Role and Treatment of Women in Asian Films

Sociology
Asian Cinema and Television
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Sociology
Introduction
Statistics indicate that women have been overlooked in the film industry in Asia. Various
scholars and academicians have strongly suggested that the movie exhibition business would be
much stronger if there were more women in the industry (Nilan, 2009). Despite this fact, the role
of women has been completely neglected in the Asian film industry. The representation of
women in Asian film has been so low.
A study conducted in 2008 shows that only 9% of directors in Hollywood were women. This is
exactly the same figure that was revealed in the year 1998. This clearly shows that there has been
no improvement in terms of women representation in the film making industry not only in Asia
but also in other areas across the globe.
Drama films are films that often focus on dramatic events and occurrences in history. Characters
in most drama films encounter realistic emotional struggles that often involves broken family
issues, broken relationships and social economic struggles among others (Lindquist, 2010). This
write-up is going to show the roles as well as the treatment of women in Asian films. Some of
the films that will be analyzed in this write-up are; Raise the Red Lantern by Zhang Yimou of
China in 1991, The Dream of Eleuteria by Remton Siega Zuasola of Philippine in 2010 and The
Myth by Shenhua of China in 2005 (Rafman, 1993).
A second class citizen is a person who is discriminated against either in a state or any other
public setting despite the fact that they are a legal resident in that state. Such persons often have
limited rights and other social economic opportunities (Lent & Ying, 2013). Women have been
regarded and treated as second-class citizens not only in contemporary society but also in the

Sociology
films industry in Asia. This paper will also shed some light on this issue and some roles of
women as depicted in the three films that have been mentioned above.
Body
An overview of films in Asia
According to Sea study which is a long-term initiative to research independent films in Southeast
Asia there was an estimate of about 122 independent films that were produced in Southeast Asia
in the year 2016. Out of the 122 films that were produced, drama films constituted of about
35.7% (Crane, 2014).
Various countries in Southeast Asia were involved in the production of these films. The table
below shows the number of films that were produced by different countries in South Asia in the
year 2016.
Country Films produced
Cambodia 6
Indonesia 13
Laos 2
Malaysia 11
Myanmar 0
Philippines 74
Singapore 7
Thailand 7
Vietnam 2

Sociology
Various studies conducted have shown that the film industry in Southeast Asia is not nay near
towards challenging Hollywood films in economic terms (Iwabuchi, 2010). Despite this huge
difference, it is important to note that most of the cinemas and films in Southeast Asia are
culturally rich. In addition to this, these films are way far diverse in comparison to Hollywood
films (Butcher, 2012).
In recent years the film production in Southeast Asia has evolved, this is so because modern
films in the region have attracted so many viewers across the globe with different genders,
ethnicities class as well as nationality (Banks , 2014).The role of films in the region has been
revolutionized from mere entertainment to a tool that has been used to preserve the region's
traditions across all spheres from the tide of modernity.
Despite the fact that films are everywhere in contemporary Southeast Asia, there is mounting
evidence that clearly shows movie production in the region has been uneven. This is so because
of the significant disparities in the output evident that has been registered by different countries
in the region. Film production in a country like Burma has been really stagnant, this is far worse
in comparison to what production was like in the 1950s and 10960s where it was at its golden
age in the country. The number of films produced in Burma is very low in comparison to other
countries in the region such as the Philippines (Baumgärtel, 2011).
In addition to this, local film production has continued to suffer from so many challenges. Some
of the common challenges that local film production has experienced is the issue of outdated
technology.
Just like Burma, Cambodia is also struggling to build a film industry. This is a really big
difference in the early 1960s when Cambodia was experiencing a golden age in terms of film