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Modern and Tragic Chinese woman |
1/1 - Page 4 |
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| Author(s) : |
Gina Marchetti |
| Date : |
10/11/2004 |
| Type(s) : |
Analysis
Information |
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 Intext Links |
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| People : |
| Betty Loh Ti |
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| < Previous |
| Page 3 : A heroine for diasporic Chinese fans |
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| Notes |
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Pictures were kindly provided by the HKIFF Society.
Sources :
- Linda Lin Dai Memorial WebSite
- Stephen Teo, Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions (London: BFI, 1997).
- Jeff Yang, Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese Cinema (NY: Atria, 2003). |
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These two films, particularly Love Parade, also present Linda Lin Dai as the “modern” Chinese woman. In Love Parade, for example, she plays Ye De-mei, a gynecologist, opposite Peter Chen Hou as Shi Ma-ge, a fashion designer. The banter between the woman of science and the man of fashion, sometimes reminiscent of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (WOMAN OF THE YEAR, 1942) and at other times of Rock Hudson and Doris Day (PILLOW TALK, 1959), shows that comedies about gender roles that alluded to changes in women’s professional standing, while maintaining a firm commitment to a “feminine” look and domestic orientation, appealed to diasporic Chinese audiences as well as Hollywood filmgoers. After the end of the Qing Dynasty, the war against Japan, and the success of the 1949 Revolution, the “new woman” had come to stay on Chinese screens. However, for Lin Dai/Ye De-mei that did not mean a life of sacrifice to the nation, but a comfortable life as a professional with an up-to-date home, a lavish wardrobe, and an attractive, talented husband. Although Ye may have some difficulty negotiating her role as independent professional within her marriage, the ending is a happy one. After all as misunderstandings and barriers to the couple’s happiness slip away, the fantasy of a life of conjugal bliss, material comfort, and professional satisfaction define a compelling bourgeois dream for the global Chinese audience. Elegant and confident, Lin Dai subsumes Mao’s dictum that “women hold up half the sky” under the seamless veneer of a transplanted mainland Chinese beauty in Hong Kong. Women may want to/need to work, be competent at their jobs/professions, but they are also visually, undeniably feminine luxuriating in fur-trimmed suits and elegant evening attire.
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Chic, romantic and tragic. |
Tragedienne onscreen and off-screen |
However, Linda Lin Dai was also a tragedienne not only onscreen, but, sadly, off-screen as well. While the idea of the Chinese career woman enjoying professional fulfillment within the confines of a heterosexual romance was appealing, the dark side of the dream also found its way to the screen with stories of impossible love, broken promises, and star-crossed romances. In fact, the same conditions that led some middle-class women to move into the ranks of the educated, professional elite also led to personal tragedy for others. While the end of feudalism, the necessary changes that exile imposed on the traditional Chinese family, and the concentration of wealth and privilege in key global Chinese cities (e.g., Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore) allowed some Chinese women (like Linda Lin Dai) to have a career, those same conditions led other Chinese women (also like Linda Lin Dai) to tragic ends. Exiled, moving between New York and Hong Kong, trapped in an abusive marriage, shackled to a husband who atrophied, rather than blossomed, away from his mainland roots, Linda Lin Dai’s depression had social, as well as personal, origins. (In fact, many of the Mandarin starlets within the Hong Kong studio system committed suicide during this era, including Lin Dai’s leading man Peter Chen Hou’s ex-wife, Betty Loh Ti.)
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While the screen image presented in this tribute shows Linda Lin Dai as the valiant heroine and the “new woman” of an imaginary China, her tragic suicide reminds all of her fans of the pain of exile and the tremendous difficulty of political as well as personal change.
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