The Expression of Female Agency in Eastern and Western Contexts: A Comparative Analysis of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Mulan (1998), and The Last Emperor (1987)

This research article examines how the female agency is manifested across three films, namely Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); Mulan (1998); and The Last Emperor (1987). The paper draws a comparison between different contexts in the East and the West on how expressions of cultural norms and values enhance female empowerment, independence, and self-determination. This paper analyzes how the Confucian ideal plays its role in Eastern representation while individualism with feminism influences Western depictions. Studies regarding gender dynamics have been approached in this case from the point of view of Hofstede's Five Cultural Dimensions. Gender role differentiation is particularly seen through the two dimensions of individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity. An interesting result emerges from the inquiry of a complex representation of female agency in perspective to different cultural contexts and how, in these, gender is constructed and contested in this kind of cinematic narrative.