Orientalism and construction of vietnamese women’s subjectivities the case of the scent of green papaya 1993 and the third wife 2018

ABSTRACT This thesis is a humanities-oriented study that examines the construction / re presentation of Vietnamese women by oversea Vietnamese directors in 2 movies: The Scent of Green

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING

COUNTRIES

DO THI MINH ANH

ORIENTALISM AND CONSTRUCTION OF VIETNAMESE

WOMEN’S SUBJECTIVITIES: THE CASE OF THE SCENT OF

GREEN PAPAYA (1993) AND THE THIRD WIFE (2018)

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Supervisor: Hoang Thi Thanh Hoa (M.A)

Ha Noi, 2020

retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the

library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance

with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

I would like to express my gratitude to my lecturer, Ms Phung Ha Thanh This thesis would not be possible without her acceptance and encouragement at early stage During the process, although Ms Thanh is not my supervisor, she gave my constructive comments and never refused my questions, even when she was busy with her research I am wholeheartedly thankful for having a chance to meet her and being her student in my academic experiences

To Phuong Anh, Thao and Hoan – my thesis comrades, thank you for constructive discussions, for sharing with my constant moodiness

ABSTRACT

This thesis is a humanities-oriented study that examines the construction / (re) presentation of Vietnamese women by oversea Vietnamese directors in 2 movies:

The Scent of Green Papaya (1992) and The Third Wife (2018) Borrowing Edward

Said‟s framework of "Orientalism", this thesis interrogates the construction of Vietnamese women in correlation with colonial discourse in the two movies by analyzing their plot and cinematic language It demonstrates that both movies construct Vietnamese woman‟s subjectivities under the influences of colonial stereotypes about Oriental women The study clarifies the differences between the

two films in how the directors use colonial stereotypes If in The Scent Of Green Papaya (1993), Tran Anh Hung used those stereotypes in a creative way, offered a different perspective about Vietnamese women The Third Wife (2018), Ash

Mayfair‟s use is mere reproduction and reinforcement of the colonialist discourse about Oriental women

Luận án này là một nghiên cứu định hướng nhân văn tìm hiểu sự xây dựng / (tái) thể hiện các chủ thể tính của phụ nữ Việt Nam bởi các đạo diễn hải ngoại trong hai

bộ phim: Mùi đu đủ xanh (1992) và Người vợ ba (2018) Mượn quan điểm lý

thuyết từ khuôn khổ "Đông phương luận" của Edward Said, luận án nghiên cứu việc xây dựng chủ thể phụ nữ Việt Nam trong mối tương quan với diễn ngôn thực dân thông qua phân tích cốt truyện và ngôn ngữ điện ảnh trong phim Nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng cả hai bộ phim đều xây dựng chủ thể phụ nữ Việt Nam dưới ảnh hưởng

từ các khuôn mẫu của thực dân về phụ nữ phương Đông Nó cũng làm rõ sự khác nhau giữa hai bộ phim trong việc biểu diễn các khuôn mẫu Cụ thể, với trường hợp

Mùi Đu Đủ Xanh (1993), Trần Anh Hùng sử dụng các khuôn mẫu một cách sáng tạo, góp phần mang lại góc nhìn khác về phụ nữ Việt Nam Trường hợp Người Vợ

Ba (2018), Ash Mayfair sử dụng những khuôn mẫu đó để minh họa và tái sản xuất

diễn ngôn của thực dân về phụ nữ phương Đông

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In this study, I have avoided use of the term “Vietnam” to refer not only to the spaces which the state took that name only in 1802 For consistency with other sources, I use the name “Vietnam” to refer to the contemporary nation-state, as is common in English-language studies

1 Background of the Study

“They cannot represent themselves, they must be represented.” –

(Marx, 1852)

Images of Vietnam have been brought to international forums thanks significantly to French and American colonists as they spread their propaganda about colonial lands since the 18th century Served as one of the most effective propaganda tools, French and American cinema enhanced the emergence of Vietnamese topic in late 1960s, after the invasion of the U.S in Vietnam Movies

receiving attention from global audiences can be listed including The Quiet American (1958), Indochine (1992) with 12 Oscar awards, Dien Bien Phu (1992) with Cesar nomination, L’Amant (1992) with Cesar award These movies achieved

huge success not only at the box office, but also won many prestigious film awards According to Norindr (1996), French cinema, as well as Western cinema

in general has contributed to nostalgically recreating the myths and legitimate narratives which have rationalized the colonial presence in Vietnam, instead of

problematizing imperialist narratives (Norindr, 1996) Hollywood cinema has

some differences in comparison to French movies as it mainly revolves around political conflicts or aggressive wars Nonetheless, it also creates stereotypes about Vietnamese people to propagate and justify the colonial invasion in the 20th century Vietnamese people are represented in American cinema primarily through

images of vicious crafty soldiers, as opposed to the masculine, upright American soldiers; Vietnamese women through the image of sexually promiscuous, ignorant whores or traitors, defenseless girls wearing Ao Dai, mysterious leaf hats Those become the most pervasive stereotypes to be utilized by mainstream media to depict Vietnamese

Before 1980, Vietnamese people could hardly represent themselves on the international forum Foreign viewers get to know about Vietnamese people through foreign cinema products and images that represent "a flirtation with the exotic rather than an attempt at any genuine intercultural understanding" (Marchetti, 1993) To borrow Edward Said‟s term, these constructions are derived

in a greater sense from the Western tradition of Orientalism, representing a depraved, unchanging, backward East

None of Vietnamese director‟s films about Vietnamese people can resonate globally However, movies of overseas Vietnamese filmmakers have achieved certain success, expanding the voice of Vietnamese people After 1980, a number

of films about Vietnam produced by overseas Vietnamese directors receive attention form global forum This can be considered the first voice about Vietnamese people by “so-called” Vietnamese people Some movies that achieved

resounding success in the international market can be listed are The Scent Of Green Papaya (1993), Cyclo (1995), Three Seasons (1999), The Vertical Ray Of The Sun (2000) The Buffalo Boy (2004), Owl and the Sparrow (2007), The Third Wife (2018) This, in part, is due to the fact that foreign filmmakers work in

foreign markets However, the main reason is that Vietnamese oversea filmmakers taken into account the Western discourse about Vietnamese people in those movies to be accessible to Western audiences

Vietnamese oversea directors‟ movies distinguish from other Western work about Vietnam in that these two movies are directed by Vietnamese and inspired

by their experiences in their homeland Oversea filmmakers created an intervening zone where Western and Vietnamese filmic representations of Vietnam collide According to Naficy (2001), the quest for diasporic directors is about constructing and de-constructing identities in their movies Accordingly, for Vietnamese oversea directors, the quest is to reconstruct Vietnamese‟s subjectivities by managing between Orientalism narrative about Vietnamese people, Vietnamese narrative of Vietnamese people and the director's own imagination about Vietnam

This paper examines how oversea filmmakers rebuilt the image of Vietnamese women based on the dominant Western-generated discourse about Vietnamese people To be more specific, this thesis studies the construction of

Vietnamese women‟s subjectivities in The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) (directed

by French Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung) and The Third Wife (2018)

(directed by American Vietnamese director Ash Mayfair)

The reason why I choose these two movies is that after examining movies

of Vietnamese overseas directors, these two movies are among the most popular, resonating on the international forum Both focused on Vietnamese women in early modern era Both films have created images of Vietnamese, especially women under the influence Oriental discourse: enduring, sacrificing, voiceless, obedient women However, the two films show discussable different perspectives

on Vietnamese women, which I would point out in chapter 2 and chapter 3

The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), with permission from the Vietnamese

government, represented as a Vietnamese film, nominated for Academy Award for Best International Feature Films in 1993 The movie won the César Award for Best First Feature Film, Caméra d'Or prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for the 1993 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film According to Tran Anh Hung, the movie was inspired by his mother and his

childhood memories in Vietnam Taking the context of Vietnam and starring Vietnamese actors, the movie was shot and was financed entirely in France It sets the scene in 1950s Vietnam, tells the story about a servant named Mui, working for a rich family and later for a musician The movie focuses on womanhood, motherhood, wifehood and praises Vietnamese women‟s virtues Narrating through the maturity of Mui, the director introduces a traditional Vietnamese space, the daily life of the Vietnamese people, the way they manage their familial relationships, and men-women relationships Thereby, the resigning, submissive and sacrificing Vietnamese women become throughout images regardless of status and age

After nearly 30 years, The Third Wife (2018) by Ash Mayfair is the first film about a Vietnamese woman following the success of The Scent Of Green Papaya, resonated on the international forum The Third Wife movie won

NETPAC Award at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 2018 Cairo International Film Festival, Best Film Award of the International Category at the Kolkata, New Directors Award at the

2018 Chicago International Film Festival, and several other awards According to the director, the movie was inspired by her own family story, with the main characters inspired by her mother, her great-grandmother and herself Setting the scene in the 19th century in Vietnam, the movie features beautiful shots of the stunning nature, tranquil scenes that hide suffocation of women The main character May is a 14-year old girl becoming a third wife in a wealthy family Through her pregnancy, she gradually learns the constraint position of women in feudal society where male power shadows almost every life aspect The movie

also depicts self-discovery, self- realization, and sexual aspect of women The Third Wife film, with most female film crews, showcases a feminist lens about

feudal women in Vietnam, is considered a criticism on polygamy and misogyny

In order to be accessible to Western audiences and to win high prizes in international forums, both films perform Vietnamese‟s subjectivities in a way that fits the colonial imagination Tran Anh Hung brings indisputable poetically beautiful shots, featuring a lush nature in perfect harmony with humans, “a tranquil Vietnam unknown to most Westerners” (Johnston, 1994) Tran Anh Hung brings indisputable poetically beautiful shots, featuring lush nature in perfect harmony with humans, “a tranquil Vietnam unknown to most Westerners”

(Johnston, 1994) The Third Wife also offers stunning nature images, striking river

scenes, and mystic feudal practices The Vietnamese people in these films were showcased with vividly traditional features Especially, two movies focus on Eastern women who are sexually beautiful, be exploited and oppressed by men However, unlike other Western films about Vietnam, these two films are produced

by Vietnamese oversea directors, both are inspired by the directors‟ family and their experiences in their homeland Therefore, the narrative about the Vietnamese

in the film has the look of the "insider" They have a special "in - between" position in comparison to films by domestic filmmakers and films by foreigners about Vietnamese people The director juggles with “outsider” Western discourse about Vietnam and the lens of “insiders” about their homeland

In conclusion, The Third Wife and The Scent Of Green Papaya can be

considered as the first voice of Vietnamese people about Vietnamese women on the international forum Its success is thanks to the fact that both films perform Vietnamese‟s subjectivities in very strong affinity with colonial discourse like some Western movies However, it also distinguishes from other works by Westerners as the oversea directors have the “insider” position when making movies about their home land because their movies are based on their own family and childhood memories Thus, Vietnamese women‟s subjectivity manifests via the line between colonial discourse and how Eastern position themselves

2 Statement of Research Problems:

The aim of this study is to examine the construction of women‟s

subjectivity based on the colonial fantasies about Vietnamese women in The Scent

of Green Papaya (1992) and The Third Wife (2018) By „subjectivities‟, I refer to

the women‟s identities that are made visible as they are treated as the main subject

of the two movies More specifically, I look at the women‟s virtues, roles, agency and their position in society I pay attention to not only the female characters but also other relevant elements that constitute their subjectivities, including their living spaces and relationships with others To interrogate the power relations active in the construction of these subjectivities and evaluate how the movies contribute to what is possible to think about Vietnamese women, I address these virtues and roles in correlation with Orientalist stereotypes of Vietnamese women

Thus, this study demonstrates that the two movies construct women‟s subjectivity under enormous influences of colonial fantasy about passive, sexual

promiscuous, inferior Eastern women However, while The Scent Of Green Papaya used those stereotypes as material to offer an Eastern perspective, The Third Wife simply reproduced Western discourse about Vietnamese women In The Scent of Green Papaya, Tran Anh Hung showed skillful handling of pre-

existing colonial discourse as while did not disrupt the network of stereotypes that have shaped the colonial images of Eastern women, he offered Eastern perspective

by countering Western notion of inferior women Thereby, women's endurance, sacrifice, and servitude do not suggest inferior position to men, but rather traditional Confucianism virtues Vietnamese women are inferior and superior at the same time The Third Wife portrayed women's tragedy, oppression to criticize patriarchal society and focuses on female eroticism The movie ends its narratives

by confirming oppressive, worthless female status Thereby, the director reinforces the notion of barbarous Eastern society, hypersexual, oppressed women who are in need of Western liberation

3 Theoretical Perspective and Mode of Inquiry:

In the Orientalism book, written in 1978, Edward Said introduces a contrapuntal reading of Western intellectual products about the Orient, arguing that the West created imperial discourses about the non-Western Said criticizes that the West has represented the East as an exotic, unchanging, mystic and inferior, constructed the Orient by sets of recurring stereotypical images and cliches (Ensieh & Mohammad, 2015) These discourse of Orientalism does not give a realistic portrayal of Eastern Others but rather constructs them based on Western anxieties and preoccupations It constructs the Orient (the East, as the

„other‟, a sort of surrogate version of the West or the “self”) as being irrational, backward, despotic, inferior, depraved, aberrant and feminine sexually (Macfie, 2002) While the West according to which Europe (the West, the “self”) is seen as being essentially rational, developed, humane, superior, virtuous, normal and masculine The key point of these constructions is to create "epistemological and ontological distinctions between the West and East” Said diagnoses Orientalism

as a discourse which invents or orientalizes the Orient for the purposes of imperial consumption (Gandhi, 1998)

Orientalism, according to Said, also generates gender issues The representation of women influenced by Orientalism render them inferior to men, sexually promiscuous, part of the good of empires and the living reward for men (Ensieh, Mohammad, 2015) Women's representation constructed by writers is profoundly influenced by Victorian prejudices, namely that all women were inferior to men; and that oriental women were doubly inferior, being both women and Oriental They were there to be used sexually, and if it could be suggested that they were inherently licentious, then they could be exploited without misgiving

(Ensieh & Mohammad, 2015) Eastern female is often exoticized, represented as immodest, craving for sex or sexual submissive In the Orientalism book, when Flaubert slept with an Egyptian courtesan Kuchuk Hanem, he wrote to Louise Colet that “the oriental woman is no more than a machine; she makes no distinction between one man and another man”

Edward Said's theological Oriental theory generated enormous influence in postcolonial studies, paved the way for many other studies on Western literature, films and other works about the East

In this study, I use Orientalism as a framework to examine the pre-existing Western discourse about Vietnamese people that is used by Vietnamese oversea filmmakers to create their own Vietnamese‟s subjectivities I work on studying how diasporic filmmakers construct Vietnamese‟s subjectivities in their work by textual analysis I approach the movies in 2 aspects: narratology and cinematic languages

Narratology

Narratology is the study of narrative, narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception It is an anglicisation of French narratologie, coined by Tzvetan Todorov Its theoretical lineage is traceable to Aristotle, but modern narratology is agreed to have begun with the Russian Formalists, particularly Vladimir Propp and Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of heteroglossia, dialogism, and the chronotope first presented in The Dialogic Imagination (1975) (Wikipedia Contributors, 2020)

Narratology is a common theory in literature studies According to Chiupa,

“The central problem of narrative can be encapsulated by the following opinion of A.C Danto: "Every story is a structure that links events, groups them together and dismisses unnecessary events" It can be said that the concept of narrative

originates from "the accepted epistemological assumption in Kantian philosophy, that we dominate the world which is not itself, but rather the world that has filtered through a certain empirical intelligence.”

To understand a movie, the first element that the audience need to approach

is the story and the plot Although these are two different concepts, plot and story are often confused between each other because they both show some events in a film However, it is necessary to distinguish the story and the plot because they both have remarkable points in comparison to each other and have certain effects

in expressing the intention of the director

The “plot” term is used to describe any presence that is visible or audible

on film The plot consists of, firstly, all the events of the story directly described Secondly, the plot of the film may include material outside the story world Meaning is a plot that contains both the events, the happenings of the story and the elements brought from outside the boundaries of the story such as the list of directors, actors, music, etc

The story is the total, collectively, all events in a narrative: both events that are expressed directly to the outside and events that viewers judge, draw and ponder from the film

Cinematic language

In this study, I focus on analyzing how the director uses staging, sounds and filming to convey his/her construction of Vietnamese‟s subjectivity “Staging”

is a word of French origin: mise-en-scene, meaning "put in a scene" This concept

is intended to "express the director's control of everything that appears in the frame The director's intentions are expressed more vividly through the context of space-time, lighting, acting, costumes, The term “filming” indicates how events

in the film, after being staged, are recorded

4 Significance of the Study

The Third Wives (2018) and The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) are two films

directed by overseas directors which resonate around the world The discourse about the Vietnamese from these two films, therefore, also has a profound impact This study is an in-depth analysis of Vietnamese oversea directors‟ products about their homeland It provides an opportunity to reflect on what Vietnamese people think about themselves and about the dominance of Western discourse about Vietnamese women

5 Structure of the Study

To address the research problem, the structure of this study is developed into 4 chapters After introduction, chapter 2 presents an overview of Vietnamese women as an invention of the West and Vietnamese women in Confucianism settings in reality It serves as the foundation to examine the construction of women‟s subjectivities in relation with colonial discourse Chapter 3 and chapter 4 offer an investigation of Vietnamese women in 2 movies

CHAPTER 2: VIETNAMESE WOMEN IN CONFUCIANISM SETTINGS AND IN WESTERN IMAGINATION

I Vietnamese women in Confucian settings:

Both films focus on depicting Vietnamese women in the 19th and 20th centuries under the influence of Confucian values Therefore, it is important to

have an overview of Vietnamese women in that period In this section gives a general overview of Vietnamese women under the influence of Confucianism

1 Confucianism practices in Vietnam

Vietnam is mentioned in many academic documents as a predominantly

matrilineal society throughout the Neolithic Age It then gradually became

patrilineal society in the Bronze Age (Yu, 1999) According to Mai Thi Tu and Le Thi Nham Tuyet, 'the coming of patriarchy to Viet Nam coincides with the late neolithic (2000 B.C.), and class divisions appeared during the era of the Hung kings (Mai & Le, as cited in Tran, 2018) By 939, Vietnam customs had officially relegated girl inferior from birth and confirmed male dominant The 19th century is considered as the period when the state reinforced Confucianism values the strictest The role of Vietnamese women gradually declined under the influence of Confucianism Vietnamese women role are determined by complex mixture of Confucianism ethnic, indigenous customs bearing traces of matriarchy and contradictory legal codes and class variety (Tran, 2018)

The Confucianism practices confine women into the Three Obedience and Four Virtues Women recognition in society is defined through their role as proper daughter, wives and mother Accordingly, women have to obey to their fathers, then their husbands and then their sons for the rest of their lives The four virtues

of women include: (1) Virtue in Ethics in matrimony, (2) Virtue in Speech in matrimony, (3) Virtue in Visage, (4) Feminine Virtue in Works

Girls are taught to be desirable wives since the age of eleven There are three features of a good wife: beauty, obedience, and industriousness For the first virtues, women have to be very careful in maintaining purity Parents taught them

to avoid behaviors and practices that might damage their reputations as pure brides Girl have to avoid men, keep her body purity and virginity Secondly, an industrious wife is demonstrated in her potential as a household manager

following the marriage match Therefore, girls were taught to be a good "interior generals": doing household chore, maintain family happiness and comforting husbands

[Keep] an orderly [house] [chỉnh tề ], flavor the sauces to pickle the greens;

Food must never be lacking, and each [must] must be flavorful

Take care [cẩn thận] with your household duties [khuê môn],

Know what food remains and what is lacking [thức còn thức không]; All this work must be performed with diligence [xiêng năng]

Thirdly, women have to be obedient to her husband and his relative Her manners were considered symbol of society order

2 Vietnamese women’s negotiation with Confucianism space

Vietnamese women has been visible in many scholars and documents However, according to George Duntton, "historians and politicians have rendered Vietnamese women in various forms of caricature too often and for too long." (Dutton, 2013) Vietnamese woman have serve as embodiment of tradition, they exist in exists in three reified forms in academic literature and in the popular imaginary: as a sign of Confucian oppression, of Vietnamese uniqueness, or of Southeast Asian cohesiveness (Tran, 2018) Thereby, women's political image creation has been oversimplified and the diversity of Vietnamese women in history has been impoverished Vietnamese women in the 19th century were framed into two stereotypes: paragons of Confucian morality, or liberated warriors

of ancient and modern wars

Both of the 2 movies depict women in the first pattern, portraying traditional Confucians female With Confucian women type, many studies have shown that Confucian practices in Vietnam were very complex Firstly, Cong Huyen Ton Nu Nha Trang proved that middle-and upper-class women were influenced by the rules of their position, while women of more modest means were hardly heavily influenced by Confucianism (Cong, as cited in Tran, 2018) Women have their own tactics to break free from the feudal rules On the other hand, the special wars, economic and cultural conditions in Vietnam create more living spaces for women

Tuyet Nhung Tran has argued that women‟s agency and life space in the

19th century Vietnam were more opened than Confucian rules The long term effect of wars forced women to participate in agriculture and commercial activities They took responsibilities for jobs out of domestic sphere as men had to join military Despite the formal restrictions, women emerged as important patrons

in terms economy Several important life aspects such as intervillage trade, spiritual life of the village were facilitated and managed by women

Women did not completely obey the Three Obediences and Four Virtues and were not completely oppressed The space in fields and in markets offered women freedom to meet other men, and express their frustration about feminine rules They complaint about wars and their burden in sarcastic way The evidence can be found in handwritten copy in the 18th century Their recrimination and frustration were also found in literature For example, famous poet Ho Xuan Huong wrote:

“Screw the fate that makes you share a man

One cuddles under cotton blankets; the other's cold

Every now and then, well, maybe or maybe not,

once or twice a month, oh, it's like nothing.”

“Chém cha cái kiếp lấy chồng chung,

In conclusion, Vietnamese women‟s lives in the early modern period were varied and complex Under the complexity of Confucian practices and the volatile historical conditions of the country, women are flexible in coping with situations Accordingly, the influence of Confucianism on Vietnamese women is not as heavy and rigid as it was in China Women have their own space, rights, and opportunities to negotiate with the harsh rules of feudal society

II The East as an invention of the West

Edward Said‟s work focuses on Western narratives about the Middle East However, stereotypes about "the other East '' are not limited in the Middle East, but also apply to Asia The notion of the backward, irrational, evil East broadly constructed to all people who descend from the Asian continental sub-regions of East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia as a whole Asian women are

constructed in the same stereotypes as Middle East women Although meetings with East Asia and South East Asia with a different cultural background do generate some minor different points, narratives about the Far East in the eyes of Westerners do not go far with the patterns that Edward Said pointed out in his books

1 Colonial invention about Eastern women

Tracing back about Eastern women in history, Western-written material is often regarded as a significant source of information, due to that they provided extensive and massive research about the East Besides scholarly works, other unsystematic documents such as letters, pictures, travel literature have contributed significantly to the development and reproduction of Western-generated images of the East in general and that of Vietnamese women in particular Women is an area

of particular interest, received equal concern in comparison to religious practices, trade, house construction, and dress Muslim women, Eastern Asians, Southeast Asians, regardless of their cultures, are often assimilated and stereotyped as beautiful, seductive, dangerous, sexually active women Secondly, they are extremely subordinate people, who have no voice, suppressed by native men As stated in Flaming Worm, it was the categories "where the universal truths espoused by European males", heavily present a "inferiority of non-Christian people and the effect of climate on morality."

The first documents written by the French on Indochina appeared very early since the 1st and 2nd centuries The contents of these books were mainly manuals, maps for diplomacy, maritime travel The emergence of massive sociological studies of the East can be traced back to the 17th century, with the arrival of Western missionaries These records played an important role in shaping Western understanding of the East at the time Documents about Annam (or Vietnam) began to appear in the 17th century, after Alexandre de Rhores came to deliver

missionaries The first book about An Nam was published in 1650 under the name

History of Kingdom of the Outer (Histoire du Royaume de Tunquin)

Sexual object

The prejudice against oriental women as wanton, lascivious, and "given to love" is confirmed by the way they dress Captain Alexander Hamilton pointed to Burmese women wearing loose sarongs to show a "pretty leg and plump thigh." The dance of Eastern women when celebrating is considered as a sign of bragging

of the body Public bathing is considered evidence of moral decline Strict codes

of men from women washing places were taken to demonstrate the European pattern of Southeast Asian women as immodest, sexuality permissive, or rather sexually promiscuous

Objectivized

Depiction of women was highly objectivized by reffering them to sensual, mystic plant: "good women could be compare to sweet-smelling plants, to cane, to the stars and moon, but a" loose "women was like the leaf of banana tree that could destroy a harp music "(Andaya, 2006)

Exotic

Another good source for promoting about the image of Southeast Asian women can be referred to paintings However, as pointed out in Flaming Women, these pictures depict women identical, regardless of where they come from, and the picture was highly selective to satisfy the curiosity of the West In order to flatter the public eye, popular paintings depicting women with the "exotic" feature – an Acehnese cripple, elephants, tigers, dancing women, a widow burnt alive, fakirs, dancing snakes "

Submissive

The colonial discourse on the East also promoted the image of submissive, oppressive oriental women The East has been tied to femininity, Eastern women continue to be imposed with the characteristics of weakness and obedience They are persecuted by native men, exploited and treated like objects Accordingly, Eastern women placed in opposition to Western women as strong, free and autonomous

From submissive women to barbarous society

The oriental woman's submission, as constructed in Western notion, not only perpetuate notion of the inferior nature of „the other‟'s character, but also to prove the barbarous, uncivilized of the patriarchal societies These stereotypes about submissive and oppressed women, thus, engenders feminist scholarship about Orient women was engendered as a result of notion about submissive oriental women White feminist raise questions about the Orient society towards women as they point out gender inequality in the Eat society where religious, social system make women being oppressed by men Thus, its consequence is a view of other social practices and other race as backwardness and barbarous, and the women in the East are in need of rescuing Western feminists recognize these women as a coherent group which is family oriented, illiterate, inferior to men and backward, in contrast with sexually liberated, free-minded Western women To emancipate colonized women become a gauge for the East civilizing process

As this study focuses on the image of Vietnamese women under the influence of Confucianism, the following section will focus on the generalization

of Western feminists' critics about Confucianism associated with oppression on women

Many Western scholars criticize the inequality position between Vietnamese men and women as women are confined in inferior positions to men Women are victims of discrimination since they were born The feudal family would celebrate the birth of a boy while would be in disappointment if that is a girl

“From this, one sees the following: first, women are comparable to

people of “base condition”: “inferior men'', in other words Second,

women are unable to communicate and to understand Third, since

this is the only quote in Lun Yu about women, Confucious seems to

suggest that women are to be forgotten, ignored, and passed over in

silence However, women are half the human race after all, and they

cannot totally be passed over in silence if men do not control them

effectively.” (Gao, 2014)

The woman who has married continued her servitude to her husband Confucian marriage makes women become labors of men, or to satisfy men‟s demands In her book Women of Vienam (1975), Arlene Bergman criticized that most marriages are polygyny:

“Marriage itself, particularly polygamy where one man has several wives,

as in institution designed to exploit women's labour Buying a wife or concubine is cheaper than hiring a servant Rich landlords collected concubines by purchasing the daughters of poor peasants who couldn't afford to pay their taxes.” (Berman, 1975)

The women who have become wives suffer gender inequality in marriage Confucian teaches wives: “Even though you sleep intimately on the same bed and use the same cover with him, you must treat your husband as if he were your king

or your father.”

Confucian is also criticized for the strict rule that makes women extremely submissive to husbands They are considered men‟s property, particularly through their chastity Thus, men follow the pattern of all partricharchs, enforced rules guarding their women's chastity Women who are caught having illicit sexual relations will be punished by the country‟s code

About women‟s agency, another prominent aspect of feminist scholars on Eastern women is that the women are defined by familial role and have no space

as an individual Confucian teachings constrain women into family kinship Three obediences negate all possibilities for a woman's control over her life: obey to her father, her husband and her son, which transfer all her life Within the Confucian psyche, women are not permitted to live as an individual with a sense of self identity or agency, and lack distinctiveness from familial roles as daughters, wife and mother Sinologist Richard Guisso criticizes interpretation of the traditional perception of Chinese women in the Five Classics: “the Classics have little to say

of women as persons, but deal almost entirely in idealized life-cycle roles of daughter, wife and mother.”

Critics of Confucianism as a patriarchal ideology relegates Confucianism into an inferior position in comparison to Western philosophy Accordingly, the images of women victimized, oppressed, systematically by patriarchy supported

by society Confucianism is a common argument to prove that Eastern society needs a new value system, needs an intellectual reform to be more civilized However, according to many postcolonial feminist critics, White feminist have overlooked racial, cultural and historical specificities that possible the status of these women and assume that their gender paradigm is applicable to all

2 Eastern people in Western cinema:

In modern time, these discourses continue to be reproduced The legends, stereotypes, caricatures about Asian women do not stop at documents, books, literature, but continue to be reproduced in movies

As analyze in The Asian Mystics: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girl, & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient (2005) by Sheridan Prasso, Eastern women are overrepresented by stereotypes of submissive, obedient, manipulative women who are incapable of protect them self or making any decision In contrast to China doll, the Geisha Girl, Dragon Lady stereotype represented East Asian women as dangerous, aggressive, pragmatic, cunning seduces white men for money However, in any stereotype, Asian women are always associated to sex: sensually

beautiful, eager for sex For example, in The World Of Suzie Wong-an 1957 British

novel and American film brought an iconic image of East Asian women, Suzie is a submissive prostitute who enjoy being sexual tortured by white men

The images of Vietnamese women reach the international market primarily through films Western's construction of Vietnamese in general and Vietnamese women in particular are successfully reproduced and promoted in movies Vietnam is a country that has enjoyed the favor of many Western directors as there are a large number of Vietnam-themed films that are directed by foreign directors

on the screen The expansion of Western countries to Vietnam was marked by France and then the United States, the two countries produced a large number of films about Vietnam from the colonial perspective to serve the colonial mission

Although there are some differences in the theme of the films which lead to different film styles, both France and the US have reconstructed the image of Vietnam under the influence of Orientalism It is the films of French and American filmmakers that produce Western discourse about Vietnamese people in modern times As this study work on the construction of Vietnamese people in movies, I will give a brief overview of Vietnam-theme movies produced by

French and American filmmakers and points out iconic traits about Vietnamese women and Vietnamese in general constructed in those films

Myths about Vietnamese people

The creation of Vietnamese images in foreign directors' films, in particular French and the United States, creates stereotypes about Vietnamese people in the international forum The construction of these stereotypes came from the lens of Western Orientalism, describing a strange, mysterious, backward Vietnam, first to serve colonial promotion and exploitation, then serving the process of aggression

by bleaching the aggression, the unjust violence of white soldiers and pinching in the negative direction of the Vietnamese image The creation of Vietnamese image can be summarized through three main aspects: Vietnamese in relation to nature, Vietnamese personality, and lifestyle Although many later films have the title

"true reflection", efforts to escape distortion, but still greatly influence the colonial view According to M Youssef: "French and American cinema gives a negative image of colonialism: colonists are illiterate, poor and need colonization After colonies gained their independence, French cinema has embraced the postcolonial perspective but it is still difficult to recount the history from the colonial perspective.”

Vietnamese people characters

Vietnamese people are depicted in Western movies mostly through the image of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians The most common images are cunning, cruel, sadistic and irresponsible Vietnamese felt under the broad Oriental cinematic stereotype of “Yellow Peril”, which originate from the depiction of Japanese and Chinese migrants who came to the US in the 19th century (John, K 2003) The most symbolic image of “Yellow Peril” in films is Fu Manchu character, which is depicted as „„Asian mastery of Western knowledge and technique (denoted by his degrees from three European universities in chemistry,

medicine, and physics); his access to mysterious Oriental „„occult‟‟ powers (his eyes can hypnotize victims); and his ability to mobilize the yellow hordes‟‟ (Jun Xing 1998: 55) The stereotype is applied to Vietnamese soldiers, more specifically the Viet Cong, the ARVN, the Saigon regime as most movies are about the Vietnam war While protagonist white characters are often built with heroism: a person who defeat the whole powerful enemy (Rambo), or an ethical

person who regretted having committed a crime in the land of the East (The Quiet American), the images of Vietnamese soldier are often distortedly built with

cunning or cruel personalities For example, in The Quiet American, all what Vietnamese spies know is how to kill, plotting to assassinate Pyle without compassion or guilt Or as in Rambo, Vietnamese soldiers brutally tortured American soldiers by tying Rambo into a yoke of cow and plunging into a stool full of leeches Or The Deer Hunter described scenes of North Vietnamese troops

entertaining by brutally torturing American prisoners

Also, these films drew issues of gender representation: masculine power

and feminine vulnerability Most of these films represent masculine that establish itself as the only legitimate agency As women rarely appear in films, if they do, mostly in a role of a Vietnamese prostitute or a traitor These characters firstly reaffirm masculinity of Western men and secondly, represent a feminine, weak women and then feminine, weak Vietnamese Oriental discourse created a stereotype about woman: seductive, dangerous and cunning, attract Western male

or seek for protection, salvation from Western Most Vietnamese women appearing in movies are mostly prostitutes who talk broken English or French, seduce Western men for money or traitors Typically is miss Bao in Rambo, who falls in love with a white American soldier, demands to go to America as a salvation to have a better life Or in The Quiet American, Phuong is a beautiful whore, attracting both the British (Fowler) and the US (Pyle), almost has no voices

or opinions, has little sense of love, rather willing to follow any men who she thinks that is capable of ensuring a comfortable and happy life for her

Vietnamese people in relationships with nature

Films about Vietnam by French directors are often associated with a nostalgic motif and a sense of adventure to a new land Nature in Vietnam is often depicted with features of the tropics, river properties and vegetation diversity In relation to nature, Eastern people are often created with a closeness, in harmony with nature Westerners often have the attitude of fighting and conquering nature Through this construction, Vietnamese people emerged in the opposite position to

the West For example, in The Lover (1992), the tropical heat, the stifling of

Vietnamese market was used to emphasize the loneliness and loss of two characters: a young French woman and a Chinese businessman The hustle and bustle of the market outside the room where the two main characters make love for the first time is used both as a source of inspiration and as a lever to emphasize the guilt and disjointment of the two people, which they have to resort to fleshly joy to

fill it Or in Indochine (1992), the warden's wife mentioned the climate as an

enemy, a barrier to women: “To get pregnant during the monsoon? No, thank you!

'' In Dien Bien Phu (1992), muddy tropical rains are a nightmare for Westerners while a refuge, an opportunity for the East to camouflage Platoon (1986), a film

considered to be realistic, portrays a hostile nature, where the foliage, climate, and hostility of the environment of the Vietnamese highlands become tangible The tropical vegetation in the film is often associated with the conquering adventures

of the world: the deadly wild forests, the sound of bird insects to increase the attraction of Western audiences

Another motif when creating the living space of Vietnamese people is the mysterious and fanciful Featured in The Quiet American, a fantasy, mysterious Far East associated with the source of life with the dark water of the river at night, dimly lit by red lanterns and floating boats, the land with terrifying tropical rainfall

" where you can find anything you seek for, "but you will never be able to truly

understand it Or again, in The Lover (1992), the audiences can see the mixture of

industry and farming culture in the context of Sa Dec village The roads are wide and paved with concrete of the modern country, but living in it are farming people walking around in muss, the noisy markets - suggesting an agricultural lifestyle from the past that does not fit in the works of the modern process of colonization

Living environment, culture, beliefs

Traditional identities are used by foreign films as an important material to create distinctiveness, to appeal to Western viewers In which, images of Vietnamese and Western people were created in two opposing images

In terms of eating and living habits, Westerners are often described with

luxury and enjoyment In The Lover (1992), both 2 main characters are attracted

by material pleasures, enjoying in parties, sumptuous dining or sex In contrast, Vietnamese people often show up through the image of poor and sloppy people Traditional Vietnamese living space has a combination of privacy and

community Daily living space in Indochina (1992), The Lovers (1992) gather in

public places: communal houses, village wells, markets, eateries, schools, where the community appears (people talk, labor, ) Besides, there are nostalgic sense in living space: the old house of Mr Huynh Thuy Le (the real model of the male protagonist in the novel The Lovers), Saigon of the 1950s of the last century, with the serene beauty that appeared through the lanterns at teahouses, old cyclos,

immense streets in The Quiet American (2002)

The Vietnamese spirit is often associated with closeness and emotional

intimacy In Indochine (1992), the French woman Eliane understood that

Vietnamese people thought that death was an extension of life to the afterlife because the dead still live in the hearts of their relatives and their families