She is from weizhou, a few hours south of Shanghai. We go out for diner and we have delicious Chinese food. She talks:
the speed in the cities is higher than on the country side
this speed creates more unbalanced beings and thus creates more desire in these beings
cosmopolitan people have more desire
(she says) "I have no desire"
(at this very moment I remember her singing the wifi password with melody and rhythm 3132333435)
country people go to the mountains and their desire vanishes
they are then able to live a peaceful and simple life
(she says) "I want to live a simple life. To eat and sleep and enjoy blissful days"
(I say: "Memory is nothing, this present is all we have, this present/desire")
memory is the most important thing we have
memories make the present (she says) ("this present is memory", Bergson said)
After diner, we go back home and drink Chinese red wine. I play guitar and she falls asleep. We have to go!
Her friend is arriving in shanghai and we have to pick her up. Her work colleague is waiting downstairs. Tonight, after the airport, we go around shanghai to look for homeless people, a British reporter needs some interviews with homeless people from the streets of shanghai.
As the taxi goes through the long avenues of shanghai with E, M, the camera man and the taxi driver, I feel as I am travelling. The real travel. I AM IN CHINA with some reporters looking for homeless people. They all speak Chinese. And at this moment I understand how far I am from home and how close I am from what I wanted to see.
They talk the same language they all spoke on the Shanghai of Malraux's "Man's Fate" (human condition) and "the party" has "cleaned" shanghai for the expo 2010 (let's try to kill Chiang Kaishek again, let's be killed in the bombings!), but there are still some homeless people here, and I (not them), I, this subjectivity, this camera, this text, these hands are looking for them. I am living the Human Condition: the subject and his desire.
What are you gonna ask them? I said. "Where are they from. why do they sleep on the street, why don't they go back to their hometown, do they think the Chinese government helps them, how do they see their future?"
After the airport we stop in MacDonald's: this is a good place to spot homeless people. Outside, they find one and the adventure begins, the camera needs to be installed, she talks to the homeless guy sitting on the ground. The camera light is on, the fake microphone made of colorful sponge is in her hand, she smiles, the camera man is serious and passes her the wire. As he moves, the wind blows and the camera falls, broken.
Their boss is french and on our way back home (no camera, no interview) I teach them some french phrases for apologies... je suis desole! For the camera, but not for the homeless. It's so easy to see the point of view of a reporter. The reporter is exactly the one who can't see reality. It's like using the eye to see the world, the eye is a light transmitter, he is unable to see the world. You need a subject to see the world. The reporter is not a subject. The reporter is a tool, a malfunctioning subjectified tool.
(not that I have read many novels but this is the best "action book" I know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man's_Fate)
No comments:
Post a Comment