"The Forbidden" in East Asian Films

Directors use forbidden concepts to move plot forward in film. They give the protagonist something to fight against or rules to break so that a major event can occur as a result of doing something forbidden to them. Many East Asian films contain the forbidden in them, regardless of their region or the time they are produced. While some have the protagonist forbidding something from him or herself, others have societal laws or expectations that cannot be broken. Furthermore, watching these films gives viewers a chance to break their own societal rules by experiencing the forbidden alongside the characters. The concept of the forbidden is used in films from each region of East Asia: The Big Boss from Hong Kong, Raise the Red Lantern from China, Sandakan 8 from Japan, and Joint Security Area from Korea.

The Big Boss

Cheng is shocked after he has harmed the henchmen

Cheng's shock after the final battle

Cheng allows himself to be taken away because he knows he has committed a crime 

The Big Boss (Fists of Fury in China) focuses on the internally enforced restrictions that characters give themselves. Cheng Chao-an (Bruce Lee) initially seems to be a normal man, but viewers learn that he was involved in many fights in his home town. Before his mother died, he made a promise to her not to fight with anyone after her death. He wears a charm around his neck to remind himself of his promise and he follows it well at the beginning of the film. As the story progresses, Cheng begins to struggle with himself as fights break out and he resists his need to get involved. Viewers watch Cheng suffer from the internal conflict between assisting his adopted family and maintaining his promise. He has forbidden himself to physically fight with others. This struggle continues until Cheng’s charm is broken, and Cheng literally snaps. He brutalizes the Boss’s henchmen and easily wins the fight as a result of his previous experience. While the factory workers admire Cheng for his abilities, he is lost in despair at his harming others. Cheng can only dwell on having done something forbidden by breaking the promise to his mother. He is still aware of the impact of breaking the promise at the conclusion of the film, when he turns himself into the police for killing the Boss. Cheng gives himself up because he feels he deserves to be arrested for what he has done, even if he has avenged his family and defeated a crime lord.

Songlian initially is treated well when she begins her deception

However, she is punished terribly when she is discovered

In Raise the Red Lantern, the main female character, Songlian, fights against the set rules of her house and is punished for her behavior. She is sold to the Master of a wealthy household by her mother and must take on his family rules when she becomes his fourth wife. Songlian is adopted into the sisterhood of the wives, but she quickly learns that each wife is fighting against the others to gain the Master’s favor. Like the others, she begins to do whatever she can to have his attention. Eventually, she crosses the line and fakes her pregnancy, which angers the Master when she is caught. Tricking the Master is against the family rules, a forbidden act that results in her losing any opportunity with the Master. This punishment breaks Songlian, and she begins to complete more forbidden acts in order to attempt to regain her previous standing. Eventually, she reveals the Third Wife’s affair, betraying her friend in the process. She witnesses the execution of the Third Wife and accuses the family of murder. In this case, she has done two forbidden things: look into the execution room, the one place the women are not allowed to go, and speak against her husband. Viewers do not see the time immediately following the execution, but they do see Songlian during the following summer, where she is revealed to be insane. After breaking the rules again, she was probably punished through a continued separation from the rest of the family. The continuous punishment, coupled with her guilt at breaking her relationship with her friend, results in her insanity.

Keiko and Osaki talk inside of Osaki's rundown home

Osaki-san and Keiko are faced with societal expectations in Sandakan 8. Keiko quickly learns that her interaction and living with Osaki is wrong in the eyes of the other villagers when Osaki is confronted. While the villagers tolerate Osaki’s presence in their village, they do not want to think about her because of her past. When Osaki is a young woman, the obaasan of the brothel warns the girls against returning to Japan. Many of the girls see this as being forbidden to return, especially because they held the old woman in such high esteem. However, Osaki breaks her promise not to return and goes home to her brother. In Japan, she is discriminated against and hated for what she is. Even though being a karayuki-san was acceptable and even honored when she was a child, the Japanese people had begun to hate the karayuki-san when she returned to her country. What she had done for her family became a socially forbidden act. Her brother shunned her for what she had done, when she thought he would be happy to see her home safe. Although what she had done wasn't originally seen as wrong, it became forbidden and she suffered terribly because of it.

The borderline between North and South Korea. 

The face-off between friends

A South Korean soldier and a North Korean soldier face off across the border

This photo was forbidden, and contains the only image of the four friends together. The forbidden photo is an image of people who have committed forbidden acts. 

Joint Security Area is all about people going against what they are told and completing forbidden acts. The film is about a fictional murder that occurs when South Koreans cross the border between North and South Korea and the friendship that is discovered as the investigation progresses. Viewers learn that the two North and two South Korean soldiers have formed a friendship and would meet at nighttime on the Northern side of the border, which is where the murder occurred. People are absolutely not allowed to cross over the border between the two counties, a point which is often reiterated throughout the film. In one scene a group of tourists are on a border tour. One woman loses her hat, which blows over the line in a strong gust of wind. One of the border soldiers returns the hat to the tour guide, who has to reach across the line to retrieve it. After the interaction, the tour guide states that he would normally be executed for crossing the border. However, border crossing is a main theme of the film. Both the guard and the South Korean soldiers cross over the line. The soldiers cross multiple times, and even though they feel discomfort from it, they continue to do so. They know what the consequences of crossing will be if they are caught, but their friendship means more to them than following the rules. This results in the terribly sad conclusion, where every character except for one dies. This film shows that choosing to go against set rules can result in temporary satisfaction, but will eventually end in disaster.

Film viewers are able to participate in usually forbidden acts by seeing movies. In the case of the films described, viewers can engage in a voyeuristic vision of lives where people resist against set rules. Viewers were able to experience satisfaction as they watched Bruce Lee’s character destroy the “bad guys” because they could cheer for Lee’s character’s goals. However, people are usually punished for attacking and killing others, regardless of their crimes. People who support Cheng’s actions are participating in normally forbidden behavior as they encourage murder and mutilation. Watchers of Raise the Red Lantern engage in an act of gazing upon Songlian’s vulnerability and initial confusion as she enters the Master’s household. Viewers look upon Songlian as the Master would, admiring her beauty and her childishness. Like watching Bruce Lee beat people up, this very forward staring would normally be seen by society as creepy. This same watching of vulnerability is seen in Sandakan 8, where viewers see Osaki and other karayuki-san in various situations that would not be seen otherwise. Viewers stare at Osaki’s life, especially during scenes like the final interaction between Keiko and Osaki, where Osaki begins bawling at Keiko’s departure. People who watch JSA are also allowing normally illegal behavior as they feel compassion for the relationships shared between the Northern and Southern soldiers. While the viewers would condone such behavior outside of the theater, they can’t help but hope for the soldiers to continue to be friends as they watch the men talking and fooling around together. Watching films allows viewers to engage in normally forbidden and even illegal behavior because viewers know that the film is fiction, so they can feel whatever they want towards the characters.

The concept of the forbidden is prevalent in East Asian films. While the forbidden is slightly different for each culture, breaking the rules often results in similar consequences. In each film, characters commit acts that are forbidden and are punished by higher powers. Bruce Lee’s character is punished when he is arrested, while Songlian is punished by the Master and eventually goes insane as a result of her punishment. The Korean soldiers are all punished through death, whether they are shot during the panic in the North, or they commit suicide out of guilt. Osaki-san’s punishment is the most tragic, where she is shunned by her friends and family, even though she did not choose to commit a forbidden act. The only choice she made was to return to Japan, which was forbidden by the obaasan. The characters must each suffer some punishment to remind viewers that the things they commit are forbidden. While viewers to get to enjoy the act alongside the characters, they must forget the experience once they leave the theater.