S2 E5: How Bohemian Rhapsody Rocked China in the 2000s

03/26/19 • 48 min

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In today’s episode, we dive into the biopic that won Rami Malek an Oscar for best actor -- Bohemian Rhapsody. For our Chinese audience, especially those at home, our first encounter with Queen was likely through ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions', the memorizable rhythms that accompanied the Chinese National Team as they participated in the 2002 World Cup and 2004 Athens Olympics. But not many are familiar with the backstory behind the band, so we’ve invited scholar Chong Mu to join our hosts Diaodiao and Afra to discuss the behind-the-scenes of our favorite rock band.

Highlights:

How were Queen’s songs assimilated into the Chinese popular culture context in the early 2000’s?
How is Bohemian Rhapsody’s LGBT representation tailored towards the mainstream, and why is that problematic?
What parts of the historical LGBT context did the movie omit and what does that mean? What does the additional censoring in China mean?
Let’s talk about AIDS -- What was the AIDS epidemic like in the 90s?

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Highlights:

How were Queen’s songs assimilated into the Chinese popular culture context in the early 2000’s?
How is Bohemian Rhapsody’s LGBT representation tailored towards the mainstream, and why is that problematic?
What parts of the historical LGBT context did the movie omit and what does that mean? What does the additional censoring in China mean?
Let’s talk about AIDS -- What was the AIDS epidemic like in the 90s?

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)

Previous Episode

S2 E4: Gender Stereotypes in Wandering Earth, the best Chinese Sci-fi movie

To celebrate 2019's International Women's Day, we recorded a special episode to discuss the problematic gender representation in "Wandering Earth" -- a movie that's been heralded as the most successful sci-fi movie in China. Our hosts Diaodiao and Afra sat down with our guest Ran Liu, PhD candidate in sociology at University of Pennsylvania, and dove into the genre of 'Chinese Sci-Fi.'

这部彻底改变中国科幻格局的贺岁电影《流浪地球》是部对女性不友好的电影？在三月八日国际妇女节的时候，这期小声喧哗用了另外一个特别的维度来讨论它。

在《流浪地球》中，哪些角色被“它者化”了？这部电影中，电影中女性承担了怎样的角色？这些角色反映出了创作者对女性根深蒂固的偏见吗？

本期节目的主播刁刁和Afra邀请了宾夕法尼亚大学社会学博士刘冉，三位女性坐下来，一起谈谈“中国科幻”这个男性爱好者和创作者都居多的类型。

本期，我们不但聊了聊刘慈欣和郭帆的硬核工业观，及他们作品风格对于科幻黄金时代和苏联美学的致敬，我们还主要分析了电影中男性、女性分别被赋予的性别角色——

• 在三代中国英雄中，”姥爷、爸爸、儿子“是主线，为什么电影中，女性并没有被纳入英雄叙事中？

• 在剧里的设定中，人体外骨骼系统可以实现人体与机器的完美结合，增强人体力量，所以，男性和女性的体能差别可以被科技弥合，但为什么韩朵朵和周倩这仅有的两位女性角色只能被拯救？只能在关键时刻掉链子？

• 为什么周倩是个医疗队的救援兵？这个角色反映出了哪些性别限制？

• 而为什么韩朵朵只能在合适的时间、合适的地点、掉下几颗“合适的眼泪”，在世界的中心”呼唤爱“？这体现了怎样的偏见？

• 缺失的母亲角色意味着什么？为什么女性角色总是在故事的背景中被轻描淡写一笔，且总是“被病死”、“被怀念”？

• 一提起姥姥，就一定要提到厨艺吗？”阳春面“里，折射了人们对女性角色的哪些偏见？为什么女性被值得纪念的地方永远在厨房里、在病床上？

• 韩朵朵是一位人们想象中的完美“小圣母”吗？

• 如果李一一或是老何的角色是女性，故事会有怎样的升华？对观众——尤其是银幕前并不满足于只“被拯救”的中国女孩们——有怎样的影响？

欢迎点击链接收听本期节目，iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox等各大平台也能找到我们。我们期待你的留言！

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Next Episode

S2 E6: "Love, Death & Robots" and Chinese Sci-fi's Golden Age

In the past few years, science fiction as a genre has entered the Chinese mainstream in an unprecedented way, thanks to sci-fi writers from China and from the Chinese diaspora. If “The Three Body Problem” introduced the world to Chinese sci-fi, then the 2019 blockbuster “The Wandering Earth” (acquired by Netflix) certainly kept the momentum going. This is the context under which we are having this discussion about Netflix’s high-profile sci-fi animation anthology “Love, Death & Robots."

The series was received extremely positively by the Chinese audience (according to Douban ratings.) But Loud Murmurs being Loud Murmurs, we will not only talk about the stories themselves but also how gender and sex play a role in them.

We are honored to be joined by acclaimed Chinese sci-fi author Chen Qiufan, whose works have won three Galaxy Awards for Chinese Science Fiction. To Chinese sci-fi fans, Qiufan needs no introduction.

Highlights:

In the episode “Beyond the Aquila Rift”, there’s a long CGI sex scene in space. Does the scene serve the plot or does it merely serve a trite male fantasy? Would this story still make sense if the genders of the two main characters are reversed? Is there a subtle religious theme to this story?
We really like the 8th episode, “Good Hunting,” which combines elements of “silk punk” and “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” (Liaozhaozhiyi by Qing Dynasty author Pu Songling). This is written by Chinese American science fiction author Ken Liu, a friend of our guest Chen Qiufan and translator of the “Three Body Problem.” There’s a difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation. We think this story is doing it the right way.
Why are so many episodes in “Love, Death and Robots” accused of sexualizing the female body and glorifying violence towards women? Is this a bigger problem with the sci-fi genre in general?
As a science fiction writer, Chen Qiufan’s works often concern the theme of “justice.” How does Chen explore this theme in the Chinese context and challenge the social status quo?
How can male sci-fi writers better include the perspective of women, create fully developed female characters with agency, and challenge the -isms of our real world when building new, imaginative worlds?

The English version of Chen Qiufan’s book “The Waste Tide” has just come out. Please check it out here!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/loudmurmurs)