Raise The Red Lanterns (Movie)

It took a lot of determination and perseverance for me to finish this movie. Within the first five minutes of the movie, (what with Gong Li delivering that monologue about marriage) I already got the impression that it would be abounding with competition, pain, tradition, and more tradition. It's clear from the start that Gong Li is younger, and probably more intelligent than the other mistresses. However, this does not necessarily mean she can outsmart the cold-blooded, manipulative second mistress. The entire household is a twisted web of deceit, scheming and competition. They are like wild animals, whose only instinct is to survive, even at the expense of someone else. I try to put myself in their shoes and my only thought is this: I would rather die than live in that house.

The Things They Carried

Like we discussed in class, a war story, but not a typical one. It's like reading one of the soldiers' memories: jumbled, scattered, vivid and raw. The story made me wonder about all the excess baggage all these soldiers carry. It makes me think about the agony of war and how all those issues just piling up day after day could do serious damage to a person's state of mind. Staring death in the face day after day, knowing that one day that head with a whole in the forehead could be yours is quite a lot for someone to bear. Not only do they bear physical burdens but emotional ones as well. It is said in the story that they also carry the "burden of being alive". Every moment for them is a struggle and we see how much they detest this in their recurring dreams of flying up, up and away.
I read in the introduction of the story that the theme is a list. Yes, it is, in a sense. Practically half the story just goes on to enumerate the things that the soldiers carry, in the process morphing these possessions into one giant burden that these soldiers have to carry.
I think we're all soldiers, one way or another, each with our own baggage to carry, all on the same trek, trying to find our way back to our "Martha in New Jersey."