I had no idea how widespread a change occured due to Communism in China. I think the documentary showed more about the Revolution than did the movie, but I thought it was a believable portrayal of how the Revolution hit one community. From what I undertstand, though, China is quite the large country. How did Mao execute such a huuuuge revolution? Was the situation in China pre-Comunism really as bad as they made it seem in the Morning Sun play? Is there any proof that Mao's Revolution was necessary(?)...because hte documentary showed that I wa not too beneficial. Because to me it looked like Communism didn't make anything too much better, except for the higher-ups. I guess this is the type of thing that happens all the time in governments, that people follow something and someone who is not necessarily good for them. I know Mao is almost worshipped in alot of China, but it seemed in the movie that Fugui's family was as downtrodden during the Revolution as they were after they lost their estate. The townspeople in Houzhe seemed just as poor and overworked after the Revolution, they were just doing so revolutionarily.
Posted by alex at October 21, 2004 01:59 AMThe pre-revolutionary time in China was with a few extremely rich and many poor. Thats why so many bought into the idea of Maoism. Even though, as we see in the movie, nothing really changed except different people got rich, there was the hope that everyone would be equal. Thats why tne people supported it. It is interesting today to still see people who are devout followers of Maoism. In nepal right now, the entire rebel force opposing the king consider themselves Maoist even though they do not follow all of his teachings. I think its interesting that people will claim Maoistic thought, yet still take over schools in an attempt to brain wash children into becoming communists.
Clint
I also wonder if pre-Communism China was that dramatically bad as to make a revolution "necessary." After Fugui lost his family home to gambling, they obviously moved to a much smaller place. But when he came back from fighting, his daughter and wife seemed to be in the same condition as when he left. And it never seemed to improve; I mean the daughter died due to inadequate healthcare.
I think that their first exposure to communism might have been a negative one. immediately, Long'er (or the guy who took their house) is executed for being a so-called counter-revolutionist (or whatever). could the family have simply followed communism out of fear? it never seemed to me that they were 100% for the revoltion. and i know that in communist russia fear was a huge reason for people to denounce others, simple to point the finger of blame away from themselves.