Gender Politics in Raise the Red Lantern and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

In the two Chinese films Raise the Red Lantern and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, gender politics play a significant role in the interactions between the characters. In China’s patriarchal society, men are given more power than women. However, many women strive to reach a level of power similar to their male counterparts. In Raise the Red Lantern, a young college student is forced into a marriage with an upper-class man, where she lives in his house and serves as his concubine. Songlian, the woman, is resilient and believes that she can achieve power similar to that of her Master, even though she is a woman. Similarly, Jen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also strives for equality with men due to her immense skill with the wuxia martial art. She uses her talents to steal the sword Green Destiny because she believes it will give her the authority that it gives to the male character Li Mu Bao. Both characters are young, and their youth attributes to their naïve belief that they can be equal to those who were considered naturally higher than them at the time. While each woman obtains power of her own through marriage or through skill, they each still fail to achieve the true equality they desire.

Songlian initially gains power in her household because she is the youngest wife of the Master, and she thirsts for the power to remain with her. In the Master’s household, power is distributed among the four wives based on whom the Master spends the night with. The woman who he chooses is given a foot massage and is also able to choose the meal that the household eats the following day. In the highly patriarchal culture, even the power to choose a meal puts the women on a level similar to that of the Master. Songlian receives a taste of such authority during her first week as the Master’s wife, when she is visited almost every night. Due to her status as an “educated” college student, she understands that women are able to hold positions of control similar to men, and she is thirsty for that same power. She strives to achieve that power again in the household after her first week, using various tactics to ensure her success, and the other wives’ failure. Her desperation for the Master’s power leads to her eventual downfall.

Songlian is forced into marriage because she is a woman

The foot massage, a symbol of the wife's power

Songlian chooses to strategize against the other wives in order to ensure her position of authority in the house. She wishes to have power equal to that of a man because it allows her to make seemingly important decisions about the affairs of the family. She uses dirty tactics to achieve this power, which include scarring the Second Wife and faking her own pregnancy to receive the Master’s favor. During the scene where she receives a massage in her room, she seems to be at the height of her false power. She is willing to risk her own life and safety to have a voice in the house. However, Songlian doesn’t realize that she will never have power equal to the Master. While she does have some authority over the other wives and the servants, the Master still has the final say in anything that happens. When the women speak at dinner, the Master is the one who facilitates the conversation, not the wife who is in favor that day. The Master’s authority is emphasized when Songlian is discovered to have falsified her pregnancy. The lanterns in her house are covered, signifying her loss of any power she might have had. While she had control over some aspects of the home, she never could have ordered the servants to cover the lanterns in another house. Even though she attempted to gain power equal to her husband, he still held the authority over her actions.

Songlian uses her body to influence the Master

During the false pregnancy, Songlian has power over the other wives

She loses her power after the deception is revealed and the Master orders the lanterns to be covered

Similar to Songlian, Jen also wishes to have equality with the male characters in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Unlike Songlian, whose power is allotted to her through marriage, Jen has strength from her secret mastery of wuxia martial arts. Her skills were taught to her by Jade Fox, another female wuxia user. Jen wants to be on equal ground with male wuxia users, even though women are not allowed to practice the martial art. Like Songlian, she is willing to do anything to achieve that equality that she feels she deserves. Jen wants to be free from the command of all men, even her lover Lo. She feels this way because she has wanted to travel the world all of her life. Unfortunately, due to her gender status, she is forced into an arranged marriage by her father. Jen is unable to resist her father’s orders because she is a woman, and she does not have the authority that her father does.

Even with her power, Jen is lower than Lo

Jen’s frustrations at her inability to rule her own life are reflected in her desperate attempts at freedom. Her numerous escape plans begin with her relationship with Lo in the desert. She chases after him for stealing her comb, and she fights him until she can take it back. Lo fails to understand her attachment to the simple accessory until she tells him that it is the only item she has that truly belongs to her. Her wish to own her possessions shows her desire to be at the same level as men, who can own whatever, and whomever, they want. She shows this need again when she steals Green Destiny, the powerful sword owned by Mu Bai. She takes the sword and runs away from her marriage. On her journey, she disguises herself as a boy because she knows that she has no power as a woman. Her need to share power with men is depicted in her fight with the other warriors in the restaurant, where she easily defeats each man. Her victory is a representation of her desired victory over the oppressive male regime. Her suicide at the end of the film also reflects her need for authority, but not because she has control over others. She wants to have control over her own life, like the male characters have control over their lives. Jen feels that, by taking her own life, she has the power to make her own decisions about at least one thing, much like owning even just a simple comb.

Jen's fighting skills

Jen is able to survive a fight with Mu Bai, but she still is not able to defeat him

Her disguise as a boy

The women in both Raise the Red Lantern and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon strive for equality with the male characters, even though they will never truly have the same power as the men. Songlian uses her sexuality to manipulate the Master and gain power over the servants and the other wives. Her plan backfires when she tries to overstep her position and gain more power than she can have. The false pregnancy, which could’ve ensured her permanent position of power in the house if it had been real, instead removed her to the role of a lesser wife because of the lies she told. Jen uses her raw talent to gain her own power by defeating other men, rather than respecting all people as a true wuxia user would. Her downfall is also her gender, because she has extreme potential throughout the film. Her potential is lost when her father arranges her marriage, because her husband gains control over her life. Even though the women are in different situations, they share the common bond of womanhood and the roles that come with it. While male characters in Chinese film are able to control their own lives and homes, the women must resort to other means to have some small amount of power.