The Centre for Cultural Studies

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June 20, 2023

Workshop: Video Commenting for Student Engagement: “Bullet Screen”/Danmu Tool for Virtual and In-class Learning

04:00 pm - 05:30 pm @ Learn More
June 13, 2023

Resilient Creativities and the Politics of (In)Visibility

04:00 pm - 05:30 pm @ Learn More
May 16, 2023

Book Talk- Sexuality and the Rise of China The Post-1990s Gay Generation in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China

04:00 pm - 05:30 pm @ Learn More
April 26, 2023

Doing Fandom Studies in Hong Kong Workshop

03:30 pm - 07:00 pm @ Learn More

Latest News

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May 3, 2023Uncategorized所謂「參與式審查」，是指網絡上的個人或群體，在國家政策和數字平台設計的推動下，積極地參與分散性審查的行爲。 特約撰稿人 白露 譚佳 時間稍稍回撥五年。2018年11月16日，一條新聞從耽美圈席捲至公眾視野：以創作網絡耽美色情小説而聞名的中國耽美作者天一，因其小說《攻佔》涉及製作、販賣淫穢物品牟利罪，被判處有期徒刑10年6個月並處罰金。 這一嚴厲的判決震驚了中國的耽美粉絲和普通民衆，並被國際新聞媒體廣泛報道。雖然出版淫穢物品在中國是違法行爲，但在網絡上創作和發佈情色内容乃至影印「個人志」在很長一段時間裏一直處於灰色地帶，很少導致嚴重的法律後果。 天一的被捕是被舉報的後果，在中國大陸掀開了延續至今的圍繞「舉報」的實踐和討論。除了廣受關注的天一案，其他中國耽美作者也因他人舉報而受到罰款、逮捕，乃至判刑。相較於天一遭到耽美圈外人的舉報，許多其他耽美作者陷入了因圈内糾紛而被舉報的境地，這些舉報很有可能來自耽美讀者或創作者，所謂「圈内人」。 其中後果最為嚴重的一起圈內舉報，便是2019年被判刑四年的「深海先生案」。據網絡流傳的說法，耽美作者燁風遲因被耽美作者深海先生暗示抄襲後者作品，而對後者及其家人進行報復性的實名舉報，舉報深海先生作品為淫穢出版物，深海先生在被關押近兩年後以非法經營罪獲刑四年。比起「天一案」作為外部舉報帶給耽美愛好者「小心圈外人」的警示，「深海先生案」則成為了用舉報解決內部爭執的風氣之先。 天一案和深海先生案，體現出中國大陸互聯網審查制度和粉絲群體正在發生著巨大的轉變。在過去的十幾年中，中國大陸數以千萬記的粉絲為衆多歌手、演員和其他領域的名人的商業成功做出了卓越貢獻，粉絲文化也在中國大陸蓬勃發展。與其他國家和地區的粉絲一樣，中國大陸粉絲的參與有多種形式，包括參與相關話題的討論、進行二次創作表達喜愛並提高影響力、在綫上綫下活動中表示支持、購買相關的贊助商品和廣告位，等等。 但對耽美作者的定罪則體現了中國粉絲面對的特殊處境：政府對網絡内容不斷加强的審查和平台在監管下進一步收緊的内部標準。在這種情況下，儘管耽美社群中大量成員反對此種惡意舉報行為並為受害者積極聲援，但這種超高效力的「戰勝對手」的方式已經進入眾人的視野，「參與式審查」的程序與效力已經在了解事件的過程中被更多人習得。由於舉報成為打壓「敵方」的有力武器，於是戰況愈演愈烈，逐漸成爲粉絲日常需要面對乃至使用的一部分「工具」。論壇和社交媒體平台也不斷改變頁面構成，把舉報功能放在方便快捷的位置以供使用。 從參與式文化到參與式審查：中國網絡酷兒粉絲群體學者們在談到粉絲的參與式文化，以及酷兒性時往往關注其積極的一面，而不太進步的方面卻時常被忽視。 在原本的意義上，「參與式文化」（participatory culture）一詞被用來描述粉絲在新舊媒體融合文化背景下的活動和創作，這個文化生產和傳播的模式在於强調觀衆的主動性和多元參與，已有相當多的學者從各個角度展開論述。作爲酷兒粉絲文化研究的一部分，耽美文化通過建構與日常不相匹配的男性氣概，在一定程度上動搖了規範性的文化預設和既有的社會等級秩序，創造出一種批判性的酷兒詮釋（Gong, 2017; Santos, 2020)。耽美文化的酷兒性不僅體現在文本中的男性間的浪漫愛與情色内容，也在於受衆的多元的參與方式、社群組織方式、身份及情欲探索路徑的開放性與不被定義。 學者們在談到粉絲的參與式文化，以及酷兒性時往往關注其積極的一面，而不太進步的方面卻時常被忽視。在既有的耽美研究中，耽美粉絲經常被視爲正統文化和社會規範的挑戰者、國家文化生產系統的受害者，或是在夾縫中逃避審查的積極實踐者，而較少被視爲審查的參與者。 但由於中國大陸的商業平台，往往通過功能設計和内容審查來執行和維繫國家審查制度，平台用戶便也被鼓勵成爲審查的合作者，以達到平台更安全運營的目的。而面對日益嚴格的國家審查政策，粉絲現在可能會繞過平台，直接向政府監管機構進行舉報，引發政府對平台進行處罰，從而推動平台在内容審查方面更加嚴格。 然而粉絲之間的相互審查則以更加普通和日常的形式發生在各種數字平台上。由此，來自香港中文大學文化研究系的學者譚佳與其合作者通過建立和使用「參與式審查」（participatory censorship）這一術語，來概念化用戶和審查制度之間的動態關聯（Wang & Tan, 2023）。所謂「參與式審查」，是指網絡上的個人或群體，在國家政策和數字平台設計的推動下，積極地參與分散性審查的行爲。不同於典型的自上而下的審查，參與式審查是一種去中心化的機制，實現於普通個體的日常活動，換言之，也依賴於特定數字平台的功能設計。 「遇到黑子就舉報」：去中心化的審查和内容仲裁即便當時不存在與其他粉絲的爭執，社群內部的粉絲也時刻保持著不限內容範疇的互相審視狀態，使彼此的言行處於控制之中。參與式審查在日常實踐裡落到實處。 2018年6月13日，耽美改編劇《鎮魂》在優酷視頻上綫。這部劇是由晉江超人氣作者priest於2013年完成的同名耽美小說改編而成，原小說在晉江文學城的點擊率高達1100萬以上，在耽美愛好者中流傳甚廣。隨著劇集的播出，劇情、角色和演員在微博熱搜頻繁上榜，主角CP「巍瀾」的話題在6月21日便超過「錘基」佔據微博CP榜首位。截止7月25日收官，該劇的播放量高達27億，微博話題達12.5億。耽美改編劇《鎮魂》創造了巨大的經濟效益，照亮了之後的耽美小說版權販賣和影視化之路，後續雖有政策上的收緊和暫時的中斷，已經播出的另外幾部耽改劇所收穫的商業上的成功是不可否認的（註：「錘基」，即「雷神」與「洛基」的耽美配對，兩位角色出自漫威電影與漫畫）。 「巍瀾」相關的超話中，最為活躍的是「巍瀾」超話、「巍瀾衍生」超話和「劇版巍瀾」超話，每個超話都在置頂帖或管理帖中明確了各自的發帖限制與規則，並有主持人負責維護超話的規定得以執行。超話的規則中均包括：1、禁止拆逆，2、禁止盜圖，3、禁止盜文，4、禁止發廣告，5、禁止引戰罵人，6、禁止踩一捧一，7、禁止暴力言行。三個超話的區別在於「巍瀾」超話禁止出現真人相關內容（但在運作中並沒能夠執行，因而仍是聚集粉絲最多的「超話」），「巍瀾衍生」超話覆蓋從角色到演員包括其他作品在內的一切相關內容，「劇版巍瀾」超話僅限於《鎮魂》一劇中角色相關內容。 由此可見，超話對粉絲的約束主要是內向型的——降低矛盾糾紛的可能、減少與其他相關內容的互動，鼓勵圍繞話題本身的自我增殖。對待相異的內容，舉報是最常見且高效的應對方式。在超話的精華內容中，主持人有專門發帖，明確聲明「遇到黑就舉報」、「截圖私信管理」等字樣，評論裡的粉絲則紛紛留下不合規範的言論的網址，留待主持人處理。 筆者在追蹤觀察中，發現評論中的內容能在幾個小時（甚至幾分鐘）內得到解決——內容被刪除，發帖人被屏蔽在超話之外，無法在此社區內評論或發言。早期的內容以拆逆CP居多，這一部分被逐漸驅逐出社區之後，內容就多數是營銷號在社區內打廣告，以及少量的無授權搬運信息（註：「拆（CP）」是指解除二人的情侶配對，與他人配對；「逆（CP）」則指轉變二人的攻受屬性。後文出現的「嗑（CP）」亦是粉絲術語，指投入地喜歡，如同「嗑藥」一般沉醉）。 與求助微博管理以得到反饋相比，社區內部的管理效率高得驚人。「遇到黑就舉報」一句話概括了整個過程：粉絲會通過搜索關鍵字的方式瀏覽CP某方的信息，看到負面評價時，程度較輕就通過留言評論「控評」來扭轉印象，程度較重則直接舉報，並把網址放到社區內部，圈內成員見到便會跟著舉報，有時亦有專門的「反黑組」每日打卡行動，通過增加舉報次數來提高舉報的成功率。 針對性不強的舉報可能並不會帶來處罰結果，在廣場上通過誇張而正式的遣詞造句大肆宣揚對某一群體的舉報，更多的是向對方造成心理震懾的效果。而若能提供違反微博規則的詳細信息截圖，數量較多的舉報會導致被舉報者賬號異常，有被禁言甚至封號的可能。 但這類信息通常不包括色情信息，而是指時政相關的內容，因而意圖舉報個人時，舉報者可能並不單單挑選關於CP的內容，而是整個地檢視這個賬號所發言論。這種情況會導致被舉報者所處的社群無法展開支援，更可能的情況是撇清與被舉報者的關係，從而避免牽涉自身社群。這就導致即便當時不存在與其他粉絲的爭執，社群內部的粉絲也時刻保持著不限內容範疇的互相審視狀態，使彼此的言行處於控制之中。參與式審查在日常實踐裡落到實處。 壓抑酷兒性：在耽美商業化中展開審查的粉絲們耽美改編劇與耽美小説原作相比，往往將同性戀愛的部分隱而不談，或以友情取而代之，同時保留曖昧的場景和經典段落，以便粉絲能夠想象缺失的情節並用酷兒視角重新詮釋故事。 耽美改編劇與耽美小説原作相比，往往將同性戀愛的部分隱而不談，或以友情取而代之，同時保留曖昧的場景和經典段落，以便粉絲能夠想象缺失的情節並用酷兒視角重新詮釋故事。因爲涉及到政府和網絡平台的審查，在商業化的過程中内容創作者們需要主動展開自我審查，檢視其中的風險。 儘管在改編中已經淡化了同性戀愛主題，《鎮魂》仍然在2018年8月2日被播放平台優酷突然下架，8月9日新浪微博關於《鎮魂》的話題也被封禁（後於8月18日解封）。這一系列操作再次引起粉絲的討論。直到11月10日，該劇經過重新剪輯，刪除了一些重要的親密場景後才再次上線。 嚴格的政府和平台審查環境，使粉絲的參與式審查行為更加普遍和突出。在這個過程中，許多在「巍瀾超话」上的討論都在試圖規範和約束粉絲的發言。當時的粉絲們感到困惑無助，不斷詢問平台和有關部門為何下架《鎮魂》，抱怨審查政策和有害的商業競爭環境。一位較有影響力的粉絲發微博倡議粉絲不要點擊熱搜「＃镇魂下架＃」，因為「是優酷在做畫質優化」，也不要向優酷和廣電文化局抱怨此事，避免「本來沒被禁的，真的被禁了」。這些粉絲們情願相信，《鎮魂》的下架是一種保護性下架，以防止有關部門的注意，從而導致真正的封禁。 出於對耽改劇和參演演員的保護，很多粉絲停止或刪除了自己的抱怨，並將這種考量講述給更多的圈内人，正如許多其他關於被舉報的案例中的粉絲一樣。在這個過程中，參與式審查制定了小範圍内的規則，限定了討論的範圍，試圖限制性取向和性關係相關的酷兒表達，以支持一個在商業上更有價值的粉絲社群。 學者Ng和Li（2020）在研究《鎮魂》粉絲群體的研究中指出了其中的自我審查現象，即粉絲們大多避免直接談及兩位演員之間的同性浪漫愛，而是使用「社會主義兄弟情」來形容兩個角色，「巧妙地將異性戀規範化的社會主義中國和同性戀的酷兒思想結合起來，同時為粉絲提供至少暫時的免受審查的保護。」除此之外，參與式審查的研究者還觀察到了更爲複雜的情況：粉絲會使用在上一節提到的包括舉報在内的功能來限制和規範酷兒表達。 特定的話語如同禁區，斷章取義地搜檢出來就可以作為非粉絲乃至黑子的明證，從而進行驅逐甚至舉報。而且這種鑒定是無視時間性的，不論何時留下的痕跡、只要留在可檢視的數據庫上，都有被揭發的可能。 首先，不同類型的粉絲之間存在等級秩序。一如其他劇集，《鎮魂》的粉絲類型多元，包括演員個人的粉絲、巍瀾CP粉絲和其他粉絲。一位受訪者表示，「當我們嗑（喜歡）巍瀾時，我們只能悄悄地嗑演員真人CP。但是，我們不敢在CP視頻或者超話中直接提。我們只能用巍瀾這個名字的超話，因為每次建立演員CP超話，它都會被唯粉給舉報沒。」 這位受訪者的經歷顯示，由於其他人的舉報，耽美CP超話的炸號在微博很常見。雖然「圈地自萌」和謹言慎行是耽美粉絲規避不可預測的國家審查的一種策略，但這也會加劇異性戀霸權和對性別的管制，同時強化了官方對監控、安全和何爲「正常」的話語的規訓。在2019年，多個耽美CP超話被以「損害青少年的身心健康，破壞網絡環境的和諧」的名義舉報，而這正是「淨網行動中」的官方話語，大量類似投訴導致了許多CP超話的解散。這清楚地說明了粉絲之間的舉報如何限制了酷兒表達的話語範圍，粉絲又如何成為擴大官方審查權力的審查參與者。 即使在倖存下來的CP超話中，粉絲關注的對象往往是虛構角色，而非真人演員。正如另一位受訪者指出的：「無論是巍瀾超話還是巍瀾衍生超話，都不允許RPS（真人耽美同人）內容，所以粉絲們都按照規定做，不會在其中發布相關內容」。其中一個原因是，當CP粉絲開始搞RPS時，演員的粉絲可能會因恐同等原因而感到被冒犯或出於「保護演員職業生涯」的目的，舉報這些帖子或超話。例如，在2020年發生的肖戰粉絲舉報AO3網站事件便是實例之一。 除此之外，在CP粉絲圈内部的嚴格管制，也可能會將因愛而匯聚的耽美空間變成一個懲罰的空間。一位深度參與巍瀾粉絲活動的受訪者講述了她退圈的起因：她和喜歡的作者進行溝通時用詞不當，使用了通常被非CP粉或黑粉使用的詞語，儘管是她無心之失，但她在評論裡被其他人攻擊「裝什麼粉」、「不愛看別來看啊」，並在進行解釋時發現已被作者拉黑。在經歷過喜歡的創作者因被舉報和粉絲爭鬥而退圈之後的她，不願再自證身份，於是也黯然退圈。 這次「被自己人背叛」的經歷，除卻體現激烈的CP粉與拆家或唯粉的對抗之外，更能說明CP粉內部的話語限制和規範——默認粉絲需要熟知CP及粉絲圈相關的知識，將特定詞彙視為「粉」與「黑」的界限，以言論而非情感作為區隔，嚴格地遵守著粉絲排除規範。特定的話語如同禁區，斷章取義地搜檢出來就可以作為非粉絲乃至黑子的明證，從而進行驅逐甚至舉報。而且這種鑒定是無視時間性的，不論何時留下的痕跡、只要留在可檢視的數據庫上，都有被揭發的可能。 粉絲被認為隨時接受對過往「不當」言論的質問是合理的。由於平台設計通常缺乏有效的上訴系統，平台變成了一個懲罰性的空間，經常讓用戶感到困惑和沮喪（West, 2018）。 游牧的酷兒：反對商業化和審查制度的耽美粉絲實踐正如另一位受訪者所説：「越屏蔽我越要寫，越多男的要（在我的小説中）做愛。」 隨著參與式審查在耽美粉絲群體中廣泛出現，替代性的策略被粉絲們摸索著創造了出來。例如，粉絲們采用各種替換敏感詞的方法，或以翻轉的圖片、加密的網盤、聊天群等形式傳播，從而保證酷兒内容能夠被完整地發表和傳閲。 由於參與式審查在很大程度上依賴於平台設計，例如舉報功能和敏感詞限制，也有許多粉絲轉向海外平台或其他非營利性網站，以表達他們對現有平台審查的不滿。2020年到2023年間，耽美粉絲們幾次發起對以同人文發家的網易博客平台Lofter的抵制和棄用，越來越多的耽美粉絲轉向使用AO3（包括其鏡像網站）、搭建Wordpress個人網站，以及其他新平台進行寫作和交流。 儘管這些新平台的寬鬆環境得益於其自身的小衆和不受關注，亦發生過數次背離承諾加强審查的事件，或運營一定階段後被迫終止，但在這個遷移的過程中耽美粉絲們（或者説更大範疇上的同人女們）也愈發清醒地認識到自身處境。這些游擊隊一般的游牧實踐也促使粉絲們在近乎壟斷的平台之外，探索各自的離散道路，以實現創作和閲讀自由。 除了使用替代性平台，其他的游牧戰術也被發明出來抵制網絡審查。面對創作和消費色情内容的污名，一些耽美粉絲發起了書寫「站街文」的號召，發出「每一對CP都有屬於自己的站街文」的呼籲，鼓勵耽美粉絲大膽擁抱禁忌、拒絕性羞恥。這場寫作運動暫時開啓了不受審查的網絡空間，作爲商業化的審查空間的替代。雖然運動較爲短暫，但因其組織方式的高度靈活和隱蔽，使它相對較難被舉報。儘管其中一些情色作品最終會被平台刪除，創作者的賬號也會被封禁，但這些粉絲仍會重新創建新的賬號繼續寫作。正如另一位受訪者所説：「越屏蔽我越要寫，越多男的要（在我的小説中）做愛。」 除了粉絲群體不斷在不同數字平台間遷移流浪，以及這個過程中創作和搬運的作品，很多同人女還發起了「用魔法打敗魔法」式的對新浪微博、淘寶店家等多個主體的商業運營表達抗議。以2020年肖戰粉絲舉報AO3網站事件的後續發展為例，由耽美粉絲發起並逐漸在網絡擴散開來的抵制肖戰商業代言、購買替代性競品、向代言商家索要過往消費的實體發票從而增加商家人工成本等行動如火如荼地展開，在一定時期內取得了效果，影響了一些商家及品牌商。在227事件後，在大量消費者的投訴下，OLAY、佳潔士、蒙牛等計劃或已經與肖戰合作的公司紛紛更換代言人或撤回了廣告。 儘管這種行動對耽美商業化的整體趨勢並不能造成轉折性的影響，這些嘗試中也可能存在種種問題，以至於結果與發起的初衷相悖，但這些游牧性的實踐畢竟動搖了耽美群體被期待規訓出的同質性和維穩性，並且在耽美商業化的背景下不斷摸索著創造性的替代實踐。 結語：中國和耽美之外的參與式審查參與式審查的提出，一方面是為耽美粉絲的行動提供一種與社會和時代背景相關聯的說明解釋，另一方面，這種並非耽美群體獨有的現象也能為理解更多網絡事件乃至人們生活和行動中的具體變化提供認知上的借鑒。 對於耽美社群而言，由於耽美改編劇是由資本引導的商業化產品，耽美在進入大眾視野的同時不得不被閹割掉核心，創作尺度不斷縮窄，壓抑了具有挑戰性和抵抗性題材的作品的產生與傳播。 另一方面，新成員的大量湧入模糊了原本的社區共識，審查制度與舉報手段也損害了耽美作為亞文化群體內在原有的自治與自淨能力，社區的生態平衡被打破，瀕臨失控。參與式審查在平台功能的推動下，隨著耽美文化邊界擴張而不斷擴散，被更多的耽美愛好者習得，乃至將其視為文化經驗中的一部分，而不去質疑其產生的由來與合理性。與此同時，公權力的延伸介入也進一步破壞了耽美社群的生態，與日俱增的舉報是對集體意義建構的否認，也容易導向內容同質化和對抵抗話語的刻意迴避，會影響到耽美文化的進一步發展。 雖然學者對參與式審查的概念界定和理解，是從中國耽美粉絲群體相關的討論中得出的，但這一概念也可以被考慮應用於更廣泛的粉絲文化乃至網絡文化現象中。參與式審查指向的是一個越來越複雜的景觀，國家治理、商業運營與粉絲參與交相錯雜。參與式審查因其對被舉報者高效的負面影響而具有強大的傳播力，並不僅僅在耽美群體中愈發普遍，而是在整個當代網絡社交媒體上日益顯形。 從中國大陸各個社交平台的「舉報炸號」、因不同類型程度定義下的「辱華」行為而在民眾間發起的對商業品牌與文藝作品的抵制，到2020年全球熱議的取消文化（Cancel Culture），參與式審查的影子暗藏在這些事件的背後，由此可見其被進一步發展推論的廣泛潛力。但同時，本文選擇耽美群體展開分析，並非意在宣告這一現象是由耽美群體中誕生並擴散出去的。參與式審查的提出，一方面是為耽美粉絲的行動提供一種與社會和時代背景相關聯的說明解釋，另一方面，這種並非耽美群體獨有的現象也能為理解更多網絡事件乃至人們生活和行動中的具體變化提供認知上的借鑒。 與此同時，中國大陸一方面於2021年開展了「清朗 ‧『飯圈』亂象整治」專項行動，在粉絲經濟中介入越來越多的政府干預，以保護未成年人爲名整頓產業鏈的同時瓦解自我組織的粉絲群體；另一方面又積極採取「粉圈治理」（fandom governance）的模式，使用可愛形象來培養粉絲受衆的民族主義認同（Wong et al., 2021）。 越來越多的國家也正在借鑒中國的互聯網審查模式。除了亞洲和南美洲的關鍵詞過濾算法案之外，俄羅斯和尼日利亞也在使用類似中國互聯網防火墻的系統。在這個更大的背景下，參與式審查的形式和程度，或者粉絲參與如何與國家治理和商業運營纏結，在其他國家和文化背景中仍有待探索。 （本文內容主要編譯自論文Participatory censorship and digital queer fandom: the commercialization of Boys’ Love culture in China） 參考文獻： Gong, Y. (2017). Media reflexivity and taste: Chinese slash fans’ queering of European football. Communication, Culture & Critique, 10(1), 166–183. Santos, K. (2020). Queer affective literacies: Examining “rotten” women’s literacies in Japan. Critical Arts, 34(5), 72–86. Wang, Y. & Tan, J. (2023). Participatory censorship and digital queer fandom: the commercialization of Boys’ Love culture in China. International Journal of Communication, 17, 2554–2572. Ng, E., & Li, X. (2020). A queer “socialist brotherhood”: The Guardian Web series, boys’ love fandom, and the Chinese state. Feminist Media Studies, 20(4), 479–495. West, S. M. (2018). Censored, suspended, shadowbanned: User interpretations of content moderation on social media platforms. New Media & Society, 20(11), 4366–4383. Wong, J., Lee, C., Long, V. K., Wu, D., & Jones, G. M. (2021). “Let’s go, Baby Forklift!”: Fandom governance and the political power of cuteness in China. Social Media + Society, 7(2), 1–18. : https://theinitium.com/article/20230502-opinion-china-bl-fans-participatory-censorship/ [...] Read more...
April 18, 2023UncategorizedBy Payal Uttam • Artist’s ‘contemplative’ Hong Kong show explores our relationships with our bodies through rice paper ‘paintings’, clay works, video art and an installation• Seeing the latter, which calls to mind giant tablecloths on a clothesline, viewers ‘automatically become part of the work’, one observer says For a series of performances titled A Needle Woman, 1999–2001, South Korean artist Kimsooja stood motionless in the streets of busy metropolises such as Mexico City and New Delhi while masses of people pushed past her. Despite her surroundings, she achieved a sense of stillness and inner calm. Her current exhibition in Hong Kong, “Topography of Body”, at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang until June 3, can be described in the same way. It’s a meditative show that invites viewers to pause and reflect. “During Art Basel, a lot of artists show off with visually spectacular works,” says Yongwoo Lee, assistant professor in cultural studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “But this is a very humble, contemplative show which is refreshing.” The Seoul-based artist is also known for her fabric bundle sculptures inspired by the Korean practice of bottaris – wrapping personal belongings inside bed covers to take on a journey. The sculptures bring to mind migrant crises, when war and danger force people to flee carrying only essential items. Kimsooja has also wrapped entire buildings, such as Madrid’s Crystal Palace, and interiors including the Korean national pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, in translucent diffraction grating film – creating immersive bottaris suffused with light. After a long career experimenting with various mediums, this exhibition shows a quieter side, the artist describing the show as a return to her roots as a painter and an exploration of our relationships with our bodies. She has paired new rice paper “paintings”, prints and clay work with an earlier video work and large-scale fabric installation. The show opens with a 2022 work, Meta-Painting, which consists of a stack of 250 sheets of handmade hanji, Korean rice paper, which took about a year to dry and form a thick, blank slab. The artist sees this as a textile of sorts, as the paper – specially made in a studio in the South Korean city of Mungyeong – has fibres woven together in a criss-cross pattern akin to woven material. The work invites viewers to reflect on the invisible labour of papermaking and the bodily gestures involved in creating the work. Kimsooja says the work stemmed from a “non-doing and non-making” approach, which essentially requires minimal intervention on her part. “Art making involves a certain kind of violence, which I’ve always had trouble with,” she says. “So I am not making the work … Everything is already there, I just recontextualised it.” This philosophy was inspired by an encounter in 1985 with avant-garde US composer John Cage’s work at the Biennale de Paris. She recalls being eager to hear Cage’s music but instead heard nothing but silence. Then she discovered a statement: “Whether you try to make it or not, the sound is heard.” It had a profound effect on her. “Since then, I started looking at nature and art from that perspective,” she says. In a 2023 work, Geometry of Mind, she rolled a series of smooth clay balls and placed them on a plinth interspersed with rough fragments of clay which she pulled forcefully from a larger block of clay. The way that she works with clay and the concept she shares with us is extraordinaryMaud Page, Art Gallery of New South Wales “When you grab the clay there is an action that needs your aggression,” says Kimsooja. “I wanted to juxtapose that state of mind with the opposite – caressing the clay, taking care and making it precious in a way when rolling it into a ball.” This work stemmed from a previous participatory project, Archive of Mind, shown at various institutions including Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales, in which Kimsooja invited visitors to roll their own balls in a meditative manner. “The way that she works with clay and the concept she shares with us is extraordinary,” says Maud Page, the museum’s deputy director and director of collections. “In a time when everything is bustling, it’s a beautiful way to have contemplation and to make sure that we stop.” At the heart of the show is 2012 work Thread Route – Chapter III, a video which Kimsooja describes as a visual poem. The third in a series exploring textile traditions across the globe, it shows master weavers, block printers and embroiderers at work in rural Gujarat, India. We hear repeated thumping sounds of a wood block pressing into fabric and the chinking of bangles as a woman with tattooed fingers sews carefully. The sounds reverberate throughout the gallery, vividly bringing their craft to life. When the audience steps inside this room, it’s as if they automatically become part of the workYongwoo Lee, assistant professor in cultural studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong The video is interspersed with scenes of ancient sites including step wells and the surrounding landscape. “The work is a lot about our relationship with the body because block painting uses and creates a certain kind of topography … at the end of the film when you see people walking it’s another way of the body sewing onto the fabric of nature,” Kimsooja muses. The exhibition culminates in an installation dating from 2012 to 2015, Thread Route – Chapter III: Meta Painting, made of large tablecloths hung like laundry on a clothesline. The worn pieces of cloth have disjointed indigo and reddish-pink patterns as they lay underneath the actual fabric upon which the craftsmen were printing. “It creates a certain kind of unintended tableau,” says Kimsooja, who sees the work as a residue of accumulated labour left on the surface of the fabric. “When the audience steps inside this room, it’s as if they automatically become part of the work,” says Lee of the experience of walking amid the billowing cloths. “This is no longer just an art space, it’s an accumulation of the people’s interpretations and ideas.” “Topography of Body”, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wong Chuk Hang. Ends June 3 :https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3215445/south-korean-artist-kimsoojas-exhibition-hong-kong-invites-viewers-pause-and-reflect?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3215445 [...] Read more...
March 7, 2023Uncategorized[Doctor Cao Xuenan was interviewed by South China Morning Post on 16 February 2023] By Cyril Ip As geopolitical tensions soar, Chinese comics in the diaspora face balancing act between humour and humiliation Self-deprecating ethnic jokes that cross cultural red lines reinforce ‘racist stereotypes’, critics say By the time Chinese-born comedian Huang He delivered her one-liner about the pandemic during an appearance as a contestant on Australia’s Got Talent in October, she had already drawn plenty of giggles with her disarming sincerity. “I’m really sorry for the Covid, but I didn’t do it. I was here the whole time,” she quipped as the judges and the live studio audience burst into laughter. The moment, now preserved on YouTube, has since been viewed more than 4 million times. During a stand-up routine at a popular comedy club at Sydney’s Chippo Hotel in 2020, Chinese-Australian policy analyst and comedian Vicky Xu Xiuzhong teased out laughs by deploying stereotypes to compare herself to a Huawei phone. “We have a lot in common – we’re both cheap, easy to break, and a threat to national security.” By the time Chinese-born comedian Huang He delivered her one-liner about the pandemic during an appearance as a contestant on Australia’s Got Talent in October, she had already drawn plenty of giggles with her disarming sincerity. “I’m really sorry for the Covid, but I didn’t do it. I was here the whole time,” she quipped as the judges and the live studio audience burst into laughter. The moment, now preserved on YouTube, has since been viewed more than 4 million times. During a stand-up routine at a popular comedy club at Sydney’s Chippo Hotel in 2020, Chinese-Australian policy analyst and comedian Vicky Xu Xiuzhong teased out laughs by deploying stereotypes to compare herself to a Huawei phone. “We have a lot in common – we’re both cheap, easy to break, and a threat to national security.” Advertisement As a host of issues, ranging from geopolitics to the pandemic continue to strain relations between China and Western countries, comedians from the Chinese diaspora have mined the troubled times for laughs. In doing so, the ethnically infused, self-deprecating genre has shone the spotlight on a new crop of Asian comics who are earning fame and success in the West. But not everyone is laughing. Some in the Chinese diasporic community have taken offence to jokes from ethnic counterparts who they said use the spotlight to amplify cultural tropes for the sake of amusement. By the time Chinese-born comedian Huang He delivered her one-liner about the pandemic during an appearance as a contestant on Australia’s Got Talent in October, she had already drawn plenty of giggles with her disarming sincerity. “I’m really sorry for the Covid, but I didn’t do it. I was here the whole time,” she quipped as the judges and the live studio audience burst into laughter. The moment, now preserved on YouTube, has since been viewed more than 4 million times. During a stand-up routine at a popular comedy club at Sydney’s Chippo Hotel in 2020, Chinese-Australian policy analyst and comedian Vicky Xu Xiuzhong teased out laughs by deploying stereotypes to compare herself to a Huawei phone. “We have a lot in common – we’re both cheap, easy to break, and a threat to national security.” As a host of issues, ranging from geopolitics to the pandemic continue to strain relations between China and Western countries, comedians from the Chinese diaspora have mined the troubled times for laughs. In doing so, the ethnically infused, self-deprecating genre has shone the spotlight on a new crop of Asian comics who are earning fame and success in the West. But not everyone is laughing. Some in the Chinese diasporic community have taken offence to jokes from ethnic counterparts who they said use the spotlight to amplify cultural tropes for the sake of amusement. “Race traitors”, has become a popular label on social media like Twitter, used by people who feel their cultural values, or symbols associated with their nationality, are being traded for laughs against a backdrop of rising anti-Chinese hate crimes. “Comedy and laughter have the pacifying effect of making things sound natural even when they are not … By making the idea of more visible, they could also normalise it,” said Cao Xuenan, an assistant professor of cultural studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who studies media, literature and popular culture about modern China. Cao said comedians must walk a fine line when performing racial or political jokes, which if not delivered or received properly, could have unintended consequences. “A good comedian would seem to naturalise some stereotypes, but would also add something that is unmistakably a critique of ,” said Cao, adding that in this fashion, the jokes could also serve as a form of defiance. Overseas Chinese comedians are expected by both their Western and Chinese fans to discuss their race, albeit with different expectations of how their race should be represented on stage, according to Cao. “If a Chinese-speaking person or immigrant is using the English language to perform comedy to an English-speaking audience, they occupy a special status and fulfil a special interest,” Cao said. “A white comedian has all topics open to them, including sex, parenthood, contemporary politics and all kinds of things related to everyday life, whereas an ‘ethnic’ comedian is often compelled to choose the specialised area of race, as if they have a responsibility to explain their ethnic or national identity in their act.” The heightened sensitivity towards racial content, Cao argued, was partly caused by people’s evolving awareness of global affairs, especially given the growing access that mainland Chinese have to Western media. “There are now Chinese language media explaining and translating American news, which broadens the variety of media available in mainland China, and a population that was previously unexposed to these discourses may become more interested and sensitive,” he said. Huang has also played with the concept of leftover women, known as sheng nu in Chinese, which refers to women who are unmarried by the age of 27. Huang joked that on her online dating profile, she compared herself to “Chinese leftovers”, saying “we are yummy and cheap … just take me home and eat me”. Her performance in Sydney in October has got mixed reviews from China’s online community. On Weibo, some users said that stand-up comedy was by nature sarcastic and offensive, while others felt that she had disrespected herself and reinforced Western ignorance of views on Chinese women in exchange for laughs. “She wanted to become famous abroad, so she had to discredit her motherland,” wrote a user. “Do not you know how stand-up comedy came about? It started as political satire,” wrote another. The timing of Huang’s performance may have been a factor in how it was received. In October, Beijing faced growing calls from both at home and abroad to lift its zero-Covid restrictions, which it began to do in November. The tensions may have further stoked sensitivities in online forums, especially regarding politically-related topics. Speaking to Australian media, Huang said Chinese people rarely spoke out against stereotypes and that comedy was the perfect place to address them, suggesting that she did intend to call them out. Both Huang and Xu were invited by the Post to comment for this story, but had not responded by the time of publication. As a performing art, stand-up comedy is still a predominantly Western and masculine form of entertainment. But comedians from ethnic minorities are finding their place in the scene as their reputations grow. Those who parody race, however, should not be automatically blamed for the stigmatisation of Chinese communities in the West, Cao argued. “Comedians recycle material they’ve already heard, so if news media – Western or Chinese – acted as a kind of propaganda multiplier and amplifier, making some stories more prominent than others, the comedian’s role is to use that language that is already circulating to create their material.” Huang’s surge in online popularity was a “delight” that made her more confident about telling jokes about China, she told the BBC. “I’m proud of my Chinese heritage, but that doesn’t mean I cannot make fun of ourselves having fault,” Huang said. “Sarcasm, nowadays for Chinese people, is just really hard to get, anything bad about China you say to foreigners can be regarded as you’re humiliating your culture, a disgrace to your country.” Asian-American political commentator Amanda Yee, whose podcast Radio Free Amanda analyses current events from an “anti-imperialist perspective”, says most diasporic comedians are not concerned with reaching or pleasing their ethnic counterparts. “Like a lot of comedians, what these diaspora comics are primarily interested in is commercial success, which necessitates writing jokes for a particular or mainstream audience, who is typically white,” said the Brooklyn-based writer, adding that many in the Asian diaspora had had to assimilate from an early age and are thus “fundamentally disconnected” from their countries of origin. White Americans had an “uneasy relationship” with race, an area that performers used to experiment in, Yee said. “What these comedians do is they create material out of their otherness – their family’s thick accents, strict upbringing and cultural traditions – juxtaposed to Western ones, so that the comedy becomes a vehicle for their audience to laugh at foreignness. Yet it’s considered acceptable and not racist for them to laugh at the joke, because the comic is Asian,” she said. Yee has often warned of the dangers of exploiting racial differences for the purpose of comedy, which has sparked considerable debate on platforms like Twitter, where she has more than 75,000 followers. “The danger of combining self-deprecation with material about race is that they end up performing or exaggerating certain racist stereotypes or aspects of foreignness for the audience they are in front of,” Yee said. “A lot of times, the opening line for any Asian diaspora comic is ‘so I’m Asian’, or so ‘I’m Chinese’, and that will immediately receive uproarious laughter from the audience,” said Yee, adding that such reactions reflected the problematic perceptions Western audiences had about China. The almost-apologetic declarations of a Chinese comedian’s place of origin – in Huang’s case “I’m made in China” – often accompanied by an awkward expression, may be a subtle reflection of the growing discord between China and Western countries, especially the United States. Pew Research Centre surveys showed that more than three-quarters of US adults have consistently expressed an unfavourable opinion of China over the past three years – 79 per cent in 2020, 76 per cent in 2021 and 82 per cent in 2022 – marking a huge jump from 47 per cent in 2017. In a skit that Chinese-American stand-up comedian Li Lin posted on TikTok, she said she understood a rumour that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was “half-Chinese”. “He slave drives his employees at his company, he does not care about the women in his life, and he only cares about money – what’s more Chinese than that?,” she quipped. Performers should avoid reinforcing “reductive” representations of Chinese culture and instead seek to give their audience “a glimpse of the nuances”, according to Sheng Zou, an interdisciplinary media scholar and assistant professor at Baptist University. “As public figures, they should think about the social responsibility of doing something to improve the representation of diaspora communities. We do not always want to hear a reductionist representation of a very culturally and ideologically diverse group,” said Zou, who has researched Chinese diasporic media. Chinese family values and parents’ wishes for their children to be married and have a good job were exaggerated by some performers for comedic purposes, Zou said, but many of those expectations in fact related to “human desires” and were common across many societies. Moreover, the younger generation in China, much like their Western counterparts, are growingly individualistic when it comes to planning their lives and careers. Zou said racialised comedy could explore cross-cultural commonalities as well. The meaning behind an act can get lost and prompt negative reactions from Chinese audiences if a performer only mocks their culture, resulting in a lost opportunity to provoke thought or provide justification, according to Zou. “The intentionality is sometimes not very clear – whether it is to expose this kind of pre-existing stereotypes or just leveraging them for the comedian’s own gains,” said Zou, adding that overuse of racist tropes for laughs was “picking low hanging fruit”. Zou said striking a balance between cultural sensitivity and comedy, especially amid growing tensions between China and the West, was a task that overseas Chinese comedians must tackle carefully. “Whatever you say in public will have social implications and ramifications, and you have to bear the consequences.” : https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3210293/jokes-or-stereotypes-when-made-china-comedy-no-laughing-matter [...] Read more...
February 21, 2023Uncategorized[Doctor LI Meiting was interviewed by South China Morning Post on 19 February 2023] By Edith Lin and Jess Ma Lacklustre performances, missing members and an apparent devotion to ad dollars have put off fans Critics say Mirror must work hard to bounce back, as new local stars emerge and global acts return Saleswoman Freda Cheung* used to start conversations with customers by chatting about her favourite Cantopop boy band Mirror, its latest songs and commercials. “The band has been in the city’s collective memory over the past three years,” said the 20-something. “It brought me happiness and diverted my attention from the Covid-19 pandemic and the social unrest of 2019.” Her “happy bubble” burst after an accident at Mirror’s concert last July, when a giant LED screen fell and hit two dancers, injuring one critically. The band stopped performing for two months. Since returning to the public eye, however, it has been dogged by criticism of lacklustre performances, flagging energy and chasing the money from advertisement deals and promotional events. Cheung’s enthusiasm for her idols has dimmed. With Hong Kong reopening after three years and Covid-19 pandemic arrival restrictions scrapped, she said: “I want to prioritise travelling.” Suddenly, a question being asked in Hong Kong is: What has gone wrong for Mirror? The 12-member band shot to stardom in 2018 through ViuTV’s reality-TV talent programme Good Night Show – King Maker, attracting an army of loyal fans of all ages and walks of life. Now there are concerns that the days of fans queuing up for hours for tickets may be over and its international ambitions might not take off. Out of nine public appearances by the band since last October, when it launched the ballad “We All Are”, the Post found that all members showed up at the same event only once. Missing members were either sick or occupied with other work, a sharp contrast with their first two years, when the whole group turned up most of the time. Most members also endorsed fewer brands on their Instagram accounts between last October and January, compared with the four months before the accident. The two most popular members, Keung To and Anson Lo Hon-ting, saw their endorsements shrink from 16 to about six. Competition is heating up too, not only from newcomers in the city but also the return of concerts by global acts such Korean girl group Blackpink and Irish pop band Westlife. Mirror’s latest appearance was at an event last Saturday to launch an international campaign by pharmacy chain Watsons. Keung, 23, was absent when the group performed the advertising single “Go Green” for the first time. That left freelance editor Mavis Tse*, almost 30, feeling dismayed. A fan since 2020, she said she was disappointed with the band’s recent lack of “sincerity”. “Their only group song this year was an advertising song. I feel they have become an ad-driven boy band and hardly do anything together without a paymaster,” she said. The Post reached out to Mirror’s management company, MakerVille, on its strategy for the band and future plans, but did not receive a reply. Time to get its act together Critics said the group had to get its act together to thrive amid increased competition in a reopened world. All was not lost, they added, as Mirror bagged several prizes in the year-end music awards last year. But they warned that the band had to work harder to offer fans at home and overseas fresh and varied performances and not appear to be focused only on landing advertisement deals. Rudi Leung Chi-sing, director of advertising agency Hungry Digital and a music critic for more than 30 years, said Mirror now faced a more diversified market with other celebrities emerging as commercial darlings. One such example is singer Michael Cheung Tin-fu, 26, also known as MC, who made his debut at the Hong Kong Coliseum, the city’s top concert venue, after joining a label two years ago. “The boy band’s market share can be diluted with more alternatives on endorsement … but big brands will not easily give up on them as they guarantee hit rates,” Leung said. He also said advertisers would continue to feature local stars to attract Hongkongers, as the city still needed time to bring back tourists. But he agreed that Mirror could not only rely on advertisements to keep their fame, especially if it hoped to go international, a target MakerVille announced last April. Leung said the band would have to release songs in English and appear in more TV programmes and films that combined local and international elements to compete with the entertainment industry in South Korea and Thailand, which both exported plenty of dramas. “The content has to be able to cross the border, but I can’t see that from the band at the moment. Going international needs songs and visuals, resources and commitment.” Leung said Mirror risked losing its local fan base if it went for the lucrative mainland Chinese market, given the past experience of other artists. Many young local fans have shown their disapproval of singers they felt were chasing the huge mainland market for fame and profit, such as Mike Tsang Pei-tak, who performed in some reality singing shows there last year. Mirror has faced increasing criticism of the quality of its performances, especially after being caught singing out of tune and dancing out of sync. Its best known member Keung, 23, who once vowed to become Asia’s next top singer, was widely panned online for his solo appearance at a music awards ceremony. Internet users were brutal in attacking his performance of the hit single “Spiegel im Spiegel”, when he flapped his arms and jumped down to the crowd crying out: “Everybody jump!” Carrie Lui*, in her 20s and once proud to be a fan, has given up. She sold most of the Mirror merchandise she amassed over the past two years, including magazines, posters and dolls of her favourite boy bands. “As a fangirl, I look for quality performances, not laid-back dance moves and out-of-tune songs,” she said. “Falling for them doesn’t mean that I’ll tolerate everything.” Who is Mirror, really? Li Mei-ting, a cultural studies lecturer at Chinese University, said management company MakerVille had to address Mirror’s lack of a strong, defining identity for the band to flourish. “Mirror’s image is palatable across all ages, but audiences may not be able to see who they actually are,” she said. “I want to know what’s their link to the local community? Their previous hit single ‘Warrior’ carried the message that they are a new, rising generation, but that image hasn’t been sustained.” She also cautioned that the group’s career could not develop by relying on advertisements. She said the perceived incompetence of Mirror’s recent performances reflected management decisions more than the band’s lack of talent. She said: “The problem for Mirror is that there is no time for them to even rest under their schedule, as members jet off to attend the Paris fashion week or film advertisements. How can they have time to train?” Li said fans who followed international pop stars could not help but project standards achieved by Korean or Japanese groups onto the local boy band. “We should ask how our local labels nurture their talent,” she said. “What kind of stars do we want to produce, and are we willing to make the investment for it?” * Names changed at interviewees’ request. : https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3210729/mirror-mirror-wall-can-hong-kong-boy-band-beat-blues-and-win-back-disappointed-fans [...] Read more...
February 17, 2023Uncategorized: 香港紀錄片《給十九歲的我》撤映風波的五個啟示  文/李澄欣 香港紀錄片《給十九歲的我》因拍攝倫理風波引發巨大爭議，持續佔據輿論焦點，事件暴露了權力不對等和倫理問題，也意外地成為港人在當前政治氣氛下的情感投射。BBC中文訪問多名紀錄片導演及學者，梳理出五個引人思考的問題。 《給十九歲的我》由香港72歲的知名導演張婉婷執導，受其母校、老牌名校英華女學校（Ying Wa Girls’ School）委託拍攝，原意是記錄校舍遷址的變化，為重建工作籌款，後來演變成一部以該校六名千禧年代出生、背景各異的女學生為主軸的人物紀錄片。 該片製作歷時十年，追蹤拍攝六人從中學到大學的成長過程，時間上橫跨2012年「反國教」（反對國民教育）示威、2014年「雨傘運動」、2019年「反送中」運動等多場社會運動，側面記錄了香港過去十年的時代巨變。團隊耗時三年剪接，把30萬小時的影片素材輯成136分鐘的電影版。 該片最先在2021年底於校友圈子內部放映，2022年舉行多場包場放映及優先場，票房超過700萬港元，好評如潮，更獲得香港電影評論學會的最佳電影獎。張婉婷受訪時指看到「不少影評都反應正面」，認為對片中女生不構成傷害，決定將影片公映，2月2日在全港各大院線上畫。 轉折點發生在今年1月底，前記者吳芷寧在社交平台發表觀後感指該片「好看但有點不舒服」，質疑導演太強勢並有剝削學生之嫌，引發大眾關注當事人權益。2月4日，片中主角阿聆、阿佘陸續在《明周文化》發表「萬言書」及受訪，控訴校方和片方不尊重學生私隱，在拍攝及公映問題上對她們進行誤導和施壓，指責導演為了拍戲「將你的快樂建築在我的痛苦上面」。 事件震驚全香港，此前的一致好評瞬間轉為對製作單位排山倒海的抨擊，英華女學校校長和張婉婷隨即公開道歉，2月6日起暫停公映。事件更上升至社會公共事件，港府官方機構包括私隱專員公署和教育局均介入。 1. 紀錄片倫理與權力關係 「每個人都要求刪這段、刪那段的話，紀錄片便剪不成」——這是導演張婉婷拒絕六位主角看定剪（final cut）的理由。直到《給十九歲的我》在校內活動放映，學生才在大銀幕上首次觀看。女生阿聆在自白中透露，她觀看後情緒不穩要求醫，醫生診斷以她的狀態來看，電影不適合公映，但導演堅持把影片送往電檢公映。 紀錄片導演、香港浸會大學電影學院高級講師應亮接受BBC中文訪問時直言，張婉婷的做法違反操守，人物紀錄片的行規是放映前必須給主角看，如被拍者要求刪剪片段，導演要當場做承諾；若對方要求不放映，則雙方可協商。「如果你很捨不得你的片，你可以問她可否不做商業放映，只做電影節，或只在外地放，這些都可以談。如果他百分之一百不願意，那就真的不能放，這條底線很清楚。」 他認為《給十九歲的我》是人物紀錄片的「典型失敗案例」，操作上犯下低級錯誤，反映導演缺乏自覺，沒意識到被拍者是共同執導（co-direct）。「比如被拍者會打電話給導演說幾天之後有事情發生，你來拍吧——那其實他也是導演跟編劇。作品不全然屬於導演，而是一種合作，拍攝者必須認識到：你是導演不到別人的生活的，你只是加入了你的觀點、態度，和你的專業給你的敏感、結構技術能力而已，如果沒有別人的生活，你根本完成不了你的創作。」 研究攝影倫理的台灣國立政治大學傳播學院教授郭力昕說，紀錄片道德一直是棘手的問題，因為是用別人的真實去進行創作，雙方關係並不對等——不只是採訪、受訪的不對等，也是一個懂影像、一個不懂影像的不對等，「被拍者不一定理解影像的意義怎麼被生產出來，可能連自己怎麼受傷都不知道」。 他說，在權力懸殊的情況下，只能夠依賴導演的道德和良心把關，但很難把持。「今天一個導演用意良善，希望藉著幾個人物給廣大觀眾啟發和反省，但是他可能要跟那些在剝削題材、宣稱要給社會什麼訊息的人競爭市場和觀眾，而那些人又很辣——在弄一些非常煽情的東西，你就可能降低你的底線，道德的底線越來越鬆——所以給受訪者看過、有他的同意權就更重要了，法律是道德的最低門檻。」 2. 「同意」只是法律問題嗎？ 香港法律沒有肖像權，片中主角揭露校方當年稱拍攝目的是製作DVD供籌款用途，在她們就讀中一、年僅12歲時要求家長簽下同意書。該文件只有半頁，允許導演拍攝學生在校內外情況，攝錄隊有絕對創作及剪接自主權，版權屬英華女學校所有，同意校方用作出版、放映、廣播、公開展示或分發之用途。 在片中，張婉婷沒有掩飾一些女生拒絕拍攝的鏡頭，甚至用旁白指她們拒拍是因為踏入「反叛期」。有主角事後透露，製作團隊以同意書具法律效力為由施壓，有同學由中一哭訴至中五才獲准退出計劃，學生都自嘲是簽了「賣身契」。 研究傳媒法律的香港大學中國法研究中心訪問學者甄美玲向BBC中文指出，合約（contract）在法律上是指雙方均有代價（consideration），即金錢或利益的交換，但女生參與拍攝並無酬勞，因此同意書並不是合約，她們有權隨時退出，若導演違反學生意願繼續拍攝，是侵犯私隱的行為，加上該片在校內放映後轉戰電影節及商業公映，已背離最初拍攝目的，「一件事的同意，不能搬到另一個用途上」。 主角之一阿佘批評攝影師像「狗仔隊」一樣偷拍她在校外吸煙一幕，「你想拍我吸煙，有好多機會拍，不需要這樣偷偷地在對面街zoom-in（用變焦鏡頭使景物放大或將景物推近）來影我」。另一名女生阿聆則表示，校方和導演施壓公映時，指她成年後仍有繼續參與拍攝是給了「默許同意」（silent consent），具法律約束力。 這些細節都引起社會對「同意」的爭議。法律學者甄美玲指香港的私隱法例落後，未能跟上西方的標凖及新世代的觀念。「現在矇混過關的同意是不行的，不可以從他的行為去暗示（imply）有同意，必須有明示同意（explicit consent）。」 研究婦女議題的香港中文大學人類學系副教授鄭詩靈則說，同意並非一次性、永久有效，而是一個持續的過程（continuous consent），國際社會近年在性別議題上非常強調此觀念。「我經常舉這個例子：以前政教合一，在宗教角度同意了結婚就是永久同意性行為，很多國家到了近二、三十年才認可婚內強姦（marital rape）這件事，每一次都要雙方同意，否則就是性暴力。同樣道理，女生們在中一時同意拍片，這十年變化那麼大，拍攝目的也不同了，起初同意不等於永遠同意。」 她續說，同意也要看權力結構，例如韓國重男輕女嚴重，處於弱勢的女性較難對性騷擾、性暴力等說不。而在學校，師生關係不對等，學生也很可能會礙於壓力不敢明確拒絕。「關心學生的老師會覺得『我為你好』，但你要意識到自己的權力位置，確保有給空間他們做選擇。對著學生時，有沒有尊重大家是平等的？這是定剪之前就應該做的。」 聯合國《兒童權利公約》指出，每個兒童都是獨立個體，要尊重他們表達意見的權利，並應根據他們的年齡和成熟程度給予應有的看待。 意大利紀錄片導演、香港中文大學人類學系助理教授影波（Alberto Gerosa）說，他的慣常做法是分別徵求家長和小孩的同意。「青少年在家裏表現出一套，在外面則完全不同，就造成了這種情況：同一個家庭的兩個成員可能都想對他們的經歷有不同看法，而往往是相互矛盾的看法。如果父母同意，但孩子不同意，我就會把電影的重點放在父母身上，或乾脆換一個家庭。」 他還指出，「同意」的重點在於被拍者攝後是否有權改變主意，但這並非法律問題，而是道德問題。「道德上的答案才顯示出製作人的優次考慮：僅僅因為我們拿到授權書，並不代表要使用這些材料。未經同意曝光別人的私生活，就是猥褻（obscene）的做法。」 3. 人重要還是作品重要？ 《給十九歲的我》主角之一、飽受情緒困擾的阿聆在校內首映至今一年以來，不斷問校方和導演這個問題：是學生重要還是作品重要？ 有關爭議引出其他受害者發聲，14年前曾拍攝紀錄片《KJ音樂人生》的香港音樂家黃家正在社交平台發長文，重提11至17歲期間被拍攝的內情，指當時父子關係緊張，曾多次要求導演張經緯不要公開相關片段，但導演不理會，甚至不耐煩地跟他說：「你估我現在很閒跟你耗嗎？我覺得你跟你老竇的關係，也是時候應該有個了結吧。」 當年張經緯憑紀錄片一舉成名，獲頒新晉導演獎，其作品是香港金像獎史上首部獲提名的紀錄片，也是台灣金馬獎史上獲獎最多的紀錄片。但被拍攝的黃家正在紀錄片面世後的其中三年，「整個屋企家破人亡，無家可歸」，一度無法繼續學業，過去14年也受盡折磨，他批評導演「不惜一切犧牲了我明確表達的意願，想自己的作品每一個位也剪輯到他心目中的最好」。 台灣學者郭力昕指出，世界各地都有導演打著「有社會意義」的旗號拍紀錄片，但其實在「剝削和冒犯當事人」，當中不乏叫好叫座的作品，包括2004年上映、台灣導演吳乙峰執導的紀錄片《生命》，該片以1999年的「九二一大地震」為主題，在電影院場場爆滿，票房破千萬，連時任台灣總統陳水扁都在「雙十」國慶日致詞時都提到該片。不過郭力昕認為影片有倫理問題，其中一位失去摯親的女主角想自殺時，導演不耐煩地教訓她，責怪她災後一年還不能振作，「態度很傲慢，是一部想著自己的紀錄片」。 另一部充滿爭議的是1998年由台灣導演吳耀東拍攝的《在高速公路上游泳》，記錄了其學弟、患愛滋病和躁鬱症的男同志辜國瑭，該片粗暴地展現權力關係，導演因辜國塘不想配合「劇本」而對這個朋友感到惱怒，為了「報復」，在情緒憤怒下完成剪接。吳耀東最終獲獎，但辜及其家人在紀錄片放映後非常痛苦。20年後，導演帶著懺悔之心再找辜國瑭拍成《Goodnight & Goodbye》，郭力昕如此形容該片：「充滿了粗暴，他只是在想著自己的片子，但又說自己要贖罪，他剝削了他的同學，也剝削了自己。」 意大利導演影波強調，創作者有幸能記錄他人的故事，就要把被拍者的尊嚴放在首位，高於其他一切考慮。他以德國導演韋納·荷索（Werner Herzog）拍攝的紀錄片《熊人》（Grizzly Man）為例，該片主角蒂莫西·崔德威爾（Timothy Treadwell）每年都到阿拉斯加的灰熊保護區接近灰熊，如是者13年後被灰熊所殺，導演剪走了主角被自己所愛的灰熊活活吃掉時最駭人的片段，為當事人留有體面。「導演掌握著話語權，可以為了電影好看而用不雅的方式展示人物，當然也可以選擇不這樣做。當事人的尊嚴是神聖的，是不容討論的。」 他分享個人經驗時說，他在2016年烏克蘭戰爭期間曾到當地參與紀錄片製作，超過10TB的拍攝素材記錄了當地學生在三年之間，從激進民族主義分子到志願參軍，其後在戰爭中受傷，歸來後重新適應平民生活的過程。「影片探討民族主義和戰爭之間的關係，公開主角的臉可能會使他們的家人陷入危險，因為他們住在烏東地區。我們最終決定撤回這部片子，至今還沒有發行。他們的安全比我們的藝術野心更重要。讓我再做一次決定，我還是會這樣做。」 在《給十九歲的我》鬧出風波後，導演張婉婷隨即上電台受訪，向受影響女生道歉，「你開心點嘛，我們現在不做啦」。英華女學校前校長李石玉如發聲明指，十分重視片中呈現的每一個學生，對引起學生的困難深感抱歉，該校辦學團體中華基督教會負責人王家輝也公開表明：「人是比電影更加重要。」 4. 紀錄片=真實？ 很多人批評《給十九歲的我》時，與同樣是記錄事實的新聞片相提並論。這涉及紀錄片的性質與目的，在不同情況下，個人私隱與公眾知情權有不同的優先次序。 以新聞為例，傳媒法律學者甄美玲上世紀八、九十年代在曾在香港電台及無線電視任職記者，負責《鏗鏘集》和《星期二檔案》等半小時新聞專題（long form或news documentary），目的是監督公權力或探討公共議題，她說為了保障公眾利益及編輯自主，從來不會要求受訪者簽同意書或看定剪。 《給十九歲的我》則屬人物類的創意型紀錄片（creative documentary），沒有公眾利益，是用獨特視角關心人性。紀錄片導演應亮說：「比如同樣拍一個中國維權人士，新聞會聚焦在他的公共身分，但創意型的人物紀錄片可能是拍他作為父親有很多遺憾，而不在於他怎麼維權。深入到人性層面和私生活，很多灰色地帶和隱私的東西都有機會被呈現，當事人其實真的有話語權。」 另一個迷思是導演的介入——《給十九歲的我》備受詬病的其中一點是張婉婷在採訪時的誘導性問題，以及旁白加入大量主觀意見，擅自幫女生改別名如「香港小姐」，又指有些女生「收兵」、「懷疑援交」等。有主角事後澄清有關描述不實，批評導演太「多嘴」。張婉婷受訪時坦言這是刻意的安排，希望加入個人評論和角度，而不是做只能觀察和記錄的「牆上蒼蠅」（the fly on the wall）。 對此，導演應亮強調創作型紀錄片不是新聞，不必客觀。「紀錄片一定有立場，不用不偏不倚，電影作為藝術是沒有一定的標凖的。」 像美國著名紀錄片導演邁克爾·摩爾（Michael Moore），拍攝《華氏911》、《美國黐Gun檔案》（Bowling for Columbine，或譯《科倫拜恩校園事件》、《科倫拜恩的保齡》）等多部作品，都帶有強烈的主觀意識。 1926年最早出現「紀錄片」這個詞，隨後英國紀錄片教父約翰·格里森（John Grierson）下了這個定義：「對『真實』的創造性處理（The creative treatment of actuality）」。但紀錄片界一直對「真實」有不同看法，以美國的梅索兄弟（Albert & David Maysles）與懷斯曼（Frederick Wiseman）為代表的導演，主張冷靜觀察，堅持不介入、不引導、不評論，以旁觀的方式記錄，來「再現」真實；另一類以格里爾森、維爾托夫（Dziga Vertov）和伊文思（Joris Ivens）為代表的導演，則通過拍攝者的參與式記錄，來「再造」真實。 意大利導演影波對BBC中文指出，「紀錄片是真實」本身就是個神話，片中被認為的「真實」只是寫實主義的風格選擇，不等同客觀。「虛假的客觀性偽裝，是為糟糕的電視節目或新聞記者凖備的。紀錄片作品都寫明由誰導演，已充分說明了它並不客觀，製作上每個創造性的決定都是為了表達導演的主觀觀點，而導演最終也要對其負責。在此角度下，導演的參與程度越高越好。」 紀錄片不斷打破傳統，現在有劇情式紀錄片（docudrama），加入虛構、重演、動畫等元素，「真實」與虛構的界線越來越模糊。台灣學者郭力昕說，影像、真實、權力之間的關係是永恆議題。「影像跟真實沒有必然關係，有時候影像甚至是更好的欺騙，取捨之間就決定了真實是怎麼被建構起來，而建構者就掌握話語權。」 5. 社會氣氛下的情感投射？ 《給十九歲的我》爭議發酵超過一周，從學生與導演、學校之間的契約矛盾，提升到廣泛的社會討論，甚至變為情緒化的聲討。有網民罵張婉婷出賣學生，把片名改作《恰十九歲的你》，恰在廣東話指欺負。黃秋生、張堅庭、陶傑等名人在社交平台維護張婉婷，都被網民圍攻。 紀錄片導演應亮坦言：「香港這幾年沒有言論自由，好不容易有一個議題可以討論，大家就拼命去罵。這也折射了電影之外的整體環境。」 香港社會政策及公共行政學者鍾劍華指出，網上輿論群情洶湧有部分是2019年「反送中」運動後的一個情緒出口，近期法庭審理香港國安法最大案件——「47人案」備受觸目，但政治話題在《香港國安法》實施後的高壓氣氛下不能討論，於是所有焦點轉移到紀錄片風波，加上涉及的女生在不情願下被迫拍攝和放映，挑動了很多香港人的心理和情感投射，大家都為學生抱打不平，「這種成人世界與年輕人世界、強權與弱勢、民主與威權之間的矛盾，很多人能代入」。 導演和校方回應事件時不斷重覆「為你好」、「用愛浸死你」、「要感恩」、「為大局著想」、「不要辜負別人的付出」等論述，這種高姿態的家長式威權口吻招致負評。鍾劍華說：「我相信張婉婷和校長的初衷都是一番好意，但他們表述上套入了權勢的思維套路，令人反感，所以成為被針對的對象。」 不少人在社交平台分享求學時的遭遇，當年在保守的價值觀下怎樣被「情緒勒索」或壓抑自我，也有大量網民讚揚片中主角頂住壓力勇敢發聲。 香港中文大學文化及宗教研究學系講師李薇婷分析指，港人經歷過社會運動的洗禮，對權力、自主、程序正義很有意識，不會再逆來順受，她說現在有一股暗湧正在累積，希望改變教育和文化氛圍。「以前是用大家的利益，去取消一個人的悲傷，我們看到近幾年開始有一種集體覺醒，會關心情緒健康和個人感受。我們不再被逼接受強加於我們的『為你好』，而是可以反問：如果我不喜歡你『為我好』的方式呢？」 回到電影本身，《給十九歲的我》入圍香港電影金像奬最佳剪接、導演及電影三項提名，校方已宣佈會退選最佳電影，惟與張婉婷一同提名「最佳導演」的郭偉倫已表明會繼續接受提名，張婉婷則表示尊重及配合郭的決定，但不會出席頒獎禮，意味著該片仍會角逐兩項獎項，屆時可能再引發爭議。 導演應亮指香港沒有紀錄片產業，金像獎也沒有最佳紀錄片的獎項，雖然過去十年通過教學和受社會運動啟發，培育了不少優秀的新一代紀錄片導演，但老一代電影人和觀眾仍沒有經過足夠的凖備。「張婉婷雖然是著名導演，但拍紀錄片是第一次，她沒有那個意識，還是在用劇情片的方式做紀錄片。這很遺憾，所以香港缺乏這部分的文化吧。」 他說近年香港多了紀錄片作品，可惜因為政治審查無法在港放映，他擔心這次事件造成一個大大的負面刻板印象，傷害本來就非常弱勢的本地紀錄片工作者，影響日後拍攝、製作和發行。 台灣紀錄片產業比香港成熟得多，商業院線都會放映很小眾的紀錄片，學者郭力昕認為這次《給十九歲的我》引發的爭議在香港形成公共討論是好的開始。「素養的建立要從觀看開始，什麼都要看，不是說有毒就避開，大家多討論、辯論，才會提升社會對紀錄片的識讀能力與文化水平。」 (原載於2023-2-13BBC 中文) [...] Read more...
February 17, 2023Uncategorized[Doctor LI Meiting was interviewed by BBC News, Hong Kong on 15 September 2022] By Grace Tsoi and Joyce Lee Hong Kongers have been lining up for hours this week to pay their respects to the Queen in what has been perhaps the biggest display of affection for the late monarch seen outside the UK. But the collective outpouring of grief says as much about the present as it does about the past, and comes as Beijing has been tightening its grip. The long queues, piles of flowers and cards in the city’s Admiralty district contrast with more muted reactions seen in other former British colonies. Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule under “one country, two systems”, which promised that the city’s way of life – including civil liberties unavailable in the mainland – would be kept for at least 50 years. But a crackdown on protests, Beijing’s imposition of its national security law and only allowing “patriots” to govern are seen by many as reneging on that promise. “There is a mix of complex emotions,” said Dr Li Mei Ting, a cultural and religious studies lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Outside the British consulate, mourners opened umbrellas to hide from the scorching sun while “God Save the Queen” played softly from a mobile phone. Parents brought their children along, and one father even wrapped his seven-month-old daughter in a Union Jack flag. “I don’t remember ever seeing Hong Kongers doing this to any leader who passed away,” Ted Hui, a former Hong Kong MP who now lives in Australia, told the BBC. Nostalgia-for-a-golden-age In the city, the Queen was affectionately called si tau por, which means “boss lady” in Cantonese. Many in the queue were older people, among them Mr Lee, aged in his 60s, who had brought chrysanthemums. “I hadn’t bought any flowers before, not even when I was courting girls.” He said he was grateful for the Queen as Hong Kong’s economy flourished and society became liberal and open under colonial rule. Others said the education and medical systems were hugely improved and the city also enjoyed the rule of law under British rule. Hong Kong became a British colony after two Opium Wars in the 19th century and colonial rule lasted for 156 years. Meanwhile mainland China was swept by political turmoil including the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution. “Hong Kong was peaceful during those days,” said Ms Fung, 75. When Hong Kong people reminisce about the colonial era, they are often referring to the period from the mid-1970s to 1990s, says Dr Li. “People who experienced this period see it as Hong Kong’s golden age,” she said. The British colonial government changed its governance model as a response to deadly anti-colonial riots in 1967, which were sparked by a labour dispute and supported by Beijing. More public housing was built and free primary education was introduced, partly in a bid to ward off further social movements, Dr Li says. But US-based activist Jeffrey Ngo says the last three decades of the colonial period do not give the full picture – and that the British empire had played a “very big role” in paving the way for the current situation. “Plenty of activists have been prosecuted, especially since 2019, under laws that were put in place by the colonial government and were never repealed before 1997.” Last week five speech therapists were convicted under the colonial-era sedition law, for publishing children’s books which portray the Chinese government as wolves and Hong Kongers as sheep. The judge said it was a “brainwashing exercise”, while critics say the sentence was a blow to freedom of speech. The UK also did little to democratise the city for much of the colonial period, Mr Ngo said. Current day discontent For some, commemorating the Queen is a way to express their unhappiness at the Hong Kong government. Protest is no longer possible under Beijing’s sweeping national security law and stringent Covid rules. Mr Tse, who brought his pet Corgi on a leash with a Union Jack, said the mourning was an “alternative form of political expression”. Flying that flag on another day could risk arrest or even prosecution under the national security law – but it is being tolerated for now because of the Queen’s death, he added. Mr Chan came with his wife and two children. He said the family felt close to the Queen as all members were born at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which was opened in 1963. “We will pay tribute to whoever merits our respect. should not easily accuse people of collusion with foreign forces but not reflect on their own behaviour that causes so much unhappiness among Hong Kongers,” he said. Some in the line were also planning to leave the city. Hong Kong’s population has shrunk by almost 200,000 in two years – and many of those leaving plan to settle in the UK. The UK Hongkongers living in the shadow of the handover What will the next 25 years hold for Hong Kong? “Hong Kongers are queuing under such heat. We share the same ideas and no words are needed to explain,” said Ms Lee, who came with her 21-year-old daughter. “There is a huge contrast between the past and the present… Now we have lost what we had and many people I know are emigrating,” she added before confirming that they plan to leave too. Hong Kong’s identity Younger people without direct experience of the colonial era were also in the queue. Some said they were worried that Hong Kong’s colonial past would be buried under Beijing’s drive to reshape the city. New textbooks now say Hong Kong was never a British colony but was merely occupied by a foreign power. Law student Sam said his grandmother fled mainland China by swimming to the city. “Immigration officers said to my grandma that our si tau por was also a woman, so she would be taken care of in Hong Kong.” Christopher, 15, said traces of Hong Kong’s colonial history are still visible – such as the old banknotes and street signs. “But it feels like they are fading.” “No matter our criticism, the colonial period was part of our Hong Kong identity and history,” said Dr Li. : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-62898660 [...] Read more...
February 13, 2023Uncategorized[Professor Xuenan CAO was interviewed by South China Morning Post on 30 January 2023] By Cyril Ip China’s entertainment industry has put Chinese popular music – or C-pop – on the international stage, but observers say that whether it can help expand the country’s soft power – as K-pop has done for South Korea – remains in doubt due to rising anti-China sentiment in the West. Many successful C-pop festivals, packed with fans from the Chinese diaspora and beyond, have been staged in the US in the past five years in a sign that Chinese artists are going global on an unprecedented scale. However the genre remains unfamiliar to most Americans, and its soft power potential is equally unexplored. Last year, China ranked fourth overall and 12th in terms of media and communications on a global soft power index published by Brand Finance, an international market consultancy headquartered in London. Cao Xuenan, an assistant professor of cultural studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “China’s soft power has not really taken on the pop culture or entertainment industry, and it doesn’t follow the formula that we see in K-pop, which relies heavily on an industrial chain.” She said building infrastructure, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia, remained the focus of China’s soft power projection. Using music as a currency of influence was a rather Western trait, Cao said, as the West branded pop culture as “containing new ideas related to the youth, and political ideals that challenge the status quo”. She said South Korea had become quite successful lately in appropriating that strategy. “If it draws eyeballs, it is soft power … Korean artists like BTS create more positive associations with Korea on the international stage, and whether people understand the complexity of that cultural phenomenon or not doesn’t matter – as long as they can make people talk about South Korea, they have a huge influence,” Cao said. The South Korean boy band was invited to the White House in May to address the surge in anti-Asian racism in the United States, and to the United Nations in September to speak about the importance of vaccination and sustainable development. Cao said that was partly down to its members “looking really good”, as well as the closeness between Seoul and Washington. But it might be more difficult for Chinese artists to gain acceptance from a Western audience. The Washington-based Pew Research Centre found that 82 per cent of American adults had an unfavourable opinion of China last year, up from 79 per cent in 2020 and more than double the proportion a decade ago. Hong Kong-born pop star Jackson Wang, who in April made history as the first solo Chinese performer at Coachella – the biggest music festival in the US – frequently uses the tagline: “I am Jackson Wang from China.” The 27-year-old’s straightforward shout-out to his birthplace has been heavily analysed and deliberated on social media, with some claiming that it was a “betrayal” of his roots in Hong Kong and South Korea – where he started his music career – as well as an example of “sucking up” to Beijing. “This kind of criticism levelled at Wang reflects the fans and the media’s speculation that there will be more to gain by provoking him to have to justify his national identity,” Cao said, while comparing Wang to Lisa, the Thai member of South Korean girl group Blackpink, who openly embraces her ethnicity without the media associating her with Thai politics. “The Chinese identity is always in Western media, it is a spectacle itself, which is why this question is chased after more for Chinese artists than those of other nationalities – and there is no escape.” Chinese artists could better embody their country’s soft power if their art could avoid being politicised, but sometimes that politicisation originated in China, said Zhang Chi, a postdoctoral international relations researcher at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, referencing Eileen Gu Ailing, the American-born freeski prodigy who won two gold medals and one silver for China at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. “Gu’s identity was first discussed by the Chinese public and the mainstream media in China, and the West only caught up on this discourse, so it is not fully attributable to the current climate of Chinese public figures being scrutinised by Western media,” Zhang said, adding that people were naturally interested in knowing where Gu’s “loyalty” lay, given the portrayal of her as a national hero in China. Scaling down nationalistic talking points would be more helpful to the expansion of Chinese soft power, Zhang said. “For most cultural products, not emphasising any political values and ideologies would actually make them more attractive,” she said. “In contrast, imposing ideologies may turn off the audience, especially given anti-China and Sinophobic sentiments, as well as Western governments’ perceptions of China.” Zhang said international cultural exchanges were facing headwinds as distrust and antipathy grew between China and major Western powers. “The enlarged perception gap between them has shrunk the space where cultural products can be appreciated regardless of the political considerations of the sort of values behind them,” she said. But when successful, such as in Wang’s much celebrated performance, the cultural impact of C-pop could affect public opinion. “Chinese celebrities might change overseas communities’ perception of China by demonstrating the abilities of Chinese celebrities to cooperate with world-leading celebrities and attract an international following,” Zhang said. Musicians, despite their ability to further a country’s influence, were not necessarily concerned about politics, said Linda Lee Wai-kuen, the manager of Hunan-born rhythm and blues singer Tia Ray, who performed at the MetaMoon Music Festival at the Barclays Centre in New York in November. Tia, the first and only Chinese artist to appear on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s global singles chart, has expanded her catalogue of collaborations with US and other overseas musicians. “It’s about the persistence of messaging,” Lee said. “Politics and tensions have always been around – it is not as relevant when it comes to making or putting out music. We write and sing about pretty much the same things: falling in love, being heartbroken or feeling happy. “Various Chinese artists, including mine, are all trying to break internationally, and you would find the same with young US artists – they would love to break into the Chinese, or Korean, or Japanese markets.” C-pop could serve as a platform for overseas communities to correct or increase their understanding of China, which might be outdated, while also creating a sense of resonance. “When people think about China, they think of dragons or lanterns or the Great Wall – these are things that are a few thousand years old – from ancient China, not contemporary China,” Lee said. “Cuisine is a great soft power – you may not like or know about the country, but you can love the food, or because of the food, you become intrigued – I think music is the same, it’s pretty borderless.” Despite political tensions, she said there were universal beliefs that Chinese artists could embody that would satisfy the expectations of both their domestic and international fans. “I hope people will respect each other’s values, even if they’re different,” Lee said, while adding that some basic values, such as opposition to sexual harassment, were common to both the US and China. Wang’s appearance at Coachella was part of the Head in the Clouds Festival, an annual music extravaganza organised by US-based music company 88rising, which also has a Shanghai branch. It has been held across stadiums in Los Angeles, Jakarta and Manila since 2018. Lee said “going global” would require C-pop stars to venture into not only the US market, but also the blossoming Asian music scene, and for any C-pop stars to have soft power value, they would have to engage with the local communities overseas, rather than just the Chinese diaspora. “It’s critical that you have a local audience, otherwise you are not breaking into that market,” she said. “Can you imagine if an American artist were to break into the local Hong Kong music scene, and only foreigners go see them?” : https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3207471/can-chinese-pop-musics-soft-power-push-ever-match-k-pops-success [...] Read more...
January 19, 2023Uncategorized【Call for Presentations- MACM Alumni Symposium: ON CULTURAL MEDIATION】 31st March and 1st April 2023 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Co-organized by: MA in Cultural Management Programme & Centre for Cultural Studies The MACM Alumni Symposium is a platform for current cultural management practitioners who are MACM graduates to share their critical reflections and insights based on their first-hand experience. The symposium focuses on the act of cultural mediation that touches on issues such as professional ethics, cultural rights, cultural identity, and the social dynamics within cultural representation. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of proposed themes/ topics of discussion for this first symposium: • On Communities • On Conserving • On Creating • On Curating • On Education • On Fundraising • On Leadership • On Marketing • On Research This symposium is open to alumni of the MACM programme. Accepted presentations are organized into groups based on specific themes. Each presenter has 15 minutes to share their insights. After all presenters in each theme have finished their presentations, a Q&A session will be held. Presenters are expected to submit their full presentation essays (1500 in English and 2200 words in Chinese) before the symposium. The essays will be reviewed and compiled into an edited volume (e-book). Confirmed presenters will receive a small honorarium. If you are keen to present in the symposium, please register your interest here by 5th February 2023: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13661550 Website:https://ccs.crs.cuhk.edu.hk Enquiry: cuccs@cuhk.edu.hk 【演講徵集- 文化管理碩士課程 校友論壇： 文化中介篇】 2023 年 3 月 31 日和 4 月 1 日 香港中文大學 合辦單位：香港中文大學文化管理碩士課程和文化研究中心 香港中文大學文化管理碩士課程校友座談會為當前畢業的文化管理從業者提供一個平台，根據他們的第一手經驗分享批判性的思考和見解。 本研討會關注文化中介思維的實踐，涉及職業倫理、文化權利、文化認同和文化表徵中的社會動態等問題。 以下是本次研討會的擬議討論主題列表 (初擬)： • 社區社群篇 • 保育篇 • 創作篇 • 策展篇 • 教育篇 • 籌款篇 • 領袖篇 • 營銷篇 • 研究篇 本次研討會的主要對象為香港中文大學文化管理碩士課程的校友。 獲邀的演講將會根據特定主題進行分組。 每位演講者有 15 分鐘的時間來分享他們的見解。 每個主題的所有演講者完成演講後，將舉行問答環節。 演講者需在研討會舉行前提交完整的演講論文（英文 1500 字，中文 2200 字）。 這些論文將被編撰成電子書。主辦單位將向獲邀的演講者提供講員費。 如果您有興趣參加研討會，請在 2023 年 2 月 5 日之前填寫此表格: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13661550 網站:https://ccs.crs.cuhk.edu.hk 查詢: cuccs@cuhk.edu.hk [...] Read more...
June 20, 2022InterviewsProf. Laikwan Pang was awarded the CUHK-Stanford University Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) Partner Fellowship in 2021–22. She engaged in an intellectual exchange at CASBS during September 2021–April 2022 with a cohort of distinguished thinkers and researchers from diverse academic disciplines including anthropology, communication, computer sciences and engineering, economics, education, law, political science, among others. Click here to know more about her experience in Stanford: https://www.oal.cuhk.edu.hk/202206-52-cu-casbs/ CUHK-Stanford University CASBS Partner Fellowship Program https://www.oal.cuhk.edu.hk/cuhkcasbs/ [...] Read more...
April 13, 2022Public Engagement出櫃，是獲得自己及他人的終極認證嗎？ 文// 林松輝   編按：當我們談論出櫃時，是否也考慮過出櫃者所要面對和承擔的一切？2021年，香港文化研究者林松輝推出新書《膠卷同志》，從電影媒介著手、結合批判理論、文化研究和後殖民思想，由前現代中國戲曲中的跨性別演出，一直談至後現代離散中的性向／性相。書中對於出櫃敘事提出了深刻反思，並以許多觀眾熟悉的電影《囍宴》作為文本，來探討那些在出櫃驕傲中被遺忘的聲音與問題。（本文摘錄自《膠卷同志：當代中華電影中之男同性戀再現》（香港：手民出版社，2021），原題為〈出櫃與同志解放的修辭〉，標題為編者擬，文章經手民出版社授權轉載。） 就同性戀的電影再現而論，對抗負面再現的合理結果，經常是創造出已出櫃的同志角色，畢竟同志解放論述把不出櫃定為自我厭惡的跡象，而出櫃則是發自驕傲的積極行動。過去數十年，出櫃佔據着這樣一個不加質疑——有時候甚至是不可質疑——的地位，不出櫃被視為難以理解的行為。正如莎莉．蒙特（Sally Munt）指出： 基於性相被認為是男、女同志身上最受壓迫的部份，我們因而傾向視之為我們身份的真相，這個誘惑掩蓋了一個恆常不變的假象。對男、女同志而言，「出櫃」等於說出受壓迫的真相……米歇爾．傅柯（Michel Foucault）觀察到，告解與基督教宗教禮儀之間的連繫內存於西方的性相中，告解在結構上與證詞和證人有所關連，亦即一個把經驗化為超驗意義的傳教過程。從這個結合中能清晰看到感受變成了操演：經過物質化和變形，感受得以存在並合法化。（1997，187） 套用笛卡兒的公式，同志解放論述懇求同性戀者宣稱：「我出櫃故我存在。」當同志解放與同志運動如浪潮般湧到華人社會，出櫃也就更普遍地被視為同性戀者的成長儀式（rite of passage）及其個人性傾向獲得自己及他人的終極認證。如同在西方所見，當代華人社會中的同性戀者愈發視性傾向為其身份、自我和主體性不可或缺的一部份。在中華電影中尋找正面的同性戀再現成為趨勢，出櫃既然被認定具有合法性，並與華人社會對同性戀的壓迫抗衡，若有電影能再現出操演性質強烈的出櫃，便會備受影評人擁護。   林松輝：《膠卷同志：當代中華電影中之男同性戀再現》（手民出版社，2021） 要求同性戀者出櫃，無論是在電影或現實中，往往反映了同志運動者和影評人的政治理念需要更高的能見度、更多盟友和支持。可是，出櫃的後果又由誰來承擔呢？   在《囍宴》中，同性戀的主角偉同只能算是「半出櫃」，因為他只向母親而未向父親出櫃。即使父親意識到兒子是同性戀者，對此心照不宣，某些影評人始終認為，《囍宴》沒有拍出兒子向父親出櫃的一幕是個「敗筆」。已出櫃的香港影評人林奕華質疑：「九十年代的（男）同性戀者為何仍自甘廁身衣櫃？」（1993，70）林氏指控在《囍宴》中，同性戀者再怎樣「乾淨可喜」，也只能留在櫃中才能獲得幸福，這會打消同性戀者出櫃的念頭。（同上，72） 這種批評衍生出幾個問題：誰決定同性戀者應否出櫃？出櫃必然促進對同性戀的認識與接納嗎？若出櫃與西方認識論及其操作息息相關（正如蒙特借用傅柯說明），我們還應該視之為放諸四海皆準，並不加區分地施行於其他文化嗎？ 我首先要提出，儘管出自同志解放論述，出櫃並非必然在道德上比較高尚。要求同性戀者出櫃，無論是在電影或現實中，往往反映了同志運動者和影評人的政治理念需要更高的能見度、更多盟友和支持。可是，出櫃的後果又由誰來承擔呢？伊芙．賽菊寇（Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick）指出，當同性戀者向父母出櫃時，他們是「帶着有可能被嚴重傷害的意識的，而這傷害很可能會是雙向的」。尤其是在恐同的社會中，出櫃的同性戀者或會反過來把父母「推進〔父母所屬的〕保守社群的暗櫃」。（1990，80）倫理、責任、情感和家庭牽絆等問題錯綜複雜地纏在一起，相比起來，壓迫與解放的論述顯得簡單和天真。很有可能，對同性戀者及其家庭而言，出櫃的複雜性與後果甚為約束，暗櫃反而是相對解放的居所。 的確，我們不能假定出櫃必然能達到雙重成就，既把同性戀者從令人窒息的暗櫃中解放出來，亦獲得其出櫃對象的理解。《囍宴》的出櫃一幕顯示，要使對方明白未必容易。偉同向母親出櫃後，她質問：「是賽門把你帶壞的嗎？」、「你怎麼這麼糊塗啊？」、「你大學的時候不是也交過女朋友嗎？」諷刺的是，高父以外的所有家庭成員都串通好，要向他隱瞞偉同的同性戀身份，他卻似乎比妻子更從容地接受了。與其視此為「駭人聽聞、難以置信」和「願望成真的幻想」，（Rayns 1994，208）我認為《囍宴》透過父母在面對偉同之同性戀時截然不同的反應，力證把出櫃等同於提升對同性戀的接納程度是危險的。   雖然出櫃的意象視覺效果十足，卻不能用作定義世界各地同性戀者之各種經驗的普世框架。 就在偉同和賽門因威威懷孕而吵架時，高父發現了兒子是同性戀者的真相。由於偉同和賽門都認定高父、高母不懂英語，因此便在他們面前吵架；高父始終沉默不語，卻多次叫問長問短的妻子閉嘴。其後，我們從高父跟賽門的對話中，得知他略懂英語。他只是「策略性地」保持沉默，（Dariotis and Fung 1997，201）以便與賽門暗中約定，別讓任何人知道他早知偉同是同性戀者。高父的策略是如此運作的：「如果我不讓他們騙我的話，我怎麼能抱得了孫子呢？」高父一心只想着要永續其家族命脈，這固然可被解讀為「自私」，（同上，202）但他承認了偉同的同性戀倒也值得一讚。原本主動約賽門去散步的他，忽然給了賽門一個紅包當作生日禮物，這個紅包跟高母早前給準媳婦威威的一模一樣。利用賽門的生日，高父送紅包的行為等於接納賽門為其「兒婿」。當賽門問高父是否知情時，高父僅回答：“I watch, I hear, I learn. Wai-Tung is my son––so you’re my son also.”（我觀察，我聆聽，我學習。偉同是我的兒子，所以你也是我的兒子。）高父的訊息再清楚不過了：賽門已被接納為高家的一份子。 相反，即使偉同已向高母出櫃，她似乎難以像高父般完全接納賽門。她為了進一步認識賽門，唯一的嘗試是問了幾個關於他家庭的問題，又問及他住在三藩市的兩位姐姐是否也「有點奇怪」（指同性戀）。在得知威威決定不墮胎後，高母依然抱有一線希望地說：「說不定他（偉同）的毛病（指同性戀）只是暫時過渡性的。」及「說不定當他看到自己的孩子的時候，自然就會更正過來。」在把偉同父母送上飛機的結尾前，偉同、威威和賽門站在兩老背後一起看婚宴的相簿。看到蒙着眼的威威認不出吻她臉頰的是偉同時，他們都真情流露地發笑。然而，翻到偉同從後摟着賽門的照片時，氣氛卻變了調，高母唐突地闔上相簿，說該是時候走了。到了離境閘口，高母在跟偉同和威威擁抱後，面對賽門欲擁抱她的動作時卻楞住了。化解此窘境的是高父，他抓住賽門的手，感謝他——而非威威——照顧偉同。高父給威威的臨別贈言是：「高家會感謝妳的。」這句話顯示他清晰地區別出賽門作為偉同的伴侶和威威作為偉同孩子的母親這兩個身份。 最後，考慮到出櫃這個概念乃建基於西方認識論及其操作上，這不就使之更應該受到質詢，而非不加區分地被套用到各文化上嗎？馬丁．馬納蘭森（Martin F. Manalansan IV）指出，在「口頭上賣弄文化多樣性」的同時，「大眾與學術文獻中出現了一個趨勢」，那就是「硬銷現代、歐洲中心及普世的主體性」，並調用「被建構成鐵板一塊的同志性（gayness）和同志解放」。（1995，429）例如，「有人把沉默和秘密認定為『關在櫃中』，也有人把在公共場域中少見明確地自我認同為同志者歸咎於『恐同』，此等皆未受質詢」。（同上）我則認為，這個趨勢不只盛行於西方評論界，在無論是來自何方或居於何處的擁護同志解放論述者之間，也愈見普遍。雖然出櫃的意象視覺效果十足，卻不能用作定義世界各地同性戀者之各種經驗的普世框架。無論如何，暗櫃既不是單一的空間，出櫃也不是單一和簡單的動作，正如賽菊寇解釋說：「異性戀主義的設想具有致命的靈活性，這意味着⋯⋯人們就連在打盹時也會有新牆在他們四周迸出：每遇到新一輪的學生，更別說新老闆、新社工、新貸款專員、新房東、新醫生，就會豎立起新暗櫃，其特有卻叫人擔憂的光學與物理法則，會向同性戀者索取新的調查、計算、草稿、秘密或要求揭密。」（Sedgwick 1990，68）   Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, University of California Press, 1990. Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity—China, 1900-1937, LYDIA H. LIU, Stanford University Press, 1995 視逾越既定的正統或反抗既定的支配為亟需履行的使命，反而會變相成為另一種形式的霸權，以團結之名否認社群中的差異，《囍宴》因出櫃議題而收到的迴響就證明了這一點。 在《囍宴》中，偉同雖然向高母出櫃，她卻未能完全理解他的性傾向，這會把已推開的櫃門重新關上嗎？高父心照不宣地認可了偉同是同性戀者，這又等於櫃門只是半開嗎？以上清楚說明，無論是在甚麼文化脈絡中，出櫃的比喻都有其局限。更重要的是，伴隨着出櫃而來的政治評估必須納入考量：即對家庭成員的同性戀心照不宣，在道德上不必然比直認不諱更難接受，也不能不假思索地就把環繞着這個默認的氛圍認定為「恐同」。從高母的反應可以得知，我們不能假設出櫃是唯一最好的「解方」。陳慧明（Wei Ming Dariotis）和馮佳晴（音譯，Eileen Chia-Ching Fung）拋出以下幾個問題，為她們就《囍宴》所合寫的論文作結： 某程度上，婚宴象徵對同性戀的持續遏制；即使來到結局，也是靠着記載異性戀傳統婚姻的相簿拉近所有角色之間的距離，無論是實際拉近或作為比喻……假如婚宴和高父有限的生命（高父在戲中兩度中風）在戲中的作用是遏止同性戀的「逾越」（transgression），那麼高父向賽門揭露自己一直知情，並接納賽門和偉同真正的關係，是否可以說是中斷了戲中近乎恐同的配方呢？（1997，207） 與其堅持要高父公開認可兒子的同性戀，我（與馬納蘭森一道）主張承襲自西方同志解放和同志運動論述的詞彙——例如「踰越」、「恐同」和「出櫃」——才是需要被質詢的。同性戀不必然要比其他性傾向「踰越」更多，而我們也許應該去問到底有甚麼需要被「踰越」。 同志運動和同志批評（gay criticism）既然是解放論述和身份認同政治（identitarian politics）的形式之一，以踰越和反抗來表達也是可以理解。不過，尼古拉斯．加納姆（Nicholas Garnham）在回應尤爾根．哈伯馬斯（Jürgen Habermas）的公共領域概念時直指：「左翼文化浪漫主義（left cultural romanticism）視任何形式的草根文化表達為『反抗』，即使反抗的對象並不明確也如是觀之，這在媒體與文化研究中愈發盛行。」（1992，373） 在我看來，視逾越既定的正統或反抗既定的支配為亟需履行的使命，反而會變相成為另一種形式的霸權，以團結之名否認社群中的差異，《囍宴》因出櫃議題而收到的迴響就證明了這一點。就電影分析而言，解放經常是意識形態先驗決定，因而犧牲了從細讀而來的文本證據，文本則往往比政治權術來得複雜和細緻。     【註】 林奕華。1993。〈一場歡喜一場空：喜宴後感〉。《影響》第36期（4月）：69–72。  另有男同志觀眾在互聯網上發表了類似的見解，見marchetti 2000，281。 正如賽菊寇也指出，「在同志自我揭露（self-disclosure）的過程中⋯⋯最先浮現的會是授權和證據的問題（『你怎麼知道你真的是同志』？）」。（sedgwick 1990，79）  有關對踰越的質疑，見wilson 1993和foucault 1998。  同樣地，周蕾也指出「若在後設敘事（metanarrative）遭受打擊的此刻有一個後設敘事 能逆流茁壯，那便是『反抗』的後設敘事」，而「身份認同政治這個概念承包了政治、階級、 種族和性別身份論述，『反抗』已成為支持此概念的修辭」。（chow 1998，113）劉禾則從後 殖民理論入手，寫道：「我深覺反諷的是，批評西方支配的這個動作，其結果竟經常是具體化 了支配者的權力，非西方文化的能動性被極度地簡化成唯一的可能性：反抗。」（liu 1995，xv–i） 【參考書目】 chow, rey. 1998. ethics after idealism: theory-culture-ethnicity-reading. bloomington and indianapolis: indiana university press. dariotis, wei ming, and eileen fung. 1997. “breaking the soy sauce jar: diaspora and displacement in the films of ang lee.” in transnational chinese cinemas: identity, nationhood, gender. ed. sheldon hsiao-peng lu, 187–220. honolulu: university of hawai‘i press. foucault, michel. 1998. “a preface to transgression.” in aesthetics, method, and epistemology: essential works of foucault, 1954–1984, vol. 2. ed. james d. faubion. trans. robert hurley et al., 69–87. london: allen lane, penguin press. garnham, nicholas. 1992. “the media and the public sphere.” in habermas and the public sphere. ed. craig calhoun, 357–76. cambridge, mass., and london: mit press. liu, lydia h. 1995. translingual practice: literature, national culture and translated modernity: china 1900–1937. stanford, calif.: stanford university press. manalansan, martin f., iv. 1995. “in the shadows of stonewall: examining gay transnational politics and the diasporic dilemma.” glq 2 (4): 425–38. marchetti, gina. 2000. “the wedding banquet: global chinese cinema and the asian american experience.” in countervisions: asian american film criticism. ed. darrell y. hamamoto and sandra liu, 275–97. philadelphia: temple university press. munt, sally r. 1997. “the personal, experience, and the self.” in lesbian and gay studies: a critical introduction. ed. adny medhurst and sally r. munt, 186–97. london and washington, d.c.: cassell. rayns, tony. 1994. review of the wedding banquet. in sight and sound film review volume, january 1993–december 1993, 208. london: british film institute. sedgwick, eve kosofsky. 1990. epistemology of the closet. berkeley and los angeles: university of california press. wilson, elizabeth. 1993. “is transgression transgressive?” in activating theory: lesbian, gay, bisexual politics. ed. joseph bristow and angelia r. wilson, 107–17. london: lawrence and wishart. 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