Anth230: Anthropology of East Asia

Ermo breaking gender norms

Ermo is truly a Renaissance woman. It is great to see the passion in her work and in her family's happiness. Her has-been husband, though wise, has really given Ermo no choice but to resent his inablilities while he continues to boss her around with even the smallest tasks that he could easily do by himself. I am sure that a lack of effort had something to do with the reason that "the Chief" was no longer the chief anymore. During the film her refered to everything as being useless when he was the most useless of them all. Why buy a T.V.? Useless. This medicine is "useless." I did, however, enjoy his metaphor of a television being an egg, while a house was a hen. He was trying to put into perspective the ridiculousness of her ultimate goal of having the biggest television in the county. As we later find out, the television really hasn't made Ermo's family any better off or happier. The static at the end of the movie followed by the sound of Ermo advertising her twisted noodles solidifies how trivial her aims were.

I wanted to comment on the systematic way that Ermo created her noodles. The way she used her feet to work the dough was almost like a ceremonial dance and I got this feeling that there was something sacred in her work. Whatever it was it seemed to take her away from the stress of regular life though she was completely enwrapped in it.

It was interesting to see how tough and calloused Ermo was in her laboring life, however she still had a softer side that was most evident when she was on top of Blindman's truck, receiving a ride to town to sell her baskets and noodles. She was scared and wanted to get down. At one point she even said "Mama!" The other instance that showed some weakness in Ermo was when she first gave blood and kept telling Wang to stop extracting the blood but she wouldn't. Ermo claimed she was scared and wanted to stop.

--Bob

Posted by robert at November 16, 2004 05:28 PM