I heard that the cricket in the movie emphasized the passing on of Chinese tradition from the old to the young. Even after the cultural revolution, which was a way to stem old traditions, the cricket is still alive and well.
Do you believe this is true, or is there another meaning? Any thoughts?
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Just watched this film, and the way I see it is that the Cricket represents a number of things for the story and characters.
firstly, yes, it does represent the act of passing of tradition, despite the revolution. secondly, it can represent the longevity of tradition, after its passing (had the revolution done its best, Chinese tradition would still remain). Crickets are also symbols of wisdom in Chinese culture - though, whether this is to say that the older Imperialism was more of a wise government than the Republic or that the wisdom of our ancestors is passed onwards to the children for their future, I can't be sure. that's open to personal interpretation. also, consider what the cricket could have meant to Pu Yi. unlike the other animals shown (the turtle comes to mind), he had sought the cricket out upon hearing it, and it always remained one of the only things that could remind him there was a world outside the Forbidden City. also, if one considers the people in his life, he never really had a true friend, or at least many of them. most of the people in his life were either betrayers or mistreaters, or he couldn't personally connect to them. The cricket could have been one of his only totally accepting friend in his world of isolation.
not to send this off-topic, but would the cricket still be alive in that container after all this time? how long can they live without food?
ZombieMcQueen wrote: "...would the cricket still be alive in that container after all this time?"
I, too, wondered if that could have been realistic. From what I read: no. A cricket might live for a few years in ideal conditions---but not for decades. So it was a bit of 'poetic license' with the zoological facts.
The long-lived cricket represents the perseverance of Pu Yi until he was finally freed from the oppression of his former lives as the manipulated Emperor and imprisoned political prisoner.
Or any one of a hundred other things.
I fail to see the passing of chinese traditions. Communists destroyed chinese culture and alot of chinese culture only lived on in overseas china or via her neighbours who adopted some of their culture. I see so many examples of tradition or culture in south east asia and often i wonder if they came from China even though alot of it no longer exists in mainland China.
I think it merely symbolized his own escape from his successive prisons. The tour guide later tells us that is where succession took place and that was where Empress Dowager CiXi passed the throne to him. In this instance it was Pu Yi's time on earth coming to an end and him passing on just a cricket rather than the throne as imperial China had already ceased to exist. Perhaps that kid was supposed to symbolize China was the people's republic now and theoretically owned by the people, hence that kid hollered at him to get down from his own throne.
Him passing it to a child was also interesting. If the Qing Dynasty still existed and it was passed on to that kid it would be the most cruel thing ever but then again that kid growing up in totalitarian communist China was not exactly free either.