Lost In Beijing: Social Unfairness Is Mainly Caused By Class Discrimination Or Gender Discrimination?
Hsu Lok Yu 3035190995
Lost in Beijing: Social unfairness is mainly caused by class discrimination or gender discrimination?
As a reflective film describing the dark sides of human in the prosperous Beijing, Lost in Beijing seemingly depicts how migrant workers are being exploited in terms of career and love relationship in the city. While many people believe that the social inequality presented in the film is the result of discrimination against migrant workers in the city, this essay will argue that the unfair social events are, in fact, attributed to the Chinese deep-rooted belief of patriarchy, which leads to gender discrimination. It is suggested that even though there is no formation of new class in the city, discrimination will …show more content…
Prominently, the unfairness here has little to do with the class differences but the imbalance of gender power. The social concept of normalizing the cheating behaviour of men could be attributed to the polygamy policy which had been practicing from Ancient Times to 1950 in China. Polygamy legally allows men to have more than one wife and reinforce the culture of patriarchy. A study shows that men who are living in countries that have ever practiced or that are practicing polygamy are more inclined to treat their wives as acquisitions, believing that wives should solely belong to them and wholeheartedly obey them (McCloskey, Williams & Larsen, 2005).
The mindset of equalizing wife as acquisitions may explain why An Kun (a man) gets angry when his wife (acquisition) is raped (consumed) by others while men are not the acquisitions of women, so they can have the power to search for excitement from other women whenever they want. Depicting the lascivious images of the two male protagonists and the obedient personalities of the two female protagonists, Li Yu successfully reflects the gender inequality, which can be found in Chinese couples
Lost in Beijing: Social unfairness is mainly caused by class discrimination or gender discrimination?
As a reflective film describing the dark sides of human in the prosperous Beijing, Lost in Beijing seemingly depicts how migrant workers are being exploited in terms of career and love relationship in the city. While many people believe that the social inequality presented in the film is the result of discrimination against migrant workers in the city, this essay will argue that the unfair social events are, in fact, attributed to the Chinese deep-rooted belief of patriarchy, which leads to gender discrimination. It is suggested that even though there is no formation of new class in the city, discrimination will …show more content…
Prominently, the unfairness here has little to do with the class differences but the imbalance of gender power. The social concept of normalizing the cheating behaviour of men could be attributed to the polygamy policy which had been practicing from Ancient Times to 1950 in China. Polygamy legally allows men to have more than one wife and reinforce the culture of patriarchy. A study shows that men who are living in countries that have ever practiced or that are practicing polygamy are more inclined to treat their wives as acquisitions, believing that wives should solely belong to them and wholeheartedly obey them (McCloskey, Williams & Larsen, 2005).
The mindset of equalizing wife as acquisitions may explain why An Kun (a man) gets angry when his wife (acquisition) is raped (consumed) by others while men are not the acquisitions of women, so they can have the power to search for excitement from other women whenever they want. Depicting the lascivious images of the two male protagonists and the obedient personalities of the two female protagonists, Li Yu successfully reflects the gender inequality, which can be found in Chinese couples