DAHONG DENGLONG GAOGAO GUA FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Dahong denglong gaogao gua was the place where two women had died tragically by hanging device accentuates the distance of the one significant male character, hemselves. It is this room that rounds off the films climax(as third both from the perspectives of the audience as well as those of the key mistress Meishan, discovered for her infidelity, is dragged and locked female characters up there)and precipitates Songlian's tragedy. The chronology of the The long shot is a trait shared by Zhangs Fifth Generation arrative takes place over the seasons of the year; the events are colleagues( Chen Kaige, in particular, for whom Zhang served as confined to the settings of a single household, done in the elaborate director of photography on his first two films )and is a manifestation style of a Chinese manor-house complete with multiple courtyards, of the objective eye. In Fifth Generation work, the objective eye rooms, antechambers, and servants quarters, separated by walls and functions primarily as a visual endowment of film narratives. It points lanes. This architectural marvel is as much a part of the story as are the ip the stunning visual qualities of the directors compositions, and haracters, who often seem minuscule against the grand setting of the fills in" the narrative space that is not covered by dialogue On the building(alone in a courtyard, or standing behind a towering facade) other hand. the long shot tends to reinforce the structural look of a film Indeed, the film is distinguished by Zhang Yimous penchant for and gains a semiotic, symbolic function as well. long shots which take full advantage of his marvellous location and In Raise the Red Lantern, the structural compositions and thei interior sets. There are almost no close-ups in the film-the camera symbolic derivatives shore up the sense of distance in time and spac getting no closer to the characters than the medium shot. When closer and the psychology of the female characters as they engage in what shots are employed, Zhang almost always favours his female modern feminists would consider absurd rivalry and power-play. The characters-the one overtly conscious sign of the directors story- strength of the Fifth Generation directors lies in the ability to exploit telling sensibility motivating his series of films, beginning with Red historical objectivity and a highly personal approach to narrative Sorghum, that are all centred around women(all played by Gong Li). filmmaking, thus breaking with the tradition of didacticism and The master of the household is, in fact, always in long shots, with the literary approaches in Chinese cinema. That Zhangs success in the camera deliberately avoiding showing this character in full face. The West is attributed to exoticism is a price he must pay as his filmsDAHONG DENGLONG GAOGAO GUA FILMS, 4th EDITION 286 Dahong denglong gaogao gua was the place where two women had died tragically by hanging themselves. It is this room that rounds off the film’s climax (as third mistress Meishan, discovered for her infidelity, is dragged and locked up there) and precipitates Songlian’s tragedy. The chronology of the narrative takes place over the seasons of the year; the events are confined to the settings of a single household, done in the elaborate style of a Chinese manor-house complete with multiple courtyards, rooms, antechambers, and servants’ quarters, separated by walls and lanes. This architectural marvel is as much a part of the story as are the characters, who often seem minuscule against the grand setting of the building (alone in a courtyard, or standing behind a towering facade). Indeed, the film is distinguished by Zhang Yimou’s penchant for long shots which take full advantage of his marvellous location and interior sets. There are almost no close-ups in the film—the camera getting no closer to the characters than the medium shot. When closer shots are employed, Zhang almost always favours his female characters—the one overtly conscious sign of the director’s story￾telling sensibility motivating his series of films, beginning with Red Sorghum, that are all centred around women (all played by Gong Li). The master of the household is, in fact, always in long shots, with the camera deliberately avoiding showing this character in full face. The device accentuates the distance of the one significant male character, both from the perspectives of the audience as well as those of the key female characters. The long shot is a trait shared by Zhang’s Fifth Generation colleagues (Chen Kaige, in particular, for whom Zhang served as director of photography on his first two films) and is a manifestation of the objective eye. In Fifth Generation work, the objective eye functions primarily as a visual endowment of film narratives. It points up the stunning visual qualities of the director’s compositions, and ‘‘fills in’’ the narrative space that is not covered by dialogue. On the other hand, the long shot tends to reinforce the structural look of a film and gains a semiotic, symbolic function as well. In Raise the Red Lantern, the structural compositions and their symbolic derivatives shore up the sense of distance in time and space and the psychology of the female characters as they engage in what modern feminists would consider absurd rivalry and power-play. The strength of the Fifth Generation directors lies in the ability to exploit historical objectivity and a highly personal approach to narrative filmmaking, thus breaking with the tradition of didacticism and literary approaches in Chinese cinema. That Zhang’s success in the West is attributed to exoticism is a price he must pay as his films