Wu Yonggang's 1934 Film, the Goddess

A Silent Film from China's Cinematic Golden Age

The social themes addressed in Wu Yonggang's 1934 film, The Goddess are not approached in a subtle manner. The messages are clear and an obvious social criticism within the story of a woman who is victim of circumstance. Though, Ruan Lingyu's character as the Goddess is approached with a delicate finesse. As a prostitute mother she challenges tolerance within the educational institution and reinforces the gender roles of early 1930s China. The story still holds relevance today where a similar drama played out in California headlines. A schoolteacher caught posing nude in magazines was fired and ridiculed nation-wide despite her numerous attempts to save face. With this in mind, it can be said that The Goddess addresses universal themes.

As a loving mother, the Goddess (Lingyu) exemplifies a strong independent woman who in such a period of history was probably considered unusual. Her independent spirit is also a subtle touch of Yonggang's storytelling as one must look deeply into her character to see that it is her only guard against her oppressors. This hidden ferocity is bottled up, contained in many a scene's enclosed spaces and close ups of Lingyu. In her final moments of the film, at first seeming to be a triumph against her abusive boyfriend, her rage bubbles over self-destructively. It becomes the system's final blow to her as what the viewer witnesses as self-defense, but is actualized as a charge of murder to a judge.

In the final scene, shots of the son's schoolteacher visiting the Goddess in prison capture her complete state of being. A long shot framed behind the bars of a window peering into the room encapsulate the two people we sympathize with. The camera traps them within the institutional setting as if to say they have no way out. Again all that survives and gives hope to the characters is their independent spirit, which as a central theme is a comment on individualism in society, especially in Asia. Both these characters rub against the grain of society as the system fails them and are either trapped by the institution or abandon it.