#303 Devils on the Doorstep

Background:

• Jiang Wen: Three faces
  
  • “Jiang the actor has long been a symbol of virile and masculine Han nationalism” (Peter Hays Gries, “China’s ‘New Thinking’ on Japan,” in The China Quarterly no. 184 (Dec. 2005), 835. Jiang starred in the 1988 film Red Sorghum (Hong gaoliang 红高粱) in which he led peasant resistance against Japanese in rural Shandong. In 1993 he played Chinese businessman Wang Qiming in A Beijinger in New York (Beijingren zai Niuyue 北京人在纽约) in which he bests an American competitor and even “hires a buxom blond American prostitute and has his way with her with a vengeance—fulfilling the fantasies of many male Chinese nationalists” (Gries, 835).
    
  • As a director, Jiang has also repeatedly tested the boundaries and interrogated the past. He has directed two films tackling the Cultural Revolution--In the Heat of the Sun (Yangguang canlan de rizi 阳光灿烂的日子, 1994) and The Sun also Rises (Taiyang zhaochang sheng qi 太阳照常升起, 2007). We viewed perhaps his most controversial film, Devils on the Doorstep (Guizi laile 鬼子来, 2000), which challenges conventional narratives about Chinese resistance during World War II. He bypassed state authorities by entering the film in Cannes, where it won the Grand Prix, and was banned from filmmaking for seven years for work that “seriously distorts Chinese history” and “demonstrating the power of the Japanese army this way hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.” [Note this last part is a set phrase that often appears in official communications].
    
  • Jiang is, of course, also an entertainer. In 2011, Jiang’s Let the Bullets Fly (Rang zidan fei 让子弹飞), featured big-budget action thrills in the context of the 1920s Warlord period. And in 2016 he had a supporting role in Star Wars: Rogue One.
    
• Further context:
  
  • Connection between three time periods:
    
    • Depicted: 1944-45 (end of World War II)
      
    • Created: 2000 (response to post-1989 Chinese nationalism)
      
    • Viewed: 2019 (us at Hotchkiss)
      
  • By any measure World War II more significant part of Chinese history than it is in American history.
    
  • World War II is nearly ubiquitous as a film on television and movies in China. In 2012, for example, 69 anti-Japanese television series were approved for production along with about 100 films.
    
  • Narratives do not generally feature a lot of nuance, but then again, not generally a lot of nuance in Hollywood films about Nazis.
    

Today's task:

Imagine you have been tasked with writing an article explaining the relevance of Devils on the Doorstep to American high school and university students of Chinese history.

Process:

• Start by sharing your thoughts (one per note card—each with textual support if possible).
  
• Then, take a moment to read what your teammates have written. Place a sticker on any comments you think are especially helpful.
  
• Finally, we’ll reflect first in groups and then with the whole class.
  

If you feel stuck, consider these questions to prompt your thinking . . .

• Why are films useful for learning about the past?
  
• Consider the film as literature: is it a comedy, a tragedy, or something else? What relevance does this question have when thinking about this as a tool for teaching history?
  
• How would you characterize the Japanese in this film? The Chinese?
  
• Do you think this film has an argument? If so, what is it? If not, why?
  
• Why do you think Jiang Wen was rebuked by state authorities for directing this film?
  
• How does our present (or Jiang’s present) influence the way we see the film?