Tragedy, Film and the Cultural Revolution

Both movies depend upon the viewer's knowledge of at least the basic facts of the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976, although it did not officially end until 1977. The era was begun by Mao, worried about both his own position in history as well as worried that China was following the Soviet Union down a misguided path away from the people's revolutions that had founded both states. Mao organized groups of young party faithfuls from each city into groups of Red Guards who were to help re-radicalize the country by making all of the nation's institutions - including the Communist Party - less elitist. His worry that the traditional Chinese tendency toward hierar

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tsoever to show for it. One of the strongest points about the movie is the fact that this is not the story of people who bravely defied the Cultural Revolution and so who lost their livelihood or their freedom or their lives. That story is worth telling too, but it is in some ways less satisfying emotionally and dramatically because we have heard such a story so many times before. The story told in "Xui Xui" is less overtly dramatic but its final message is all the more powerful: The old man and the young woman in this movie are faithful to the party, faithful to the Cultural Revolution. They are not trying to change the world except in the direction that Mao urges them. In other words, they play the game by the rules as well as they can - but they are still undone by them. And the reason for this is not through any insincerity or incompetence on their own part but rather because the "game" - the cultural wager - that was the Cultural Revolution was simply one that could not be won. A World Gone Mad This is the same message that is taken up in "To Live". Also as with "Xui Xui" much of the effectiveness of this film is that it addresses one of the most significant events of the 20th century not through any grand-scale perspect
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1896
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)