MovieChat Forums > The Last Emperor (1988) Discussion > No Sympathy for Pu Yi

No Sympathy for Pu Yi

posted 11 years ago by cocacolaistherealthing
5 replies | jump to latest

Admittedly, I don't know much about the history or politics of the events in the film, so I won't speak on his actions as a leader.

Pu Yi was an entitled jerk who was terrible to everyone except his Scottish tutor, until almost the end of his life.

Prison forced him to lose his superiority complex, so he never reformed of his own will. The fact that he was deposed and imprisoned but still demanded his servant/cell mate to cater to his needs speaks to his pervasive sense of entitlement.

It can be argued that because the people around him always allowed him to do whatever he wanted, he never learned how to treat people well, but he was almost sociopathically cruel--he made that one eunuch drink ink just to show his brother that he was omnipotent, he killed that mouse because he was mad they wouldn't open the door, he never tried to help his wife with her opium addiction, just refused to be intimate with her, he paid no attention to his second consort until she decided to leave, then he refused to separate from her.

He only cared about himself and I think he deserved much worse punishment for everything that happened to the people connected to him as a result of selfish actions.

[–] tomkaren1994 11 years ago

Whaaaaaaaaaat...ever.

[–] ofumalow 10 years ago

It seems to me that the OP's complains were exactly the portrait the film offered. Sorry, but not every movie is, or should be, about likable people. Of course he was a selfish, "entitled jerk"--he was raised in a bubble where everything revolved around him, where he was treated as as an extraordinary being who could do no wrong. I think that's why the filmmakers bothered making the movie in the first place, not because his surroundings were so splendid or his story so magical, but because he was unique as the last of a particular sort of precious monster.

[–] nikkiweir 9 years ago

Let us hope he is the last.

I doubt the original poster is still around, but it might be worthwhile for the record to add that Pu Yi was in a double bind, for not only was he exalted beyond his, or most people's, capacity to develop a healthy character, but at the same time he had no control over the personal details of his life. The Son of Heaven had more authority over himself in his last days as a gardener living in a totalitarian dictatorship than in either the Forbidden City or imperial exile.

It isn't merely that "he killed that mouse because he was mad they wouldn't open the door." It's why he had wanted that door opened, the whole set of circumstances.

___________________________________
"The bonsai: the ultimate miniature."
--Will Hayward, Twin Peaks.

[–] tabbycat 9 years ago

That is, actually the entire point of the movie.
And it makes it well.

[–] Fattycakes 8 years ago

Not to defend him but given the circumstances it is no wonder he turned out like that and 2-3k years of chinese history shows he wasn't actually the worst. Using our monogamy standards to judge a chinese emperor is pointless. If he actually only had 1 empress and 1 concubine he is actually topping the charts of chinese imperial history for fewest wives. A standard proverb in chinese indicates that the royal harem would have 3k concubines. Even if he slept with a new one often, most would never even meet the emperor.

It reminds me of another emperor that only had 1 empress and 1 concubine and he was actually suspected to be gay rather than bisexual like most. His true love was for a male official.

So Pu Yi having just 2 female spouses is actually pretty damn good.

If you read chinese history in regards to the behaviour of other emperors... making a ennuch drink ink and killing a mouse again also puts him amongst the most harmless. Many emperors hands were stained with blood from war, intrigue, harsh punishments for minor rule breaking etc. Some were actually like gangsters, rampaging through cities or causing untold suffering due to their actions.

That the second consort got to leave was probably the equivalent of her winning the lottery unless she wanted to be a prisoner of the japanese and tortured. So that was her good fortune that she was inconsequential to the emperor.