Yellow Earth
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Yellow Earth
Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth and Xie Jin's Stage Sisters depict China in different ways yet they share similar themes and elements such as music, the role of women, and government in their stories. Both filmmakers focus on their nation and what they believe it represents.
Music is used throughout Yellow Earth and Stage Sisters in order to symbolically convey emotions about self and nation. In Yellow Earth the young girl Cuiqiao often sings about her feelings. In one of her songs she sings that a girl's life among humans is the most pitiful. Her song not only represents her fear of being forced to marry but the fear of Chinese people at that time. Cuiqiao also sings that she would like to say what is on her mind but she does not know how. This song is related to the fact that people in China were not allowed to speak out for many years due to the oppressive government. In Stage Sisters one songs says: We are homeless everywhere, yet everywhere at home. Perhaps what this song is trying to say is that even though the Chinese are living in their homeland they do not feel at home because they don't feel safe, comfortable and don't have a voice in society...