Film reflection essays

Yang (Max) Zhao The film “Crouching tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a Chinese Kung-Fu material film, released in 2000. Ang Lee, the director of this film, successfully and perfectly displayed both Taoist belief system and concept of Confucianism throughout different personalities and features that each main character has. It is very rare that a traditional Chinese Kung-fu movie’s leading characters are female; this just illustrates that the movie itself represent one of the most important philosophy of Taoism that women shall not be rejected, unwanted or ignored. The movie also demonstrates the emotional paths of Master Li Mubai, his elder bother’s fiancée-Yu Xiulian and Sir Te’s daughter-Yu Jiaolong; meanwhile, we could see how the restraining social order and traditional thoughts tie down Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian. Li Mubai is the representative of Taoism in this film. In the very first scene, the reason why he decides to give away the Green Destiny Sword to Sir Te as a gift is not only because he wants to quit from the “Giang Hu”; but also his meditation drives him to abandon his fames and accomplishments; this thought or behavior of Li Mubai reflects a one of prime principles of Taoism that “success in human affairs depends on taking no action, as in the lower position”. Although he clearly realized that he has long have emotion to Yu Xiulian, the ethical barrier, which Yu Xiulian’s fiancé died for him, always stop him from confessing his emotion to Yu Xiulian until ultimately he was dead on the scene of fighting with Jade Fox. Why? Because he knows that his feelings toward Xiulian are contrary to his understanding of Taoism, which has been embedded deeply into Li’s brain since the first day he started his meditation in Wudang Mountain. In fact, Xiulian knows that Mubai always attempted to deny this feeling because she understands that his feelings to Xiulian would pull him back from pursuing further meditation. She never pushed Mubai to speak out his love to herself, even at the end when Mubai wants to give her his confession with his last breath, she still refused and said “Let your soul rise to eternity with your last breath. Do not waste it on me.” Her love contains