The Good Earth

Pre-revolutionary China. Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Pearl S. Buck. Dramatic Cinema.
-*symbolizes musical cues*
-Each paragraph is a description of a scene, and cuts abruptly to the next one with a very short transition


*chaos and quiet screaming*
In a world where peasants work on land for nearly no wage, and landowners own nearly all of the farm land, Wang Lung wades along his crops on the wet, over-saturated ground next to his faithful worker Ching. The great flood has come, and there is nothing to salvage. Everything has been drowned, nothing is left except for his silver hidden in the soggy walls of his house. It's time to start over.

The Good Earth features farmer Wang Lung, portrayed by Paul Muni, and his life's goal to acquire land and wealth.

A Few Years Ago

It all begins with marriage -- on a bright morning, Wang Lung goes to the great House of Hwangs to retrieve his new bride, O-Lan. Dreaming of the quintessential farmer's life (wife, kids, concubines, land, wealth), Wang Lung constantly contemplates about his land. He works, he buys, he invests in more. With a child on the way and his crops prospering, life is looking swell -- until a drought strikes the area. The crops wither, leading to famine and starvation overtaking the region. Plagued by starvation and poverty, Wang Lung and his family are forced to migrate South.

*quiet melancholy piano music*

Tensions are high in the South. Soldiers march through the streets, dragging civilians away, increasing the nervous energy. The family has hit rock bottom, begging for food to prevent starvation every day. The only thing keeping Wang Lung going through these tough times is remembrance that he still owns his land, and nobody can ever take that away from him.

6 Months Later

*traditional Chinese music*

The crops are flourishing, more children are on the way. Life is back to what it should be. Wang Lung purchases land from the prestigious House of Hwangs, and Wang Lung and O-Lan look at each other happily, seeing that they have become the success story of the town. With an influx of silver, they begin to bury some into the mud walls of their house. 

With the joy comes celebration. O-Lan prepares celebratory food and impresses the entire town with the showing of wealth in the family. From here, there's no looking back. The Wangs have established themselves as the new Hwangs.

Down the Road

*dramatic orchestral score (Carmina Burana)*

"You can never make me leave this place, I will agonize you forever. You would never dare face the consequences" said Wang Lung's Uncle. Looking at the inside of his uncle's coat, Wang Lung felt a sense of grief and despair wash over him. His uncle was part of the redbeards, a group that would raid and loot houses of all potential enemies.

*despairing piano solo (Chopin's Funeral March)*

"Father, I don't want to stay in this place anymore. I must go find myself as a soldier and fight in this war" said the Third Son. Wang Lung looked into his son's eyes, and as his father, realized that there was no longer anything he could say or do to stop his son from leaving. Anguish flooded his heart.

The Good Earth, a novel by Pearl S. Buck, follows the adventurers of a seemingly ordinary peasant who turns into a landowning elite through blood, sweat, and toil, the life of Wang Lung is no ordinary story. Starting out with nothing, ending with nearly everything, yet never having achieved anything. Will all of Wang Lung's hard work pay off? Will his uncle continue to terrorize? Will the son disobey the father? Watch his story unfold in a theatre near you as a major movie production.