Focusing on Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine and Zhang Yimou's To Live, the author makes the observation that many works produced by the Fifth Generation male film makers portray male characters in a negative light, while depicting women positively. This political-cultural phenomenon follows the tradition of A Dream of Red Mansions--instead of saying how sick the society is, the author says how ugly men are. In a male dominated society, men are more likely than women to conform to social norms, which are often against human nature. The film makers acted in response to the authoritarian political structure and the excessiveness of leftism before the reform era when men were not only in a dominant position in society, but also were required not to independent thinking, bravery, or integrity. The anger of the author towards bad politics is demonstrated clearly. The plots of the films seem to suggest that Chinese society before 1949 was more in line with human nature than the one afterwards. The philosophical tone of the films is cynical: if one treats life as play, one survives; if one treats plays as life, one destroys oneself. To lead a dog's life is more desirable than to die "meaningfully," however defined. In the films, the leading female characters are depicted as strong-willed women who aggressively pursue their love and/or lust. The sociopolitical role of Chinese women is not addressed in these films.