An Analytical Look at Summer Palace

Summer Palace, directed by Lou Ye, tells of a passionate love story between two college students, Yu Hong and Zhou Wei, during the late 1980s, right before the political turmoil of Tiananmen Square to the end of the century. The first half of the movie deals with the chaos of their relationship and how it is influenced by the events going on around them while the second, set in a more peaceful time, demonstrates the apathy and motions that each go through to fill the void within them. How the article, "Generation Ku: Individualism and China's Millennial Youth," takes a look at the significance of the rapid changes the newest generation of Chinese youth has gone through demonstrates the power struggle between traditional beliefs and gender roles against individualism and freedom that the characters in Summer Palace experience.

“Ku” is a new slang term developed by Chinese adolescents used as a “verbal icon of a youth rebellion that promises to transform some of the older generation's most enduring cultural values” (Moore 357). It is “derived from the English slang term “cool” (Moore 357) and is often used to describe the individualistic, Western-influenced, millennial generation, children of the era who lived through the Cultural Revolution. The usage of a slang term to define a generation is not something only seen however in China. In the 20th century, the USA has also gone through two cultural transformations led by the adolescents and young adults that were both also defined by a new slang term (Moore 358). China has always been more focused on kinship and collectivism, but recent economic reforms after Mao and influences from the West are creating individualistic tendencies where people work more towards their own goals instead of for the state (Moore 362). With the rise of capitalism and consumerism culture, both of which innately promote individualism, the seeds for rebellion are planted. Globalization has also given the youth new perspectives that their parents never had (Moore 357), leading to the inevitable clash with young people and authority, Tiananmen Square. In the Barker book, Hebdige says that “youth is only present when its presence is regarded a problem... This allows them to 'play with the only power at their disposal – the power to discomfort, the pose... a threat” (Barker 434). Students are only noticed when they stir up trouble, when they go deviant. Throughout the movie, it seems as if the students are barely monitored and the teachers pay little attention to them. It is only when fights or riots break out that they rise from their stupor to interfere. Thus, in order to create change, the students must do something as drastic as Tiananmen Square because it is the only action they can do to capture the attention of the world. They work together, focusing on their wants, the economic and democratic reforms that they desire, not simply the individual, but what the individual stands for.

However, it is not just individualism, but power, that helps to play a part in the events that unfold in the movie. A choice of whether or not to remain as a couple or be separate people is a question often raised in the first half of the film. There is a key point where Yu Hong wants to break up with Zhou Wei because she can't leave him. She realizes the danger of needing someone as badly as she needs Zhou Wei to be with her because it decides whether or not she will be happy. As Barker states, “power is regarded as pervading every level of social relationships” (Barker 10), including romantic relationships, and what Yu Hong and Zhou Wei have is no exception. There is constantly a power struggle between the two of them, once even escalating to an argument between the two where Yu Hong refuses to leave the room unless he hits her, which he then proceeds to do three times, with each time her continuing to provoke him until he finally gives in and hugs her, the two of them reconciling. Zhou Wei's wish to exercise his dominance over her conflicts with Yu Hong's defiance against his desires. According to Li Ti, her best friend, Zhou Wei prefers gentle girls, but Yu Hong is “hard,” which scares him and makes him uncertain of himself. Yu Hong is nothing like the submissive, servile woman of Confucian society, being much more individualistic and aggressive, perhaps because of her rural background. The article gives the example of how in one rural community, “the groundwork for individualistic tendencies” was laid out by how the state in the 1950s “ruthlessly undermined family and local authority systems” (Moore 363). Yu Hong is in no way timid and weak, which is a “prominent feature of Chinese ku in light of the evidence indicating that the most salient way of being ku is to be individualistic” (Moore 372). To her father, she tells him not to worry about her, a sign of her readiness to be independent. Because Zhou Wei is unable to establish himself as master of the relationship, the two of them are constantly breaking up and getting back together, with Yu Hong even saying that she is bound to him through destiny for better or worse. For her, true love can only appear in the midst of angst and suffering, and her relationship with Zhou Wei is so full of ups and downs that for the two of them, at least during their college years, they do find true love.

Sex and love is a dominant theme in the film and is just as important in there as it is for China's millennial youth. With the rise of individualism, there is the “tendency for young Chinese to establish boyfriend-girlfriend relations” (Moore 363). During the Cultural Revolution, good female comrades were not even supposed to think about marriage until their late twenties. Even before that, “dating and forming romantic relationships have long been prohibited in China, by Confucian-influenced families and, more recently, by dictate of the state” (Moore 363). While professors do not seem to interfere with relationships in the movie, the school authorities do, as seen in the scene when Li Ti and Zhou Wei are caught naked in bed together and punished. Thus, “the pursuit of romantic relationships is a profoundly individualistic undertaking” (Moore 363) because it marks personal interest instead of acting on behalf of the family. It may also be seen as detracting from studying, causing students to perform sub-par, thus failing the family. In the second half of the movie, Yu Hong has two affairs with men, the first one mostly for sex, the second one more for emotional support. Her wayward relationships with Zhou Wei and the married man in the second half of the film, show that they “function as mechanisms with a double impetus: pleasure and power” (Foucault 688). She is “the individual driven, in spite of [herself], by the somber madness of sex” (Foucault 685), for sex is forbidden in college and seen as highly individualistic while the first affair challenges the traditional structure of marriage. Yu Hong wonders why she is so eager to have sex with the men in her life. She is later quoted to say that it is only when she makes love do people see that she has a gentle side, that she isn't as “hard” as she appears on the surface. Power comes into play once again, for when she is in bed, she is the submissive one, the cultural role played by Chinese women, which then allows the men she sleeps with to be the one on top, the one in charge, therefore making them secure in their manhood.

Summer Palace is heavily influenced by the individualistic culture and beliefs of Generation Ku. It demonstrates the power struggle depicted in Yu Hong's relationships with men and also her own cultural history, which draws from a more collective background. While the word “ku” itself is not used anywhere in Summer Palace, the cultural meaning of the word in Chinese youth society and how it has come to be permeates the film, demonstrating how it often conflicts with traditional structure and personal relationships.

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Works Cited

1.Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies, 3rd Edition. SAGE Publications: Los Angeles, 2008. Print.

2. Foucault, Michel. “The History of Sexuality.” Gender Studies, Gay/Lesbian Studies, Queer Theory. p. 682-691. Print.

3. Moore, Robert L. “Generation Ku: Individualism and China's Millennial Youth.” Ethnology, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Autumn, 2005): p. 357-376. 10 October 2009. Web.

4. Summer Palace. Lou Ye. Perf. Hao Lei, Zhang Xianmin, Hu Lingling. Palm Pictures. 2006. DVD.

Ethnography

I went to the Starbucks near my apartment in Northridge on Saturday, September 19th, 2009. It was a hot autumn afternoon, right after I left Mikomicon, an anime convention. Upon entering, I ordered a drink and took a seat by the window near the counter so I could have a good view of all the customers in the cafe. Once I got my drink, I opened my book to begin recording notes.

There are four cashiers total, three of which were

female and one male. They all look to be about college-aged. Already in the cafe are an Asian male and an Asian girl, both working individually at their own tables. The Asian male is looking around the cafe while reading a textbook. The Asian girl has a newspaper open on top of her pencil case and book. To my right, by the counter, a white girl and an older white male are having a conversation about school. The girl carries most of the conversation, explaining about how she was checking e-mail and what should be sent, how she had to handle sports first to make sure an appointment can work out. The white man remarks about how difficult it seems, which closes the conversation, and he leaves first. After a few minutes, the girl also goes, taking the back door. A Hispanic woman comes in, orders her drink quietly, then sits down across from the Asian girl, diagonal however so that they are not facing each other. A biker comes in and strikes up a conversation with the female cashier at the register. He seems to be a regular, as they share a friendly rapport about how he is doing and what the day is like. Another older white male walks in, perhaps another regular, because the cashier and him chat about walking and not walking enough. Their conversation continues as she makes his drink.

All the tables at Starbucks are slowly filling up as people come in and sit down with their drinks. Another white male walks in, orders a tall hot drink and sits down with his laptop once he gets it. The Asian male is now staring off into the distance while the Asian girl has abandoned the newspaper (which the Hispanic woman has begun to read) and is looking through her textbook.

Although I cannot see them, I can hear the three female cashiers gossiping behind the counter about a guy (the kind that you could take anywhere). Apparently, they know each other well enough to know siblings by name, although not by age, as one girl brings up her brother, who is coming to town, and the tattoo he has, one with a heart with a puzzle piece that fits inside of it. A father and son walk in, standing a bit away from the counter, an indication that they are thinking about what they want. None of the friendly rapport from the previous customers occur, so they probably are not regulars. Having served their customers, the male cashier returns from cleaning around the store and joins the conversation the female cashiers are having.

A group of four Asians walk in. The two girls point to the food display. One male goes to the restroom while the other takes a table and sits with his laptop. The younger Asian girl takes the table across from him and chats while the older woman orders two drinks, then joins the younger girl. All three talk. Meanwhile, a white girl, perhaps associated with sports from the design on her shirt, is next to walk in. Again, the social norm is to stand in the back before approaching the counter with her decision. Once that is done, she takes a table, cleaning the top before officially sitting down. A white mother and her two girls, about the age of six and ten, are the next to enter. They approach the counter almost immediately, with the mother discussing with the older girl what they want to order. The interaction between the mother and her children is very sweet: she sings and dances along with them in public while discussing the party that they will head over to later. More customers come in and slowly file into a line. The male cashier is now making the drinks, as the African American cashier has left. Two more Asian girls walk in and wait, leaning against the stand until the cashier calls out to them before they will walk up and order. Once they have done so, one girl takes the big table with the very first Asian girl while the other goes to the restroom. A white woman comes in asking for where the restroom is, which an employee readily points out to her.

An Asian couple walks in. The male pays while the girl walks around, then comes back. Together, they look at the products while waiting for their drinks. The previous Asian group that had walked in are chatting together at their two tables, although separately. The younger male shows the two girls an ad, which the younger girl studies more seriously than the older. They now speak amongst themselves. An older white male comes in, orders his drink, and leans on the counter while waiting for his money back. He puts his change in his pocket, counts the dollars, and throws the receipt into the trashcan. He leans on the counter while a female employee makes his drink, then thanks her. The male coworker says goodbye to his coworkers, using, "Bye, guys," even though they are all female.

The discussion between the coworkers about the brother and the tattoo was interesting, because they specifically mentioned him having a heart tattoo with a puzzle piece inside. While I could not hear most of the conversation, they did seem surprised. Although men in our society are now being slowly encouraged to be more open with their feelings and be romantic, the fact that they brought it up is a sign that even with the media broadcasting, it is still more uncommon than common. The reference itself to the puzzle piece was symbolic of the missing piece in his life that he was searching for, but this may only be because I have been culturalized to believe that sort of thing.

While at Starbucks, there weren't too many couples that showed up. I did find it interesting however how people knew to stand in the back if they had not yet decided what to order. It was more often in the younger generation however that people did this; the mother and the older white male who came in last waited at the front of the counter while making their decisions. This could almost be called a display of dominance. The Asian girls who came in waited for the cashier to call them before, perhaps a reflection of their own culture. We learn naturally to stand in the back while thinking, so that any customers who walk in and know what they want already can order first. It is not taught officially to us, merely picked up. In addition, the group of Asians who walked in may have been there more because of enriching friendships, not romantic relationships, because they sat based on gender, not girl with guy, girl with guy. They were one of the few groups who remained at Starbucks to socialize, although one of the men had brought his laptop, so he was probably there because he realized the women would chat for a long time, so he might as well get some work done while he could.

I found the male co-worker's usage of "guys" referring to his female coworkers a specific feature of the California dialect. It is a shortened version of the phrase, "guys and gals," and may be a sign of the word usage slowly changing. In some areas of the country, people will use "y'all" or "yous." Here in California however, we ignore gender and simply use "guys." It could be a sign of his casual relationship with his coworkers, because he did not use “girls,” which while it would have been more correct gender-wise, sets him apart from them. His choice of "guys" brings them closer, because he acknowledges them as equals.

From the looks of it, Starbucks is both a place where people can gather and meet socially and a retreat where people can study or work. It is both convenient and cheap, because people can simply order a drink and spend less than five dollars, then sit at a table for hours. Whether or not coming to cafes to study started off as a rarity that influenced movie makers or became popular because of movies, the majority of the people who came into Starbucks either stayed for a long time with their drinks and working, or left almost immediately. My sister often goes to cafes to study, and it was not until I actually came myself and got a feel for the environment that I now understand why she likes to do so. We are each enclosed in our own world, which consists of the table we choose to sit at and the drink, which serves as our subsistence. Even if we do not come with our own music, the cafe plays something to entertain us. It is a symbol of getting things accomplished, perhaps why those who stay often stay instead of simply leaving. When we think of cafes, we think of not just getting a drink, but also socializing with friends or a place where we can work quietly to ourselves and not be disturbed. It has been established as a cultural space to socialize and work, not simply a place to purchase food and drink.