Analysis of the Chinese film Platform - Research Paper Example

CHINESE MOVIE: Platform Introduction The Chinese film Platform directed by “Sixth Generation” film director Jia Zhangke has been acclaimed as a contemporary, gritty film portraying reality. The film is the second project of the director’s trilogy consisting of Pickpocket, Platform and Unknown Pleasures set in a poverty-stricken district in Shanxi province in China. “The trilogy exposes the underside of the glorious façade of economic reform” (Zhang 291) carried out by the government. The Sixth Generation directors’ work focus on examining contemporary settings and lifestyles, in contrast to the previous generation of directors whose path-breaking cinema reflected “spectacle-driven mythic histories laden with pointed social criticisms” (Lee 1). The use of improvisational techniques with non-professional actors enhance the effects of “everyday” Chinese life without distortion. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to examine various aspects of the Chinese film Platform directed by Jia Zhangke. Discussion The hit Chinese rock song of the 1980s is used as the title of the film Platform, and depicts pop art as history (Hoberman 307). Jia Zhange used his increasing international funding base to make this film, his most ambitious project, in the year 2000. The film progresses over the span of a decade during which the adolescent members of the Peasant Culture Group sponsored by the Chinese government are confronted with the extensive economic and cultural reforms of the 1980s. This led to their privatization and reincarnation as the All-Star Rock n’ Breakdance Electronic Band. The dense though lengthy cinematic work is believed to have several interpretations including the investigation of the role of artists in society, a critical look at the late 20th century beliefs of “capitalism, freedom and popular culture” (Lee 6), particularly for people living in regions developing economically and who lack the skills to cope with the true realities behind their allure, and a reflection on the relationship between history, economy and culture leading to both progess as well as regression. Further, the film is an examination of the problems of personal fulfillment and creative expression in Chinese society which has traditionally accorded prime significance to communal relationships and family responsibilities. Jia has effectively shown his concern for the economically deprived sections particularly in the rural regions of China. Among them, the itinerant troupes are the lowest class of Chinese cultural workers. The film progresses in “a series of unheated factory halls and outdoor courtyards” (Hoberman 307). The atmosphere is seen to be both dreary and exotic, both vast and imprisoning. The movie appears more like a documentary, with clinical perspectives and mostly bleak locations selected with loving care. Jia Zhangke transforms the world into a stage in many ways, perhaps emulating the Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1993 Puppetmaster with its intense depiction of the passage of time. The film has a background of intense socioeconomic reform and dislocation during the decade spanning 1980s to 1990s. While including some aspects of the earlier Fifth Generation’s focus on theatricality, Platform expresses a “sweeping critique of the late twentieth-century Chinese political economy and its impact on popular culture and personal freedom” (Hui 131). Thus, Jia Zhangke employs both hyperrealism and theatricality in portraying everyday life in China. In Platform Wang Hongwei’s role as Cui Mingliang represents Jia Zhangke the director as “an aspiring artist seeking a mutually fulfilling relationship with his Chinese audience” (Lee 6). The on-screen spectators in the film watch the performances with a baffled expression; this bewilderment is reflected in the frustration and overwhelmed feelings of the cinematic. They experience great difficulty in expressing their inner desires and frustrations, and feel tremendous emotional release when the music starts to play. The camera effectively captures the bewilderment of confronting the inexpressible mysteriousness of empty spaces both of industrial landscapes and the abstract silences of things left unsaid between friends and lovers. The remaining part of Platform shows a gradual series of emotions repressed by confusion related to adapting to the changing environment, and the necessity of daily living at the same time. It portrays the relentlessly increasing and encumbering load of responsibilities as the children enter adulthood marked by subdued ambitions, and reducing returns for the parents. The most intense emotional outbursts are expressed in the playing of pop songs reflecting the dreams and hopes of voiceless youth deprived of their rights. For example, the young girl Zhao Tao who left the group to work as a tax collector in compliance with her father’s wishes is shown sitting at her desk late in the day. A song on the radio urges her to rapturously dance to the music (Lee 6). According to Hoberman (p.307), this character was to disappear from the narrative; therefore Jia allows her the privilege of the solo dance number. Other distinctively evocative scenes include the quietly magnificent, deeply melancholic long shot of the Electronic Band, at the receiving end of garbage pelted by one of its first audiences. Another shot shows the troupe performing by the side of the highway on the banks of the Yangtze, while a boat carrying Panasonics floats past. Hoberman (p.307) states that “the movie’s penultimate image, a domestic scene held just long enough for the full weight of quotidian despair to infect the audience” represents the troupe’s journey from the younger days of togetherness to the later stage of isolated individualism. The cinematic experience of Platform has, however, been criticized as difficult for mainstream filmgoers to consume, because of its lack of repackaging of the pace of life in rural China which has been portrayed realistically. The way of experiencing life is true of most economically emerging nations all over the world. Understanding life shown in the film requires appreciating the unique attitudes towards life as depicted in the story, “a certain naivete mixed with immense curiosity” (Lee 6). The ambience which plays a major part, is created with sound mixed by Zhang Yang, also an accomplished director. The film often has various radio and public loudspeaker broadcasts ceremoniously announcing events that do not appear to be related to one’s immediate surroundings, or other occurrences such as the persecution and reinstatement of a highly placed official in Beijing, or the weather forecast in Inner Mongolia. Platform’s significance and unique acheivement lies in the great experience of time. This includes how an individual passes through various periods in his life, which completely disappear, to be replaced irreversibly by a new stage of being. The passage of time is effectively portrayed with the use of rhyming patterns by the director. Through the course of the film, the various elements marking time that occur in different forms are the sound of a train whistle, the changing appearance of hairstyles, and the increasingly distressed sounds of pop music. With Platform Jia Zhangke can be included with other contemporary filmmakers such as Tsai Ming-liang, Hou Hsiao-hsein and Wong Karwai, who have significantly dealt with the concept of cinematic time and its relationship to the real experience of time. The 1980s Chinese setting of the film brings out the languid, rustic way of life of that time (Lee 6). Conclusion Platform (2000) belongs to the genre of movies which touched on controversial topics such as sexuality, bureaucratic corruption, unemployment, drug abuse, prostitution and AIDS (Lee 1). Jia Zhangke along with other younger generation Chinese filmmakers like Zhang Yuan, has actively explored new forms of cinema and theatricality using unconventional methods of performance, thereby enlarging and redefining the concept of theatricality on the whole. This experimentation and increase in theatrical dimensions have resulted in the recreation of cinema as a critical discourse. Similar to the Fifth Generation of pioneers, the Sixth Generation directors are confronted with the same challenges from a global cultural environment dominated by political and economic power. Thus, Platform portrays this changing environment which causes bewiderment, and also leads to disappointments and compromises. Works Cited Hoberman, J. World apart: J. Hoberman on the films of Jia Zhange. Art Form International, 43.10 (2005): pp.304-310. Hui, Luo. Theatricality and cultural critique in Chinese cinema. Asian Theatre Journal, 25.1 (2008): pp.122-140. Lee, Kevin. Jia Zhangke. Senses of Cinema. (2008). Retrieved on 22nd November, 2010 from: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/jia.html Zhang, Yingjin. Chinese national cinema. New York: Routledge. (2004). Read More