Today's Pioneer-11

Author: Jiang Yuanlun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: A high-standard comprehensive journal, pioneering a new trend in humanities reading—《Today's Vanguard》. With an international perspective, it embraces various ideologies, fosters debates among different schools of thought, and sparkles with wisdom. This book is published every six months, featuring sections such as "Today's Focus · Editor's Album," "Vanguard Focus," "Diaries and Whispers," "Across the Border," "A Description," "Café Chats," "Broad Vision," "Language Space," and "Dialogues and Interviews." Read an excerpt: The Old Testament: The Chinese-language LGBTQ film The Old Testament and The Clown's Entrance by Cui Zi'en, self-written and self-directed, explore the realms of same-sex friendship and gender order through a fluid, handheld cinematography style and an unrestrained queer state, forging a new path in filmmaking. The Old Testament consists of three narrative segments: Psalm 1991, Proverbs 2001, and Song of Songs 2011. Each segment is completed by an a cappella choir performance of the "climax": the first segment is "Xiao Bo got married," the second is "Xiao Hao lost his job," and the third is "Xiao Bo went to sell himself."
Psalm 1991: The protagonist, Xiao Bo, has just welcomed his same-sex partner, Zheng Yang, but is discovered by his sister-in-law, Qing Jie. His brother and sister-in-law force Xiao Bo to marry Xiao Cui in a patriarchal manner. After the marriage, Xiao Bo has a child but soon becomes depressed and dies.
Proverbs 2001: The protagonist, Xiao Hao, unexpectedly gains the favor of Da Yu, driving out his former boyfriend and moving in with Da Yu. Da Yu, who claims to have divorced his wife, Na Na, is actually just avoiding an argument with her. Xiao Hao learns this and imprisons Da Yu, tricking Na Na into signing a divorce agreement. Da Yu fails to divorce, but instead marries Xiao Hao. After Xiao Hao loses his job, Da Yu brings him home, and the three live together with Na Na.
Song of Songs 2011: The protagonist, Xiao Bo, not only lives with his boyfriend, Da Jian, but also brings back Xiao Gang, who is infected with AIDS, hoping Da Jian will take care of him. Da Jian cannot tolerate the two living together and gives the house to Xiao Bo, moving out alone. Xiao Gang often feels desperate, running away or attempting suicide, forcing Xiao Bo to quit his job and stay home to care for him. After Xiao Gang's condition worsens, Xiao Bo considers selling the house to pay for the expensive medical bills. Instead of selling the house, someone wants to buy his body. To save Xiao Gang, he takes the path of selling his body, an irreversible one.
The Old Testament is related to punishment and death, referencing the relationship between God and humans in the Old Testament era. This is not a tragedy, nor does it imply a pessimistic world. The New Testament lies ahead—move forward, and the New Testament era will arrive. The Clown's Entrance is precisely that forward step. It portrays the gender-identity-playing behaviors and the obstacles faced by the transgender protagonists, Na Na and Ru Mengling, in a rather theatrical and extended manner: Na Na, after being rejected by Xiao Bo, lives recklessly, finding countless boyfriends, yet cannot escape her love for Xiao Bo; Ru Mengling, though free to live as a man, is still treated as a sex slave by her ex-husband, Da Yu, who rapes her. Her son, Dong Dong, gets Da Yu drunk and forces him to rape Ru Mengling.
The Clown's Entrance pursues a raw, stiff, and even somewhat dry visual style, with segmental shots as its fundamental language. The rigid camera relationships and the alternating frenzy and stillness of the photography reveal the extremity and destructiveness of the film. It is a combination of blunt and sharp wounds, the thorns left on the footsteps leading to the New Testament era. Every character who appears pays a price, every one is a clown—no heroes or perfection, no lyricism or elegance, only a hard road and dried blood. For the director and screenwriter, this is precisely the power.