Chinese Feminism

For my Chinese film and culture class we watched a movie called "Cell Phone" by Feng Xiaogang. Actually it was kind of boring and I didn't know where the movie was going until it finally fizzled to an end, but later when I thought about it, it was actually really clever. I think it's a hit for real Chinese people who catch on to the message faster.

It's about how women find out about their husbands' affairs with the use of new technology (cell phones). A talk show host, Yan, is having an affair with a woman, and the wife finds out because she is able to just call the person he said he was with. They divorce. Yan does not marry his mistress but instead is dating this other woman while continuing to see his mistress. His friend, Fei, gets caught almost having an affair and gets divorced and moves to Estonia to teach English never to be heard from again. Yan asks his mistress to get his ex-wife a job, and she does by allowing her boss to rape her. She then blackmails him with a recording of them having sex since cell phones now have a recording feature. She ends up replacing him as the host of his show. In the end, his girlfriend finds out about her anyway and leaves him. His niece becomes a cell phone salesperson and his friend Fei moves to Estonia never to be heard of again.

This is my reading of the movie.

In this movie, Chinese men complain about technology and wish they could "go back to simpler times." I have heard this sentiment from Chinese men before, who say they would prefer it if we were an agrarian society again. I think a large part of this society is that they are dismayed at their loss of status in society in comparison to women. I think this movie shows that technology and modernization have benefited women the most. Women still get cheated on in this movie and also taken advantage of, but nowadays women can divorce, they are financially independent, and they can even have power to leverage instead of just getting taken advantage of. In the end, Yan's mistress takes his job as the host of the show. Yan's niece and mistress represent a new generation of Chinese women who are bold, successful, and who champion new technology. On the other hand, Yan and his friend fall behind. They wish they could live in the past where "they could go home and their wives would believe anything they were told." So I think this movie, it appears that women are still victimized as in the past, and that men are questioning the value of modern progress, but really, this movie shows that women are no longer second class citizens and that Chinese men are depressed with modern life because they are less powerful now.