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Legend as Foil

COMPLETED WITH ZIYUE DENG UNDER THE STUDIO ‘ALCHEMICAL ATELIER’

LED BY DR.SIMONE CHUNG AND MARY ANNE NG IN 2023.

NOMINATED FOR NUS ARCHIVAL2023.

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Legend as Foil 

by Jiawei Shuang & Ziyue Deng

Legends are always changing. When tracing  the development process of four popular Chinese mythologies, “manipulation” is evidenced from changing plot points to suit contemporary sentiments during the time of their reproduction. This project postulates that, legends can be regarded as a foil for capturing culture shifts.

During the research of 4 popular chinese legends, we found that Legend always changes. These historical origins and continuous transformation of collective stories carry different meanings corss generations. The changes in attitudes and social norms across different time periods are reflected in the way such legends are interpreted, and eventually, influencing changes in plot points in such legends to uphold similar social expectations and values.
 

Research Process

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Plot collage of four popular chinese legends

The four most widely circulated Chinese legends are: The Story of Meng Jiang, The Butterfly Lovers, The Legend of the White Snake, and The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. We have presented the basic plots of these stories through collage, which serves as the foundation for comparing different versions of these tales from different time periods.

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The story evolution of the story of Meng Jiang and The butterfly lovers.

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The story evolution of the story of Meng Jiang and The butterfly lovers.

"manipulation" of Plot points

When tracing the development process of The Story of Meng Jiang and The Butterfly Lovers, the changes in attitudes and social norms across different time periods are reflected in the way such legends are interpreted, and eventually, influencing changes in plot points in such legends to uphold similar social expectations and values and “manipulation” is evidenced from changing plot points to suit contemporary sentiments during the time of their reproduction. This project postulates that, legends can be regarded as a foil for capturing culture shifts.

Therefore, our research on the four most widely circulated Chinese legends aims to explore how the development of these stories is influenced by the manipulation of the storyteller. We intend to provoke critical discourse and engage with not only architecture and history but also STS (science, technology, society) and media cultures.

Research on how legends have been Manipulated and Transformed

When conducting our research, we first considered the scope of media sources.  As different media represent popular cultural consumption in different periods and historical movements, we expanded the range of media analyzed to include painting, poetry, ancient texts, artworks, and films. We initially focused on analyzing these folktales after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, with a particular emphasis on films. 

Subsequently, through further literature review and data collection, we collaged the changes in plot point and the social, economic, technological, and media influences that these folktales underwent during different periods (shown in the next page). Additionally, we emphasize the transformation of these stories when the storytellers' identity shifted from the ruling class to the common people. In the collage, blue represents storytelling by the ruling class, while red represents common people's storytelling. The primary factor that triggered this transformation was the invention of movable type printing during the Southern Song period.

Research booklet of The Story of Meng Jiang can be read HERE.

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Plot point changes of  The Story of Meng Jiang

The Story of Meng Jiang's development underwent several significant changes, all of which were related to the social and cultural context of the time. During the Spring and Autumn period, The Story of Meng Jiang was used by the ruling class to educate women on the importance of observing propriety even in times of extreme sadness. In the subsequent Warring States period, due to the flourishing music industry, The Story of Meng Jiang was utilized by the music industry and thus added a crying plot point. Later, during the Western Han Dynasty, due to the prosperity of the concept of the unity of man and nature, as well as the debris flow disaster that occurred at the time, the plot of Meng Jiang crying and breaking the mountain was added. By the Tang Dynasty, due to heavy corvee labour and the emergence of the common people's narrative power, the plot of crying and breaking the mountain was transformed into crying caused the collaps of the Great Wall. At this time, the plot of The Story of Meng Jiang was basically perfected. During the Song Dynasty, due to the invention of movable type printing, the storytellers gradually shifted from the ruling class to the common people, thus adding plotlines and scenery related to civic life. Subsequently, the development of the story focused more on changes in plot details and scenes to fit the prevailing social trends of the time.

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Plot point changes of  Butterfly Lovers

The greatest characteristic of Butterfly Lovers in its historical evolution is its continuity. From the Southern Dynasty period to the Tang Dynasty, the story has developed from a single simple anecdote to maturity (most of the important plots have appeared). Then from the Tang Dynasty to modern times, it can be seen from the diagram that the plot of the story has not changed much, only the plot has been added or deleted on the basis of the original plot, for example, the important plot of butterflies appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty and continues to this day, while the reincarnation plot that appeared in the Qing Dynasty has not been preserved. In Butterfly Lover, all the episodes are related to the values of society and the mainstream thinking of the people, including the pursuit of freedom and love by young men and women, and the cultural and intellectual demands for equality between men and women, and the spirit of rebellion against feudalism.

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Plot point changes of Legend of White Snake

The development of Legend of the White Snake was concentrated in four dynasties, with the first version appearing in the Tang Dynasty, followed by further evolution in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and finally the earliest and complete version in the Ming Dynasty. However, among the four Chinese popular legends, this legend changed the most from one version to the next. The plot, the relationships between characters, and even the locations and scenery vary greatly from one dynasty to the next, and the continuity of the story is poor until the mature version. For example, in the Tang dynasty, the widowhood of the heroine was overtly feminist, and the plot included demanding money from men and hurting them physically. In the late Ming and Qing dynasties, however, the heroine transforms into a snake demon brave enough to pursue marital bliss and free love. The evolution of the White Snake can be directly perceived as a change in social thinking.

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Plot point changes of The cowherd and the weaving maiden

The Cowherd and Weaver Maiden originated from the agricultural civilization period, where the ancient people's ignorance of nature led to their reverence for the constellations. The Cowherd and Weaver Maiden are two constellations used to indicate time and are located on opposite sides of the Milky Way. During the Western Han Dynasty, influenced by the doctrine of the unity of man and nature, the Weaver Girl constellation was personified, and the objective fact that the constellations cannot meet was depicted as a plot where "people cannot meet." During the subsequent Eastern Han Dynasty, due to wars and the prevalence of tragic literature, a love story developed between the Cowherd and the Weaver Maiden, adding a subjective pessimistic color to the objective facts. In the Northern and Southern Dynasty, the plot was basically perfected. At this time, the ruling class was still the storyteller, and the story was used more to educate people: the theme of the story changed from a love tragedy to reward diligence and punish laziness. At the same time, the plot of the two being separated was expanded, adding the role of the Heavenly Emperor as a ruler. At this time, the separation of the two was due to their laziness. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the invention of movable type printing gave the common people a voice, so the plot emphasized the popular "meeting on the Magpie Bridge." During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the people's voice continued to increase, and the story began to incorporate folk story plots, reflecting the hardships of people's lives.

Movie Generation Process

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Upon research of the story of Meng Jiang, we observed that despite the main character being female, the narrative is presented predominantly from a male perspective. Meng Jiang's actions are consistently influenced by her husband as the central figure, and her character is portrayed within the confines of societal expectations and gender norms. This societal pressure is evident in various plot points throughout the story.

Click on the red text to learn more.

To bring to light the impact of social norms and expectations on women's behavior, we have adapted the story of Meng Jiang in a contemporary context. Our narrative focuses on the initial meeting of Meng Jiang and Qi Liang at the lotus pond, which was the starting point of the original story. In the original plot, Meng Jiang fell into the pond and was seen naked by Qi Liang, leading to their marriage. However, Qi Liang was taken away on their wedding night by Qin Shi Huang to build the Great Wall. Despite knowing each other for less than a day, Meng Jiang sent warm clothes to Qi Liang over a thousand miles, cried until the Great Wall collapsed, sought revenge against Qin Shi Huang, and eventually committed suicide.

This part of the story, which remains unchanged in historical versions, reflects the male gaze prevalent in traditional narratives. To convey the themes of gaze and conduct, we have extract and transform the original plot and settings of Meng Jiang's story into contemporary context. Our narrative depicts Meng Jiang as an ordinary woman rather than a renowned figure fated to collapse the Great Wall with her tears. 

In the earliest version of the story from the Chunqiu dynasty, the collapse of the mountain was attributed to the prevalent belief in the unity between heaven and humanity at that time. As access to literature increased due to the invention of printing during the North Song dynasty, subsequent versions of the story were enhanced with additional plot elements to reflect social realities and propose ideas for social development. The collapse of the mountain was transformed into the collapse of the Great Wall, which has persisted in various historical versions.

In our contemporary adaptation, the collapse of the Great Wall represents the collapse of women's inner worlds under the intense social gaze prevalent in today's era of social media and the internet. This re-interpretation is intended to highlight the pressures and constraints that modern women face, and how their behavior is constantly scrutinized and magnified by society.

In contemporary times, social media and the internet amplify and scrutinize every aspect of women's lives, making the social gaze and constraints even more direct and harmful. The tragedy of Meng Jiang seeking revenge and ultimately committing suicide is also present in our narrative. The pervasive nature of social scrutiny affects everyone, making it impossible to evade or escape its consequences.

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