11/10
This radio show takes places when
Mao Zedong was in power. Karl Marx is the main
theorist. He hosts a radio show to talk about different concepts that he has
mentioned in his Communist Manifesto.
Throughout the radio show, Mao Zedong and Mary Louise Pratt give their opinions on the
different ideas that Marx talks about. For most of the show, they talk about
communism and Marxism (Although, Marxism is not directly mentioned). They also
added the topic to discuss the movie To
Live. In W-C-N-A radio headquarters, an interesting conversation starts up.
This is the original wording of the show of that day at the W-C-N-A
headquarters.
Marx: Coming up next on W-C-N-A radio, we have a special version of the B-I-N-G-O song. It is a new song that everyone should get to know, and it is called, “M-A-O Yeah Yeah”. It is my new favorite song.
Marx: Right now, however, we have two very special guests coming to talk with me today in the studio. They are Mary Louise Pratt, author of Imperial Eyes, and everyone’s favorite man, Mao Zedong.
Pratt: Hello Marx. I am so glad to be here with you and Mao Zedong. This is such an honor.
Mao: Well thank you for that comment. Can we sing that song now? M. A. O. Yeah Yeah. M.A. O. Yeah. Yeah. M.A.O. Yeah Yeah. And Mao Zedong was his name-o. I love that song.
Marx: Hey let us get this discussion started because I cannot wait to hear what you two have to say. I just absolutely love to talk about communism. Is it not just the greatest concept ever?
Mao: The part that I like most about communism is that I am the leader of it. I love having a classless society.
Marx: I agree with that. I do not know about you Pratt, but I am sure Mao Zedong agrees with my concept that everyone should contribute what they can, and get what they deserve. That is the motto I feel that communism goes by.
Mao: I totally agree. One movie that you should get to see is To Live. That movie expresses how my concepts work really well with what you just said. In The People’s Republic of China, everyone should be a part of society. In To Live, it really shows the importance of citizen contributions to society. An item that is extremely vital to China is steel. We need pots and anything that people may have made of steel. People should not have pots of their own anyway. We need common areas that people can go to for food. Everyone should just get used to sharing because there is no need to have extra. People should not have any extra luxuries. Marx, I have a question for you. We should just go along with education in a “large” school. The “large” school would teach everyone to be a worker. Do you agree with my concept of a large school?
Marx: I would definitely agree with that concept because workers would be the greatest benefit to society. Forget the bourgeoisie. The proletariat will rise up to power. WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
Pratt: Well, in my eyes, I just think that
communism avoids the “contact zone”, as I have spoken about previously in my
book called the Imperial Eyes.
Marx: Can you explain more about that?
Pratt: “Contact Zones” are social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination. Some examples are colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out across the globe today.
Marx: I am really happy that you mentioned that because I totally agree. I believe that eventually the proletariat will take over the bourgeoisie. With saying that, if that happens, then it will avoid the problems of the “contact zone”. What a wonderful statement Pratt! Communism is something that gets rid of the “contact zone” if the proletariat can overcome the bourgeoisie.
Mao: Oh, that truly is a wonderful
statement. Marx, did you not write more about the proletariat in your Communist Manifesto?
Marx: Certainly. I think under the Proletarians and Communists category, my exact line was, “In the various stages of development which the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole”. What I meant by that was that they agree on everything as a whole. There aren’t any cultures within the Proletariat that would clash. Everyone agrees on one concept because everyone in society is a member of the same group.
Pratt: Do you not think that a “contact zone” would actually be good for society?
Marx: Absolutely not. With a “contact zone”, people have too many choices and too many different beliefs. With all of these different beliefs, it can create huge conflict. It should just not be like that. With the concept of Marxism, everyone is on the same level. Everyone should just contribute whatever they can to The People’s Republic of China. You know?
Mao: Heck yeah. I just think that was the best statement ever Marx. It truly was.
Pratt: What are some other things that should not be a part of society?
Marx: Money. Money is not what bases our economic society. That is why capitalism sucks right?
Mao: I agree. People in The People’s Republic of China do not need money to survive. Money is useless. We should just have people do what they are supposed to do and get what they are supposed to get. If everyone has the same thing, there should be no need for a choice.
Pratt: Another thing that I mentioned in Imperial Eyes was how a “contact zone” would have trajectories that intersect. If you want to talk about capitalism, there is one reason why it is a lot easier for the United States. The United States only have to major countries touching its borders. The People’s Republic of China has at least three or four other major countries touching its borders.
Marx: That makes my belief even stronger.
Everyone in the world should follow communism. It would just make things so
much easier. There should be no classes and no differences throughout society.
Also I wanted to go back to discussing that movie To Live for a second. It goes back to my thought that I discussed
in the Communist Manifesto. Everyone
should have “equal liability to work.
There should be establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.”
This relates back to the economic part of society that we were just talking
about. However, with the establishment of industrial armies Mao, are you really
for child labor? That is one thing that bothers me so much. I cannot believe
you would be for child labor. If you read my Communist Manifesto, how could you have skipped over the part that
says, “Free education for all children in
public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form.
Combination of education with industrial production.”
Pratt: Before you answer that Mao, let me just say that if you say you went along with child labor, that would be causing destruction within society. For many families, such as the main family in the movie To Live, their son was on very little sleep. Yet, just to please you, he still kept going to burn steel. He also died because of an accidental car crash, but you still see my point. This characteristic of your society is making people start to not like the society they live in. It may even get to the point that you are creating a “contact zone” from your own actions.
Mao: Well, I am sorry for what happens because of child labor, but I cannot do anything about that. I feel as if child labor is good because they are learning at a young age how to be a worker. We need all of the help that we can get.
Marx: But at what cost. I cannot believe you would actually say something like that. We do not need child labor if we have so many workers. Proletarians do not have much to lose. They just have a world to win. We just need a Communist Revolution.
Mao: I am sorry if you do not like child labor. I do feel however that we need a communist revolution. The rest of the world should just become part of our communist society, and the bourgeoisie should tremble.
Marx: On that note, that was a great discussion. That is all the time we have for today. Thank you again Mao Zedong and Mary Louise Pratt for coming out here today to W-C-N-A radio station to talk with me. Now, everyone, live in harmony by the statement, WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! I just love saying that. Now, like I promised, everyone can enjoyed the new song M-A-O Yeah Yeah!
To Live.
Dir. Yimou Zhang. 1994.
Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One, Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, 1969, pp. 98-137;
Pratt, Mary Louise, “Introduction,” in Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, New York: Routledge, 1994
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Patricia Muench
Prof. Saddler
11/02/08
How accurately did
the film portray the social and political landscape of China: 1930’s-1970’s?
What did the
introduction of Communism fail to alter about Chinese culture?
“Destruction”
Mao Zedong once said, “Progress is
born in chaos. And originality comes from destruction.”
The social and political landscape of China changed drastically at the establishment of The People’s Republic of China. When it was established, you had to be of working class, possibly a party official, in agreement to do whatever the party official says, and in agreement to hate anyone the party officials say to hate. This type of life was the only way to live if you wanted to live a decent life in The People’s Republic of China. One activity that the movie portrays very well is the concept of producing steel. This part of the movie represents the industry part of the revolution. One example of industry was when they asked Fugui and his family to give up their cooking pots. Another example was when they made the school children, even Youqing, go to school to produce steel. This time period called “The Great Leap Forward”, was all about producing steel for invading Taiwan, and following the ideologies of Communist China. There was only one party in the political landscape of China, and that was the Communist Party. Within the Chinese communities, it was all about sharing and using the bare minimum of any item, so that they could support China with every item they can provide. If anyone went against what the party officials said, or if they were going against the revolution, they would end up like Long’er. Long’er was killed for compliance with trying to sabotage the revolution. Your execution would be public for everyone to see too. Lastly, another part of the social Chinese culture is to get married. When the parents set up a meeting with Wan Erxi, Fengxia is okay with marrying him. The part that is especially following the social aspect of China is that he was a local leader of the Red Guards. This made him a local leader, and of the working class, which would provide Fengxia with a decent life for the future. With this lifestyle, everyone was stressed with making sure that they pleased the party officials.
There were also many aspects of Chinese culture that communism failed to alter. One example can be when the Red Guards got rid of all the doctors in the hospital causing Fengxia’s death. Their actions caused lives to be lost. They brought down the education level because nobody in the hospital knew what they were doing. Another example is when they brainwash their citizens by telling them to sing songs about praising Mao. These songs were sung right after a wedding. Wedding songs were not sung at all after Wan and Fengxia got married. The citizens do not have a chance to voice their own opinion. The songs, and the threat of death, brainwash the citizens into thinking that one day, some good will come of Mao’s actions. Lastly, an example can also be when Fugui sent his son to school to produce more steel, even after his son did not sleep for three days. Fugui only made that decision because he did not want to upset the party officials. Because of Communism, it has even turned families towards making bad decisions, just to please the party officials. Fugui’s choice even made him regret it afterwards because it caused the accidental death of his son. If only Fugui had the option of not pleasing the officials for just one time, it would have saved his son’s life. Communism has turned many people against each other, instead of uniting them. Mao, as he stated, wanted to improve China from destruction, but his actions just caused more destruction.
China and its culture was depicted very well in the movie, “To Live”. Not only did the movie give a good sense of China’s culture, but the movie also made you forget it was not a documentary. The movie did express how industry deeply affected Chinese culture. Through many examples, the movie portrayed the social and political landscapes of China. Lastly, it also showed the downsides to Communism. Overall, the movie expressed how Mao’s attempt at progressing China actually reversed the progress and created more destruction.
Galduroz, Michael, Alex Busetto and Yuki Satou. Discovering
China: "The Middle Kingdom". 2nd November 2008
<http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/cultural-revolution/maoism.html>.