The Flowers of War
Introduction
The Flower of War in a traditional drama based on the 13 flowers of Nanjing novel by Geling Yan. It foretells the story of Nanking Massacre during the second Sino-Japanese war in 1937. It revolves around a group of Chinese escapees who strive to find sanctuary and survival in a church compound despite the violence ranging throughout the war. In such contrast, the cheongsams of the file are based on the event that was occurring during that period and cultural connotation to each participant of the film. The film arouses cross-cultural curiosity between Chinese- Japanese involvement in the war and the Cynical American who turned out to be noble in the face of adversity and conflict. The American spur to heroism from the prostitutes in exchange for sexual favour on the promise to get them out of the city.
At the beginning of the film, the vision of the protagonist Shu Juan is adopted, and the core background is told to the audience with a simple statement. And the characteristics of Shu Juan’s clothing era are the most obvious. The concise female student clothing of the Republic of China period shows Shu Juan’s lively and straightforward character. And although the director has broken the original rules in content sets, still respects the leading background clothing of the 1930s in terms of clothing, not only the heroine Shu Juan but also the image of priests, prostitutes, soldiers, etc. Can be seen at a glance through clothing.
Prostitute Costume: Cheongsam
In the war in Nanjing, their gorgeous cheongsams were perhaps the only decoration other than the glass in churches of this period. In contrast to students, many student costumes during the Republic of China were simple, black and white or blue and white, showing the opposite and honest side of students and prostitutes. In “Jinling Thirteen Sisters”, student costumes become dark tones in the film, but it is undeniable that the sharp contrast between student costumes and cheongsam is used to shape the atmosphere. In the movie, the prostitutes wore clothes which connoted their social class and cultural upbringing. They wore pieces of the garment with deep contrasting colours which contrasted the black and white clothes which were designed for students. This differentiated them from students and took over the active role of sex peddlers in exchange for favours and acceptance in society. They wore makeup and sexy cheongsam, which was a clear symbolism of prostitution in the Chinese community and lack of social constrain on a societal level.
The designers of this prostitute akin clothes which reflected Chinese cultural thinking means that the prostitutes though more of themselves rather than the events that were going around their society. This depicts the prostitutes as independent women who were not influenced by the external environment to expound their endeavours. They adhered to their beauty and used it to their advantage and capital to earn both material things and livelihood despite the war that was turning their society around. Apart from the prostitutes, all other female character s in the film wore their costumes to reflect the social status they held in the society and their cultural origin. Ni Ni, who appears as a beautiful actress in the film, demonstrates the combination of cinematography and beauty to create an outstanding character. She is the leader of the prostates and with a profound command for English an aesthetic feature which befits her role in the film. The prostitute costumes also presented orientalism which is dominating western perception of the east. Different orientalists painting and pictures are based on that period present Asian women wearing sharp makeup to align to exoticism. The prostitute costumes make them highly attractive and striking one characteristic which is used in one in sex business to attract men. The idea of exoticism is a common trend in costume design where designers are fascinated by the ideology of foreign mystery and fantasy. This ideology is depicted in prostitute costumes which are highly contrasting in colour and makeup.
Priest costume
In the film, the American was initially a westerner whose job was an Okuribito and had no social significance to the society that surrounded him. With time he pulls himself together changed his clothes to priest’s vestments and takes over the role of protecting the Chinese women hampering in the cathedral. The priest vestments reflect change is social status from a mess to a highly regarded member of the society who has the potential of protecting foreigners in a foreign country. Although he was safe outside the wall of the cathedral as the Japanese were neither shooting nor killing westerners, he wore the priest vestment to protect the Chinese girls and prostitutes who were hiding in the temple. The priest dressing which reflected westernization rather than local culture called for respect by the Japanese soldiers. With this in mind, the American seized that opportunity to protect the local from the harm which was to be inflected by them by the Japanese soldiers. The transition from an ordinary man to a priest arouse the connotation of priestly humanity to people suffering, which is critical during the time of agony. He provides a haven for the women using his cultural connection as a westerner and “priesthood” thus protecting them from harm.
The designer of the priest costumes in the move in referring the John Gillespie Magee. He was an American Episcopal who was undertaking missionary work in Nanking during the Nanking Massacre. It is during this period when thousands of defenceless Chinese were slaughtered by Japanese soldiers who had invaded the country. The church signifies the Nanking safety zone, which was run by the Episcopal regardless of his safety. This represents dress as a form of resistance against the Japanese invasion and massacre of innocent Chinese people. The priest who hampered the girls and prostitutes represent Magee’s activities in the participation rescue mission of harmless Chinese soldiers and civilian who faced death under the hands of Japanese.
In conclusion, the movie has an abundant and greater strength of cinematography embed in different historical attachment and meaning. The cinematography is used to depict the identity of the characters from social to cultural and political connections. Through this, the clothes speak of the narration setting of the film by referring to the event which occurred in chine during the Nanking massacre. Through this, the cinematography aspect of the film managed to address exoticism aspect of the film setting, gender roles, social change and roles in China in the 1930s. This, and among other costumes used in the film makes a profound amalgamation that brought out the theme of the movie.