MCLC: what Tiny Times says about our times

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: what Tiny Times says about our times
***********************************************************

Source: Caixin (10/12/13):
http://english.caixin.com/2013-10-12/100590994.html

What Tiny Times Says About Our Times
By Sheila Melvin

There's more to Director Guo Jingming's latest work than materialistic
escapism - but rather, the film offers a tart reflection of contemporary
ideals

The summer box office hit "Tiny Times " ( 小时代) – directed by celebrity
author Guo Jingming, and based on the first volume of his fictional
trilogy of the same name - stunned many film critics and analysts when it
earned more than US$ 43 million its first week and beat the Hollywood
blockbuster "Man of Steel" at the box office.

Once they had flocked to see it, "Tiny Times" shocked the critics even
more with its "unconditional indolence," "materialism," and "hedonism"
(People's Daily); "shallow approach, inexplicable storyline, childish
characters and lavish lifestyles" (Beijing Review); "pathological greed"
(Beijing News); "unabashed flaunting of wealth, glamour and male power,"
and "twisted male narcissism" (ChinaFile, carried also by Atlantic
Online). A Guangdong Daily critic, borrowing a line from Eileen Chang,
delivered the most damning review of all: "The whole film is just like 'a
luxuriant gown covered with lice.'"

The barrage of negative reviews almost certainly helped the film, which
continued to pull in viewers from Guo's passionate, mostly young and
female fan base. Indeed, it did so well that the release of "Tiny Times
2.0" was moved forward by several months to early August. But, as the
controversy swelled alongside ticket sales, some people began to fear
(incorrectly) that a ban might be imminent.

"The controversy is bigger than I anticipated," Guo Jingming told me by
email at its height. "But, I have been accompanied by controversy from the
time I started writing books right up until today."

 
Guo – who first came to national attention in 2001 when he won the New
Concept Writing Competition sponsored by Mengya Magazine - has indeed been
shadowed by controversy, most notably a 2006 scandal in which he was
charged with plagiarism.  That led the writer Wang Shuo (whose
sub-specialty is trashing other writers and artists) to call Guo an
"out-and-out thief" – Guo responded by noting it was "normal for the
previous generation to discipline the later generation." (And his fans
responded by buying a million copies of his next book in 10 days.) He was
equally diplomatic when I asked him why he thought the film caused such an
uproar.  

 
"I don't know, maybe the emergence of new things is always accompanied by
controversy," he said. "There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand
people's hearts – every person will have his own interpretation of the
same movie." 

"Tiny Times" is a fairly straightforward fantasy that documents the loves
and longings of four fashionable girlfriends at a Shanghai college.
Critics have been most upset by the prevalence of opulent designer goods –
the "sisters," as Guo calls them, are struggling students who wear Gucci,
Dior, and LV while the boss of the magazine at which one of them interns
lives in a spectacular glass penthouse, commutes in a chauffeured Bentley,
naps under Hermes blankets, and collects drinking glasses that cost nearly
US$ 5000 each. Certain lines - "Love without materialism is just a pile of
sand!" - also gave many commentators conniptions.

 
But, whether you love the movie or hate it, the hullabaloo that has
surrounded "Tiny Times" provides some fascinating insights into the
current state of popular culture in China.  Here are a few that occurred
to this particular Hamlet (with a little bit of subtitling help from
Shakespeare's Hamlet):

 
"Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

Since the Cultural Revolution ended and the era of opening and reform
began, the Chinese government has preached the gospel of materialism.  The
Deng-era slogans "To get rich is glorious," "Development is the
irrefutable argument," and "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white
as long as it catches the mouse" have been thoroughly absorbed.
Wealth-generation has become virtually the sole measure of success – for
the nation, provinces, localities, leaders, and individuals. It thus comes
as little surprise that a movie in which young people are obsessed with
luxury goods and opt for money over love and in which parents will do
anything to see their child marry rich – a mother in "Tiny Times' tells
her son's girlfriend, "Our family is not open to the lowly poor like you!"
- should be popular with young people.

 
On the contrary, it looks like a true reflection of contemporary society
in which conspicuous consumption is often the dominant ethos; those who
vocally advocate an alternative path – of religious faith or opposing
politics - do so at their own risk; and the elite inhabit a parallel
universe of privilege that, on those occasions when it is exposed (as
following a sports car accident, a corruption trial, or a gang rape) makes
the wealth-flaunting in "Tiny Times" seem truly tiny.  A rethinking of
official rhetoric is already underway and I, for one – while recognizing
the need for continued growth - hope that the new "Chinese dream" will
encompass goals other than getting rich at any cost.

 
"Words, words, words."

"Tiny Times" has received an astonishing number of write-ups in both the
domestic and international press.  Healthy arts criticism is a pillar of a
vibrant culture, but is largely lacking in China.  It has been refreshing
to see negative reviews in major papers – and would be even more so if
those same papers and writers would publish equally honest reviews of
films, books, and other creative works by establishment and
state-supported artists.  In this vein, it was also heartening to see
critics of the film come to its defense as soon as they feared it might be
banned.  Raymond Zhou – who eviscerated the movie in his review – defended
its presence in theaters on CCTV's "Crosstalk" following the ominous
"People's Daily" commentary. "As long as you don't ask for banning the
movie," he said, "it's ok, because it's freedom of speech.  But once you
are hinting that government power should be used to either promote or to
curb a movie, that's disturbing."

 
"Steep and thorny" vs. "the primrose path"

Cinematic and literary tastes are changing in China – fast. Ticket sales
for domestic films increased 144 percent so far this year while those for
imported films fell by 21 percent. Third and fourth tier cities accounted
for 34 percent of ticket sales in 2012, a number expected to reach 42
percent by 2015. The average age of a moviegoer has fallen to 21 - and
China currently has about 450 million people under the age of 25.  The
tastes of young people who live in rapidly expanding interior cities
differ from those of the older generation and, to a certain extent, from
those of long-time denizens of sophisticated mega-cities like Shanghai and
Beijing.  They seem to prefer domestic-made films about regular people
with aspirations similar to their own; enjoy tales of the city, rather
than the countryside; and – like pretty much everyone – are sick of
big-budget historic costume dramas.  In other words, they prefer primroses
to thorns, Guo Jingming to Mo Yan – a fact Mo tacitly acknowledged when he
said (pre-Nobel Prize), "Guo Jingming is the only writer who's able to
live the life he is living through writing." (In fairness, Guo has said
that he himself reads Mo's works in his spare time.)

 
"This above all – to thine own self be true."

Where critics see materialism in Guo's books and movies, fans see
individualism.  

 
"I have seen a lot of comments by young viewers," Guo told me.  "They are
moved by the friendship of the sisters in the film and by their struggles
to realize their dreams, which really resonated.  I think this better
reflects the theme of the movie."

 
I personally prefer individualism to materialism and respect Guo for the
extent to which he advocates it - and lives it.   Indeed, when I asked him
if the response to the first two "Tiny Times" films would affect his
approach to the third, he told me that he had noted all the "technically
useful" comments on the films.

 
"However," he said, "when it comes to 'Tiny Times' the work itself, I feel
that I will stick with my own ideas – after all, I am the person who best
understands 'Tiny Times.'

Sheila Melvin is a newspaper columnist