brother of the mother takes over the role of the father, providing clothing and gifts that could be considered a father’s role. They do not have a concept of the father, as shown when they ask the young boy about it. He could not give a definition for father other than what the outsiders had told him, and did not include the father when asked to draw the family. Although science has told us that the father provides half of the child’s DNA which disproves their view, it is still considered in the film, allowing for an emic perspective. They do not discredit this idea as being wrong, instead the narrator discusses how these people view reproduction. Discussing their beliefs of reproduction gives an idea on how they perceive reproduction differently than others. The lack of a father creates the matrilineal kinship pattern, or tracking the lineage through the females of the family. This further creates a female power structure, since the family depends on the mothers and their children. The family estate is discussed as being passed down from mother to daughter. If there is an older son and a …show more content…
The film talks about how this society takes on some ancient concepts, where the Chinese did not have such strict marriage regulations. Almost all of China has the modernized view of marriage, between one man and one woman as a bond for life. The culture of the people in the Mosuo Province, however, did not take the modern view on a relationship or on reproduction. Since the community is located in a mountainous region, they are separated from modern views. Now that access to other parts of China is becoming more accessible, there are some changes that are occurring. Television and radio are becoming more accessible, leading to new information becoming available. A school was developed in the area. New information and technology may lead to modernization of this group, causing some sort of change to tradition, may it be insignificant or large. The increased population of China leads to urbanization moving outwards. These people, like other cultures, may one day end up losing most of their tradition to the wave of modernization. This film helps to showcase this small society before modernization takes control of it, possibly changing it

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