Green papaya
Hang on top in bunches
Ripe green papaya
It has a light yellow color on it
As sweet as sugar
Compared with "Memoirs of a Geisha", "The Taste of Green Papaya" is extremely similar, but the connotations expressed are completely different. From the birth point of view, although both films reflect the social situation of the war-torn years in the Eastern countries, they are actually not local products. Looking at the thoughts and feelings of the two films, "Memoirs of a Geisha" is tragic and poignant, a microcosm of the survival of women in Japanese society during World War II. And this film, although it belongs to the war years, but the overall feeling to the audience, is gentle and bright. The poetic Countryside of Saigon, Vietnam, is as beautiful as a paradise. This film is a love drama film directed by Chen Yingxiong that implies good memories of his hometown, with a Douban score of 7.8 points, and the whole film is based on the experience of the protagonist Xiaomei, narrating Xiaomei's lifelong vision of love. But in fact, Xiaomei is a glorified portrayal of countless groups of women in Vietnamese society during the turbulent years.
The film mainly tells the story of ten-year-old Xiaomei, who is sent by a neighbor to a family in Saigon to work as a maid, and because she looks like the dead daughter of the hostess, she takes special care of her. It's just that the man often plays missing, every time he runs away from home, he always has no explanation, and takes all the money, and becomes more and more wanton, and finally there is no news. The hostess can only work hard to maintain a large family's livelihood alone, and finally cannot maintain it, and can only send Xiaomei to a musician's home. In the process of continuous contact with Xiaomei, musicians gradually feel the warmth of Xiaomei. In her life, Xiaomei has experienced the separation of mother and daughter, the bullying of the male children in the master's family, the sadness of parting in the family road, and the desire and confusion for love.
Xiaomei in the film, although life has given her many hardships, but with her optimism and sincerity, she finally touched the musician and found her love. Xiaomei is undoubtedly lucky, she is naturally beautiful and moving, positive and optimistic, but throughout the colonial period of Vietnam, how many women can get love like Xiaomei? Most Vietnamese during the war years, living in the shadow of colonial rule, practiced social values that have gradually degenerated into male superiority and female inferiority. The traditional culture of the East, in Vietnam, gradually twisted and collapsed. The life of the protagonist Xiaomei is actually very simple, but there are many places worth exploring.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > poor Vietnamese families created by a turbulent colonial society</h1>
Happy families are all alike; unhappy families have their own misfortunes. ———— Leo Tolstoy
As Lev Tolstoy said, happy families have no worries and similar lives. But there are too many reasons for a family's misfortune, or natural and man-made disasters, or sudden diseases, or the dark decay of the entire social environment, and so on. The reason why Xiaomei's family is unfortunate is simply because of poverty. Poverty comes from two aspects, one is the war turmoil, and the other is the loss of the father at an early age. In today's era, even if you are poor, you can still improve yourself and change your destiny through learning. But for colonial Vietnamese society, poverty was a sin. Besides, Xiaomei is still a woman, even if she wants to change her fate, there is no way. Xiaomei was born in such a poor Vietnamese family, and the fate of her life was already doomed, which was not what they could hope for.
Poor Xiaomei, alone, walking alone on the street. I think that a girl who has lived in the countryside since she was a child must be panicked in her heart when she first comes to such a strange place. After hesitating for a long time, he finally plucked up enough courage to knock on the door. In fact, the overall feeling of Xiaomei in the film has always been an optimistic girl, even if life is hard, she can also have an infinite love for life. Only in the dead of night, in her sleep, she called out to her mother softly, and that moment really hit the most vulnerable thing in everyone's heart at once.
There is no unprovoked love in this world, let alone in turbulent times. And Xiaomei's fate is not only determined by family society. We may think that Xiaomei actually has a good life in the hostess's house, and the hostess is also a kind-hearted person. But we can't ignore the fact that the reason why the hostess has a love for Xiaomei beyond the love of the master and servant is that Xiaomei looks like the daughter of the hostess who has passed away. It is precisely because the daughter died prematurely and the husband left home, and the hostess's heart longed for affection, so she especially hoped to have a daughter to accompany her, and Xiaomei just played this role. Otherwise, even if the hostess cares about Xiaomei, it is only because of the limits between the master and the servant, not to mention that after falling in the family road, the first thing that comes to mind is to find a good family for Xiaomei.
Even though it is the dark society that makes Xiaomei's starting point at the bottom of society, it has led to Xiaomei having a feeling of cowardice that is common to Vietnamese women from childhood. But it is also many factors that make Xiaomei grow, from a maid who is obedient and dare not speak, to a brave woman who dares to pursue love. Like Chiyo in Memoirs of a Geisha, the qualities at this point are universal. Like water, Chiyo and Xiaomei can walk through stones to open the way for themselves, and even if they are trapped in a corner, they can find hope for themselves. Perhaps, it is precisely because of their softness and toughness of water that the two finally have a happy ending.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the patriarchal Vietnamese society has caused a lot of suffering to women</h1>
In the long history of mankind, women initially played a very important role, especially in the period of matriarchal society. But at some point, women's social status gradually declined, not only in Eastern cultures, but also in social development throughout the world. Especially in the long feudal society, women were in a position of humiliation and damage. In our country, various genres starting from the first poetry collection, the Book of Poetry, are always unable to avoid the discussion of women's issues. But this discussion is not a celebration of women's quest for independence and freedom, but rather of women's fidelity and indomitable qualities.
This is very well reflected in the film, the male protagonist of the family is a typical irresponsible clumsy boy, who only knows that he is affectionate. Often silent, swept away all the money in the family to go out to fool around, once out is not back for a long time. Even later, the man simply did not come back. The hostess had to sell her property and try to maintain the family expenses. This kind of thing seems to be in the present situation, and men's behavior is clearly contrary to social values. However, there is such a plot in the film: the hostess and the mother-in-law are talking upstairs, and the mother-in-law actually blames the man for running away because the woman does not know how to keep the man. But she never thought that as a mother, her son would abandon his wife and children silently, and in fact he would abandon him as well as his mother. However, as a woman who has long been under the influence of the patriarchal supremacy society, her thinking has long been rigid, in fact, she has identified with women's subordination to men. The saddest thing about this society is never the oppressed people, but these people have become accustomed to injustice and eventually become accustomed to it.
This decadent ideology is not only passed down from generation to generation in groups of women, but even more so by men. The son in the family seems to have inherited many of his father's concepts and is accustomed to being on top, and the two sons have not even said a word to Xiaomei in the whole film. The eldest son has a reclusive personality and especially likes to kill ants, burning ants with melted candle oil and strangling ants with his hands. These empty shots are set up in the film to tell the bloody truth behind the seemingly ordinary family atmosphere. Compared with the eldest son, the younger son's personality is actually more typical, and he has learned to hide himself prematurely. He should have been a naïve and rambling age, frantically making threatening and insulting moves against Xiaomei. We could say he was a bear boy, playing around, but in the face of adults, he would pretend to be obedient. In the film, there is almost no direct description of the male host, but the behavior of the sons is actually a true portrayal of the man's wife in his daily life.
The two films are also highly similar in this regard, the women in this film live in a world of self-denial, they are honest, simple, strong but live in the shadow of men. In "Memoirs of a Geisha", the geisha in the house, who claim to be high society, never realize that they are just immersed in a world made up entirely of women. But what is this kind of high and low? For men, even the most honorable geisha is at best an expensive consumer product; even the most virtuous wife and lover are nothing more than objects that can be discarded at will.
Ironically, the so-called patriarchal world occurred in colonial Vietnam and in the defeated country of Japan. Japanese men and women are obsessed with the world of feminism and male power, but when the US military occupied Japan, Japan's existing social system suddenly collapsed. Men are desperately trying to please Americans, hoping to get Financial Support from the United States; women are willing to show off their hue in an attempt to find a way to survive in a troubled world. The social background of this film is Vietnam, which has long been colonized by France, it can be said that Vietnam at that time had no status in the world, but men were immersed in the dream of superiority over women, and women also turned a blind eye to men's superiority and deserved it. It has to be said that the social atmosphere of vietnam as a whole, at that time, was very distorted and a kind of collapse of traditional Oriental culture.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > three images that imply a woman's awakening</h1>
The vase symbolizes the shackles of upper class
In the film, the only thing Xiaomei did wrong was to break the vase. The vase is one of the symbols of life in the upper class of Vietnam, representing wealth. In the film, Xiaomei inadvertently breaks the hostess's vase, which is actually one of the manifestations of breaking the feudal class bondage. Later, Xiaomei also really gained happiness, which is the only one among so many women who appear in the whole film.
In fact, in the film, Xiaomei broke the vase unintentionally. The most praiseworthy thing is actually the pianist's fiancée, who is obviously influenced by Western culture, as a vulnerable group in Vietnamese society, daring to rebel against her fate and dare to express her anger. She smashed the vase to express her displeasure with the pianist. It's an active act, and although she doesn't end up with the pianist, she's the only woman in the film who is truly awakened.
Even the protagonist Xiaomei, although she broke some feudal shackles through her own kindness, the chains tied to women were not completely untied. Although Xiaomei eventually gained love and was lucky enough among the female group, in the final analysis, it was still a chosen position. She can't pursue her own love, and the choice is always in the hands of men. The only difference is that Xiaomei just happened to be favored by her sweetheart, and she had such a relatively perfect ending. Compared with the protagonist Xiaomei, the female resistance spirit of the pianist's fiancée is more valuable.
Green papaya symbolizes the quality of female purity and kindness
It is very interesting that although the film is called "The Taste of Green Papaya", the number of times green papaya appears is very small. Despite this, the timing of each occurrence is different and can be divided into three main parts:
For the first time, Xiaomei looked at the vines left by the plucked green papaya from a distance, dripping a drop of white juice, which can be seen as the first time that Xiaomei's heart had a bud of love.
The second time she appeared, Xiaomei cooked with green papaya, she cut the green papaya open, and was about to touch it, but was stopped by the maid. At this time, XiaoMei was admiring the young master's friend, that is, the later pianist. The green papaya here symbolizes Xiaomei's inner curiosity and expectation for love.
The third time she appears, Xiaomei has established a relationship with the pianist, at this time, she really touched the green papaya, which can be seen as Xiaomei really gained love, indicating the happy life of the two.
Although the film has little narration of the green papaya, each appearance is just right, indicating Xiaomei's inner growth stage. The use of imagery to suggest abstract consciousness is a clever move.
Windows symbolize confinement
A large number of windows appear throughout the film, all of which look inward from the window. Why choose such an angle to shoot? I think that the window symbolizes imprisonment, not only material, but also ideological imprisonment.
Uncle Ah Shuang appears many times throughout the film, he is an admirer of grandma, even if grandma is married, she has never given up. He followed his grandmother from place to place, followed for decades, and both were old. It was enough to see Uncle Ah Shuang's obsession with his grandmother. But Grandma couldn't get through the mental level, chose to be with the spiritual hall, prayed daily, and finally died gloomily inside, never happy.
Compared with "Memoirs of a Geisha", all women, like this film, can only be imprisoned in one place in the end, and this place is a place drawn by men, and all the rules of the game are made by men. By the end of the film, almost all the men have left home, but all the women except Xiaomei can only be imprisoned in the same place after all, and can never escape. Or rather, they didn't even think about escaping.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
In addition to the extremely rich connotation, the film adopts a very poetic design for the narrative structure, and creates a vivid image in chronological order. In addition, for the shooting, the film is also ingenious, using a large number of empty shots and close-ups, the scenery moves with people, with the first perspective, showing the quiet beauty of the courtyard. The director also pays attention to the color matching, rendering the pursuit of beauty under the condition that the main tone remains unchanged, and at the same time using color metaphors for different concepts.
Director Chen Yingxiong, who has lived in France for many years, must be filled with a strong sense of nostalgia in his heart, which will make these nostalgic elements in the film emit mellow, such as the sound of wooden fish, accompanied by the sound of cicadas all the time, such as the sound of dripping water and a piece of rich green on a tropical rainy night. "The Taste of Green Papaya" shows the kindness of old-fashioned women and the warmth of old-fashioned values through the stories of grandmothers, hostesses, mother-in-law and Xiaomei. Mei, not bound by etiquette, but born simple and beautiful, not well educated, but under the guidance of her lover, she shows a poetic talent. For the wanderer of tianya, she is the hometown.