To Live Movie Analysis

In the film To Live, we follow a family as they encounter struggles and hardships throughout the turbulent period of the Great Leap Forward, in China. As with many time periods throughout the history of China, traditional Confucian values are present, and can be seen throughout the film. Such as one example early on in the movie in which the main character becomes angry with his wife for showing up and disrupting his gambling, and says that she is going to make him lose face. The concept of “face” within Confucian values is very important, because you must misrepresenting yourself and your family is considered a very bad offense, as seen in the rest of the film as the characters do their best to save face, trying not to look bad to their fellow neighbors or to the communist party as a whole. This is just one example of the traditional values to be found in this film, as there are many more to be seen. …show more content…
Early on we see that Fugui is still living with and taking care of his elderly parents, as is expected of a good son to do. None of the characters in this film have any problem with caring for their parents, as you might see of a western character tasked with caring for their parents. But the Chinese characters in this film treat the care of their parents not as a burden, but something they are expected to do under the traditional Confucian values. Fengxia also shows respect for her parents when they try and set her up to marry the crippled red guard, Wan Erxi. Instead of thinking of a marriage arranged by her parents as something awful, Fengxia happily obliges to the wishes of her parents, as it is expected of her to get married and have children. All of the characters in this film seem to show filial piety in their devotion and desire to please and take care of their