Considered by many to be the greatest Chinese films ever made, Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town lives up to its reputation, being a powerful work of melodrama that grapples with the complexities and nuances intrinsic to individual agency when juxtaposed against the larger societal forces. A story in which the degradation of hope evinces the stagnation of progression, Spring in A Small Town features such a rich characterization at the fulcrum of its story - a femme fatale, in ways, whose situation is sympathetic. Her actions are deliberate but rest in a space of cognitive uncertainty, yet they are viewed consistently through a lens of empathetic understanding by Fei Mu. This character is driven by her desire to live a more fruitful existence than the sheltered and static existence which she has been dealt by the throngs of war which left her with a husband who cannot provide and offers no future, leading her to fall victim to the deceptive allure of past connections - Monotony and despondence of the soul lead to resentment. Spring in A Small Town's poignant melodramatic text also offers an ample opportunity for readings in its subtext, particularly its examination of patriarchal notions of man & woman, and the crude, false dichotomy between individual-collective. Makes sense the CCP banned this film, as it is deeply rooted in examining - sympathetically - individual agency and personal autonomy, exhibiting personal emotion outside of the familial collective, recognizing that humans aren't monolithic machines of rationality but disparate emotional creatures sculpted by the spatial and temporal environments they inhabit.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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