Director Ang Lee is no stranger to controversy, and his latest
release, the spicy spy flick, Lust, Caution, has sparked debate
among expats riled by claims that the subtleties of its plot are
inaccessible to Westerners.
John Pasden at www.sinosplice.com attracted plenty of feedback
with his post about the recent movie: "I'm planning to watch it
soon, partly to see what the fuss is about and partly because of
the ridiculous claim that I keep hearing from the Chinese:
'foreigners can't understand it'," Pasden says.
These claims may be based on Lee's depiction of the "subtleties
of the relationships, or the subtleties of mahjong playing", Pasden
adds.
Lust, Caution, set in 1930s Shanghai, portrays the love affair
between a woman and a traitor who collaborated with the
Japanese.
Website respondents such as Ben were quick to assert their
comprehension of its content: " Foreigners won't understand it? Why
the hell not? It's a decent movie by all standards, intense sex
scenes, good story, multi-dimensional acting," Ben says. "Bit long,
but absolutely worthwhile. But nothing out of the ordinary, at
least not by Western standards."
Another netizen, using the name, Davesgonechina, says the
movie's historical context could make it hard going for expats.
"Let's face it, your average American or European filmgoer isn't
going to be too up on all the political history involved, whereas
people from Chinese mainland and Taiwan will at least have some
passing awareness," he says.
Andy also feels the claim is reasonable, and admits being left
stumped by some of the film's nuances.
"I don't get too angry when Chinese say that Westerners can't
understand something, maybe because I hear it so often, and I don't
think it's usually meant as an insult," Andy says.
"Most of the Chinese people I've talked to don't seem to think
we would have a problem understanding the sex scenes, but feel that
there's a lot going on in some of the other scenes that Westerners
wouldn't pick up on. I'd have to say there are a lot of nuances I
couldn't pick up."
Others put the shoe on the other foot, arguing some Western
movies would be equally confounding to a Chinese audience.
"I showed my college students Field of Dreams. They didn't get
it. They kept saying, 'Ghosts don't live in corn fields.' After
lengthy discussion, they accepted the father/son story, but they
were adamant that ghosts coming out of corn fields to play baseball
made no sense," Matt says.
But Jeffrey D disagrees:
"It's just a movie by an international director who specializes
in melodramas and also directed an adaptation of the comic book,
Hulk. It's not particularly complex or deep, as far as art movies
go," he says.
"I don't think it's possible for movies to be so culturally
obscure that the nuances fly off the radar and the movie can only
be understood incorrectly. At most, the viewer may be initially
confused or surprised by a character's motivations, or the
director's choice of focus."
(China Daily January 18, 2008)
