Story of Qiu Ju: A Sociological Analysis

The story of Qiu Ju is a 1992 Chinese comedy-drama film that revolves around the life of a peasant woman, Qiu Ju, who marries an infertile and brutal owner of a dye mill in rural China. The film explores various sociological themes such as rigid adherence to rules and regulations, individual freedom, and social action theory propounded by Max Weber. The movie showcases Qiu Ju's struggles to fight for justice despite being pregnant and her attempts to navigate the corrupt village head and legal system. The film's use of diegetic sound, camera angles, and character expressions adds to its attractiveness and entertaining value.

Story of Qiu Ju (1992)

The story of Qiu Ju is considered as a famous Chinese comedy-drama film of 1992. It was
successfully directed by Zhang Yimou. Gong Li play a title role in this film which is very
interesting. It is the story of a woman who married to the infertile and brutal owner of a dye mill
in rural china and conceives a boy with her. She loves her husband, and that love forces her to
fight for the justice. In this paper, we will discuss the Story of Qiu Ju and how it relates to the
different sociological themes. This will perform efficiently with the help of different sociological
theories propounded by Max Weber who is a famous sociologist. In the film, the peasant woman
is known as Qiu Ju. She lives in a rural area of China. Qiu Ju is in the final trimester of her
pregnancy. She is very silent and peasant in nature. One day her husband is conversing with the
head of the community than a miscommunication place between them. This will brings various
problems in front of Qiu Ju. The leader of the community beat her husband in such a manner that
he must see a doctor. Due to this, he remains absent from work. So, there is no any income
source for them and remain hungry for two days. The diegetic sound utilized by the director also
very smooth and clear. The movie is completely based on the role of Qiu Ju and show how she
struggle in her life despite on the last stage of her pregnancy. She is the main reason behind the
attractiveness of the film. As per the Max Weber, Sociology is considered as the relationship of
our action with the action of others (Durkheim, 2014). The movie completely denotes the
sociology action in its story. The head of the town has the responsibility to manage all its citizens
in an efficient manner. But he doesn't follow his rules and regulations effectively. The film is
based on the sociological theme of rigid adherence to rules and regulations. This is because the
head of the town is not following his rules and regulations and exploit human beings. He kicked
Qiu Ju husband in the groin to fulfill his personal benefits. He ignores all the human values and
ethics and also not follow the rules and regulations developed by the government of the state
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country. The rigidity of rules and regulations should not be there because this will influence the
life of human beings in a great manner. The producer of the film utilized great alignment style to
make it attractive. I liked the way the producer has display all the images of the film. One of the
pleasant and funny scenes of the movie was when Qiu Ju and her friend stole the snacks from a
bakery shop. This makes the event attractive and very funny. The interest and attractiveness of
the film saved me from getting bored, but I enjoyed lots and feel very good by watching this
Chinese short film. The film was entertaining and interesting because there was no hold in this
film. Qiu Ju and her interesting lawyer kept me busy in watching them. Qiu Ju gets fighting with
various legal officers to provide justice to her husband. This moment of the film shows
continuously for a long time. The background style and the other entertaining things that have
been used in the film are distinct to the other Chinese films of history and the past. This film also
depends on the sociological theme of the problem of individual freedom (Alexander, 2014). This
is because Qiu Ju and the other citizens of the village have no freedom to live their life according
to their own wishes. They are bound by the legal actions of the village head. Max Weber
conclude that every person has own right to leave their life and they have complete freedom to
take decisions (Swartz, 2012). This should be there in the village which makes it successful and
grows in the near future. If individual freedom is there in the village, Qiu Ju able to take justice
for her husband. But she failed in doing so. This is because every legal officer was corrupt and
don't want to write a report against the head of the village. Overall the movie was great. The
happiest moment of the movie was that the owner of the bakery shop run behind Qiu Ju and her
friend for punishing them. But they run too fast to save themselves. This is very laughing and
entertaining moment of the film. All this enables the producer in maintaining a fluid in the flow
of the film. The key attractive and entertaining thing shown in the film that attracted my eyes
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was the expressions of Qiu Ju and her lawyer. I was very happy to see the reactions and
expression that she was giving and the way that the lawyer was giving suggestions to her. I
appreciated a lot the way the director has represented the different characters in the film. Social
action theory which is propounded by Max Weber helps us in understanding the concept of the
film. As per the social action theory, there should be a relationship between the actions of one
with the actions of another (Giddens, 2013). If this system is followed in the village of Qiu Ju,
then every member of town can live their life with high freedom. Because relationship establish
bonding between two people and this will bring coordination among all members of the town.
Social action theory is not isolated in nature (Beetham, 2013). It concludes that one should
follow his duties and responsibilities in an efficient manner. This will bring cooperation and no
any problem can arise in future. If the cooperative environment is their head of the village, never
perform the illegal actions and Qiu Ju also not perform struggle in her life. The film was
developed in an outstanding manner which cannot be done by others.
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References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=SQpE3_3cVmA&list=PLjzi3N6HWTj2R_8TZq0ZG9wJqZlM-EizA
Durkheim, E. (2014). The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its
method. Simon and Schuster.
Swartz, D. (2012). Culture and power: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. University of Chicago
Press.
Beetham, D. (2013). Max Weber and the theory of modern politics. John Wiley & Sons.
Giddens, A. (2013). Politics and sociology in the thought of Max Weber. John Wiley & Sons.
Alexander, J. C. (2014). Classical Attempt at Theoretical Synthesis (Theoretical Logic in
Sociology): Max Weber. Routledge.
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