Highway (or Big Road) (1935)
Lianhua Film Studio
Director: Sun Yu
silent film with some added sound
set during war of resistance against the Japanese invasion
Quality of film affected by lack of resources during war
Content of film (including unnamed enemy) affected by political
climate of war
representative work of leftist cinema of 1930s, promotes
patriotic and socialist ideals
Characters:
The male workers:
Jin Ge optimist in spite of miserable childhood (grows up
working on the road) (represents perseverance, courage)
Zhang Yu melancholy, solitary (represents determination, silence
and industry)
Little Luo romantic dreamer (represents ambitionwants to drive
the bulldozer)
Zheng Jun intellectual, a student fleeing Manchuria after
Japanese occupation (represents intelligence and wisdom)
Zhangda hearty strongman (represents rough ways)
Number Six petty thief rescued by other 5 workers (a
follower)
The waitresses:
Orchid (alternately known as Dingxiang or Lilac) shy, falls in
love with Luo
Jasmine (Moli) aggressive and resourceful former entertainer;
remains friends with all 6 men
Synopsis:
Six young male workers and two waitresses experience a political
awakening when they participate in the construction of a
strategically important road for the Chinese army. They have
different characters and come from different social backgrounds,
but all band together and work for the national cause. A traitorous
landlord is bribed by the Japanese to slow down road construction.
When the young workers oppose him, he imprisons and tortures them.
The waitresses use their talents for the cause: to help the workers
escape. The road is completed, but the workers pay a great price
during an enemy bombing. The film ends with a bright tail.
Sound Terminology:
Diegetic Sound: Sound coming from within the film world; whose
source is visible on the screen or implied to be present by the
action of the film (coming from off-screen). voices of
characters
sounds made by objects in the story
music represented as coming from instruments in the story
spaceExample: Jasmines song about Fengyang City, songs workers sing
while building the road; crowd, machine, horse and baby noises.
Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound coming from a source outside the story
space; whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been
implied to be present in the action. narrator's commentary
sound effects added for dramatic effect
mood music
Example: Playful vaudevillian sounds. Main Themes
Life, Death, and Survival Patriotism and Martyrdom
How does the film answer this question: What makes a patriotic
hero?
Other Questions: What is the symbolic importance of the ghosts
rising in the field of death? Does the film prize subjectivity (the
individual) or group unity? Who and what survives this attack, and
does the film have a bright tail ending?
What does the film suggest is the appropriate attitude for a
hero? What kind of background does a patriotic Chinese have, and
what kinds of choices does one make? How is this film is more clear
about the distinctions between good and evil than Zhang Ailings
stories of uneven contrast?
Think about Jasmines response to her background of desolation
(song about Fengyang city), in comparison to the attitude Zhang
Ailing had toward desolation.
Love, Passion Mens and Womens Roles
What types of love are there in the film? What are the
characters passionate about and who are they passionate for? How
does the film combine romantic love and love of country?
Jasmine:
In Highway, men and women have roles in life and in romantic
love. How are these roles sometimes subverted in the film? What is
the importance of love, fantasy, and sexuality in this film about
war? What kind of pleasure can be found in a story about hardship,
toil, and death?
Men and women both have roles in protecting the country
(patriotic love), just as people from all class backgrounds do.
What roles do the men play? What roles do the women play?
Below: Jasmine captures Director Hu and presents the evidence to
show his guilt
How does this film show the convergence of two types of
passionsthe sexual and the revolutionary? What kinds of figures are
Jasmine and Orchid, and what kinds of roles do they play in the
action? What role does the film propose for women and sexuality for
achieving political goals within the context of war? How does this
role that Jasmine plays as a revolutionary hero set her up to be
martyred at the end of the film?
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