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Farewell My Concubine Themes

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“Farewell My Concubine” is a movie which delivers everything within three hours. The movie touches upon topics such as history, culture, love and human relationships. It presents China as a country with the extraordinary culture and elaborate politics. It also tells that in China, as in everywhere else, one can meet people with different values, characteristics, and mindsets. After watching the movie, I have learned about Chinese politics and culture in the early 20th century. I had a chance to get acquainted with Peking Opera which, surprisingly, became appealing for me. After the movie, I have started to appreciate Chinese culture. Although the cultural and political parts are engaging and I can talk for hours, I do want to dedicate the rest of my paper to the movie characters. The movie is full of personas that have interesting identities, but among the characters who caught my attention as I watched the movie was three main roles: Douzi, Shitou and …show more content…

Starting from Douzi`s childhood Shitou took care of him. He helped Douzi to overcome his opium addiction. They almost always were together. Shitou was Douzi`s king, but he was not Shitou`s concubine. As in the famous “Farewell My Concubine” opera concubine killed herself with the king`s sword, Douzi also committed a suicide next to the person whom he loved. For me, Shitou was a weak human different from Douzi who was persistent. Shitou was afraid of death. We could see this from the very beginning of the movie when he wanted Master to save his life. He was not able to resist the pain different from Douzi who barely spoke while being punished. At the end of the movie too, when Communist party dominated he spoke against his stage brother and beloved wife, which are characteristics of the weak person. Personally, I would have more positive opinion towards Shitou if he was a little bit

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