Identity in, and of, Cinema - discussion regarding revised Vietnamese Cinema Law 2021

They, as themselves...

September 2021, a constructive online discussion titled ‘Ai Gop Y Gio Tay Len’ (Raise Your Hand To Raise Your Voices) among Vietnamese filmmakers, directors, producers & concerned people was held to raise voices toward the draft of Revised Cinema Law, in the effort to form an effective law to support the development of Vietnamese Cinema. Long story short, the revised law adds some unreasonable censorship and limitation to some cinema elements, such as a sex or violence, in such vague contexts, which would drastically affect filmmakers’ rights to create. Adds up to its existent frequent absurdity in ethical restriction, this further step of Vietnamese Cinema Department is undoubtedly the last straw for the creator community.

He, as himself, not themselves...

In the discussion, Tran Dung Thanh Huy, director of the movie Rom (2019) which won the New Currents prize in the Busan International Film Festival but later was severely fined by “escaping” the censorship before going to the festival, revealed the consequential process of this unclear regulation that the film had to be cut and re-edited multiple times to meet censors’ requirements, seriously affecting its plot and artistic goals. He said, “In the discourse Cinema Department sent me, the two main problems with my movie, according to them, are – first, “the movie was based solely on the director’s personal perspective of contemporary Vietnamese society”, and second, “… however, it reflects the too-pessimistic view of the society, with people being pushed to the edge of poverty, depending entirely on lottery as the last hope, […]”.” Later, Huy also shared that this story originated from his own childhood neighborhood. The irony of this statement lies in the fact that if it was truly his “personal perspective”, he didn’t speak on behalf of anyone else. Thus, he was making no false representation for any larger portion of the society to criticize the authority or government. Furthermore, just as words are language of writers, songs are language of musicians, cinema is the language of filmmakers. He himself with the memory of a poor neighborhood is the object written and defined by the society surrounding him. When he decided to deliver them via cinematic language, he brought out himself as the subject of his own idea exhibited to the world, not representing the world’s idea. In short, this object-subject transformation is his contribution to diversify a community (in this case, cinema-interested community), not stereotyping individuals – the thread Cinema Censorship Department is presuming on Huy.

When selves are “robbed,” they disappear...

Another “victim” of this bafflement is the movie Taste (2021) by director Le Bao which was recently completely banned from premiering because of the prolonged nudes. This “death penalty” was given to the movie based on the criticism that it is “against” and “wrongly reflects” Vietnamese fine custom. Hurtfully enough, at the expense of saving the movie’s investment, either financial or effort, the crew team, including the director himself, had to give up the ownership of their own “child” – selling their blood, sweat, tears and identities to another movie company. Under the pressure of utilitarianism, they are forced to give up their “selves”, to withdraw their “I”, to see the thing they spent 8 years making from the third point of view – They are, together and individually, torn apart.

Don’t get this wrong, don’t get them wrong.

From these stories and many other similar cases, this tangle of the self-writing and the self-written is much more baffling than we ever thought. The “I” raising concern of a community does not equally mean it over-generalized every “self” in that community, because “ The nature of truth will in turn determine the roles of [the writer and reader] in discovering and communicating it” (Buley-Meissner 48). Whoever assuming the equivalences between the self-writing and the self-written is overestimating the manipulating power of filmmakers while underestimating the apprehensive ability of the public. That is to say, the clear understanding of both idealist and pragmatist approach to identity when composing is crucial for not only creators but also audiences. Humanity is getting more and more complicated through evolution of society, therefore, to enhance your own complexity-analyzing mind is the utmost important skill to understand and empathize with the world. Otherwise, like the Taste situation, more and more identities would be lost, resulting in a shallow crowd of soulless creatures.

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Reference

Buley-Meissner, Mary Louise. “RHETORICS OF THE SELF.” The Journal of Education, vol. 172, no. 1, Trustees of Boston University, Oct. 1990, pp. 47–64, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42742137.

O Kia Ha Noi. “Facebook Live: Ai Gop Y Gio Tay Len – The Voice of People from Vietnamese Film Industry.” Facebook.com, 2011, www.facebook.com/okiahanoi/videos/154175606835225.