Italian Film-Makers in China and Changing Cultural Perceptions
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JICMS 2 (1) pp. 41–58 Intellect Limited 2014 Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies Volume 2 Number 1 © 2014 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jicms.2.1.41_1 Stefano Bona Flinders University Italian film-makers in China and changing cultural perceptions: Comparing Chung Kuo – China (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1972) and La stella che non c’è/The Missing Star (Gianni Amelio, 2006) Abstract Keywords This article compares the representation of China in two Italian films shot in Italy country, namely Chung Kuo – China (Antonioni, 1972) and La stella che non China c’è/The Missing Star (Amelio, 2006). In the intervening 30-odd years changes cinema have occurred to the Italian perception of China. Specifically, this perception Antonioni appears to have shifted from a widespread fascination for Maoism, to a nega- Amelio tivity linked to the ongoing economic changes caused by globalization that saw translocalism a redistribution of wealth and power, and in which Italy and China appeared to Maoism globalization 41 JICMS_2.1_Bona_41-58.indd 41 11/29/13 4:34:35 PM Stefano Bona 1. First, I would like to symbolize the two extremes on the scale of a reversed power relationship. The two express my gratitude to films are analysed on the basis of three assumptions. The first being that until the Dr Luciana d’Arcangeli for her tireless support nineteenth century the encounter between the West and China was mainly one and encouragement sided, with Italy being the first western culture to approach China. The second that over the year-long research process and to Italian directors were among the first westerners to make full length films in the Assoc. Prof. Mike Walsh People’s Republic of China. The third that film-makers are intellectuals influenced for his precious advice by the historical period in which they film. This analysis will revolve on a histori- on film analysis. cal contextualization, a discussion of meaningful film sequences, and the implica- 2. A comparison between tions emerging from a comparison of the two films. the growth of the Italian and the Chinese GDP in 2001–2010 摘要 reveals that the 本文比较了在中国拍摄的两部意大利电影‹‹中国›› (米开朗基罗·安东尼奥尼, former grew by 1.9% in a decade while the 1972) 和 ‹‹消逝的星星›› (吉安尼·阿米里奥, 2006) 对中国的描绘。在这两部影 aggregate growth of 片间隔的三十年间，意大利人对中国的看法发生了变化。确切地说，这种看 the latter in the same period was 98.4%. To 法似乎已经从对毛泽东思想的普遍着迷转变成了对全球化进程所发的经济转 make a more complete 变的消极看法。全球化进程见证了财富和权力的再分配。在这一进程中，意 comparison, the 大利和中国似乎代表着被翻转的权力关系中的两个极端。此两部电影的分析 developed economies grew by 13.8 %, the 以三个假设为依据：（一）直到 19 世纪，西方文化与中国的接触主要都是 European Union 11.9 单方向的，而意大利文化是最先接近中国的西方国家；（二）意大利导演是 % and the developing 最先在中华人民共和国拍摄长片的西方人之一；（三）电影制作人是受到拍 countries by 54.1% (United Nations 摄影片时的历史时期所影响的知识分子。本文将围绕其历史背景、电影片段 2010: 145, 147). A 的讨论以及在比较这两部影片时所得出的推断进行分析。 significant summary on the general mood on globalization, deindustrialization and China is reported Introduction in Ratto (2006: 7–24, Western cultures have long been both fascinated and puzzled by China. 57–70). Due to its cultural and geographic distance and its long-term isolation, the perception and representation of the country has often changed, repeat- edly having been undermined by stereotypes and misunderstandings. This became particularly evident in the twentieth and early twenty-first centu- ries when China transitioned from an empire to a republic, a country largely deprived of its territorial sovereignty due to the territorial concessions given to other countries to a fully independent country, a Communist regime to a socialist market system, and from one of the poorest economies to the second largest global economy.1 The comparison of two Italian films shot in China, namely Chung Kuo – China/Chung Kuo – Cina (Antonioni, 1972) and La stella che non c’è/The Missing Star (Amelio, 2006), may be used to illustrate how such complex percep- tions shifted from a shared fascination for China, or better for Maoism, to a widespread negativity. This shift was linked to the ongoing economic changes caused by globalization that saw a redistribution of wealth and power, and in which Italy and China appeared to symbolize the two extremes on the scale of a reversed-power relationship.2 The analysis of these films is based upon three assumptions: that the encounter between the West and China was for a long time one sided, with Italy being the first western culture to approach China; that Italian directors were among the first westerners to make full-length films in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Michelangelo Antonioni and Gianni Amelio being just two of a larger group; and that film-makers are intellectuals influenced by the historical period in which they shoot a film. From a methodological point of view, such analysis will be founded on a historical contextualization, 42 JICMS_2.1_Bona_41-58.indd 42 11/29/13 4:34:35 PM Italian film-makers in China and changing cultural perceptions a discussion of meaningful sequences, and the implications emerging from a 3. For a detailed recount of the experiences of comparison of the two films’ content, form and style. early Chinese travellers, The present article has multiple goals. Through its analysis: it will first see Masci (1990). illustrate the changed perception of China in a specific western culture like 4. Antonioni filmed Chung Italy. Second, it will discuss to what degree ideological reasons manipulate Kuo simultaneously cinematic intentions. Finally, it will advocate the need for other similar cine- with France-based director Joris Ivens, matic experiences – despite the possible misunderstandings that may occur – who had arrived in as they contribute to juxtaposing western and Chinese cultures, giving the China in 1971, but spent countries more opportunity to reveal themselves to each other in a truly fourteen months on location. Ivens’ twelve- reciprocal (re)discovery. hour-long documentary titled Comment Yukong déplaça les montagnes/ Premise How Yukong Moved the Mountains was As a starting point, several explanations are necessary of Italy’s role in the west- completed three years ern–Chinese encounter, of the special role of Italian film directors in filming after Antonioni’s the PRC, and of the influence of a historical moment on film-makers’ work. and screened in 1976 (Sun 2009: 46, Zhang First, the scholarship in the field has described the encounter between the 2009: 40–41). There West – broadly defined as cultures sharing a European and Christian back- was another foreign ground – and China as having been predominantly one sided for centuries as film-maker working in China in 1972: the westerners travelled there for trading, religious, colonial and – in the twen- British-American Felix tieth century – ideological reasons. The opposite movement from China to Greene, author of the documentary One the western countries is a more recent phenomenon, as it was only in the Man’s China (1972) nineteenth century that Chinese intellectuals and diplomats began travelling (Contemporary Films: systematically to Europe, and Chinese people began to emigrate overseas.3 n.a.). Ivens and Greene, who had ideological Italy was a forerunner in the encounter with China, well exemplified by the affinities with the PRC, cases of Venetian merchant Marco Polo (1254–1324), and Marche-born Jesuit were allowed to film missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), who were appropriately accepted by the documentaries in China several times from the imperial courts and are still considered models of profitable relations between 1930s until the 1980s, the two cultures (Marinelli 2010: 491–504). and from the 1950s to the 1970s respectively. Second, Italian film-makers seem to have continued this tradition of trav- They remain unique elling East. After the foundation of the PRC in 1949, almost every foreigner cases among western was required to leave. Over the following decades, China opened its doors film-makers (Jenkins 1986: 7). to a limited number of western travellers, generally selected on the basis of their ideological sympathies (Pini 2011: 83; Rampini 2007: 7). Western film- 5. Marco Polo was co-produced by Rai and makers in China then, were indeed unique cases. The first director allowed Vides Cinematografica to make a documentary feature in the PRC in 1957 was the Italian Carlo (Italy), NBC and Procter Lizzani, who shot a documentary entitled La muraglia cinese/Behind the Great & Gamble (USA), Tokyo Broadcasting System Wall. Only in 1972, in the late period of the Cultural Revolution and after (Japan) and CCAA a decade of China’s almost complete isolation from the rest of the world, (China) (IMDb n.d.). Antonioni was chosen to represent China to the western world with one of 6. The Last Emperor was the earliest completed documentary features after Beijing decided to reopen funded by the British 4 producer Jeremy its doors to western countries. In 1981–1982, Giuliano Montaldo – who had Thomas and its original previously worked with Lizzani – directed the miniseries Marco Polo, which title is in English. was the first Chinese–western co-production for television.5 Then, in 1986, Bernardo Bertolucci filmed The Last Emperor, based on the autobiography of Puyi, the last emperor of China. Bertolucci’s Academy-Award winning productionwas the first fictional feature film shot in the PRC by a western director. Also, Bertolucci was reportedly the first foreigner permitted to use the Forbidden City in Beijing as a set (Bowker 1987).6 Two decades later, in 2005, Amelio shot The Missing Star in China. In 2007, Sandro Cecca, another Italian director, abandoned his predecessors’ intellectual approach and shot Two Tigers, an Italian-produced, English-spoken exploitation film set in 43 JICMS_2.1_Bona_41-58.indd 43 11/29/13 4:34:35 PM Stefano Bona 7. Several Italian left-wing Shanghai. At the time of writing, a further popular film is being completed: intellectuals visited China in those years. Dario Baldi’s C’è sempre un perché/Shi chu you yin/There is Always a Reason, Among them, writers a cross-cultural comedy of errors shot in both Sicily (Italy) and Chengdu Alberto Moravia and (China).