1st Blossay

Melvin Ellis

EAS 299

1^st Blossay assignment

This blossay will, for most part follow the guidelines of the first suggested topics of blossays in some way (Content analysis). The films I will discuss are, “yellow Earth” and “Fallen Angels”.

“Yellow Earth” (1984)

Color, 89 min.

Director-  Chen Kaige

Content Analysis topic: government propaganda

If the film is taken at base value, it is simply a film about the government reaching out to the poor, primitive, and uneducated peasants to free them from their cave dwellings. The film itself is called “Yellow earth”, and for the duration of the movie that is what you are shown. From the opening wedding scene, (figure 1) you see that the women of the village are seen as property, as a bride is made to bow at an alter then thrown over her husband’s shoulder to consummate the marriage as the rest of the village eats and parties outside the home. Conrad Gu (a communist Chinese soldier sent to better relations with uncontrolled areas and convert them to communism), tells them he has come to record their folk songs to bring back to his army.

            Gu himself, is communism from the point of view of communist china. He comes, educated, hardworking, and bearing revolutionary ideas. Such as men sewing, this amazes Cuiqiao. Both Cuiqiao and Han-Han are seen as victims and essentially represent “china without communism”. They are miserable, live a perish unfulfilled life of being sold away but when Gu arrives and displays his sewing skills and innovative ideas, he (communism) is seen as a marvel to Cuiqiao. For a while, it seems that he will Wisk her away from her arranged marriage and free her, but he is unable too. This forces the viewer to want him to take her away to another place, this utopia was communism (weather the viewer noticed or not. If he had freed her, and they lived happily, it would have been thanks to communism, which is what you are beckoned to feel) .Also, the topic of the non-communist Chinese culture was also displayed as horrid.
 The hard, withering yellow earth, is used as a symbol for the crumbling Chinese culture without communist aid ( as symbolized by long shots of the solitary tree figure  4).  It is also portrayed as being doomed to fail, due to their inability to brow anything.

Communism protecting Han-Han

            The propaganda is laid on thick both in the beginning and end of the movie. There are numerous shots of Gu aw he walks to the village. The horizon line is always low, and the images of him walking are always of him standing atop a hill. This shows him as a heroic figure, coming to free us by giving us the gift of communism. The other shots in the beginning, where he is not present, depict a very high horizon line, and suffocating rock formations on all sides. Lastly, the final scene where Han-Han is lost in the flood of people trying to reach Gu who is standing atop a hill (with a high horizon) is vital. It conveys a feeling of Han-Han drowning and being held back while trying to reach Gu. Meaning, his culture is drowning and holding him back from reaching the glorious figure standing atop the hill “communism”.

FALLEN ANGELS (1995)

COLOR, 102 MIN

DIRECTOP:WONG KAR-WAI

Content Analysis topic: self image

this film reads as a compilation of people's lives and experiences. the assistant, puts on a very professional and tough exterior face, but has to admit that she has feelings for the assassin. she is also very meticulousness with her planning, but takes is lightly as shown in her drawings. the expression on her face when she stops working with her partner shows a few things. that she is obviously distraught  and still trying to maintain her "cool and professional" composure, just as her does. 

here, she plays the "party girl" role as she scouts out the next hit for her partner

The assassin character also struggles with self- image. Just as everyone else, he puts on a mask. as he walks in the resistant, he has a serious and focused look, then smiles at the cooks to look natural.

the smile aside, he namelessly kills the marks and turns out the light after. 



The "lazy" life he has lived for so long with his partner is simply not worth it anymore and he wants to escape to have a normal life. It seems that he wants to live as himself. i mean to say, he lived as if in a trance the past 3 years, and thanks to
Blondie, he got a distraction long enough to decide what he wanted out of life.

The mute is the most relocatable character of them all. he cannot verbally convey his feelings to others, just as we cannot at times. he essentially lives inside his own head. he tries his hardest to make people happy through his childish behavior.




even when he tries to help Charlie, he wishes he could give her the most basic advice. "That some things cannot be solved over the phone". She doesn't get the point and he is basically alone in the relationship. after his father's death, he takes a beret look at himself, still trying to rub elbows with strangers at every chance. Difference being, he does so with the assistant, who has gotten her old partner killed and is lonely. The two are so different, but are united by loneliness.

the ride home he giver her is the perfect ending scene, because the assistant is honest with herself and lets herself indulge in basic human contact.

黄土地 "Yellow Earth" (China, 1984), Yangge waist-drum dance by actual amat...

Yellow Earth 黄土地 (Chen Kaige 陈凯歌) 1/6