The Philosophy of Prisons and Power in The Last Emperor

In the film The Last Emperor, we witness title character Pu Yi’s journey through various types of prisons. He begins as a child revered as a god on earth, with seemingly every outward power and possession, but neither meaningful freedom nor self-consciousness. As he moves through life, he gradually loses political power, social status, familial ties, and material wealth, and hits rock bottom when he attempts suicide as a prisoner of war. Eventually, Pu Yi emerges as a liberated and apparently fulfilled individual, despite his seemingly simple existence as an anonymous gardener. The themes of political power, the relationship between the individual and society, and the balance between individual autonomy and control over others run throughout the film.

Both eastern and western philosophy illuminate these themes in the context of The Last Emperor. Specifically, the two precursors to living with Confucian benevolence—shu and chung—are valuable tools for exploring Pu Yi’s journey from ignorant power over others to conscious contentment with a simple, inwardly focused life. John Locke’s philosophy of self-consciousness, which is focused on the individual, provides an overlapping (though distinct) perspective. Locke’s thinking highlights the importance of an individual’s conception of his own reality (as well as his sense that he has the freedom to change that reality). This paper will chronologically explore both the film and its central character through these related lenses. To begin, it is useful to define these philosophies.

I. Confucian Benevolence: Shu & Chung

According to Confucius (in D.C. Lau’s work, as presented by Kessler), benevolence should guide the actions of all men—particularly those with power over others. Benevolence is defined as avoiding imposing upon others what you yourself do not desire (Kessler 37). Two elements are necessary to achieve benevolence. First, shu is used to discover how others would—and would not—like to be treated (Kessler 37). According to Confucius, one must consider others by analogy to oneself in determining how to behave. Shu is not, however, sufficient to achieve benevolence. One must exercise chung, which means doing one’s best to applying the lessons learned through shu to one’s actual treatment of others. Shu and chung present an interesting conflict when examined in light of Locke’s view of personal identity, which is explored below.

II. Locke & Personal Identity as Self-Consciousness

An important element of character development is what makes an individual the same person over time. Falzon notes the enormous breadth of experiences—and resulting changes in personality, values, and memory—that a character can experience during a lifetime (or over the course of a narrative). As a result of these life experiences, characters often struggle to reconcile their present self-consciousness with past action, a conflict we will see in The Last Emperor.

Falzon considers how the work of Enlightenment philosopher John Locke can rectify the cognitive dissonance that can result from such changes. According to Falzon (82), a Lockean conception of self is based on ones consciousness of oneself. He says, "a person has a sense of themselves and of their continuity and identity over time as the same person. Hence, personal identity, the sameness of a rational being, extends as far back in time as this consciousness of ourselves extends." This focus on the sameness of one’s consciousness acknowledges that an individual can grow, develop, and change, and yet remain the same person.

Exploring Pu Yi’s journey through both Confucian benevolence (as shu and chung) and Lockean self-consciousness provides a particularly broad perspective, because while these philosophies are related in certain ways, there is also tension between them in some instances. That is, in employing Confucianism, one uses oneself as the metric for what is appropriate behavior (and subsequently should be put into practice through chung). But Locke’s recognition that a character can change substantively (yet remain the same human being) illustrates the malleability of the human character. Thus, what shu might indicate is appropriate in one moment might change in the next moment, year, or decade. This problem is even more pronounced when one considers that shu is informed by each individual’s experience of reality, which is inherently subjective. And since preferences often differ from person to person, shu is limited by its inward and subjective focus.

III. Critical Points in Pu Yi’s Journey

a. Early life

When Pu Yi is declared king, his initial response is that he wants to go home. This reflects Lockean self-consciousness to the extent that a small child can possess it: Pu Yi wants to stay in the environment to which he is accustomed, because that is the basis of his identity. As he grows, Pu Yi eventually grows accustomed to the Forbidden City, and as his consciousness expands, so does his awareness of his own power (as demonstrated, for example, by the delight he takes in being chased by his attendants within the City, bossing his brother around, and utilizing his wet nurse at the age of 7). But Pu Yi also begins to realize that something interesting must exist beyond the City walls, and we see this expanded self-consciousness in his repeated attempts to both escape and learn what exists outside the City walls.

b. Departure from the Forbidden City

A life within the Forbidden City’s walls has resulted in Pu Yi tying his status and identity to his presence there. Indeed, his tutor tells his that he is important, but his status is essentially confined to the fortress he has always inhabited. Thus, when the Forbidden City is invaded and the royal family is expelled, Pu Yi’s entire sense of self is jeopardized, and he again experiences the dissonance, discomfort, and apprehension he faced when he first arrived in the Forbidden City as a small child. Despite repeated fantasies of escape, the prospect of such freedom is terrifying to someone who has never truly known it. Moreover, Pu Yi has always been told of his great power, yet has never meaningfully interacted with his people. Thus, Pu Yi is highly susceptible to manipulation, just as he embarks on a very different period in his life.

c. Life as a Puppet

Although he has departed the Forbidden City, Pu Yi remains accustomed to a position of power and notoriety. Thus, it seems only natural to him that the Japanese want him to be ruler of Manchuria. It does not occur to Pu Yi that he is merely a pawn in the Japanese political agenda, rather than a ruler of divine right, because he has never experienced any other reality. It does not take long outside the City, however, for Pu Yi’s continued self-absorption to begin eroding his life and relationships. At first, however, he remains blasé. Pu Yi’s wife’s opium addiction, as well as Wen Hsiu’s departure, not only show that things are beginning to fall apart, but also shore up Confucius’ contention that the natural love and obligations of family should serve as a check on brute individualism (Kessler 38).

Pu Yi experiences a crucial breakthrough—and we first see his pursuit of shu—when his entire cabinet walks out on him, and he realizes that he has been simply a pawn of the Japanese. His impassioned speech about mutual respect, equality and independence is interesting in both its hypocrisy, and its illustration of Lockean self-awareness. That is, we see Pu Yi begin to realize that he may have been very wrong about a lot of things—his government, his family, and his treatment of others (including his family and his people).

d. Prison Camp

Once Pu Yi is imprisoned, he hits rock bottom, attempting to take his own life. It is here that he confronts the prospect that he has been anything but benevolent throughout his life. His indication that he feels responsible for acts against his people—even acts he neither perpetrated nor was aware of—is a classic example of Lockean self-consciousness creating strife for a character. Thinking that there is no turning back, and no way he can achieve any form of benevolence—Confucian or otherwise—Pu Yi attempts to take his life.

e. Liberation and Identity

By the end of the film, Pu Yi achieves peace and contentment through the very self-awareness that nearly broke him. He has lost all of the trappings of power—he is unknown, poor, and relatively alone in the world. He is, however, free. He is no longer enslaved by any status, and appears as happy as he has been in his entire life. This illustrates Locke’s conception of the self as defined by one’s conscious awareness—it was not status, power, or prestige that brought happiness to Pu Yi, but the ability to go about his days as he wishes, and serve the masters he deems worthy. No longer an emperor nor a puppet, he is finally just an individual.

Indeed, casting off status and titles allows Pu Yi to consider who he is, and who he wants to be. This is perhaps not a perfect achievement of benevolence, as Confucius conceptualizes it, but shu and chung have certainly been crucial tools on Pu Yi’s journey to contentment. And it is safe to say that The Last Emperor did pursue that inner peace merely as an end in itself—just as Confucius would have it.

Works Cited

Falzon, Christopher. "All of Me-the self and personal identity." Philosophy Goes to the Movies: An Introduction to Philosophy. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2007. 55-98.

Kessler, Gary E.. "How Should One Live?." Voices of Wisdom. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2004. 32-40.

The Last Emperor. Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci. Perf. John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole. ArtisanEntertainment, 1987.