Broken Blossoms: Symbolism
Broken Blossoms
Many directors would have found it difficult to follow such blockbusters as the controversial and monumental The Birth of a Nation (1915), the spectacular Intolerance (1916), and the epic Hearts of the World (1918). However, in the film Broken Blossoms (1919), D. W. Griffith succeeded in creating his most tragic, controversial, disturbing, and thought-provoking movie. Subtitled The Yellow Man and the Girl, the film was an adaptation of a story taken from Thomas Burke's book Limehouse Nights and, superficially, it appears to detail the romance between a young, gentle Chinese man and an abused, illegitimate young girl, in London's foggy slums. In fact, this silent film, ...
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spiritual enlightenment and harmony to the inhabitants of London, through the years of disenchantment and opium addiction, to his eventual suicide, resulting from a doomed relationship with an English girl. The introductory scenes of the movie present him as a highly educated man, and one who is universally recognized and respected by Chinese society. In contrast, his status as an immigrant is symbolized by his utter anonymity; a man who is denied even the basic acknowledgement of a name, and is known only as the "Yellow Man". Unfortunately, Griffiths fails to capitalize upon this valid observation of intolerance and racism, preferring to 'play safe' by casting the Caucasian Barthelmess in the role. This decision to 'represent' the Chinese immigrant, rather than to opt for the reality of an Asian actor, was in keeping with the values of the time, but also served to shelter the audience from the full horror of the subsequent inter-racial relationship. In effect, they could console ...
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with the sins of heavy drinking and womanizing. In stark contrast, Lillian Gish plays the part of Lucy as the innocent victim, not only of domestic abuse, but all society's ills.
Once again, the symbolism of the book, Hell, is apt, this time to the life that is endured by Lucy. At one point in the film, after she has received yet another brutal beating at the hands of her father, Lucy sits alone amid the fog on the dockside. The sight of her abject misery and battered young body is accompanied only by the sight of a figure sawing a block of wood as the scene fades out. The implication is that the figure's sawing is endless, and is considered to be a visual representation of the poem of ...
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"Broken Blossoms: Symbolism." Essayworld.com. August 15, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Broken-Blossoms-Symbolism/104899.
"Broken Blossoms: Symbolism." Essayworld.com. August 15, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Broken-Blossoms-Symbolism/104899.
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