Feet questions

For the Children (a.k.a. Pretty Big Feet), 2003 dir. Yang Yazhou

  1. Zhang Meili and Xia Yu represent, among other things, the rural and the urban as Chinese understand rural-urban differences. How does Yang Yazhou display the values of the bourgeoisie: individualism, the thirst for power, money, and eroticism, and the traditional values of altruism, charity, and love? 夏雨和张美丽分别代表了现代中国人对城乡差别的认识;她们是怎样代表了资产阶级价值观(对权力、金钱和肉欲的渴望)对封建社会的传统价值观(自我牺牲、施舍、和爱戴)的取代?
  2. In what way is Zhang Meili’s life as a rural elementary school teacher meaningful to Xia Yu and the city life of Xia Yu meaningful to Zhang Meili? Explain. 对于张美丽来说,夏雨的城市生活有哪些吸引力?对夏雨来说,张美丽的农村生活有哪些吸引力?
  3. What does the director want to say with the beginning when Zhang Meili’s husband is executed for stealing railway spikes and what’s the significance of her trying to kill the family pig in the context of the story as a whole? 你怎么分析电影刚开始时张美丽老公的死刑判决?张美丽为什么忙着要杀猪?在整个故事里,这些细节说明了什么?
  4. Why is the character of Zhao Mianfen, the newly rich, an entrepreneuer who owns a flour plant? What does he do for and to Zhang Meili? What does the director want to say about change from socialism to capitalism? 暴发户赵面粉对张美丽做了些什么?为张美丽做了什么?导演想通过这两个人说明社会主义好还是资本主义好?
  5. How do the two woman teacher differ with regard t0 their attitudes toward relationship, family, marriage, abortion and success? As a viewer, whose attitudes do you think the director want you to identify more? 在对待男人,恋爱,家庭,婚姻,生产,和幸福的态度上,两位女教员相同还是不同?你觉得导演更同情和认同哪一个?请解释。
  6. Is there symmetry between poverty and resolve/hope on the one hand, and affluence and meaninglessness on the other? What point does Yang Yazhou want to make by presenting the process of urbanization and industrial civilization in this way? 故事情节似乎为我们指出穷则思变,而居安则无所事事这样一个倾向;导演想借此说明工业文明和城镇化中的什么问题?
  7. As women, is Zhang Meili or Xia Yu more fulfilled? Why? 张美丽和夏雨两个女人,谁活的更充实?为什么?
  8. Why is it difficult for Zhang Meili to be romantically involved with Wang Shu, the village film projectionist? How is this tormented relationship different from that between Xia Yu and her boyfriend who finally breaks up with her? 为什么张美丽与王树的恋情如此困难?他们之间的关系和夏雨跟她男友的关系有什么相同,有什么不同?
  9. How do you interpret the last scene where Xia Yu, coming back to the village after hearing the news of Meili’s death, slides down the dirt slope to the bottom of the dried river bed? 在故事的最后,夏雨在张美丽去世之后又回到农村,从孩子们常玩耍的土坡上坐滑滑梯出溜到干河床底。这个细节说明了什么?
  10. Why does Meili refuse to stay in Beijing as Xia Yu tempts her to do?  张美丽为什么拒绝留在北京过城里人的生活?