Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 Journal of Global Cultural Studies 5 | 2009 Varia Tibet in Debate: Narrative Construction and Misrepresentations in Seven Years in Tibet and Red River Valley Vanessa Frangville Electronic version URL: https://journals.openedition.org/transtexts/289 DOI: 10.4000/transtexts.289 ISSN: 2105-2549 Publisher Gregory B. Lee Printed version Date of publication: 1 June 2009 ISSN: 1771-2084 Electronic reference Vanessa Frangville, “Tibet in Debate: Narrative Construction and Misrepresentations in Seven Years in Tibet and Red River Valley”, Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 [Online], 5 | 2009, document 6, Online since 22 April 2010, connection on 21 September 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ transtexts/289 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/transtexts.289 © Tous droits réservés Journal of Global Cultural Studies 5 | 2009 : Varia (Re)Inventing "Realities" in China Tibet in Debate: Narrative Construction and Misrepresentations in Seven Years in Tibet and Red River Valley VANESSA FRANGVI E Résumés Cet article propose une analyse comparative de la construction des discours sur le Tibet et les Tib'tains en ( Occident * et en Chine. Il sugg.re /ue les films de propagande chinois comme les films holly0oodiens pro1tib'tains mettent en place des perceptions orientalistes et essentialistes d2un Tibet imagin' et id'alis', omettant ainsi la situation sociale, politi/ue, 'conomi/ue ou m4me 'cologi/ue telle /u2elle est v'cue par les Tib'tains en Chine. es repr'sentations cin'matographi/ues participant grandement 5 la formation des imaginaires modernes, cette analyse illustre ainsi le fait /ue la /uestion du Tibet n2est pas un vrai d'bat mais bien plus un champ de bataille politi/ue /ui m.ne 5 une impasse internationale et locale. 1 This essay proposes a comparative perspective of the construction of narratives of Tibet and Tibetans in the 67est2 and in China through cinema. It suggests that Chinese propagandist films and 8olly0ood pro1Tibetans films both promote similar orientalist and essentialising perceptions of an imagined and idealised Tibet, concealing social, political, economic and even ecological situation e9perienced by Tibetans in China. Considering that cinematic representations are dramatically influential in shaping imaginaries, this analysis thus illustrates that the Tibet issue is not a real political debate but more a battlefield that leads to an international and local impasse. Texte intégral 1 Throughout the last thirty years, the 6Tibet issue2 has become a significant topic on the international agenda, and a critical factor for conducting :S1China relationship, as some legal measures may have suggested.1 T0o positions chiefly became part of the public debates. On one stand, Tibet is considered as an —inalienable part of China“, —liberated“ from feudal oppression and —guided to modernity“ by the —elder Brother“ 8an.2 On the other stand, Tibetan government1in1e9ile depicts Tibet as an —independent state in fact and la0“ before the Chinese communist invasion in 1949, claiming for a —cultural genocide“ in Tibet.3 The historical and political status of Tibet has been e9tensively discussed among scholars, and such positions, although much /ualified, have found their 0ay into academic discourses in China, in Tibetan e9iled communities and in the —7est“.4 As a conse/uence, pictures of Tibet have turned into more political and ideological representations to support discourses on the status of Tibet. In particular, cinematic representations of Tibet have intersected 0ith politics, po0er and diplomacy, as this article 0ill illustrate. 2 8ence, this study proposes to e9amine the construction of these narratives on Tibet in cinema. Cultural productions Anovels, paintings, photographs, filmsBC are dramatically influential in shaping an imaginary of Tibet, not only in Europe and the :nited1States, but also in China.5 As the visual is central to the manufacturing of meanings to interpret —realities“ in modern societies, films are one of the materials that produce narratives on 0hat Tibet and Tibetan2s aspirations are supposed to be.D They involve audiences in the construction of representations: spectators do not only receive representations, they also contribute to them 0hen they accept images as evidences of —reality“ or 0hat theorist Jac/ues Aumont calls —impressions of realities“.E Therefore, it is essential to analyse visual narratives to understand ho0 perceptions of Tibet are constructed. 3 This article focuses on visual representations of Tibet and Tibetans in the conte9t of t0o films both released in 199E: a Chinese film called Red River Valley AChinese: Honghegu红 河谷C and a famous Franco1American film, Seven Years in Tibet. This study first attempts to provide a concise e9amination of representations of Tibet in Chinese cinema. Indeed, 0hile some literature can be found on 67estern2 representations of Tibet through cinematic production, little has been done on the shaping of an imaginary of Tibet through recent Chinese films.8 7e contend that images and films are significant in the process of 2 creating Tibet2s representations in China, probably even more than political propaganda and education. Besides, this essay proposes a comparative perspective of the construction of images of Tibet and Tibetans in the 67est2 and in China. Surprisingly, 0hile many studies tackle the Tibet issue from a Chinese perspective, or from a Tibetan perspective, very fe0 make parallels of both versions.9 Our assumption is that none of these discourses can be fully understood if read isolated, since they mutually influence and induce each other. 4 By looking at images of Tibet in these films, it 0ill be possible to identify significant rhetorical strategies as 0ell as relevant similarities that characteriHe representations of Tibet in the t0o factions. The importance of the economic, political and cultural conte9t in 0hich films 0ere produced should be underlined first. Indeed, images are received and perceived historically and rely upon larger discourses. Thus, a comprehensive but non1e9haustive historical overvie0 of imaginaries of Tibet, as 0ell as a general conte9t of these specific productions 0ill be given. This 0ill be follo0ed by a more detailed e9amination of the films. The point here is to deconstruct representations of Tibet, because modern representational practices produce kno0ledge, and representations establish control through kno0ledge formation.10 7hat this analysis suggests is that both discourses contribute to construct very similar collective imaginaries, rather than historical, political or social kno0ledge of Tibet through analogous processes and functions, to the point 0here confrontation focuses more on partisanship than on the 0ay Tibetan e9perience their situation in Tibet. 7e argue that neither of these positions is able to provide a fully understanding of the situation of Tibet, and that such approaches prevent from seeing the Tibet issue as a serious political conflict involved in a global and comple9 conte9t. Tibet in Europe and in the ”Western‘ imaginaries 5 In Europe, gro0th of interest in Tibet since the end of the 18th century led to 0hat has been called a —tib'tophilie europ'enne“ or European Tibetophilia11. According to French historian 8ugues Iidier, European fascination for Tibet dates back from the 1Eth century 0ith the Portuguese Jesuit Antonio de Andrade2s Tibetan travel account.12 Although 0e do not completely follo0 Iidier2s assessment of Tibet being —the only Asian culture with whom Europeans can identify“, one cannot deny Tibet2s appeal for some decades. Nevertheless, interest in Tibet 0ere largely imbued 0ith ideologies, may they be religious, political not to say racialist. 6 Indeed, some European scholars and Jesuits have sought close connections 0ith Tibet, thus identified as an early place for Christianity2s influence and prosperity. The idea of Jesus travelling to Tibet 0as also largely spread and e9tensively discussed through the last 3 century. Nicolas Notovitch, a Russian Je0 converted to Greek Orthodo9y, claimed that he ac/uired a copy of a sacred book mentioning Jesus Acalled 6Issa2 by Tibetans, close to Arabic 0ord 6Isa2 for JesusC visiting Tibet and hasa, and gave a translation and an analysis of the te9ts in The Un nown Life of Jesus Christ, first published in 1894 and reprinted in 192D. 13 Although ink fle0 in all directions to denounce the book, the idea of Jesus in Tibet resurfaced regularly 0ithin Christian communities to e9plain Jesus2 teenage years missing in the 8oly Book but also, more than obviously, in an attempt to make a 6spiritual2 bridge bet0een Europe and Tibet to assess the idea of universalism in Christianity, as Tibet is often considered as one of the most remote and inaccessible place in the 0orld.14 Tibetan religions and beliefs 0ere very popular in the Ne0 Age Movement that emerged in the 19th century and took on a ne0 life in the 19D0119E0s.15 The Ne0 Age Movement indeed seeks for a 6universal truth2 e9pressed by the 6oneness2 of humankind. 8ence, East Asian religions combined 0ith mysticism, spiritualism and esotericism, are very influent among Ne0 Agers. Not only Buddhism and amaism but also Tibetan cultural and environmental practices or medicine are appropriated by 0hat has been /ualified e/ually as a counterculture, a religious movement, a political group or an profitable commercial activity.1D Mysticism also persisted through accounts from European climbers and e9plorers and documentary films shot along e9peditions.1E 8imalayas