In the Heat of the Sun
Zhixing Jin
Hibiscus Town
Red Sorghum
Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor, screenwriter, and director.
Jiang wrote and directed his first film in 1994, In the Heat of the Sun, which is a tale set in the Cultural Revolution
In the Heat of the Sun
The film is set in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution.
It is told from the perspective of Ma Xiaojun, who is a teenage boy at the time.
Ma Xiaojun and his friends are free to roam the streets of Beijing day and night because the Cultural Revolution has caused their parents and most adults to be either busy or away
Ma Xiaojun fell in love with Milan. But Milan love Ma xiaojun’s friend Yang Yiku.
Blue Kate
Tie tou’s parents got married
Tie tou’s father died
Tie tou’s mother met his father’s friend
Tie tou’s father’s friend died
Tie tou’s mother got married with another man
Tie tou’s stepfather died
Similarities
First person narration
In the Heat of the Sun: Ma Xiaojun
Blue Kite: Tietou
Both of the stories are around the experiences of young boys
Background: Chinese Culture Revolution
Both show the trauma of history.
Differences
Time period:
In the Heat of the Sun: a summer in the Chinese Culture Revolution
Blue Kite: From 1953 to 1967, through the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
The way to describe sadness
Blue Kite: directly shows the effects from those political events
In the Heat of the Sun: Details and metaphors
Cultural Revolution in those two films
Blue Kite
People died because of political events
For Tie tou, that time period means people’s death and leave.
In the Heat of the Sun
Only one person died in this film and it’s because of gangster’s fight
For Ma Xiaojun, Cultural Revolution means freedom.