Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository

1987: 237). So, considering the film's depiction of Pu Yi's quest for aesthetic beauty, one
might consider his choice of horticulture as a way of continuing to enjoy multiple colours and
forms. However, the luxurious atmosphere in the Forbidden City is always associated with
the absolute power that the Emperors had; similarly, a cruel regime is embedded in the
aesthetic beauty of the Manchurian court. In this respect the mise-en-scene indirectly
highlights an issue related to independent and creative human thought, in terms of it being
either subjected to exploitation in a capitalist social order, or a source of suspicion in an
egalitarian social order; the issue is further complicated by the unexpected socio-political
disgrace of the prison governor. This occurs after viewer alignment with the character's
thought processes and his sense of justice and humanity, and his humiliation is compounded
because it occurs at the hands of youngsters whose fanatical mistreatment of their fellow
Communists is disconcerting on all levels. Therefore sympathy is generated towards the
governor because his disgrace is perceived by the viewer as unjustified. The sequence also
induces intellectual reflection as it implies that power ultimately reproduces its oppressive,
negative facets, regardless of the forms that it assumes according to historical circumstances.
The presence of these socio-political elements, although only implied, prevents the
film from resulting in catharsis, as they create a narration that does not cloud viewers'
judgment of reality, (Benjamin, 1966: 18) but which induces reflection on the portrayed
events. Consequently, I have reservations about Yosefa Loshitzky's assessment of this stage
of Bertolucci's career as a 'capitulation to Hollywood-style spectacle', with the Oscars as
proof of his 'total assimilation into mainstream cinema and the ultimate recognition of his
conformism by the film industry' (Loshitsky, 1995: 201). In my view the Hollywood-style
spectacle frequently features variants of the 'arrival of the cavalry' or the 'idealistic
sentiment' - expressed either directly or metaphorically - as embodiments of the military or
moral supremacy of the USA and/or the Western world. These values, of which Avatar
236