Raise the Red Lantern“All the world's a stage; we are all taking elements of plot, character and costume and turning them into representations of possibility” (Ward1999: 5) Raise the Red Lantern tells the gripping and painful story of a young woman whose life is destined to be ruined in a male environment. -dominated society. This can be an awakening of some kind for any woman. As Ward states in her text, women learn the rules of our half of the world as well as those of the other half, as we regularly enter and exit the male world. There he defines female culture. The term has also been used in its anthropological sense to understand women's family and friendship networks, their emotional bonds, their rituals. It is important to understand that women's culture is never a subculture. It would not be at all appropriate to define the culture of half of humanity as a subculture. Women live social existence within the general culture. Whenever they are confined by patriarchal restriction or segregation into separateness, they transform this restriction into a complementary form and redefine it. Therefore, women experience a duality: as members of the general culture and as participants in female culture. (Lerner 1986:242) Just like the stated quote, Raise the Red Lantern is set in northern China in the 1920s. For thousands of years, the Chinese people have shaped family life around the patrilineal principle. The evaluation of traditional Chinese life was patriarchal. A basis for this approach would come from Confucius. In childhood, Before marriage, Obey your father In adulthood, During marriage, Obey your husband In widowhood, After marriage, Obey your son It states in the text, the lowest point in a woman's life was his wedding day. Cut off from her natal family, the young bride was an outsider and an object of deep suspicion in her new husband's family. The only way to earn a place was to have children. Songlian leaves college after her father's death and becomes Zuoquian Chen's fourth wife. When Songlian, who chooses to walk from her house to Chen's instead of riding in the wedding carriage, arrives at Chen's house, there is no sign of celebration, no foreshadowing of things to come. Bound by tradition and inflamed by jealousy, none of the three wives comes out to greet the new bride. An old housekeeper welcomes and recognizes...... middle of paper......y. As good as the film was, as it was structured, this film could be a parable of sorts. Songlian would be the individual, the woman. The master would be the government and the customs of the house would be the laws of the land. It is an archaic system that always rewards those who play and pay, but destroys those who violate. One thing I found interesting about “Red Lantern” is that while the film portrays a brutally patriarchal system where women are clearly very oppressed and dependent on their children. lord and master of all, he does not idealize women or turn them into doe-eyed, sweet, saintly victims. Wives and concubines are resourceful, intelligent, competitive, and very determined to make the best of their situation... in every way possible. They can also be cruel and downright evil. Forget the cliché that men are interested in power and women are interested in love. These women are definitely interested in power and status, although, of course, the only way to achieve it is to gain the favor of their husband. Yet their struggles for power are as ruthless as anything in the “male” world of politics, business or war, and just as fascinating to watch...