Country vs. City

Country vs. City: Life of Immigrants

Introduction

            Over the past few months, we have seen many films with a variety of topics, friendship, modernization, feminism, etc. One film that we thought was particularly interesting is the movie Beijing Bicycle directed by WANG Xiaoshuai. This movie is about a young adult from the countryside going out of his comfort zone and moving into the city for work. He is in a totally new environment, and has very little knowledge of the city life. The main focal point of the movie revolves around the main character and his bike. He uses it to get around the city working for a package delivery type service where he is put in many situations in which he is often misunderstood or taken advantage of. In this essay, we will analyze the main character Guo’s predicament in this strange new environment in this clash of city versus country in which he is, in a sense, crippled by a sort of “culture shock” as seen throughout the movie. He tries to deal with different types of situations but everything is so alien from what he is used to that he ends up having no idea what to do in these circumstances and either just blankly stares with a confuse look or runs away. The film really captures the emotions of poor Guo as misfortune befalls upon him. In an article by Jian Xu, Beijing Bicycle “examines the difficulties of making a living in an environment in which there is little support and trust, and the possibility of these workers forming new social ties and eventually assimilating to the city (Jian 434).”

Country vs. City in Beijing Bicycle

            At the start of the movie there is already apparent that one can tell if someone is from the city or the country just by looking at them. When Guo gets the mail delivery job, the employer gives him his company uniform and says that he now looks like he is from the city. He goes on to make his first delivery and is in a stated of bewilderment. He starts waddling into a set of revolving doors. He gets distracted by it and misses the exit as the door behind traps him in and has to wait for another rotation for the doors to open up again into the building. Everything seems foreign to him, he slowly walks into the building, his head turning in every direction because he has no idea where he is supposed to go everything is so foreign to him. Something as simple as a rotating door is strange to him and has to figure out how to use it.

            As Guo goes on to make his second run to pick up a package by Mr. Zhang. He goes up to the front desk and asks for Mr Zhang, completely baffled by the way they do meetings, making him strip down and take a shower before visiting the person only to find out that they sent him to the wrong Mr. Zhang. The receptionist at the front desk then tells Guo he has to pay for his shower. Guo refuses, arguing that he never wanted to go and take a shower in the first place and that she just made him go. But if we pay closer attention, the receptionist at the front desk yells out that he is a customer so he clearly knows that there might be some sort of mistake but decided to go in regardless. When he tries to run away and was stopped by the security guard, Mr. Zhang, the manager of the massage parlor and the man that Guo was supposed to see, comes and says “You certainly took your time” as Guo helplessly stares at the ground trying to avoid eye contact. “So you went for a show? You’re a wise guy.” Even though Mr. Zhang was scolding him, Guo just remains silent and does nothing. His head farther lowers as Mr. Zhang continues. His facial expression just screams “but it wasn’t my fault, they made me go in,” but he never says it. He never explains himself even when it would clear up the whole misunderstanding but instead just lets Zhang yell at him as he just stands there dumbfounded.

            As the movie progresses, we begin to see that the main protagonist never really seems to know what to do and ends up either not saying anything or running away. There was a scene where very limited dialogue was present, when Guo runs into the “city girl”, who was on her way to buy groceries, and knocks her out. When she wakes up, none of them spoke; neither Guo or his friend asked how she was feeling, they just stare at her as she just gets up and walks off. Why? Perhaps the characters feel that there is some kind of barrier between city and country folks, because they feel that they are from two different world. Xu explains why the woman did not speak, for if she did, it would then be known to the two men that she is in fact also from the country just like them. He goes on to say that “on the symbolic level, the country girl’s silence is especially important because it signifies the imaginary nature of the migrant men’s relationship to the condition of existence in the metropolis. This is the significance of the girl’s mistaken identity. (Jiang 446)”

Character Anaylsis

            The characters of the Beijing Bicycle are essential to the development of the plot. Guo, being from the country, is a hard working and responsible teenager, and treated his bike like it’s his life, because it is the only thing he had. He is also uneducated, lacks intelligence and social skills. His personality is skewed because of the fact that he is from the country, which leads to all the difficulties he faced throughout the movie. Jian, on the other hand, is educated and outspoken, but is also very immature and disrespectful. Although his personality was very different from Guo’s, one thing that they share in common is that they both took care of their bikes (or bike, since he owned the same one), and will do anything to get the bike back. The importance of the contrast of their personalities is that it shows how difficult it is for Guo to live in the city. Before his bike was stolen, he was having trouble adjusting to the city life. After his bike was stolen, he was constantly living in fear of having his bike stolen again. To Guo’s credit, although he lacks the social skills to resolve situations, he never gave up on recovering his bike, and his relentlessness shows how responsible of a person he is.

            In an article written by Jian Xu, titled “Representing rural migrants in the city experimentalism in Wang Xiaoshuai’s So Close to Paradise and Beijing Bicycle”, the author give a clear analysis of challenges immigrants face moving to the city. A quote from the article can illustrate this point: “The direct encounter between the two youths sets up contrast of values and enables a more concrete representation of the lived experience of rural migrants” (Xu 422). As Xu stated, during the opening scene of the movie when a group of rural youths were being interviewed in a documentary style, “their mannerism and accents immediately place them outside Beijing” (Xu 422), which complete describes the situation of most immigrants. Beside Guo being a prime representation of that quote, Qin, the “city girl” is also a good example. She changes her style of clothing and tries to adjust her mannerism in order the hide the fact that she is from the country, but she knows that there is one thing that is close to impossible to get rid of: her accent. That is why throughout the movie, you never hear her talk. It is not because the character did not have the opportunity to talk throughout the movie, but she chooses not to in order to not give away the fact the she is from the country, as her accent will reveal that truth.

Beijing Bicycle vs. Blind Shaft

            The two movies share a similar representation of the lives of immigrants, and they difficulty the face moving into the city. While Beijing Bicycle involves the struggle of Guo having trouble adjusting to the city life, Blind Shaft gives the audience a darker, more realistic representation of immigrants’ struggle. The plot describe two con artists convincing strangers who are looking for work on the street to pretend to be their family member, and killing them in the mines in order to receive the compensation. Things changed when one of the con artist, Song, becomes attached to their next target, a young boy from the country named Fengming, who is from the country. Song is touched by his naivety and his kind-hearted personality, and becomes attached to him. The interesting thing is that both the con artists are also from the country, and they are reminded of that throughout the movie (Karaoke place and brothel). The similarly that this two movie share is the fact the characters that are immigrants, all came to the city for work, and their families livelihood is also dependent on them. Although they are in different situations, and the movies’ settings are different, they all need their jobs in order to survive. Guo needs his bike in order to make a living, and Song (arguably) needs to continue to be a con artist so that he can send money back to his family in the country, even though he was reluctant to continue killing people because of Fengming.

Conclusion

            People who have never had to live in a new environment may never understand immigrants experienced, and it is even more difficult for them to understand immigrants who moved from different areas of a country, from country to city. Some people may think that it cannot be to hard since they are moving from the same country, but stereotypical judgment against people from rural areas may hurt just as much as racism. I (Chris) being from Hong Kong, have seen many locals discriminating against immigrants from mainland China because of their accents and mannerism. But I believe that everyone deserves a chance to be successful, and if they have worked so hard to move to the city, why not give them a chance to succeed? Through Beijing Bicycle, we learn that hard work and dedication may not be enough to move into the city, as sometimes you have to disguise yourself, just like Qin, in order to be visually accepted by the society. I say visually because as soon as city people hear country people speak, they will recognize their accent and immediately discriminate them. Guo is a perfect example of the struggles new immigrants face when they first move into the city, as the mostly have to work as a labor and have difficulty adjust to the lifestyle.

Our Movie

            Raymond and I wanted to demonstrate some of our ideas of what it is like for immigrants to move into the city, so we made a movie that reenacts similar situations that Guo experience in Beijing Bicycle. We tried to put ourselves in the shoes of a new immigrant, and trying to interpret and understand the immigrant’s experience, and the adjustment that the immigrant has to make.

           

Works Cited

Jian Xu, Representing rural migrants in the city: eperimentalism in Wan Xiaoshuai’s So Close to Paradise and Beijing Bicycle.  October 21, 2010 screen.oxfordjournals.org 12/8/13

Beyond the Friendship; Father and Son

Beyond the Friendship; Father and Son

            The most elaborate thought that came to my mind after I watched “The Killer”, is the importance of the two fatherly figures that significantly influence the development of the two main characters (Enough to make Strong Men Weep). I was also intrigued by the ways these two supporting characters influence the plot development because more often than not, the supporting characters simply just assist the main characters and have minimal effect on the plot itself, especially in an action movie, but that was not the case in this movie. Both characters had quite a bit of screen time, both individually and alongside with the main characters. The supporting characters (fatherly figure), are nonetheless Sidney and Chang, and the two assist John and Li Ying respectively throughout the movie. The relationships between the two sets of father-son give a deeper meaning to the story, rather than just love, and apparently male intimacy also.

            Sidney is a retired contract killer, who has see his fair share of respect and admiration by other people in his field when he was young, he  injuring his shooting hand during a job, and was forced into retirement because of the injury and age. In the movie, he works for a ruthless triad boss named Johnny Weng as a middleman who assign John’s job to him. John is also a contract killer who is in his prime years. He is extremely skilled and naturally gifted, always gets the job done and keeps himself level-headed. Sidney is John’s mentor; he taught John everything he knows and is part of the reason why John is so successful. The two share a mutual bond that is incorruptible, as evident in the story. When the first scene begins at the church and Sidney assigns a new job to John, he asked John if he was going to check the gun. John simply replies: “I trust you”, and does not check the gun. It will be such an easy act just to check the gun, but that’s how much trust John has for his mentor.

Later on in the movie, Sidney was forced to betray John; first by telling his boss where John will be parking his boat after a job, and second by trying to kill him when he visit John at his place with fake money. Even though Sidney betrayed John twice, and went as far as trying to kill him, John realizes that Sidney was scared for his own well-being, and made an irrational decision to try to kill John in order to save himself. John knows Sidney’s character enough to understand his situation, and spared his life instead of killing him. Before John leaves his apartment, he told Sidney that he never wants to see him again, but if you listen to the way he said it, you can hear the sorrow for his voice, instead of anger. He was more upset that he has lost a good friend, a mentor rather than furious because he was betrayed by someone he trusted. 

The two reconcile their relationship when John witnesses how hard Sidney tried to get John’s money back for him. They had a rather intense heart-to-heart talk when they both were quite angry at themselves because they were unable to resolve their issues with Johnny Weng. John was upset that Sidney was humiliated by Johnny Weng, and gave his gun to Sidney (again), telling him Sidney that he will rather die than see his friend being treated that way. Sidney was agitated by the fact that he was unable to fulfill his promise to John. The most important dialogue between Sidney and John was during this conversation (starting at 59:52), when they realize truly how deep their friendships are. John told Sidney that he has forgiven Sidney, because that’s what friends are supposed to.

In order for Sidney to full his promise, he tried to ask Johnny Weng to give him John’s money again, but this time with a much more violent approach. He ended up being beaten half to death, but was able to get the money. In the end, he died in the arms of John by taking multiple gunshots, but it was what he said that added a level of sentimental emotions to the story. Before Sidney took his last breath, he wanted to hear John’s validation and respect for his action, because John is his good friend, much like a son to him, and asked him to end his life. The trust and friendship the share is deep and admirably, much like the friendship between Li Ying and Chang.

Although less intense than the relationship between Sidney and John, Li Ying and Chang also shared a respected friendship, but without the betrayals. Chang also had the least on-screen time compare to other supporting characters such as Sidney and Jennie, so there is less to talk about him in terms of character description. Chang is an experienced cop who is Li Ying’s partner, which is another difference compare to Sidney and John’s relationship. Chang and Li Ying are more of a partnership, but that should not take away the fact that they two also share a deep bond. To cut to the chase, you really experience for the first time (and the only time), that Li Ying, who is portrayed as a hot-head and insensitive, truly cares for somebody. The scene occurred when Chang was on his death bed and Li Ying went to visit him (starting at 72:40). This is the first time that you see Li Ying was expressing sadness, especially in his voice. He recalls when Chang was giving him an advice when he was troubled; sometimes a pat (or a cigarette) from a friend can really lift your spirit up. The tears from Li Ying further shows how much he cared for Chang. The fact that Chang, risks his life to perform his duties as a policeman, much like Li Ying would, motivated Li Ying to continue to pursue the case.

I would admit that Chang and Li Ying’s relationship as a father and a son is less apparent and evident than Sidney and John’s relationship, but that should not take away from the fact that both Chang and Sidney risks their lives to assist Li Ying and John, much like a father would do for a son. Chang and Sidney are extremely important to the development to the plot, as they combined motivated the turning points of the plot several times. Both John and Li Ying waere devastated, much like how someone would feel when members of their family passed away, when Sidney and Chang died. It shows how much they care for their two fatherly figures, somebody they have looked up to, and the regrets that they will not be able to spend anymore with them.