Ode to Individualism

Summary

"Red Sorghum" by Zhang Yimou is a film that diverges from the traditional socialist realist narrative by focusing on individualism and the subjective interpretation of pre-revolutionary Chinese history, emphasizing the human experience over class struggle and political ideology.

Abstract

Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" represents a departure from the typical portrayal of Chinese history in film, which often centers on class struggles and the role of the communist party. Instead, the film celebrates the energy and emotions of individual characters, presenting a more nuanced view of human nature that transcends simplistic class categorizations. The narrative structure, with a grandson as the narrator who was born after the events, adds a layer of subjectivity and acknowledges the potentially fictional nature of the story. The film's characters exhibit both positive and negative traits, challenging the audience to see them as complex individuals rather than mere representations of their social class. The portrayal of the anti-Japanese war is also unconventional, highlighting the spontaneous resistance of the people without the influence of the communist party, and acknowledging the traumatic impact of war. Through "Red Sorghum," Zhang Yimou offers a personal and emotive interpretation of history, where individual vitality and the will to live are the driving forces behind historical progress.

Opinions

The director, Zhang Yimou, uses "Red Sorghum" to express a personal and subjective interpretation of China's pre-revolutionary history, moving away from the dominant narrative of class struggle and communist party heroism.
The film's setting and narration emphasize the story's subjective and fictional nature, inviting the audience to question the historical accuracy of the narrative.
Characters in "Red Sorghum" defy clear-cut class distinctions and moral judgments, presenting a more humanistic portrayal that reflects the complexity of individual personalities.
The film suggests that the driving force behind national history is the intuitive vitality and emotions of individuals, rather than political ideologies or organized movements.
"Red Sorghum" challenges the socialist realist tradition by depicting the anti-Japanese war as a spontaneous uprising of individuals rather than a communist-led revolution.
The film does not shy away from showing the traumatic consequences of war, offering a more realistic and less romanticized view of the impact of conflict on individuals and communities.
Zhang Yimou's work underscores the idea that the collective history of China is composed of the individual stories and the indomitable spirit of its people.

Red Sorghum: Ode to Individualism

In the revolutionary era, films usually depict modern China’s history as a history of class struggles and feature the vital role of the communist party and ideology. Zhang Yimou, after experiencing the disillusionment of the communist dream in the Cultural Revolution, challenged the major discourse. In his first film Red Sorghum, he eulogizes the energy of common individuals in a historical lens through an apolitical and non-judgmental approach.

The setting of the narrator emphasizes subjectivity and fictional essence of the film. The film begins with a black screen and the narration, “Let me tell a story of grandma and grandpa. The story is always told by people in the hometown. As time goes by, somebody believes in it, but others disbelieve.” From this line, we know that the narrator of this film is the grandson of the protagonists in the films. The narrator tends to romanticize the story of his ancestors. Moreover, the narrator never witnesses any fragment of the story (since the story happened before the narrator’s father was a child). He weaves his own version of his grandparents’ history through stories passed by other people. In some degree, the narrator represents the director himself, who was born after the anti-Japanese war. Therefore, the narrator’s story is the director’s story. We can further infer the film is the director’s subjective interpretation of the pre-revolutionary history. Besides, the narrator warns the audience to hold a suspicious attitude toward the truthfulness of the story, since people in his village cannot agree on whether his

sources are true or false. With this notion, the audience understands the story could be entirely fictional. The alienation allows the audience to speculate the mentality of the director hidden in the film.

It is difficult to distinguish good and bad and identify the class background of the characters in the film. Red Sorghum rejects the clarity of socialist realist films. In socialist realist films, each character represents a certain class, and he is either villainous or virtuous according to his class. In Red Sorghum, the grandfather ought to be a righteous figure, but he does not play by the law. The director intentionally draws a vague line between good and bad, since all characters in the film have both good and bad traits. We see the “good” people do bad actions. For instance, both the bandit and the grandpa rape the grandma in the red sorghum field; the Japanese soldiers kill Chinese, but the grandfather also kills the Bighead Li. At the same time, the “bad” guys sometimes show their good side. For example, the bandit Yanzi Lisan, in the end, becomes a revolutionary hero. The fluidity of class makes the audience hard to define the class represented by a character. Grandpa and grandma initially belong to the proletarian class. However, they become capitalists after taking control of the wine house. With the confusion to distinguish the personality or class of the characters in the film, audiences can avoid putting characters arbitrarily into different categories. Therefore, the audience interprets characters under their homogeneous identity of human being and feel the unique emotions of each individual.

In the film, emotions rather than moral concerns become the major motivation to the character’s actions. Grandpa finally marries grandma by a series of immoral behaviors, grandma forced the sexual relationship in the red sorghum field, possibly kills the owner of the wine house, Bighead Li, as the narrator suggested, and sought the bandit Yanzi Lisan for revenge. The land seems to be lawless and the only law is freedom. The only interference of law is when the official investigates the murder of Bighead Li, but the investigation is only briefly mentioned by the narrator and ends with no consequence. The grandpa’s passion toward grandma is as naked as his body and his approach to propose grandma is brutal. The most striking scene to display grandpa’s primitive intuitions is when he pees in a wine pot. Peeing in other’s belongings or revealing one’s penis in front of a female is certainly impolite for humans. However, for animals peeing is his way to show dominance and displaying phallus is his way to show his masculinity. Furthermore, the director praises the primitive action by indicating the pee has a magic power to turn the wine into good wine.

While the intuitive vitality determines people’s actions, it also shapes the national history. The grandpa’s fight against Japanese soldier is the director’s allegorical depiction of the anti- Japanese war. In his view, the communist party does not play a vital role in this war. In social realist films people usually tolerate the suffering and are ignorant of rebellion until the communist party leads them. For instance, in Red Detachment, the heroine is freed and taught by a communist party soldier; in Two Stage Sisters, the heroine is enlightened by a progressive woman journalist. However, in Red Sorghum, The grandparents and the workers of wine house are volunteering to start the war without the guidance of the communist party. They are “a bunch of bandits” unaware of communism ideology. The only clearly-identified communist Brother Luohan dies before giving any doctrine to them. On the contrary, the director celebrates the indomitable vitality of people through the fight. Audience echos with the village’s people’s anger when viewing the more than 20-min showcase of the Japanese’s outrages. When the Japanese is constraining their freedom and threatening their life, they rebel against the force which undermines their vitality. In this way, the director accomplishes his searching of the root of the national history: the history of China is written by each individual living on the land; the history is rooted in each individual’s strong willing to live.

Finally, the film de-romanticize the war against the Japanese by showing its traumatic consequence. In revolutionary model operas, the ending is required to be positive: the bad are punished, and the good is rewarded. Though the Japanese soldiers are wiped out at the end of Red Sorghum, the victory is exchanged with the sacrifice of countless people. Moreover, the war has an enduring negative impact on the living. The grandfather sees everything as red after the war. As red is the color of blood, this implies grandpa’s lifetime depression post the trauma. In a positive way, we can interpret the red as the color of life. Though people live and die, the vibrant energy of people as a whole is consistent and progressive.

The film Red Sorghum is no longer a tool for political propaganda but a subjective expression of the director’s attitude of the history. In socialist realist films, each character in the film is a symbol of a class. However, in Red Sorghum, a person is just a person. By celebrating the emotions of people, the director underlines the inner energy shared by every individual is the definitive force to push the history forward.