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to professional formulas. Zhu Wen, the writer-turned-director of the DV film
Haixian (Seafood, 2000), believes that to sustain its vitality, art has to come
from amateurs. Professional training is not important for shooting films,
which is, to the contrary, enabled by artistic imagination and creativity (Li
2002: 103). Wu Wenguang, a documentary filmmaker, shares the optimistic
view of DV filmmaking as a means of individual expression. When reflecting
upon his DV-shot documentary Jianghu (Life on the road, 1999), about a
rural traveling circus, Wu said, “it is a really weird feeling, as if I’m shooting
my own life, kind of an autobiography. I’m not certain if this performance
troupe can be representative of troupes in China, but I’m pretty sure it’s
about my own life” (Mei 2002: 76). Exhibitions and competitions of DV
works have flourished on campuses, on websites, and on TV, especially
since 2000. For young, aspiring artists, the DV is regarded as a mode
of individual expression: they can turn their DV cameras on any person
they would like to shoot. In the process, though, they assign protagonist
roles to the subalterns, who are at the same time objectified to embody,
carry, and project the intellectuals’ imaginary. In this regard, the later
underground filmmakers’ representations of the subalterns do not differ
significantly from those of the artists portrayed in earlier independent films.
As Shuqin Cui (2001: 80) describes it, the director-author’s selection of the
artist as subject and protagonist of the film “engenders a subjective selfrepresentation,
as the film directors themselves share with the characters
a marginal position and insignificant status.”
The point is not to cast aspersions on the young DV filmmakers by
questioning the sincerity of their humanitarian concern and sympathy
for their lower-class characters. A paradox arises: although underground
films concern the lives of subalterns, the movies themselves are not readily
accessible to the subalterns, 28 and therefore there is little understanding
of how this audience might perceive the films. 29 The circulation of these
underground films within China is limited almost exclusively to the cultural
elites and intellectuals in big cities. According to Yu Aiyuan (2004: 90), there
28
Chinanews.com.cn (08/10/2005)
has reported that the first theater for
migrant peasant workers in Beijing had
screened more than 100 films between
November 2004 and August 2005. Among
their favorites were revolutionary films
such as Jimao xin (The little messenger)
and Zaochun eryue (Early spring in
February), and the recent commercial
films such as Tianxia wuzei (World
without thieves) and Gongfu (Kungfu
hustle).
29
Jia Zhangke used the word
“interesting” to characterize his
experience of video-screening Xiao Wu
to the Fenyang townsmen engaged in
making the film: “The viewers were
completely unconcerned with the film’s
content. Their primary thrill derived
from identifying friends and relatives
appearing in the film” (Wu 2000: 207).
Modern Chinese Literature and Culture • 193
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