A Tale of Two Boys, One Bicycle, Reveals Chinese Society: an Analysis of Conflict in Society Through the Sixth Generation Film Beijing Bicycle
A Tale of Two Boys, One Bicycle, Reveals Chinese Society:
An Analysis of Conflict in Society through the Sixth Generation Film Beijing Bicycle
A college paper submitted to Dr. Lijuan Meng
Department of Chinese Education
By
Craig O’Connor
Grove City, PA
December, 2012
Abstract
Beijing Bicycle is a 2001 Chinese drama film under the joint venture of the Taiwanese Arc Light Films and the French Pyramide Productions. Staring first-time actors Cui Lin and Li Bin, This film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Jury Grand Prix and New Talent Award. This film is a perfect example of the generation the director Wang Xiaoshuai grew up in. The people that comprise Beijing as well as the lifestyle they lived are well portrayed in this film. The social status along with the primary characteristics of the movie such as the bicycle (an extremely common use of transportation during this period in China) and mail delivery were great facets to portrayal of Sixth Generation China. The conflicts faced through the two primary characters are symbolic of the issues Wang attempts to express, and leaves an important impact on the difference between stereotypical China and the collection of unique rough life experiences that needed to be expressed with the Chinese people. Through this film Beijing Bicycle I will investigate the work of Wang Xiaoshuai, a famous Sixth Generation director, and explain the particular social, economic, and political trends that Wang expresses through this film while exploring the historical periods that brought culture to these issues as well the socio-economic divisions of change. The emergence of the “Sixth Generation Directors” in the global film market was closely connected to the political currency attributed to their films’ ‘underground’ production in China. The early films directed by Zhang Yuan, Wan Xiaoshuai, and Jia Zhangke, for example were often referred to as ‘underground’ films by festivals and the media
An Analysis of Conflict in Society through the Sixth Generation Film Beijing Bicycle
A college paper submitted to Dr. Lijuan Meng
Department of Chinese Education
By
Craig O’Connor
Grove City, PA
December, 2012
Abstract
Beijing Bicycle is a 2001 Chinese drama film under the joint venture of the Taiwanese Arc Light Films and the French Pyramide Productions. Staring first-time actors Cui Lin and Li Bin, This film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Jury Grand Prix and New Talent Award. This film is a perfect example of the generation the director Wang Xiaoshuai grew up in. The people that comprise Beijing as well as the lifestyle they lived are well portrayed in this film. The social status along with the primary characteristics of the movie such as the bicycle (an extremely common use of transportation during this period in China) and mail delivery were great facets to portrayal of Sixth Generation China. The conflicts faced through the two primary characters are symbolic of the issues Wang attempts to express, and leaves an important impact on the difference between stereotypical China and the collection of unique rough life experiences that needed to be expressed with the Chinese people. Through this film Beijing Bicycle I will investigate the work of Wang Xiaoshuai, a famous Sixth Generation director, and explain the particular social, economic, and political trends that Wang expresses through this film while exploring the historical periods that brought culture to these issues as well the socio-economic divisions of change. The emergence of the “Sixth Generation Directors” in the global film market was closely connected to the political currency attributed to their films’ ‘underground’ production in China. The early films directed by Zhang Yuan, Wan Xiaoshuai, and Jia Zhangke, for example were often referred to as ‘underground’ films by festivals and the media
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