Popular Cinema and Political Thought in Post-Mao China

soPaul G. PickowiczPopular Cinema and PolitJby the tragedy of her sister's permarital love affair, that her emotions couldnot be trusted and that her natural instincts were somehow immoral.Furthermore, it was by no means clear that the young man had a promisingpolitical future. The ideas he espoused were ones that had been identifiedwith rightism time and again after the 1950s.Once again, the choice was not as obvious as it might appear, especiallyif the audience dismissed the artificial happy ending tacked on to satisfy thecensors. The popularity of A corner forgotten by love among young peoplewho wanted more freedom of choice in marriage does not mean that viewers,faced with the same problem in their own lives, would automatically defytheir parents. Many young viewers who would not run the risk of choosingsomeone like Rongshu in real life are perfectly sincere when they applaudHuangmci's daring decision to do so onscrecn.Lu Wenting, the heroine of At middle age, had no way to leave China.But the youthful urban film audience was undoubtedly interested in herreaction to the dramatic news that her alter ego, Yafen, had decided toemigrate: to Canada, a rich capitalist country. The most poignant sequencein the film is a sad farewell dinner which Wenting and her husband sharewith Yafen and her bitter husband. A guilt-ridden Yafen confesses that sheagonized over the decision to give up on China. Her husband, Xueyao, saysthat he is an "unworthy son of the Chinese people." He agrees that thebad times arc behind the Chinese people, but he can no longer wait for thegood times to come to his house.Lu Wenting, like the film audience, was forced to choose. She couldapprove of Yafen's decision to leave the motherland and undergo a spiritualrebirth in another land, but to do so would be tantamount to concedingthat the logic employed by the parting couple was correct. She could disapproveof Yatcn's decision, but this would imply that she accepted the upbeat officialview that the future is bright and require her once again to muster theenergy to serve the noble cause of nation building. If Yafen was wrong,there was every reason to continue to work hard and sacrifice; if Yafen, agood person, was right, then it would be enough to go through the motionsat work. Again, the choice was not obvious. It is likely that many in theaudience had high hopes for the future, while many others were skepticalof the party's latest promises.After At middle age was released in early 1983 many filmmakers andordinary film fans were eager to see more serious films produced, films thatdealt with life's hardships and difficulties. But the architects of the officialcampaign against spiritual pollution, initiated in autumn 1983, disapprovedof films like The legend of Tianyun Mountain, A corner forgotten by love,and At middle age because these works challenged the notion that theprimary purpose of the film industry is to communicate the official wordof the party to the audience. But Xie Jin and the other defiant directors ofserious political melodramas who worked in the official sector continued topromote a cinema that gave greater expression to the unofficial political viewsof both privileged elites and ordinary people, even though the unofficialoften clashed with the official.The tension betweenmade by Shao Mujun,Association, in Octobe1spiritual pollution hadquite loath to admit thfilmmaking. To talk abcbourgeois liberalization.'Chinese film industry 01creative expression, stancthe agitprop task of illu:Despite the brutal supworkers that commencednationwide cultural crackbeen settled. The struggto unofficial and popul