CONFLICTS BETWEEN LOVE AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN CHINESE FILMS

Abstract

The content of a number of fictional feature films from Communist China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong was examined and compared, focusing on the theme of conflict between love and family relationships. This theme is very prominent in all three groups of films, and consistently centers around conflicts between love relationships of young people and parentally-arranged marriages or bethrothals. In the Communist films, parents are blamed for the conflicts, and resolution is portrayed as only possible through radical social change. In the Taiwan films, parents receive no blame, and resolution is depicted in terms of adaptation by the young to restore family unity. At a deeper level, however, Communist as well as Nationalist films uphold traditional values such as acceptance of authority and subordination of personal love to wider social goals, in ways that help to clarify the interrelations of social change and continuity even in revolutionary situations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 25, 1967
Accession Number
AD0659500

Entities

People

  • John H. Weakland

Organizations

  • Mental Research Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • California
  • Classification
  • Communists
  • Construction
  • Continuity
  • Families (Human)
  • Hong Kong
  • Human Behavior
  • Marriage
  • Military Research
  • Psychology
  • Security
  • Social Psychology
  • United States
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.