Pema Tseden's Film Freezes Out The Facts
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There is no untainted cinematic insight into the suppression and abuses inside Tibet, no full exposure of the harrowing realities of forced sterilisations, the destruction of a nomadic culture through a policy of re-settlement, nor any detailed documentary recording the environmental pillage which is transforming once verdant pastures and forests into a lunar-like landscape, with convoys of trucks heading back to communist China with their booty of timber and minerals. The transformation of Tibetan towns into yet another Chinese concrete facsimilie, complete with gawdy excess and a range of previously unknown erosive social problems, continues apace, un-documented.
No genuine independent film-making is of course possible under such a repressive totalitarian regime, one desperate to convince the world that Tibet is undergoing positive change, thanks, we are asked to accept, to the seemingly compassionate rule of communist China. Unfortunately we are denied any truly independent evidence which would reveal the progress claimed by the communist regime, only the testimony of some supposedly impartial western academics and politicians, who appear to specialise in an uncritical acceptance of any official propaganda that Beijing presents them. We then have seemingly unlimited amounts of Chinese films on Tibet, mostly designed for television broadcast, with sickly images of Tibetans dancing and singing in praise of yet another bumper-harvest, due no doubt to China’s enlightened agricultural policies. These are a transparent disinformation with actors supposedly dressed in traditional Tibetan costumes, yet curiously formed of the red and yellow colors of the communist Chinese flag! Barely able to move due to the overly abundant costume jewellry and obligatory fixed smile, set against images of modernity Chinese-style, like a crude layer of make-up they conceal a more disturbing reality.
More recently a more subtle form of propaganda has emerged, more cinematic, carefully crafted to present some illusion of balance and independence, yet the underlying message remains the same, albeit diluted and sophisticated. A good example is ‘The Search’ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106089201&ft=1&f=1004 the new offering from Tibetan Director Pema Tseden, of course being an obedient and loyal citizen of communist China he also has a Chinese name too, Wanma Caidan. A slick production filmed in Amdo, Eastern Tibet, superficially it presents a quest to find Tibetans who can perform traditional Tibetan opera, seems that none were available, thus we are left to conclude that the old ways in Tibet are undergoing change, life is moving on, with the underlying implication that this is a good thing. What the film does not address of course is the fact that such change has been forced upon ordinary Tibetans, and that the loss of cultural knowledge is a direct result of China’s imperialistic aggression which has deliberately targetted Tibetan culture for over five decades.
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Have you seen this film?
From what I know, it can be interpreted many ways; the loss of someone knowing the Tibetan opera can both be a result of China’s crackdown on Tibetan culture, as well as the fact that arts typically flourish in times when people have a lot of time, i.e. when they’re not fighting for their lives or their jobs as many Tibetans are.
It’s important to realize that of course the film isn’t going to portray the truth; no films ever do, and no film could ever do such a thing under oppressive Chinese censorship. But in a way, I’d like to think that it’s a step forward just for the fact that it’s generating dialogue. We just need to push that dialogue from the Tibet blog circle into the homes of everyday people who see the word “Tibet” and think no farther than the smiling face of His Holiness.
Thanks for some interesting points, agree with much of what you say. Small steps are important but in this case they are taken inside Prison Tibet, so any view is a distortion, or worse still a cynical deception. Dialogue too is valued as long as we recognise that the subject matter, in this case a film allowable only with the censorial authority of communist China, is a partial and highly selective reflection.
Indeed. And I wonder more broadly about how Tibetans outside of Tibet, both refugees and those born in exile (although still refugees, I might add) view such acts done within Tibet itself. On one hand, you have to respect those that put their lives on the life to do things like carry Tibetan flags and rush Western camera crews, and you have to feel for those who are forced to participate in events on threats to their family, but what about those few who identify as artists, who are trying to make some sort of meaning of their life, culture, and identity, and all the while under the censors?
In this case, I haven’t read of any blogs yet, but I would not be surprised if I found a few who look down on Pema Tseden for the very act of creating the film, knowing that it would not accurately portray things, and accuse him of pandering to the Chinese propanganda. I’m sure there have been artists who have done this, but it doesn’t seem like it’s his intention– rather, it seems like he’s working with what little he has.
Ultimately, it might pose the question: can true art be created openly under such an oppressive government?
Of course, no film can be freely made in today’s China, led as it is by cowards and criminals. What a description of the film says to me is that Tibetan culture is gone, crushed under the Chinese greed for Tibet’s natural resources. I have seen with my own eyes China’s cultural crimes in Tibet. If ever negative karma could come onto those who have done so wrong, now is the time for China’s leaders to feel the full force of it. Rumor says that even George W. Bush is ashamed of his terms in office. Let karma reign onto the heads of all tyrants!
The artist of course is a powerful medium in terms of political struggle, but only as along as the subject being created dares to challenge and expose, otherwise a form of self-censorship prevails, resulting in dilution, omission and as you note, propaganda.