Saturday, April 16, 2011

Cross-Acting in Chinese Comedies - I


The sex consciousness of roles is restricted by the social environment and social program. Chinese literature is deeply stamped with the view that men are superior to women. To revolt this view, you can find numerous stories about females disguising themselves as men, including Hua Mulan within the northern dynasties. Nonetheless, a lot of comedies are fond of utilizing this method to express humor.

There are two quite typical examples during them, Hua Mulan and Zhu Yingtai.

First of all, there is an old Chinese folktale about the story of a young Chinese maiden who learns that her weakened and lame father is to be referred to as up into the army so as to fight the invading Huns. Understanding that he would in no way survive the rigors of war in his state, she decides to disguise herself and join in his place. This story can be a favourite of many directors. There's a classic 1 amongst them in which the actress is Yuan Yongyi. Take a look at the picture below.

It's the style of Hua Mulan in the comedy.

Secondly, there is also a different story which is also a favourite of comedy directors. This story tells that a young woman named Zhu Yingtai from Shangyu, Zhejiang, disguised herself as a man traveling to Hangzhou to study. In the course of her journey, she met and joined Liang Shanbo, a companion schoolmate from Kuaiji in the identical province. They studied together for 3 years, during which their relationship strengthened.When the two parted, Zhu provided to arrange for Liang to marry her 16 years old fictitious sister.


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