patriarchy in fargo and raise the red lantern

Explore the relationship between women's roles and patriarchal society in Raise the Red Lantern and Fargo. For many years from our history, women's rights have always been a contraversial topic. History has shown the world to be primarily a male-dominated society, where a woman's role is often dictated by a man. In the movies Raise the Red Lantern and Fargo, both movies dictate a society where the dominant sex is male. In Raise the Red …

…different way. Raise the Red Lantern initially expects us to believe the man is superior while in Fargo, we are given, straight from her first scene, an intelligent, competent, independent woman who seems intellectually superior to any man. In Raise the Red Lantern, while the master's favor determines which of his wives commands the most power, Yimou's illustration of how easily he can be manipulated is ironic of a patriarchal society; the man controls nothing.