Spoilers (duh).
Okay, so most people don’t like the ending to this movie, and I have to admit, I find it really tiresome the fact that the best character in the movie dies saving this girl, and he and his love both pass onto her the words “Be true to yourself” in hopes that she will go to her lover, Lo, and be happy. So, what’s she do? She goes to him, then JUMPS OFF A CLIFF!! Now, I know it goes with the whole flow of “If you truly love something, set it free” type beliefs, but there’s more to it that I’m just not getting, right?
So, someone who understands Buddhism and whatever other philosophies are tied up in this movie, please explain it to me a little more than that.
And also…for a person who can fly, is jumping off a cliff really that big a deal? Just wondering.
Sorry, for me the ending of that movie was being shaken awake.
Well, there was that whole story about the person who threw herself from a cliff and missed so she could go be with her true love. Sounds fairly cut-and-dried to me. She couldn’t stay in China, and she wanted to run off with her mongol boy, so she staged a suicide and met up with him later on.
But how can she be happy? She’s betrayed her mentor and directly caused her death. She’s betrayed and ruined her family. She’s betrayed the two people who tried to reach out to her causing one’s death and ruining the other’s life. In short, after acting like a spoiled brat for the entire movie she was finally forced to face the vast harm she had been doing and couldn’t live with it. The story about flying away was a justification to her.
Actually, I thought it was something of a letdown. I mean, they go through the whole adventure of the film, and then, at the end, she does… that!!!
Major letdown.
Granted, she’s a whiny brat. I’m still pissed at Jade Fox (who was much to fat and ugly to be called a fox, by any stretch of the imagination) killing our resident Hero.
Actually, smiling bandit, Pei-pei Cheng (Jade Fox) was in a number of martial arts movies back in China. So while she’s a bit fat, she could probably kick your ass back to the year of the snake.
I’m a loser and can’t figure out how to link threads properly, but if you search for Cartooniverse’s long ago GQ thread titled, " ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ – SPOILER " you will find some animated discussion of the ending.
I agree with Just Some Guy. Jen finally realized all the harm she had done, and committing suicide was her way of dealing with it.
The way I see the movie, I wouldn’t have liked it as much as I do if it had have a happy ending. The end makes sense.
I agree with Just Some Guy. Jen finally realized all the harm she had done, and committing suicide was her way of dealing with it.
The way I see the movie, I wouldn’t have liked it as much as I do if it had have a happy ending. The end makes sense.
<jaw drops> Wow. I missed this little tidbit on my first reading.
I’ll be the first to admit my understanding of Chinese mythology is incomplete, but foxes are typically tricksters, maybe not totally evil but certainly not “good” characters. Combine this with the fact that Jade Fox was a bitter old woman who had been used and cast aside by Li Mu Bai’s master. She’d been working as a servant. Why should she be pretty? She was a woman who was once pretty, but her life decisions showed on her face. I thought the casting was excellent.
“resident Hero”? The man who wanted to retire?
i agree with Just some Guy as well, but i think the suicide was to try to attone for the death by becoming the story that was told earlier (note: it’s been a while since i saw it in the theater, haven’t bought it, but it is on the top 5 get list for me)
It’s really hard. You (got a pen?) type/paste the url into the post.
[“How else could she relieve herself of the burden of having caused the death of one of her would-be mentors, and destroying the happiness of the other? In light of that, I think the last exchange she has with her lover just illustrates how worthless her former dreams have become. She could never enjoy it because she knows she doesn’t deserve it.”]
I find the above explanation to be the closest to why i believe Jen jumped off the mountain. But i do not believe Jen was committing suicide.
I think Jen jumped off the mountain because she wanted her OWN wish to come true.
She may have asked Lo what his wish would be because his answer may have changed her mind to make the leap.
When Chow Yun-Fat’s character died, Jen offered no resistance to her friend’s action to behead her. This is because she felt that she was less worthy of life than Chow Yun-Fats character. She had also seen the true character of the woman whom she had chosen to be loyal to.
Jen wanted life to be returned to Chow Yun-Fats character to ease her guilt and to amend the bad choices she had made in her life.
She was not committting suicide but making a sacrifice, hoping it would right the wrongs her selfish actions had caused. She leapt out of a deep respect for a man who saw the potential in her to become a noble disciple.
Brrrrrrrrraaaaaiiinnsssss!!!