The crime writer’s secret

 

The confidential rules that prevent Asian authors creating classics

THE PHONE RANG. “I need to meet you,” the caller said. “I’m about to embark on a career in crime.”

That invitation was irresistible. Almost as irresistible as the reminder from my dentist that I still had one wisdom tooth left to extract.

Still, your humble narrator had only 95 things on his urgent “to do” list, so decided to spare him 30 minutes.
*
When we sat down at Oliver’s Super Sandwiches, he explained that he had been commissioned to write a crime screenplay by an Asian movie house and needed advice from someone with experience in the genre.

“Congratulations,” I said. “You seem well on the way to making crime pay.”

He gave an uneasy smile. “Yeah, but there's a problem. The commissioning editor says there must be no crime involved.”

Ah. Got it. What he meant was that some or all of the money for the movie was coming from a state film commission.

Here’s a trade secret. Why are Asian films not successful internationally? Most people think it's because they are rubbish. In fact, this is true. They ARE rubbish in many cases. But there's another reason: state film commissions in Asia have secret rules. No crime in crime stories. No ghosts in ghost stories. No corrupt officials in settings where corrupt officials can be found wall-to-wall.

This makes film-making an interesting challenge. What edge-of-the-seat action-adventure stories do you like to see? Exciting, successful action stories inevitably feature embezzlement, treachery, gun-running and the usual type of murderous activity which passed for “office politics” in some of the school boards I’ve sat on.

But in several places, such as China, officials who hold screen purse strings think that even suggesting that “crime exists” is going too far.

In Singapore, crime stories are not forbidden, but budgets are low and fear of authority is high. Screenwriters tell me that they don’t have the cash to build sets of police stations or jails, and can’t get access to real ones without full co-operation with the authorities. Result: no negative portrayals of authority figures.

Writers are stuffed. In the classic suspense model, crimes are solved by maverick detectives who have just been told by their chief: “You're off the case: hand in your badge.”

Asian Film Commission model: Crimes are solved by boringly good cops who tell each other, “Follow all rules and respect authority.”

Classic crime-writer model: “Hmm. This has been made to look like an accidental fire, but I suspect it is actually the work of an evil arsonist.”

State Film Commission model: “Hmm. This looks like the work of an evil arsonist, but it’s probably an accidental fire caused by a careless foreigner.”

Classic crime-writer model: Detective says to his junior, “Remember. Evil often emerges where some people might least expect it: from slick, rich, smiling, successful individuals who make up the elite.”

State Film Commission model: Detective says to his junior, “Remember. The elite are sinless and trouble comes from foreigners and other minority groups.”

This makes it difficult for people on the Eastern side of the planet to create the next Godfather or Scarface.

This is an industry secret, so it’s strictly between you and me, dear reader.

But I’ve often thought that one day filmgoers will suss it out, realizing that certain countries never produce films dealing with subjects such as government corruption.

Or maybe not. All filmgoers with taste are in the movie house next door, watching All The President’s Men.

With me.

Pass the popcorn.

 

Technorati Tags: movies,films,crime writer,Asian,censorship,China,Singapore

Comments

[Johnson]

nury u are right, many ghost movies are banned in china, the reasons for that is the 'ghosts', 'spirits' things would encourage superstition
the irony is that, no offense, many chinese goddess worshiping activities are also superstition

same for the mafia movies, no such a thing in china, the reason for that is those gang will make ppl feel unsafe and anxious.

that's why all china movie are all monotonous and tedious

[Julie]

Interesting. It's that old saw about being able to criticize anyone, except those who are really in power.

But surely Asian writers are able to come up with wily ways around this?

I once saw a very funny film made in Poland under the communists. It was a spoof where the underdog (men) outwitted the evil, authoritarian overlords (women).

In Australia we get mixed messages from tv. We get told that asylum seekers/refugees/illegal immigrants have to be processed properly because terrorists may be trying to sneak into the country, but on the other hand if you look at the criminals in Australian police shows, they're uniformly white males . . . . Asian and Aboriginal actors occasionally get to play policemen, but never criminals. Somehow this is supposed to show that we're not racist . . .

[Vaibhav]

I'm glad we dont have the creativity ban in India.
It seems fashionable to show cops/govt. officials in a bad light. Perhaps i should mention there is absolute mockery of the judicial system in the movies as well. From being hanged in the court room to being shot in public and the protagonist going scott free.
So all movies can be based from here.

[Angela]

hehehe... I like the comments...Mr. Jam's gang made my day.

[farah]

we are very much influenced by the Indian culture so much so that we can also mock the govt and get away with it. ghost movies or paranormal activities...i'm not sure but we do have plenty of short tales. there're only ban when the accusation on the govt is too direct and serious and vulgar movies. there're talks about banning all Indian and international channels from BD but somehow it never happened. good for us tho!

[Maddy]

This is interesting. It rings true. Not sure why there has not been any publicity for this before. No news fe4atures, news articles? Maybe it really is a secret. Another interesting angle. People are always comparing India and China and China tends to win the argument. Here's one case where India is ahead of China.

[Dancer]

This is like the game, World of Warcraft, in China. The character of the 'Undead' (basically looks like a skeleton) is accused by the Chinese government to be too 'bony'. The company has to add extra 'meat' into this character in order for this game to be accepted by the authorities.

[Foxlore]

Unfortunately much of local Hong Kong cinema has fallen subject to the same rules of attrition. Being denied screen time in the mainland is now a major concern for local directors (and more importantly their producers), and then end result is the ‘self-censorship’ of many local films to fit into the cookie cutter standards of mainland regulations. The most famous example is in the alternative ending for the 2002 film Infernal Affairs (無間道) which can be seen on the DVD version; one ending for the mainland (in which crime doesn’t pay) and another for the rest of the world and created long before the true sequel (part III) was conceptualized.

One way in which directors ‘get around’ such points is to set films in the time colonial time period (pre-1997 handover), thus all illicit activity can be explained away as colonial excess.

An extreme case can be found in the 2003 local film Naked Ambition (豪情) a semi-autobiographical film about the local adult magazine industry. This film was actually chopped up and spliced with some original mainland footage to create a new hybrid film called Ensnared (天罗地网) about cracking down on vice. You can find more info about the film at this link: http://www.danwei.org/film/one_country_two_versions.php

Take a look at some of the more recent 2009 local releases like Overheard (竊聽風雲) or Kungfu Cyborg (機器俠) and you can see the narratives continuing to conforming to the self-censored status quo.

[Christy]

Anyone watched China's 60th anniversary movie with all the big stars flashing by? Zhang Guoli, the guy who played Chiang Kai Shek, is too chubby -- Chiang was really cool! (Er, of course I may be biased, esp as I share a surname with him...)

The conspiracy-theorist in me thought: China doesn't want Mao Zedong's arch enemy to look too desirable. (Especially seeing that Mao himself was ugly as hell!)

[sej]

When I was in China earlier this year, I recall watching a show on one of the state run channels... it was a war drama series, where the Communists and the Nationalists join up together to fight the Japanese.

There was one scene where Chiang and I think Mao, were giving speeches to the troops. Anyway, Mao's character was given full and clear screen time, and the like. When it came Chiang's turn to speak, he was allowed to speak, but he was always hidden by another (random) character in front, so you could never actually clearly see him. He was relegated to being a "bit" character.

[Christy]

And whenever the news talks about Ma Ying-jeou or Chiang is featured in a documentary, the word "president" is always put in quotation marks in the subtitles...

[Mike]

Hey Nury,

I think you should let Mr Wong, the character in your Feng Shui Dectective Books, write a column one day.

[Uli]

Now I realize why I fell asleep in that Beijing cinema!
But to start from the beginning: while studying in China for one year I went to a cinema with another german friend to watch a film in order to increase our understanding of spoken Chinese. What we didn't get was that it was "triple feature night"!!! We went in at 6 p.m. and came out all bleary-eyed, bone-tired and woolly-headed, not knowing which language we should speak to each other at a few minutes past midnight!!!
Apart from the choice of films (a crime story without crime, obviously, a "Long March"-film, in which the East is all red and Mao Zedong is the super-hero and finally a fairy tale from Ancient China in which everybody can fly).
One point really vexed us: the Chinese laughed and we didn't, but whenever we laughed, nobody else did....
We two were the only non-Chinese in that cinema...

[Angela]

hehehehe @ uli

Must be quite an experience, the movie marathon.

[Chamin]

Indian movies are way ahead of China when it comes to showing crime and corruption. I suggest one can understand Sri Lankan and Chinese police better by watching Indian movies :o).

The trouble is that all movies are destroyed by inserting 6 songs, 10 fights, a 15-minute deathbed speech of one victim of the villain, and the same old plot (there are only around 5 plots for Bollywood movies).

[watch movies]

I had no idea! I mean- I usually watch Anime, and never - ever tried to watch and Asia crime film, probably because I never got a recommendation for one! You just opened my eyes to a whole new culture!

[fardel]

Lucky us, in the West
The Pope could not ban AVATAR beyond Italy's border.
We are definitely lucky, we kept the border

[Karuna]

and sadly in Haiti, the christian missionaries are using earthquake aid to convert locals from their traditional religions.

[TS]

We only ever donate through non-religious charities, the people in need have other things on their mind than fending off purveyors of conviction.

[Nursing gowns]

Come on in, cruise around and explore our dynamic new website. MWA is the premier organization for mystery and crime writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and folks who just love to read crime fiction :D

[Maharlika]

I watch cool Asian ghost movies and detective movies/TV series from Japan. I can't read their books though so I settle with Manga(Detective Conan/Death Note).

Why can't Asia produce a Sherlock Holmes?

[seo software best]

a blog full of comment is terrific!

nice nice