Power and Trauma in Chinese Film: Experiences of Zhang Yuan and the Sixth Generation

Shannon May

Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, Volume 8, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 156-160 (Article)

Published by The Ohio State University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/psy.2003.0018

For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/40711

[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] 156 ciated trauma that limits the fear, hopelessness, revenge and WORKS CITED capacity for self-reflection and cre- anger could be set aside. Both Bromberg, Philip. Standing in the Spaces. ates rigid, defensive, and even sides could then safely mourn Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1998. paranoid postures. If the current their fantasies of omnipotence: Is- Levi, A. “We.” Contemporary Psychoanaly- sis 7 (1971): 181–188. situation is an endless unanalyzed rael’s of a State that includes the Mitchell, Stephen A. Hope and Dread in loop of enactments, revealing the West Bank and Gaza, and Pales- Psychoanalysis. New York. Basic Books, unmetabolized trauma of stateless- tinians could mourn the idea of a 1993. ness, what can be done? State that includes Tel Aviv, Winnicott, Donald W. “Fear of Break- I would suggest that American Jerusalem, Haifa and Eilat. Even- down.” International Review of Psycho- citizens, as opposed to European tually, perhaps, the settlement and Analysis 1 (1974):103–107. or Israeli, have a special responsi- occupation policies of the Israeli bility to consider their opinion on government in the West Bank and this conflict and let their voices be Gaza, and the Palestinian policy of POWER AND TRAUMA IN heard. Only America has the lever- promoting statehood through vio- CHINESE FILM: age to resolve and mediate this lence and bombings, would cease. EXPERIENCES OF ZHANG conflict. The site of dialogue Both parties could begin to define YUAN AND THE SIXTH should be revisited under pressure their core identities in terms of GENERATION from the US and its citizenry be- what they themselves choose and cause it is the largest financial, not on what the other is “forcing” Shannon May moral and military supporter of Is- them to become. Israel could get rael. If talks are not held leading to on with being an unbesieged free Soon after Zhang Yuan’s first film, a political solution, then not only country instead of expending all Mama, was released in 1990 the will the loop of violent recrimina- its energies on ruling and control- State-owned Film Distribution tory acts continue, but the Pales- ling an angry people. Israel could Corporation pulled all prints tinians will continue to suffer the avoid the risk of configuring part without explanation. After inde- indignities of occupation, the of its own identity on that of an pendently financing, filming and character of the State of Israel will aggressive, superior occupier, un- exhibiting Beijing Bastards, Zhang become more and more closely fairly victimized by the suicide was officially banned from feature identified by the world as that of a bomber. Palestinians, too, could production in 1994 by the Chi- colonial oppressor, and there is the leave behind ways of thinking nese government. Other artists risk of a regional war which could about parts of their national were directed not to work with spiral out of control. That war identities as martyrs and victims of him; companies were ordered not may be even more extensive given Israel. They could pursue nation- to rent equipment to him. Zhang the geo-political needs and aspira- building and democratic institu- was branded a disseminator of tions of members of the Bush Ad- tions unfettered, and divest them- “spiritual pollution.”1 ministration to build a coalition of selves of an identity partly built on As the first film since the na- States who agree to support and oppression. tionalization of the industry in overturn the regime of Saddam Terrorism and revenge would 1951 to be made entirely outside Hussein in Iraq. Therefore, the in- then cease to be the main defining of the State system, Zhang’s Bei- terests of Americans, far as they characteristics of both communi- jing Bastards marks a new move- may seem from the sordid Middle ties, as they are at present. The ment in Chinese film. Even before East conflict, may also be at stake. subjectivity of the other party the first shot, the audience is If a dialogue could ensue and could be recognized, as mutual di- warned that a new form of film- the US lends its “observing ego” alogue replaces terror with a polit- making has emerged. At the be- and creates a “potential space” ical, negotiated solution in a co- ginning of each Chinese film pro- then perhaps some of the mutual constructed conversation. duced since 1951, two standard International Notes 157 frames appear in sequence: the filmmaker with that of the tor- sexuals] love you [policemen]. government issued license number tured homosexual at the center of There is no other choice.” These followed by the name of the State his film. After reading an article in words bring to mind Judith Her- studio responsible for the project. Beijing’s Life News about an AIDS man’s work on the psychology of Beijing Bastards lacks the frame research institute that used police victims of long term psychological displaying the distribution license to force gay men to fill out sur- trauma, in which she argues that number. Centered in the following veys, Zhang focused on the op- systemic and repetitive methods of frame is not the name of one of pression and discrimination that inflicting psychological trauma in- the sixteen State studios, but gay men face: duce the victim to form a bond rather Beijing Bastards Raw Shot with the perpetrator. She con- When I first began the script, Production Group. By taking this cludes that “These methods are there were a lot of characters: name for both the film and the designed to instill terror and help- policemen, sociologists, gay production group—Beijing Bas- lessness, to destroy the victim’s men. As I wrote, I found the tards—Zhang implicates himself sense of self in relation to others, key to all this was power, and as well as his filmic practice as an and to foster a pathologic attach- the connection between sex illegitimate but unwilling-to-be- ment to the perpetrator . . .” (88). and power. Why did the po- denied offspring of Beijing. The Her description well captures the lice have the power to make double metonymic practice that mix of compulsion and desire felt these people talk about their uses “Beijing” simultaneously to by A Lan—and Zhang—for the lives? Why would the gay men refer to China as a whole and to human incarnation of the power reveal their private lives to the the CCP’s seat of power compli- that labels them as the dregs of police? (Interview) cates the title. Zhang and the nar- society. rative encapsulated in his film are In Zhang’s final script there are As he recalls his childhood to not only bastard sons of the Chi- only two characters: A Lan, the Shi, A Lan revels in the memory of nese nation, but of the official homosexual, and Shi Xiaohua, the being chastised by his mother: Party line as well. Moreover, the policeman. Zhang made it clear “When I was bad, she always used characters I have translated as “raw during our interview that while the same threat: ‘be good or the shot,” shelie, also convey multiple the film’s surface reflects sexually policeman will come to get you.’ I meanings: while foreshadowing charged interactions between a gay loved that sentence. The police- the unfinished quality of the film, man and a police officer, the signi- man was coming to get me! I the phrase also carries the double fications of the film go far deeper waited.” A Lan is disturbed not by image of film as a raw, tearing edge than that. He confides: “I love my the threat of punishment, but and a festering wound. Zhang country and I love the Party just as rather by the fact that the threat and his peers—the filmmakers A Lan loves the policeman” (Inter- was never fulfilled. Just as A Lan is of the new Sixth Generation2— view). compelled to seduce the police- announce themselves and their A Lan’s love of the policeman, man, so Zhang is drawn toward films as a fissure rending its way Shi, is repeatedly expressed the Party/State. Even though A through the Chinese cultural and through sadomasochistic fantasies Lan has been previously “treated” political landscape. in which A Lan is always the one for his homosexual “illness” In his first post-1994 project, being dominated. Zhang’s state- through emetic therapy, he con- Zhang not only flouted the ban ment during our interview paral- tinues to frequent the park, know- against his work, but the taboo lels the dialectical phrasing of A ing the police will question, and against homosexuality as well. Lan’s own avowal of devotion to possibly arrest, him. Rather than Through East Palace West Palace the policeman, Shi: “The convict acting in ways to avoid both men- Zhang indelibly links his own for- loves the executioner. The thief tal and physical punishment, A bidden position as an independent loves the jail keeper. We [homo- Lan seeks it out. 158

Zhang and his peers in the the fragments to seek wholeness. eyes wide and glazed, he looks to Sixth Generation continued to Inversion of the victim-abuser-res- be in a trance. make independent films through- cuer dialectic4 begins from the Not only has the camera out the 1990s despite knowing outset when A Lan gives the po- united the two men in film, but that such action was explicitly for- liceman who will become both his Shi’s silence in the scene also re- bidden. Set against the silence and captor and prey an off-balance veals his own desire—and impo- repression of post-Tiananmen kiss. In the darkness of the garden- tence. As the PRC’s frontline China, Zhang’s Beijing Bastards park, the shot holds A Lan as he against homosexuality, Shi should focuses on liumang culture,3 and turns to face the blinding flash- have immediately arrested A Lan. in particular, rock star Cui Jian, light in Shi’s hands. While the Not only is he a homosexual, but whose music became the sound- focus of the shot is on A Lan, Shi’s he is also predatory—worst of all, track for the demonstrations in profile remains within view. A his prey is a representative of the Tiananmen. In doing so, Zhang Lan’s lips give a glimmer of a smile CCP’s power. That Shi remains nearly begs the State to punish as Shi’s arm reaches to his shoulder still and silent reveals a confused him for his impudence. While and he is chastised for his homo- pleasure rather than the uncon- awaiting the CCP’s announce- sexual pursuits. The over-the- trolled rage the film has con- ment on his fate, Zhang did not shoulder shot changes abruptly as structed as what one would expect lie low, but rather made a clandes- Shi pushes A Lan out of the frame. from someone in his position. tine short on the Tiananmen Inci- The next cut interjects another of- While the camera first creates the dent as well as a true-to-life feature ficer berating other gay men as classic subjective view of Shi gazing on the madness and dysfunction “dregs of society.” The scene cuts at A Lan after the kiss, the next cut of a Beijing family. After receiving to a silhouetted A Lan and Shi takes a close-up of Shi’s face. The his punishment—banned from stumbling along the covered walk- camera does not, however, com- working in the industry—Zhang way. As the tracking shot pulls plete the second subjective cycle; it continued to challenge the foun- back, A Lan and Shi turn toward does not return to the object—to dations of the PRC’s system of the camera. Shi’s arm holds A Lan A Lan. Shi’s ability to possess his control. gruffly about the shoulder. As A desired object is undermined. The very title of East Palace Lan jerkily turns into Shi’s body Although A Lan is diegetically West Palace marks the symbolic and struggles to place a kiss upon framed as the enunciator of the realm of the film as the discourse his cheek, the shot collapses into a narrative due to extensive use of between the center and the mar- close-up of the two men’s faces. flashback, he is also depicted as gin, the official and the banned. The camera cuts to Shi’s shocked impotent. Each of his flashbacks As alluded to in the first scenes of face. He is silent. Even as focus is relates attempted sexual experi- the film, the title refers to the turned to Shi and a confrontation ences. In each he is silent. He can- slang term used by gay men for the is depicted in the narrative, A Lan not speak to his only female crush bathrooms on either side of the remains in the frame. The shot in middle school; he does not re- Forbidden Palace, the mythic seat continues as Shi walks forward, spond to the male factory worker of State power in the center of Bei- edging A Lan off-screen. The cam- who encourages the other workers jing. The choice of this location era then jumps to a close-up of A to beat him after sex; he undresses flouts the CCP’s taboo against ho- Lan’s face: his eyes glisten, his silently and then lies quietly on his mosexuality by placing the pro- mouth smiles. As he backs away, stomach awaiting his male teacher. scribed Other at the heart of the he nibble-licks his finger. Simulta- However, we discover that he is PRC’s Self. neously, Shi is pulled back on- only playing a role in these flash- Through A Lan’s attempt to screen, his back to the camera. backs; they are told to draw out seduce Shi, Zhang explores the na- The camera cuts again to a close- the latent sadistic desire A Lan ture of the disavowed to return, up of Shi’s face. Silent and still, reads in Shi’s eyes. Despite his self- International Notes 159 described passivity in both social clothes confiscated from a local after seventeen years in prison, and sexual roles, A Lan is the insti- transvestite, A Lan cries “This is opened to sold-out, teary-eyed au- gator of social and physical con- not what I want.” diences in December 1999. tact with Shi. If A Lan did not act Shi’s inability to see A Lan as a From the marginalized pe- out in full view of Shi, the police- reflexive image of himself parallels riphery, Zhang returns. And man would not come. the CCP’s inability to recognize awaits the policeman. Despite construction of mu- Zhang (and his peers) as an inte- tual desire, discrepancies between gral part of the Chinese self. If the NOTES the incarnations of the two men’s State were reflexively to share in 1Deng Xiaoping defined spiritual fantasies are evinced in the scene Zhang’s cinematic fantasy by en- pollution at the Second Plenum of the Twelfth Central Committee in October in which Shi forces A Lan to dress dorsing the vision in his films, the 1983 as “all varieties of corrupt and deca- as a woman. Although A Lan faces State would be unable to cling to dent ideologies of the bourgeoisie and Shi in the frame, the policeman its dominant position. It would no other exploiting classes . . . distrust of the barks that A Lan must “put on longer be able to perceive itself as socialist and communist cause and the these [women’s] clothes so that I both the enunciator and executor Communist Party leadership,” qtd. in Ok- can see your real face.” Notably, A of China’s moral and political im- senberg, Sullivan and Lambert 401. 2The term “generation” has been Lan’s back is to the spectator. Even peratives. And so Zhang must still used by Chinese film historians to cata- as Self and Other unite in subject- be repudiated. Just a few days be- logue film directors into periods, taking object desire, the nature of the de- fore the 1996 Ministry of Radio, into account both the time when a direc- sire is split off and repressed. Shi Film and Television regulations5 tor first began making films as well as di- cannot see A Lan as a man. By explicitly prohibiting film produc- rectorial style and production methods. A forcibly demanding the pretense tion not in cooperation with the new generation is marked by an abrupt stylistic change that tends to coincide with of sexual difference, Shi is refusing studio system came into effect, the graduation of a new class of directors to see A Lan as a reflection of him- Zhang smuggled the negatives of from the Beijing Film Academy. The pre- self. To accept A Lan as a man East Palace West Palace to France vious five periods are generally accepted while succumbing to his own de- for post-production. Humiliated as: 1905–1932, 1932–1949, 1950–1960, sire would force Shi to admit that by Zhang’s continued defiance 1960–1980, and 1980–1992. Once la- in a profound, primal sense he and and success, including the selec- beled as a member of a particular genera- tion, a director is known as being of that A Lan are the same: the Other is tion of East Palace West Palace as generation regardless of the length of his the Self. To see A Lan as a man is an official entry in the Un Certain career. to be unable to hold on to a defin- Regard division of the1997 3Traditionally, liumang is a pejorative itive delineation between oppres- Cannes Film Festival, the Chinese term denoting immoral and offensive be- sor and oppressed. Such bivalent State confiscated Zhang’s passport havior, conjuring images of gangsters and vision would force Shi consciously upon his return to China from hooligans. After Tiananmen, China’s disil- lusioned youth appropriated liumang as to relinquish his (assumed) sole Hong Kong on April 10, 1997. the code word for the alienated urban possession of the phallus. He can- Even Zhang’s second official rebel who seeks to distance himself from not accept such a castration. On banishment from the film indus- State culture and its official definition of the contrary, A Lan’s love is based try could not silence him. Zhang’s terms. Liumang’s previous negative associ- on a reflexive recognition of him- continued seduction and torment ations with dishonesty and criminality self in Shi. He identifies as both of the State culminated in his co- have been superceded by attributes such as individualism, defiance, and indepen- seduced and seducer, tormented operation with the State-owned dence. and tormenter. Shi’s need to main- Xian Film Studio to release his 4See Layton 130 for discussion of the tain a sexual power differential, first domestically distributed film vectors along which victims of prolonged however, disrupts A Lan’s identifi- in a decade. Seventeen Years, fo- trauma tend to construct relationships, in cation. When Shi keeps clamoring cused on the return of an es- particular the triangulation of victim, for A Lan to put on the women’s tranged daughter to her parents abuser, and rescuer. 160

5On July 1, 1996 the Ministry of THE NAME OF THE that in fact we should be spending Radio, Film and Television, the regulatory ROOM: CHILD most of our time out in the “com- agency that then oversaw the activities of munity” where the “real” work is, the Film Bureau and the Film Distribu- PSYCHIATRY AND along the lines of some specialized tion Corporation, issued a new 64–article ECONOMIC RATIONALISM system of regulations. In order explicitly outreach and crisis services. to prohibit work outside of the official Thus the logical extrapolation studio system, the regulations required Michael Plastow of such policies is that it is suffi- that no film could be produced, distrib- cient for the clinician to have a car uted, exhibited locally or abroad, or im- In public child psychiatry in Vic- and a mobile phone in order to go ported without prior approval at all cen- to where the patients, or rather, sorship levels. While vague, the 1996 toria, Australia, we are currently regulations do outline seven content areas having to justify to those who “consumers” are. Furthermore, it that would be forbidden: anything that fund our services even the most implies that all clinicians are the endangers the Chinese State, discloses basic requirements for the condi- same and work in the same ways, state secrets, libels or slanders others, or tions in which we and our allied and thus fails to recognize the di- promotes pornography, feudal supersti- health colleagues are able to carry versity and specialization in clini- tion or excessive violence. As if the vague- cal practice. So why do child psy- ness of the first six prohibitions were not out our clinical work. Currently enough to give the censors free reign, the we are undergoing a process of chiatrists and other clinicians insist seventh taboo was listed simply as “other having our services divided into on having not just their own room content forbidden by state regulations.” smaller teams and re-located to to work in, but their own desig- Punishment for those filmmakers who vi- small clinics in community set- nated room, and that the room be olate the regulations include fines ranging tings. While the advantages of this a stable and a predictable one? between five to ten times any profits In many Child and Adoles- gained from illicit productions and the process for better accessibility of possibility of criminal prosecution. our services is evident, this process cent Mental Health Services occurs with insufficient thought (CAMHS) in this state, clinical and planning as to what consti- staff are already required to share WORKS CITED tutes a critical mass for a team that offices and have access to only a Beijing Bastards [Beijing Zazhong]. Dir. is sustainable. The needs of profes- limited number of de-personalized Zhang Yuan. Beijing Bastards Raw sional contact with our child psy- interview rooms to see their pa- Shot Production Group, 1992. chiatry and other medical and tients or clients. Such rooms, East Palace West Palace [Donggong Xigong]. non-medical colleagues have es- moreover, may or may not be Dir. Zhang Yuan. Quelqu’un D’autre available at the moment in which Productions, 1996. sentially not been considered. Herman, Judith Lewis. “Complex PTSD: In this context of re-location, the child psychiatrist or other A Syndrome of Survivors in Prolonged it has been put forward that child clinical staff wish to use them. and Repeated Trauma.” In Essential Pa- psychiatrists or clinical staff work- In some country centers the pers on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. ing in the field of child psychiatry CAMHS staff are obliged to share Ed. Mardi J. Horowitz, New York: do not need an office or desig- interview rooms with their col- New York UP, 1999. 82–98. leagues from the adult mental Layton, Lynne. Who’s That Girl? Who’s nated space in which to perform That Boy? Clinical Practice Meets Post- their clinical work. From the point health services whose require- modern Gender Theory. Northvale, NJ: of view of the policy makers who ments for the clinical encounter Aronson, 1998. determine our funding, it is suffi- are far different from that of the Oksenberg, Michel, Lawrence R. Sullivan, cient to have an office space that is clinician working with children and Marc Lambert. Eds. Beijing shared with other clinicians and a and adolescents. Moreover, the Spring, 1989: Confrontation and Con- traumatizing effect of the behavior flict: The Basic Documents. Armonk, few designated interview rooms. NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1990. Part of the rationale used to justify of certain adult mental heath pa- Zhang Yuan. Personal Interview. 3 No- the assertion that we do not re- tients on these children is not vember 1999. quire designated offices is the idea considered.