I recently watched the film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, directed by Wayne Wang and based on a book by Lisa See. The film opens in present day Shanghai and revolves around two friends, Nina Wei and Sophia Liao, who are laotongs, sworn sisters for life. Sophia has had an accident and is in a coma clinging to life in the hospital. Nina is now reflecting on how the two laotongs drifted apart. When they were teenagers, Nina and Sophia decided to become laotongs after Sophia's aunt tells them a story about Sophia's great, great, grandmother, a woman named Snow Flower. Snow Flower came from a wealthy family, and her laotong, Lily, came from a very humble and poor family. The two met because they were born in the same year on the same day and were a good astrological match. More importantly, Lily was subjected to foot binding by her family at an early age so that she would be more attractive to a male suitor. Because of her perfectly bound feet, Lily was thought to be a good match for Snow Flower. The story of Snow Flower and Lily, in 19th century China, parallels that of Sophia and Nina in present day Shanghai. At a certain point in the movie Snow Flower and Sophia are played by the same actress and Nina and Lily are played by the same actress. Both Snow Flower and Sophia start out in wealthy surroundings but their families fall on hard times. Both Lily and Nina start out in poor families, but both eventually improve their economic status. There are many cultural traditions in this movie that I think would intrigue my students. First, there is the notion of the laotong, a sworn sister for life. Marriages were for men's reasons and they were obligatory. A laotong's commitment was for women's reasons and by choice. They were formed for companionship, understanding, and happiness, and sealed with a laotong contract. Often laotongs would have a secret language, nu shu. Once Snow Flower and Lily were married and separated from each other, they would often communicate by writing messages to each other on the panels of fans. Second, I'm sure students would be interested in finding out more about the gruesome practice of foot binding. The feet of many young Chinese girls were broken and disfigured because large feet were seen as being unattractive by Chinese men. In the film, when Lily first marries, her husband kisses and admires her feet. From a historical perspective, there are several items of interest in this movie. One subplot of the movie that sends Snow Flower and Lily's life in another direction is the Taiping Rebellion. I think this movie could provoke discussion on this historical event in a seamless way. Snow Flower's family loses much of its wealth because her father becomes addicted to opium. This point of reference could lead to a discussion about the opium trade in China and the eventual Opium Wars. These historical events led to spheres of influence in China by Western powers and eventually gave way to U.S. Open Door policy. There was also a reference to a typhoid fever plague and how it affected Lily's family. The movie is a tear-jerker and sure to hold students attention. It contains many cultural and historical references and can be woven into lesson plans in a variety of ways.
edited by straylor on 2/1/2012
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Review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
01/18/2013 07:47 AM
#1
Review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
This is another film I have been considering watching but as an English teacher I feel compelled to read the book first. I think you have inspired me to add the book to my Kindle and the film to my Netflix queue.
Man, how am I going to find time to watch all of these great movies. Thanks for the compelling review.
Review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
I chose to watch Snow Flower and the Secret Fan because I read the book by Lisa See and was interesting in seeing the film adaptation. The only problem is I read the book five or six years ago. I enjoyed the movie about laotong and the friendship bonds of women. My favorite part of the movie was the actors playing both present day and historical characters in the movie. I liked how the film connected both stories. I would not show this to my students. The movie didn’t show enough historical content to spend an entire day in the classroom viewing the movie. I probably wouldn’t even show a clip of the movie for my world history class. I enjoyed the movie but felt it was somewhat slow and did not have enough historical content to justify the viewing in class. There was reference to opium addiction, the Taiping rebellion, footbinding, arranged marriages, gender/social roles, and merit testing that would certainly spark discussion in a classroom that had time for the viewing of feature films. When I read the book for my bookclub several years ago, discussion was lively. Overall, I liked the movie for my personal enjoyment but not for a classroom setting.
edited by tbryant on 7/28/2012
I wanted to see this movie because I had read the book and thought it would be perfect to show many of the events of early 19th century China and how difficult it was to be a woman. The main topic of the movie was both foot binding and being a Laotang with someone.
One of these issues , Laotang is very positive. It is a very special lifelong friendship arranged by a match-maker and is based in this case of having your feet bound process on the same day and also having the same day and year birthdate. Laotongs learn a secret language that only Chinese woman know and it is written on fans that are passed back and forth to communicate with each other. Laotong bonds are very tight. It even surpasses marriages. Since those were arranged with no love involved.
The other negitive issue was foot bounding. The offical would go to all the houses of the village and offer this choice, for a price, to young girls around six or seven with the tiniest and prettiest feet, Societies standard was to make the foot look like a lotus blossom . They would do this by wrapping all the toes around the big toe, breaking the toes and then wrapping the foot with ribbons soaked in a solution that softened the bones. After this the child had to walk around the house several times. It was very painful and it remained so all their life. From time to time the foot would be rewrapped pulling it closer and closer to the big toe, thus resumbling the lotus flower. Plus the pain one out of four girls died in the process.
This film also dealt with the concequences of optium use on the family. The father of one of the girls used it and she became poor with not so good marriage prospects. She married the butcher a job that made her family outcasts. The film also covered the horrors of the Tiefing Rebellion - losing your home and posessions and sometimes your life.
In the film it became difficult for the girls to stay together until one of them died of typhoid, a disease that was frequently around in those days.
I would use this film in middle school. However, you probably noticed I have not discussed the other story of the modern day girls that duplicate every action of the Laotang girls. They even used the same actresses for those parts. I found this complicated and confusing. It was not in the original book. Ifeel it would be better to eliminate that part of the movie. This would help with time and it really has no historical events that are necessary to be seen.
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[font=Times]I watch Snow Flower and the Secret Fan because the A.P. World History teacher recommended it. My wife began reading the book during the winter break but did not finish it. The bonds that women create and how that feeds in to their development of a lifelong relationship interested me: this is something that does not seem to happen among men; not then, not now. I am not sure if this does not happen or it does and is not something that is talked about. I liked how the director was able to use the actors to play themselves in the past and in the present, that gave the story more dept and connected the stories. As a high school teacher, I am not sure that I would show this movie in school. I do not believe the movie showed enough historical content to spend two or three hour periods showing the movie. I would probably show a clip of the movie, just the parts that would fit in to the lesson that I might be teaching. I enjoyed the movie but felt it needed more action for me to completely enjoy it. I would recommend the movie to other people to watch for their viewing enjoyment, but not for classroom purposes. [/font]