Okay, I assumed that Master Zhang had raped Douzi when he was younger, but then Yuan said that Zhang was a Eunuch. So, what happened with Zhang and Douzi? (I'm so confused.)
shareweeeell. master zhang could have used other parts of his anatomy to rape douzi.
also...derno if it happened in china in that time period, but historically some eunuchs have had only their testicles removed, and not their penis.
so either way, it's possible.
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i wasn't really sure who master zhang was. could someone please tell me? i missed a lot of stuff in this movie just cause i wasn't sure who all the characters were.
also, does anyone think that that episode had to do with douzi's homosexuality later on?
SPOILER ALERT: this post contains references to the original novel Farewell My Concubine by Lilian Lee
I recommend reading the novel by Lilian Lee from which the movie was adapted from; upon reading it, you will not only understand many parts of the movie that had seemed confusing and you will also realize the many differences between the novel and the film, both being remarkable by itself.
Master Zhang was basically a eunuch who had served in the imperial court back when the Qing dynasty still ruled China; he is one of those people who still reminisces about the "good old days" of feudal China before the Republic took hold in 1911. In Lilian Lee's novel, and as it was attempted to be portrayed in the uncut version of the film, Master Zhang was jealous of the fact that Douzi had not been castrated like he was; tragically, it was this that drove him to force himself on Douzi. I'm not sure if this traumatic episode caused Douzi to become homosexual later on though; it appears to play a factor though in my opinion.
Also, one crucial event from the novel that the film fails to portray is that Dieyi (Douzi's stage name) also suffered a similar attack from Master Yuan Shiqing, the patron of the opera, when Dieyi had finished acting out the opera with Master Yuan in his courtyard. In the film, it only shows Master Yuan about to kiss Dieyi in the lips; in the novel, the episode is much more violent similar in scale to how Douzi was attacked by Master Zhang in the film. In return for this "sexual favor" against Dieyi's consent, Master Yuan gave Dieyi the sword that Dieyi had come across in Master Zhang's house years earlier. (Coincidence? I think not.)
Hope this clarified a bit.
I cant help wondering- do you think that master zhang you know... castrated him? Well, the dude was watching him piss, and coupled with what you mentioned (thanks) about him feeling jealous Douzi wasnt castrated. I do think maybe it could have happened and that also contributes to how Douzi became Dieyi?
Wow... it must be really bad to be Dieyi. Attacked by older men, and not getting his love requited. Did he really die in the end of the novel? I was so sad when I saw the movie.
he forced himself on him and molested him.
In the film, he did die at the end but in the book he did not.
Baba mi Ogun modupue
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Well, rape is more complicated than that. It can cause lots of conflicting feelings, epecially since that was probably the only sexual contact he knew as he grew up. He was forced to make himself feminine and attractive to men, and if you think about it, the only women he knew (at least through the movie) were his mother who was a prostitute, cut off his finger, and then abandoned him at the theater, and Juxian who he viewed as a rival for the affection of his only friend (and who was also a prostitute). He was basically given no choice in the matter.
At any rate, I don't think he was homosexual at all. He never seemed sexually attracted to any men - even with Xiaolou, he only said that he wanted to spend his whole life with him, probably out of a simple childish need for the human contact and love denied him in his childhood. He would most likely have viewed sex as a violent act.
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He could not rape him in the usual sense, as he probably did not have a penis, being a eunuch--some eunuchs only had their testicles removed, some had both removed--if he had a penis, it wouldn't work. However, I think he probably had both removed because of the sheer delight he showed when Douzi was urinating for him in the crystal bowl--he even wanted to save the urine (young boy's urine has the rep of healing burns and other medicinal purposes in China, though, it may also been used for sexual purposes or godknows what else).
Also, sex toys are not new inventions. There are plenty of pretty ancient sexual devices made of jade and ivory and such found in China--he could have used a strap-on or a jade penis on Douzi. Even if all he did was feel him up, and do oral sex, that is still rape. The eunuch culture was extremely decadent sexually and morally in the Qing (and other dynasty) courts, so godonlyknows what all he actually did to him.
Being raped or molested by a man, especially a nasty old eunuch is unlikely to make a boy a homosexual. If you really look at Douzi/Deiyi in the film, he does not want to be thought of as a girl--he resists until is beaten repeatedly and only when the troupe is about to lose their big gig, and his beloved friend rattles around the metal pipe in his mouth, does he sing his Nun song correctly. Also, as feminine as he is, he still seems uneasy when Master Yuan is coming onto him--when he is shown, lipstick smeared, in the carriage after the first visit, that is not the face of a man who realizes he is gay or has had a happy initiation into gay sex. Even later, he submits himself to Yuan, almost to spite his friend, not because he has any sort of passion for the man. It's all very ambiguous...