(Re)appropriating the oriental stereotype in Sopyonje and farewell my concubine

• Main Author: Han, Natalie Su-Yin
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities; DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61623
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this paper, I am concerned with the self-representation of the female body in the mould of the Oriental stereotype in the films: Sopyonje (Im Kwon-taek 1993) and Farewell My Concubine (Chen Kaige 1993). Widely recognized as quintessential productions of their respective national cinemas, ie., South Korea and Mainland China, both films have gained notable acclamation in both the domestic and international arena. The transnational appeal of films then offers an avenue for the reclamation of national pride and the reassertion of national identity. Sheldon Hsiao describes the intricate relationship between nationalism and film by pointing out that the “life and death struggle” of national cinema “is isomorphic with the plight of the […] nation-state in the 20th Century” (4). It is on this premise that I find the self-orientalizing tendencies in both Sopyonje and Farewell My Concubine unsettling since they seem to merely “produce and consume the same kind of essentialized images of what is presumed to be their own heritage” by the West (Leshkowich, Jones 285). This is particularly pertinent when considering the transnational ambition of these films since these seem to work against their political intents. Whilst numerous academics have pointed out this trend of self-orientalization as an injudicious internalization of the very concept that subjugates them, I think this phenomenon demands closer analysis, both of the directors and the audiences’ impetus for engaging in what otherwise appears to be a demeaning trend, and of the broader symbolic implications. Hence in this paper, I seek to advance the idea that the varying incorporations of Oriental stereotypes, particularly that of the Oriental female stereotype, invoking rather than evading their theatrical powers, paradoxically act as a means of challenging them in these two films.