BEIJING LETTER:A new movie reflects the rapid pace of change in a traditionally prudish society, writes CLIFFORD COONAN
SHUNZI IS a man with all kinds of problems. A portly taxi driver whose outspoken views have lost him his cab, and forced him to move back to his parents’ dingy hutong courtyard home in Beijing after his wife left him for an actor, Shunzi is running out of options. A career promoting groceries wearing a belly-exposing, gold lamé waistcoat in a supermarket is hard to bear. So he decides to open a sex shop, and all kinds of mayhem ensues.
Shunzi is the main protagonist in a witty new movie called Red Light Revolution, played with great pathos by Zhao Jun. But his lot is entirely credible, and his reaction to resolving his predicament well within the realms of the possible in today's freewheeling China.
China under Chairman Mao was famously prudish on matters sexual, but the opening up of society has led to an explosion in the sex industry.
Sex shops are now on every corner, and Sam Voutas, the director of Red Light Revolution, says his comedy reflects the rapid pace of change in contemporary China.
“I hope I’m offering a side of China that people haven’t seen before. It goes against what we might expect from a socialist country like China,” says Voutas, an Australian reared in Beijing who has lived here for many years.
He is a familiar face to fans of Chinese films and has acted in many local productions, including Lu Chuan's recent smash City of Life and Death.
“I was surprised to see how there are hundreds of sex shops now, in comparison to the 1980s. It goes hand in hand with China embracing commercialisation. In the 1990s there was one shop, and it was like a hospital,” says Voutas. “Now there are chain stores and mom and pop stores. I was drawn to the idea of why someone would open one, and wanted to investigate in a comedic way.”
Common they may be, but it would be wrong to say that sex shops are considered normal. Much of the drama in the film focuses on the horrified, naive or hypocritical reactions among Shunzi’s neighbours, and the local Communist Party street bailiff goes after Shunzi and his partner Lili because they lack a permit.
But there are also plenty of references to the fact that prudishness aside, clearly there is a lot of procreation going on in China – one of the running gags through the movie is the regular sound of squeaking mattress springs from Shunzi’s ageing parents’ room.
Although filled with lively language, the film features no nude scenes – instead a chaste inter-title screen appears at particularly risqué moments with the message This Shot Has Been Deleted.
Attitudes to sexuality are changing. Young people, the generation of the 1990s, have a similarly relaxed attitude to matters sexual that other teenagers in Asia would have. There is greater tolerance, even at official level, though the law is far from liberal. In April this year, a computer scientist in Nanjing was jailed for 3½ years on group sex charges for organising a swingers’ party. A tough sentence, although in the old days he would have faced execution.
Voutas, who made the movie with his partner-producer Melanie Ansley, a half-Chinese Canadian brought up in Shanghai, says they had “material support” from a sex toy company, x.com.cn, who gave them all the marital aids and sex toys they needed for props for the shoot.
“It was a bit awkward because we had a lot of stock – we had to fill a room full of stuff, and the drivers were a bit surprised,” he says.
The Beijing depicted in Red Light Revolutionis full of life and ribald humour, and Voutas hopes that his movie will pass the censors, although they can be pretty rigorous when it comes to depictions of China that don't tally with the leadership's vision of a "harmonious society". Actress Tang Wei was blacklisted for two years for her role in Ang Lee's steamy Lust, Cautionand is only now getting back into the business, having become a Hong Kong resident. All of this while China is the world's largest producer of sex toys.
“I asked what would be the kind of Chinese language movie I’d would want to watch, and what would appeal to both western and Chinese audiences. I hope that Chinese audiences come to see it and get a chance to see it . . . We’re still in the process of trying to get approval and it would be a great bonus to get a mainland Chinese release,” says Voutas, conceding they may have to make a few cuts to the movie.
After all, he says, there are 1.3 billion people in China. They had to come from somewhere.