The Sharp Edge of Femininity: A Film Interpretation of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), directed by Ang Lee, may seem like a typical action film filled with sword fighting and martial arts showdowns, but this assumption could not be farther from the truth. Unlike most on-the-surface action films purely created for entertainment, Crouching Tiger seeks to tell a story through physical movements, underscoring the unspoken through action. Each battle between characters has a purpose, a meaning, with the intention behind each movement exposing their relationships and histories that fuel the fight.
At the start of the film, we are introduced to Shu Lien, the head of a company that specializes in security, who is traditional and poised. When Jen, the daughter of an influential governor, visits Shu Lien and they become engaged in a duel, their fighting moves against each other show their true intentions, as seen when Shu Lien spares Jen, but Jen wounds Shu Lien’s arm. These fights throughout the film carry heavy importance with a paradoxical tone, where the movements show restraint and patience, while the emotions motivating the fight result in each character exuding a sense of urgency to express themselves.
The film showcases what it means to be brave and how the female characters deal with societal expectations suffocating them, in which both intertwine frequently. Each character displays their strength and bravery, highlighted by Shu Lien and another character, Jade Fox’s, contrasting situations. Shu Lien practices great restraint by withholding her true feelings about Mu Bai due to her previous engagement with his late brother, deciding it was the proper thing to do to follow tradition and established rules. This is also reflected in her by-the-book fighting style. Her ability to sacrifice her feelings and livelihood in order to follow society’s strict and oppressive rules concerning women is a strength of its own.
On the other hand, Jade displays a different kind of strength, one that is a stark contrast from Shu Lien. Barred from learning Wudang, she teaches herself through diagrams due to her illiteracy and utilizes her cleverness by using poison to kill others. Jen, apart from their contrast, strives to be more than a bride of an arranged marriage from the beginning of the film. She is willing to leave her very comfortable lifestyle to learn Wudang and break the restricted societal bounds that suffocate her. She completes the third perspective, as she is placed in the middle of the ideals of Shu Lien and Jade, both representing two opposing approaches on how to survive as a woman living in society.
The most interesting concept was the impact the physical world had on Jen’s ability to transcend. From the moment we are introduced to Jen, her initial role was “the governor's daughter,” even introduced as so by Sir Te before learning her name. Suffocated and trapped by the looming role as a bride of an arranged marriage, Jen strives to fight her way out of the societal bindings by leaving behind her comfortable lifestyle with servants waiting on her, beautiful clothes, and intricate trinkets. Even Mu Bai says, in the beginning, he could not find enlightenment during his retreat because of the Green Sword, haunted by the weapon and its status.
However, Jen’s situation is different in which the physical world which carries these boundaries ties her down as a woman because she feels she has no freedom. To achieve this freedom, she seeks out the help of others to learn Wudang but quickly finds that she is not allowed to learn it—mirroring the same path Jade and Shu Lien had to carve themselves—all due to their gender as we learn throughout the film. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, considered one of the most iconic Asian-American films, rightfully holds this title due to the fascinating duels unique to Chinese film and the approach to femininity. The way this film portrays the intersection of Chinese and Western interpretations of femininity, perceived as simultaneously dangerous and powerful, yet gentle and passive, is skillfully shown through action and fighting—taking “showing and not telling” to another level.
Cover Photo by luvi. Edited by Madison Case.
