The Lives of Others remind me of two distinct articles about China in Time magazine. One is on Nov 5, 2007, about China's Me generation (rich, yound middle class) who care more about iPods than the subsequent suppression after the Cultural Revolution. The other one is on Oct 1, 2007, about China's tightening control on media and the imprisonment of journalists and writers.
It seems that Chinese people are learning two features of American culture--the mindless consumption and the devotion to human rights. Right now, the former one has much more influence on the Me generation than the latter one.
Most of these rich, young Chinese believe that their contribution to economy can help China and the protests of human rights violations are bad for society. An account executive with advertising heavyweight Ogilvy & Mother in Beijing said, "There's nothing we can do about politics, so there's no point in talking about it or getting involved." However, if he has seen The Lives of Others, he will realize that there is no way to separate ourselves from the politics.
If he can't deride the silliness of what he sees, if he can't express his own observation of the society, or worse, if he can't make his work reflect the lives of others, how can he talk about creativity--the most vital element in advertising? As Hu Shi, one of the greatest intellectuals in China, said, " A free nation can't be build by a bunch of flunkies." Without the aspiration of improving human rights, there is no use in talking about building a great nation.
For now, I think the power of the Me generation is only depending on the credit limit of their credit cards.
2 comments:
Peter,
That picture/drawing is out of this world awesome.
So, the Chinese rich are being taught two things about the American way of life huh?...Consume(Spend) Consume(Spend) consume (Spend) & Human Rights Devotion.
Well, just like everything in this creative world, there is always a double edged sword senerio. We do want everyone to spend spend spend but I don't know how much of a devotion we have to human rights.
Take for example the American clothing company the Gap. Real quick, they spend there time/money on an advertising campaign called "Project Red," Which says "if you buy any t-shirt or pants that say Project Red on them, half the money will go to the benefit for Aids research or something." But, all at the same time, the Gap will outsource some of their labor to less fortunate countries where slave labor conditions occur.
Art and creativity come out of times like this, where the credit cards limit is endless and the irony of what we hear and see deaf and blind us to some contradictory conclusions.
Pat,
You are right. You remind me that many factories are moving from China to Vietnam mainly because "Vietnam's labors are now cheaper than China's," as my friend told me. It's not that capitalism can make a country stronger. A great country need more than that.
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