In Zhang Yimou's "Ju Dou", Yang Tianbai, who killed his father twice, has any reference to reality.
As the leader of China's fifth generation of directors, Zhang Yimou has won numerous awards. His strong feelings for his family and country made his early films full of anti-feudal and anti-shackles marks of the times. The sharp ironic themes of the historical era, coupled with Director Zhang's keen artistic temperament gained from his photography background, have made his works internationally renowned.
Mainland China has two films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, both directed by Zhang Yimou. One is "Hero" in 2003, and the other is in 1991. "Ju Dou". Thirty years have passed, and now I have a new understanding when watching "Ju Dou".
The reason why classics have always been circulated is that we can always find different angles to interpret them. There are many film reviews about "Ju Dou", most of which explain the historical background, characters' personalities and the use of movie props, but few analyze the reflection of the characters on real life.
Today I will analyze the character Yang Tianbai and what significance Yang Tianbai, who killed his father twice, has for our current life.
The story takes place in the 1920s. The film tells the tragic fate of four people, Yang Jinshan, Yang Tianqing, Ju Dou and Yang Tianbai, in the Yang family dyeing workshop.
Ju Dou is the third wife that Yang Jinshan bought with a lot of money. His first two wives were tortured to death by Yang Jinshan, and Ju Dou cannot escape the fate of being sexually abused. Overwhelmed, Ju Dou chose to seduce Yang Tianqing, Yang Jinshan's adopted son, in order to gain Yang Tianqing's blessing.
Yang Tianbai is the unfaithful product of Ju Dou (mother) and Yang Tianqing (brother), and is also the protagonist we are going to discuss today. Tian Bai's image is presented in three different periods in the film, namely infancy, childhood and adolescence. Next, I will analyze Tianbai's character and character meaning from different periods.
Yang Tianbai is the fourteenth generation of the Yang family and the only descendant of the Yang family. When choosing a name, one person said: "If you add a crooked character, our Yang family's feng shui will be ruined!" It can be seen that The influence of feudal superstition on the people of that era, and the naming also foreshadowed the pressure Tianbai had to bear in the family.
Qingbai means innocence and is a satire on Ju Dou and Tian Qing’s unethical love. As soon as Yang Jinshan was paralyzed, Ju Dou and Tian Qing blatantly lived together, while Tian Bai was put on the second floor to live with Jinshan.
When Tian Bai was a baby, he didn't like to laugh. Tian Qing said: "Laugh when you should laugh. I'll make you anxious." Tian Qing picked up Tian Bai and sang children's songs to coax him. There will never be such a scene again. Only when Tian Bai was still a baby, Tian Qing could secretly become a father.
Why doesn’t Tian Bai like to laugh? The purpose of the film is to hint at Tian Bai's tragic fate that has been doomed since infancy, but from the perspective of children's psychological development rules, it is because Tian Bai lacks attachment to his mother.
According to Freud's theoretical system, from birth to about one and a half years old, breastfeeding is the first priority, so it is called the "oral period". If babies are deprived of their need to nurse during this period, babies can develop distrust, rejection of others, and fear of love and intimacy.
Obviously, Ju Dou and Tian Qing only cared about their own happiness and threw Tian Bai to Jinshan. Tian Bai lacked the bond to establish a connection with his mother and could not enjoy the right to breastfeed in time. In addition, Jinshan did not treat Tian Bai at all. Treating him as his own son, all this indicates the distortion of Tianbai's character.
Tian Bai is almost three years old and has been silent. Tian Qing asked Tian Bai to call him daddy, but Tian Bai only played with himself and ignored Tian Qing. At this time, Ju Dou began to persuade Tian Qing that the child would be fine when he grew up.
Tian Bai looked puzzled when he saw Ju Dou and Tian Qing's relationship. What was he thinking? This is related to the psychological development characteristics of children during this period.
3-6 years old is called the pregenital stage, also called the Oedipus complex stage. Children during this period begin to develop a sense of gender and become interested in their own sexual organs.
You will find that children at this stage will regard their father or mother as their love rival. For example, girls will be more clingy to their father (Electra complex), while boys will be more dependent on their mothers (Oedipus complex), but don't worry, Electra or Oedipus are both very important growth tasks for children at this stage.
If children can naturally and fully understand gender differences at this stage and solve their curiosity about gender, it will play a vital role in their gender identity and attitude towards the opposite sex in adulthood. effect.
Tianbai has been silent, which shows from the side that Judou and Tianqing are incompetent as parents, which leads to Tianbai's lack of attachment to his mother, let alone recognition of his father's identity. At the same time, the triangular relationship between Jinshan, Judou, and Tianqing also puzzled Tianbai and prevented him from completing the psychological transformation of the Oedipus complex period.
Jinshan took advantage of Judou and Tianqing's absence to murder Tianbai. When he took action, Tian Bai subconsciously shouted "Dad". Jin Shan happily forgot about killing Tian Bai and hugged Tian Bai, crying bitterly.
Under Jinshan's instruction, Tianbai called Judou "Mother", Tianqing "Brother", and Jinshan "Dad". The incomprehension of Ju Dou and Tian Qing's behavior forced Tian Bai to embark on the path of exploring his own identity. This may be why Tian Bai calls Jin Shan Daddy.
Ever since Tianbai called Jinshan daddy, he, like Jinshan, recognized his hatred for Judou and Tianqing. There were two plots in the movie where Jinshan instigated Tianbai to do bad things. From then on, the hatred was buried in Tianbai's heart. The seeds were planted.
In the first place, Ju Dou came out of the Tianqing House in the morning. He looked up and happened to meet Tian Bai standing at the stairs on the second floor. Tian Bai was very small, only wearing a bellyband, but the small Tian Bai had eyes. Hatred had arisen in Li, and he stared at Ju Dou fiercely, trying to see through Ju Dou.
In the second scene, Tianqing and Judou had a dispute in the house, and Tianbai smashed the door with a stone outside. Ju Dou came out of the house and saw Tian Bai smashing the door, but Tian Bai didn't stop and was still hitting the door with stones. Ju Dou slapped Tian Bai in the face, causing Tian Bai to stagger. At this time, Jin Shan sang the nursery rhyme Tian Qing sang to Tian Bai on the second floor, symbolizing Jin Shan's victory.
Children's concept of right and wrong is not innate. It is gradually influenced by the external environment and slowly formed after a long period of exposure.
Three-year-old Tian Bai didn’t understand why he broke down the door. He only went after his “father” Jinshan asked him to do so. So when Ju Dou found him, he had no intention of stopping, because He had no idea that breaking down doors was wrong.
Tian Bai accidentally pulled Jin Shan into the water. Seeing Jin Shan struggling in the water, Tian Bai laughed out loud. The person who instigated hatred died, and the first resistance to fate was completed quietly and unintentionally.
After Jinshan's death, Judou and Tianqing had another argument in front of the mourning hall. Tianbai saw it all, but his face was expressionless.
As a child, Tian Bai should have been attached to her mother, but Ju Dou only focused on her own relationship and neglected her love for Tian Bai. In Ju Dou's eyes, she believed that time would heal everything and that children could learn on their own without a teacher. But what she didn't expect was that she said, "It will be fine when the children grow up." This kind of parenting attitude was later revealed by Tian Bai. The twisted character laid the foundation for this.
Eleven-year-old Tian Bai still has an expressionless face and has no lines. Ju Dou handed the brush to Tian Bai and said, "Your brother bought you a new brush." Tian Bai turned away and left.
Ju Dou and Tian Qing had a tryst in an abandoned cave dwelling, and were seen by people from the same village. The witnesses gossiped about the two everywhere. Tian Bai takes the butcher's knife that Tian Qing used to save Ju Dou to chase the person who spread the rumor, which shows that Tian Bai is under tremendous pressure from public opinion. The self-esteem of children at this age is so strong, but they are completely beaten by everyone.
Tian Bai’s hand was injured, and Tian Qing wanted to suck it on him. Tian Bai vented all his resentment towards his neighbor on Tian Qing. Ju Dou angrily showed his cards to Tian Bai and told him that Tian Qing was his biological father, but Tian Bai was indifferent. What Tian Bai hated was that he was Tian Qing's son.
Ju Dou and Tian Qing were depressed and unable to sleep day by day, so they decided to become husband and wife again. They ran to the cellar to live in peace, preferring to suffocate to death rather than go out.
Tian Bai looked for Ju Dou and Tian Qing everywhere, and later found that they were in the cellar, so Tian Bai carried Ju Dou out. Seeing the unconscious Ju Dou still shouting "Tian Qing, Tian Qing", Tian Bai turned back and carried Tian Qing out.
At this point, you may think that there is still some residual humanity that was wiped out in the sky. However, Tian Bai came out with Tian Qing on his back not to save him, but to kill him with his own hands.
Tian Bai threw Tian Qing into the dyeing pool, picked up the wooden stick and hit Tian Qing without hesitation. The red silk fell down and submerged Tian Qing.
The seeds of hatred that were instigated in childhood finally broke out at this moment. From the perspective of the Oedipus complex, Tian Bai kills his nominal father Jinshan to kill his hatred, and killing his biological father Tianqing kills his weak and incompetent self.
If Tian Bai’s first killing of Jinshan was an unconscious act, then killing his biological father Tian Qing this time was a complete rebellion against fate.
The world is quiet in the white sky. He no longer has to worry about whose son he is, because from now on he has only one identity - Ju Dou's son.
Tian Bai's life is destined to be a tragedy, and he has no choice. Growing up in a family without warmth, conflicts and hatred constantly tore at Tianbai's young heart. In addition, when he grew up, the outside world criticized his mother and his own life experience, which eventually led to the distortion of Tianbai's character.
An excellent movie is a mirror that projects the viewer's heart and dissects the viewer's subconscious. Yang Tianbai in "Ju Dou" has the greatest reference significance for us today, which is that it allows us to truly feel the important influence of parents on their children.
In the movie, Ju Dou told Tian Qing many times that it would be fine when the children grow up. In Ju Dou's view, it seems that time can smooth everything. But the fact is that childhood trauma will accompany the child throughout his life. Some people come out of it, not because they forgive certain people or things, but because they "forget it."
Suhomlinsky said in "Parenting Pedagogy":
I hope that every parent and us who will one day become parents can understand this truth.