>>>> Week 01 & 02 <<<<
After having an insightful dialogue with the graphic designer, and feminism activist Maya Ober, I realised the ‘good mother and ‘bad mother’ binary representation were in my mind. Then I started to question how this concept was constructed by society.
In China, mothers were portrayed differently on screen between the 1990s and the 2020s. By studying the films, Jiu Xiang (1995), Breaking the silence (2005), Feng Shui (2012), Lost, found (2018), Cloud in the wind (2019) All about my mother (2021), analyse the development and characters of the plot role setting.
The following three findings were discovered: 1) Mothers among them can be broadly divided into three groups: victims, derailers, and criminals (Liu, 2019). Due to the Chinese people’s thousands of years of artistic maternal worship (Yi, 2009). The concept of the “victim” stands out the most among them; she is the family’s guardian angel, sacrificing her happiness, career, and self-awareness for the benefit of the kids. 2) Father figures are absent from the film since they either passed away or left to find employment elsewhere. As a consequence, the mother decided to take over the family’s responsibilities. 3) What is more noteworthy is that these films are all directed by male directors.
By compiling and re-editing the film clips, attempt to reassemble a coherent narrative. Despite the fact that the stories are drawn from several movies, they can be combined into a series, demonstrating the unity and universality of the stories’ growth throughout the movies.
By continuing to edit the video, the shape of the oval was used visually, centrally highlighting the revealing of the male gaze from male directors in response to the alienated female. The flowing text and voice in the background emphasise the staged changes in the life trajectory of the mother, who is forced to forget her other identities and make choices for the sake of her husband and children.
Unit 2 Writing