Commentary on Gina Two Stage Sisters
Xie Jin’s using two actresses in the film Two Stage Sisters brings to focus the question of how the lives of women are influenced by socio-political occurrences. The film utilizes the theatrical world metaphorically to signify socio-political change. The two women whom the film revolves around are connected by a similar situation; Chunhua, a young widowed woman escapes being sold by joining a theatre group and Yuehong’s loss of her father gets them sold to a theatre group. Their stage manager, Tang, tries to separate them, almost succeeding, but the two friends finally rolled back together (Marchertti 59). This paper attempts to illustrate the intertwining of art and politics in Two Stage Sisters.
The film is entirely focused on art and uses the stage to emphasize the changes in its actresses’ lives and also the dramatic socio-political changes that occurred in the period which the movie is based on; 1935-50 (Marchertti 61). Women in the theatre during the period were physically mistreated during training and they were viewed as sexual objects not only for the stage managers but also for the customers. Such were the social expectations in the staging of Two Stage Sisters as evident from the expectations that Lord Ni had of the two actresses of the film after the performance. The socio-political outlook at the time had no place for women and made women powerless over their own lives (Marchertti 63). The changing outlook of the socio-political perspective brought about by the New Culture movement that was inspired by the Western culture which had liberated women and theatre. The political struggles in the film, such as that of the Communists and Nationalists are a representation of the plights in theatre. The battles in the film between the stage manager and Chunhua on what to showcase represents the emancipation of women and consciousness that theatre and art can build amongst the people.