A still from Beijing Bicycle (dir. Wang Xiaoshuai)
Please respond to the film Beijing Bicycle and the Wang Xiaoshuai interview by Monday November 11th at 8 pm. Wang Xiaoshuai is one of the most interesting figures
among the "Sixth Generation," and Beijing Bicycle is among his most celebrated films. Pay attention to the relationship
between the city and the countryside as portrayed in the film, a film
about two teenage boys' love stories with a bicycle. Write two concise paragraphs: one responding to the film (such as analyzing your favorite scene, discussing the symbolism of the bicycle, etc.); the
other responding to the Wang Xiaoshuai interview, "Banned in China." Comments to two other responses due by Monday November 11th at 10 pm.
Wang Xiaoshuai made the city come alive to me. I've visited Beijing, so seeing the Hutongs again, the masses of bike-riding people, the people sitting outside, playing Chinese chess, practicing martial arts all conjure up my time spent in the city. It is interesting that this film inspired more nostalgia from me than 'In the Mood for Love'. The reason I think it inspires me in this way are the places that are filmed, and the mis-en-scene, because it seems to capture all the little details of the city, things you will see if you just walk down the road. More so than the narrative about the bicycle, I think this film is about Beijing, the first half of the title 'Beijing Bicycle'. The Chinese name though, emphasizes not Beijing, but the ages of the boys who both want the bicycle. Is this done on purpose, to promote orientalism from film festival perspectives? The fact that Wang Xiaoshuai has had so much trouble with censorship must inform his films. Is there a subversive element to them, or are they being censored for another reason? Beijing Bicycle was banned because it was shown without waiting for approval. In addition, "the key members of the production crew were all top film talents from Taiwan..." (164) This could be another reason for not only it's success, and it's banning. According to the Wikipedia page (suspect reliability, I know) Wang Xiaoshuai felt that the film would not receive approval in time for the festival, so went without it. Wang seems to be similar to Taiwan, in that he makes films that receive critical acclaim, but little recognition from the commercial world.
I guess what your response prompts me to ask is whether or not this film could have been effective had it been shot somewhere else. Would Hong Kong Bicycle or Shanghai Bicycle or Xi'an Bicycle have been similar films? I'm not sure I know the answer to that, but it's curious to think about, especially given how many films we've seen this semester where the theme of "setting as character" has featured so prominently. Thanks for these insights about your first-hand experiences in Beijing!
Interesting point about the Chinese title of the film, as it focuses on the age of the main characters instead of Beijing. And to answer your question, the English title was probably made to make it sound more culturally diverse.
I am agree with your pionts,in my opinion the Beijing is a great city in China, beacuse it have long history. Many dynasties make the capital in there,so there have deep cultural and historical heritage. Through the film of Beijing Bicycle, we can see the all city of Beijing clearly.Such as the Hutong and the bicycle, maybe the bicycle is the symbol of the age of Beijing.
Hutong culture is also interesting to me. Actually I think Hutong kept Beijing traditional culture pretty well and you can see how normal people living in this city.
In fact, I also like the scene in the movie, because I live in Beijing, it istoo familiar fot me. In this film, although it did not show too much of Beijing culture, but it reality presents a Beijing ordinary lives.
Beijing Bicycle was banned because it shows a lot of Hutongs in the film. Some people think it's a side of poor in Beijing. It would have a bad effect on beijing's olympic bid at that time. But I think Hutongs is a part of Beijing's culture. This film has started showing in Beijing in July. In general, this is a good film.
there are 9 millions bikes in Beijing, and use the bike as a topic is a great idea. The irony thing is this film is banned for some " unknow" reason. I strongly think chinese government is too sensitive
I think that this week's film continues a theme we have seen in our last few films: making the most with some kind of limitation on resources. In Millennium Mambo, we saw repeated use of interior shots reflective of the director's previous difficulty in getting permission for the use of exterior shots and with In The Mood For Love we saw interesting and intricate camerawork in enclosed spaces and the use of key exterior shots to create the illusion that the film was being shot in Hong Kong (when in fact it was shot in Bangkok). I think the interview with Wang Xiaoshui reveals how he used extremely limited resources under strict and restrictive guidelines to make a beautifully rich film. In the interview, he details his difficulty in getting subject matter and story approved for shooting in China and he also talks about his difficulty in getting equipment, among other things: on page 166 he talks about filming The Days with old, out-of-date equipment and having no film on top of that, on 167 he talks about using his friend as actors because he couldn't pay professionals, on 172 he discusses the editing involved in making Vietnamese Girl/So Close to Paradise (the interviewer prompts him by saying that he "once mentioned the Film Bureau rejecting So Close to Paradise on the basis that it 'had a funny smell'" and he elaborates by saying the "mood of the film" was problematic to censors). Consistently, he seems to have overcome difficult situations and out of each difficult situation, an interesting and evocative piece of film emerges as the result.
I always talk about the opening scene in the films we watch, but it always seems so key to me. What do you utilize right away to grab the audience's attention and keep it with you for the duration of your film? Is it a long, sustained shot of a woman walking down a hallway while a voiceover narrates her past/future history? Or is it a series of intimate close-ups revealing the faces of many different young men with one, unified goal - to get a job as bicycle messengers? In Beijing Bicycle, I think these close-ups are extremely important. They communicate individuality (in the variety of speech, expression, location of origin, etc that we see displayed) and intimacy (some of the young men seem abashed or shy about their answers, some more self-confident, all held in the gaze of the camera at an almost uncomfortably close range). If these young men had all been Jackie Chans and Bruce Lees and Tony Leungs and Chow Yun-fats, would we have that same sense of intimacy and immediacy? I feel that the sense of these mens' anonymity we experience with this opening scene is very key in terms of setting the stage for the rest of the film. We are already set up to ask ourselves what the bike means to these young men, including the "bicycle thief" we meet only later on in the film.
I like that fact that you think the opening scenes are important, and I like your analogy with the famous Chinese actor. We probably wouldn't have that same sense of intimacy if the close ups were on Chow Yun-fat or somebody else famous
I agree that the close-ups definitely portray an intimate feeling for the bike. And, of course, we see this as the two boys take pride in the bike, as Guo cries when his bike is stolen, and how Jian doesn't want to hang out with any of his friends when it's stolen. When you lose something that is intimate to you, something so special, you're going to be upset and not be able to get if off of your mind.
The plot revolves around two young teenagers, Guei and Jian. Guei is from the rural area, new to the city of Beijing for a job as a bike messenger, who got his bike stolen. Jian is high school student who took money from his dad to buy the stolen bike (unknowing of the fact that it was a stolen bike). I think the contrast of Guei and Jian’s personality is the most interesting aspect of the movie. Guei, coming from the countryside, is not one that would be considered educated, and you can often see that he is unable to resolve confrontations verbally (Ex: confusion at the massage parlor; 0:18:53). Not only is he bad with his socially skills, he often tries to run instead of resolve his conflicts with people. Although Guei is not the brightest kid in the world, he is a reliable person and takes his job seriously. After his bike was stole, he ran to the delivery destination just to get his job done (0:23:38). He also relentlessly tries to get his bike back, even though stealing it back wasn’t the best idea, and the ways he handles the situation against showed his lack of intelligence, but yet a responsible person. Jian on the other hand, is more educated then Guei, and also more immature then Guei. There are many things that Jian did that show how immaturity. First, he stole money (I believe) from his dad and yelled at him. Not only is that immature (and illegal), but also disrespectful. Secondly, he started to treat his girlfriend poorly after his bike was taken, and decided to assault her new boyfriend after he stalked them. He also tried to smoke so he can be “cool” like her new boyfriend. Finally, he always tries to gang up on Guei with his friends to get the bike back instead talking to him like a man. At the end of the movie, karma comes back and haunts Jian, as he got beat up by a gang, and Guei also got beat up and his bike got broken even though he was just an innocent bystander.
I really enjoyed this movie because the genre and the plot is a good change of pace from the other movies we’ve seen, such as romance and feminism. I didn’t think I would like the movie at first just from looking at the title because I couldn’t imagine how good a movie about bicycle can be, but it turns out a lot better than I thought. On page 174 of the Wang Xiao-Shuai interview, he said that “In China, it is bicycles, not automobiles, that are our primary means of transportation.” This explains why the employer gave the new employees a prep talk after they were hired, and why Guei took his job so seriously. You can also tell the Guei took his job seriously before he used a notebook to count how many deliveries he has made for the company before he can own the bike. On page 175, Wang Xiao-Shuai said the he wanted to capture the “sudden disappearance of the thing we always count on in life”, and I think that he did it beautifully in this movie. He was able to apply that idea on both Guei and Jian, and the two characters have the own approach to try to get back the bike they lost, which was very important to them.
I definitely agree that the movie is successful in getting across that feeling of losing the thing that's most important to us and I like how you talk about how the two boys are both bad at communicating with people - in a way they're both wronged throughout the film and even though what's most important to them is taken away, it feels like it's hard for them to express how this makes them feel. I think the movie does a good job of showing their frustrations and communicating them to the audience on behalf of the boys, who can't communicate for themselves (I know I felt frustrated, especially at the end on Guei's behalf).
In my opinion,the bicycle as the main line throughout the movie story. For Gui, he is rural youth is hard to get a job, and the bicycle is so heavy for him, the bicycle is all property to Gui, he lost the bicycle is equal to lost jobs, and also lost the hope of life.So the bicycle is very important for Gui.
Beijing Bicycle is a movie which puts a lot of small stories together by bicycle. From the movie, I saw the spirit of Gui, when he lost his bike, he looks for it everyday and everywhere, it is responsibility. He is from somewhere poor, he is not like those students who gets whatever they want from their parents with no efforts, so they do not know what value is. But Gui does, so he holds on to his bike no matter what happens. Also, what Gui's relative(Im assuming he is, the guys onws the small grocery shop) says in the beginning of the movie, when they are looking at the girl makes me think. He said that "rich people are not happy everyday, I'd be drinking red sugar water and eating rib noodles." what a simple dream he has! in my opinion, rich people are never satisfied with what they have at the moment, they always want more. We cannot be greedy. Beijing Bicycle is a GREAT movie to me, with no disrespect, I think that people from China understand the movie better, it is so close to our lives when we were there. It reminds me of my high school life back in China, hangout after school with a certain group of friends, play together, fought together, then go home together riding bicycles, "stole" our parents money to buy things or go to the game store, and there are a lot of "first times" as well, the first time I smoked a ciggerette, first time I had crush on a girl. This movie is great also because of its actors, all of the actors are not famous at that time, just imagine that if the director had asked a bunch of well-known actors and actresses to be in this movie, the movie would have never been this famous, these actors have made the movie more real to us. Another important thing is that the use of nature sounds and pictures of Hutongs(very small streets in China, especially in Beijing) in the movie, the people singing opera, people cooking, thousands of people going to work on bicycles on the streets, elderlys playing chinese chess in Hutong, and even all of those noises, all of these just make you feel like that you are there when you are watching it. In my opinion, the directors do not need to spend tons of money to make movies, or make movies about unrealistic things, the audience would be impressed by the movies like Transformers, Titanic, but these movies will not last long, people are more interested in movies like Beijing Bicycle, Eat Drink Man Woman, because these movies are a lot more close to our lives, and also, these kind of movies can show the real tanlents that a director has, and these will eventually become classic.
"Another important thing is that the use of nature sounds and pictures of Hutongs." I like the sounds in the film, for example, the sound of pigeons. Every time I heard the flying noise of pigeons, I will feel that, ah, this is city Beijing.
I too was impressed by the capturing of, if not completely accurate, the atmosphere of Beijing, and of youth. Put that way,. it makes me think about Gui's life as a 17 year-old who's job is simply to deliver things, and how vastly different that is from the (comparatively) spoiled life that Jian leads.
I agree with your point of "the actors in this movie are not famous at that time". I feel like if they are all well-known actors, audiences may only focus on them not the simple story. And also, if they are famous, it quite weird to act as the normal city people.
the film reflect lots of old Beijing culture. including the Hutong and Beijing opera. We can see how these old Chinese traditional culture go through people's normal life
The film named ‘Beijing Bicycle’ was directed by Xiaoshuai Wang in 2001. It described a story of bike between two boys. Gui came to Beijing from countryside. He found a job in express company. The company gave him a sliver mountain bike. If he worked enough time, he would own this bike. So he worked so hard every day. However, his bike was stolen in the last day. After that day, Gui would own that beautiful bike. He was so sad. And he also lost his job. He swore he will find his bike. Jian was a student. He wanted to own a bike but his family is poor. His father repeatedly promised to buy a bike for him but he never fulfilled his promise. So Jian stole his father’s money to buy a cheap bike from someone. But he didn’t know this bike is booty who stole it from Gui. He liked this bike. And he hooked up with a girl who liked bike. One day, Gui’s uncle saw that bike. He told Gui about this. Gui found Jian and asked him to give him his bike back. Jian didn’t agree with this. So Gui took that bike privately from Jian’s home. Jian felt so angry. He grabbed away the bike from Gui’s hand. Gui told Jian’s father about this thing. Jian’s father was so angry that he knows Jian steal his money to buy a bike. He asked Jian to give Gui his bike back. But Jian still found Gui and wanted to get that bike back after that. Finally, they decided to share that bike. It seems like a good result. But that bike was broken by someone in the end because of Jian’s fault. This film pays attention to people who in lower degree. Gui and Jian is both 17 years old teenager. They are both poor. That bike is very important for them. Gui worked so hard for that bike. It’s also his main tool for living. He lost his job after his bike was stolen. Jian really wanted to own a bike. He played with his friends after he bought that bike. He also found a girlfriend. I think that girlfriend is his main reason that he didn’t want to give up that bike. He always got that bike back after Gui took back his bike. He thought his girlfriend left him because he lost his bike. In the end, he knew his girlfriend will not come back. He let Gui take back his bike. There is an interesting thing in the film. The manger of express company uses axis to describe Gui. Axis is straight. It shows Gui is a stubborn man. But I don’t think it’s a bad word to describe him. He had perseverance. He swore he will find his bike. He also found his bike and got his job back. He never gave up easily. Maybe he is inflexible in other things. But I still think it’s a good personality.
As much as I liked his personality, I felt that his continued silence when confronted with problems was not only unrealistic, but also maddeningly frustrating. Though it builds to a catharsis at the end of the movie with the rock, his first ACTION, along the way, his passivity was annoying.
Teenager Xiao-guei is from the rural region. He went to Beijing and found a job in an express company. He got a bicycle from the company and after he erned 600 RMB, he will own the bicycle. However, when he almost earned 600 RMB, his bicycle was stolen and he was also fired by the manager. To get back to his work, he began to search for his bicycle. Another guy, Xiao-jian, in order to have his own bicycle, stole the family's money and bought the second-hand one, which is Xiao-guei's. They fight for such a long time and finally got to a deal, each one get one day to use the bicycle. However, in the end,n the bicycle was totally destroyed.
As the cultural icon in the film, bicycle could be regarded as the main line of the story. Beijing was famous for its' huge amount of bicycles during 90s, and we can also find the evidence from the film "almost a love story." The story went around with a bicycle. However, when put the story into the city culture, the concept of bicycle became more complex. It can be a symbolic of occupation of the society, the tool of making money or love. And it is also a symbolic of the changing Beijing. The story looks nothing serious, just the conflicts between two teenagers, however, as the directer Wang Xiaoshuai said in the interview, " I am growing to prefer with commonplace images and a style that is stripped down and closer to people's experience of everyday life."(Wang Xiaoshuai, p.176) The common characters seems left deeper empathy among the audiences.
I also believed the bicycle should be the main line of this story. The bicycle is a symbol more than just a tool. It is an object for Guei to live and work, and an aspiration for Jian to play with his friends
Have to admit my heart never so heavy when I saw this movie of “Beijing Bicycle”, in my opinion only experience the seventeen years old, it have ability to see and understand the movie with calm mood. Although the film of “Beijing Bicycle” was taken in 2000, but the city of Beijing is still like the people remember have many of Hutong, and have the traffic crowded. In fact, the story is very simple, just about two teenagers and a bike constantly staggered in "lost" and "lose after having got it”. But, because of the simplicity of the stories and the special age, special background as well as the special memory of we have, so the story will be different and make we have the resonate. Throughout the movie, we can realize the film let people feel authentic, the film does not have too many words, just through the most natural movements, the most simple expression, to express the mood and the environment, there is no cut and polish and exaggerated trace, make people see the sense of reality and true. But the more impressive is the director Wang Xiaoshuai with a variety of music to show each part of the story and the mood of characters in this film. The music is expressive, nature, place, and also adds a touch of bright color for the whole film. For example, in the front part of the movie always accompanied with pleasant music to set off the Gui ride bicycle shuttle his way through the busy streets and the scene of send express, so we can see this is the performance of the Gui is full of youthful vigor, he has full of hope to the future life, on the other hand the Gui was search the bicycle when he lost it, the director accompanied with a heavy Sax music to highlight the protagonist’s painful mood of lost his beloved bicycle. I think the bicycle is all property to Gui, he lost the bicycle is equal to lost jobs, and also lost the hope of life. In this moment have a strong contrast between the pleasant music (Gui ride bicycle send express) and heavy music (Gui lost his bicycle) and this is also make the very good upholstery for to further the plot of the story and finally when the Gui carrying his broken bike walk in the downtown streets, the film with piping of sorrowful and bleak. At this time, the film conveys is not only the Gui facing to his life helpless and sadness, but also shows the “social inequality”. The picture combined with the music, make the film obtained the sublimation in the end of the movie.
In addition, I want to say: The youth will get away in the loss and fight. After that we started to grow, beginning to understand the rules of the world and the rule of adult’s game. Stand up in our small world, meanwhile continuing the life. But the dream and the passion of youth, hesitation and confusion, it are gradually disappearing, leaving our hearts, leaving our changing thinking. All of the things are restart again.
I also feel so heavy. This film shows a side of social inequality. Beijing is a bustling city. But it still have a lot of people like Gui and Jian who in lower degree. This story of bike shows the rules of the society. The reality is cruel. But it's not the only thing that this film wants to tell us. More important thing is to tell us that we need to pick ourselves up after failure.
I'm glad you spoke about music, because you reminded me about the relative lack of music in this film, which makes it all the more poignant when it is introduced. I found myself tearing up a few times inexplicably, until I realized sad music had begun to play.
The movie Beijing Bicycle was directed by Xiaoshuai Wang. There is a story line in this movie: Gui had a job of express company in Beijing, he came from countryside. In fact, at the beginning of the movie, he could not adapt the city life. Gui wanted to be a normal person, and he used the new bicycle working for the company, but one day he left his bicycle and then lost his job, he tried to find the bicycle that he lost. Until one day, Gui found a boy named Jian who got Gui's bicycle, Gui tried to get the bicycle back. They make a decision that they would like share the bicycle, at the end of this movie, Jian decide to get the bicycle back to Gui. I don't think there is a perfect ending in this movie, because the bike was damaged, and the characters in the story did not have any contact any more. I found some interesting part in this movie. First the maid Qin did not say anything in this movie, in my opinion is that maybe because Xun Zhou does not have a good voice. And the second, the main characters had change in this movie. For example, Gui really wanted to get a bike, but at the end of this movie, he gave the bike back to Gui. And Gui could not accept of the city life, but at the end, he tried to smoke, and he tried to fight with someone. Also another example is that Xiao liked Jian at the beginning, but she changed her mind when Jian lost his bike. At this point we know what the meaning of youth is. The youth means pain and change.
It'd be interesting to compare and contrast this film with stage sisters, where the main characters were both female, with a male supporting cast. You're right, women are very distant in this film.
“Beijing Bicycle” is a movie that related to bicycles and connected two young teenagers with one bike. There are two main male characters whose name are Gui and Jian. Gui is from the rural part of China and he went to Beijing for living. He found a job as an express mailman. The express company loaned a bike as his transport and promised once you earned a certain amount of money, you will own the bike. This bike is not just a transport for Gui and it is also like a motivation for him to be hard working. Another male character, Jian who comes from urban Beijing, he is in a private high school which kids there are from wealthy families. His family isn’t rich and he and his father live with his stepmother and her daughter. Pretty complicated family relationship, and Jian has a hard time to get along with his little sister who is from the stepmother side. There is a connection between Gui and Jian, which is Gui’s bike. Gui lost his bike during his work and accidently Jian uses the money that was stolen from his father to buy Gui’s bike. They met one day and Gui wants his bike back but Jian doesn’t want to give up because it spent 500 RMB to buy this bike. After series of fights and struggles, they finally have a deal, which is each one use the bike one day and return to other side next day.
In this movie, bicycle is not just the transport, but also more like symbol of power and capital. Gui wants to keep the bike for living and stay on the city life in Beijing. For Jian, the bike is like a tool to show off in front of his classmates. I love this story because it happened when I was in middle school, kids always pursuit fancy bikes and like to show off in front classmates especially of who they like. Another thing I feel pretty interesting is the female character. In this movie, the two male characters are in the primary part of the movie, but the female character also has relationship with the bike. You can notice that the girl would like to hangout with Jian when he has the fancy bike. But when things come true, after she knew the bike wasn’t him, she chose the street guy with expertly skill as her boyfriend. I feel like director trying to use the change of her mind to highlight the rights and institutional position in the hearts of young teenagers, but also emphasize the importance of the power is a prominent reason to form the cruel younghood.
I agree with your statement that Gui wants to keep the bike to stay in the city life. and to Jian, it is a tool to show off to his friends. I feel like for Guo, the bike is the bridge for him to connect with the city. Without it, it's as if he is lost within the city, as if the city has overwhelmed him and won. For Jian, the bicycle is the bridge to talk to girls. As soon as he gets a bike, he builds a relationship with the girl that I feel like would not have happened if he had never come across the bike.
I have the same opinion as yours. Bicycle in this film has different meanings to Gui and Jian and I think it also represents many social problems that time.
As for Xian, I felt like Jian was a very inattentive boyfriend, despite her dedication, and that her leaving him had little to do with the bike, but more to do with the way in which he treated her.
I agree on the point that bike has whole different meaning to Gui and Xian. To Gui, it is his job. In order to survive in Beijing, he had to keep a job. And he didn't have much choices. Whereas to Xian, he had to keep up his status with the girl and his friends who were all playing with bikes.
Beijing Bicycle captured the emotional, angst-filled life a teenager wonderfully. Much like the last two movies we watched, this felt like yet another mood piece, yet this movie felt infinitely more cohesive than the first two. I love how the movie depicts both the city and the countryside, almost in the same vein as one another. The first scene where we see the countryside was particularly moving to me. We see the boys in an unfinished building practicing their riding. The camera slowly pans looking out and over the short, close built homes, but then, in the not so distant background, the city rises almost as if to say you cannot separate one from the other. I also thought that the two boys being so similar added to that theme. The interview only furthered my point. On page 176 Wang says, "Some audiences see in this film the sharp contrast between the countryside and the city. I see exactly the opposite." He goes on to say no matter where we are from, we are all "equal before fate." I think that line is incredibly powerful and true. Wang's directing was great and the movie was brilliant.
You speak the truth when you say it had a moody feel to it. Like you, I also felt this one felt alot more 'comfortable' (and to me at least more enjoyable!). Nobody can deny that there's alot of meaning and depth to the film, but it's certainly a familiar theme (that of "emotional, angst-filled" teenagers) but the issues it raises and the settings are certainly unique.
I also have impression on what Wang said about "equal before fate". Though before fate is equal, after fate is be quite different. Especially in China, it is extremely hard to be a registered permanent resident in big cities. Whereas in the us, you only to work and live there and file taxes. And, it is extremely inconvenient for migrant workers like Gui to live in big cities.
I liked “Beijing bicycles” very much. One thing that stood out to me was – of course – the importance of bicycles in the city. The film portrays very well how bicycles in China are appreciated the same way most Americans appreciate vehicles. Many times, the film shows a cluster of bikes on the road trying to get to their attention. And the scenes show a dense traffic of bicycles, just as we see with vehicles usually. There are even special stop lights just for bikers, which I found really interesting. And because Guo’s job lets him have a bike (which he has to pay on), he is told that he has a dream job because of that factor.
I found it interesting how in the interview, the director says Jian and Guo are both like him in some way, and he goes on to talk about how he felt when his bike was stolen from campus. “When it happened to me, I felt it was the most painful experience in the world” (Page 175). This is interesting because we see the director displaying the emotion he felt when his bike was stolen onto the two boys when their bikes are stolen. Guo cries, and Jian doesn’t want to hang out with his friends or anything. This is not surprising that he had the two characters feel this way because, as I mentioned earlier, the director did say he created Guo and Jian to be similar to him. This was my favorite film we have watched so far.
i also liked where he drew his inspiration from. i feel like it gave it more purpose and success in expressing the emotions of having something precious to him stolen since it happened to the director
“Beijing Bicycle” describes the story between Gui and Jian in the late nineties. Gui is from the countryside, relatively low level of education. He came to Beijing and found an express job. He got a new bicycle because of his job. This bicycle is not only the transportation but also the thing can support his work. Jian is from Beijing, in a vocational high school but his family was not rich. His father promised to buy the bicycle many times but never fulfill. Jian had no choice but steal money from his family to buy bicycle from the Second-hand car market which is the one belongs to Gui. This film reflects many serious questions about relationships between citizens and outlanders to many big cities. How could these cities absorb outlanders? How to integrate outlanders into big cities.
In this film, the meaning of bicycle is not only the transportation. To Gui, it represents this job and Beijing admits him. During that time, people form cities have biases to the people from countryside. It is really interesting and disgusting when I saw his friend brush his teeth and he was not finished, gave him the brush and told him to brush. Gui just put the brush into his mouth directly. I believe it is unreal and it represents screenwriter’s bias. Gui can read Beijing’s map and I do not believe he never brush teeth before. To Jian, bicycle represents his conceit, Self-respect and girlfriend. All his friends have bicycles. In his school, most people were attracted by the bicycle acrobatics, includes his girlfriend. However, once he lost his bicycle, his girlfriend just left him and found another guy. There are many fight senses in this film and it represents youth. They all fight for their dreams.
For a bicycle values hundreds of yuan, someone lose his bread and butter, and another lose his devoted girl. This seemed like a metaphor. Gui lose his chance for eating, it is “food”, Jian lose his puppy love, it is “sex” this seemed like a huge sad. And cause of this result even destroy the original need of human nature. While Gui’s happiness gonna explore, he lost his bicycle, and this accomplish other youngster’s dream, but when Jin want to show his happiness, he lose his bicycle, too. As the common vehicles for Chinese, this beauty bicycle not only connect the whole movie, but also became the symbol of the identity for there two boys. It is the best point for the whole movie. And the two different uniforms, it is more easier to understand that they have the same plight. Maybe youth itself belong to a kind of farce, their hope and persistence are fragile, hesitate outside the adult and push over by the violence suddenly. During the despair without any hope and escape, Jin and Gui raise their brick in different moment, and punch the last hit. But anything will never retrieve, Jin lay on the floor covered all over with cuts and bruises, Gui heaved his broken bicycle and left, the cross fate they met before start to divided, no one knows which road could leave to another place. Youth is unbalanced and not to the point, and when we were in the face of youth, anyone would be like Wang Xiaoshuai and easy to get excited. All in all, are to be forgiven, because our youth, it passed; because our intention, always change; because of the memory and the woman in our memory, it is just beautiful. son of tears. How can I forget those screams, who repeatedly looted and fear of angry faces. I remember the boy I had ever witnessed, and the negative consumption nevermore to get youth, everything just to prove: the distance apart from afar, nothing. I can't start walking backwards, from the second to the past, back to my wandering eyes lost in panic, seventeen years old, we and our protagonist, in accordance with the normal timing into the threshold of adulthood, deprived of an empty; string was broken, song stopped, the wheels folded, car crash, began to grow.
Everyone have his own teenager memory. In the film Beijing Bicycle, the directory use bicycle as a connection between Xiao GUI and Xiao Jian. In this film, Xiao GUI is a normal teenager lives in Capital Beijing, and he always want to get a new bicycle to change his life. But unfortunately, his bike is stolen. This plot suddenly reminded me of Camel Xiangzi(骆驼祥子). This bicycle is Gui's everything. With this bicycle, he will never lose his job and the girl XiaoXiao will accept him. The bicycle is his religious. He feels he is part of this city. But the true is cruel, his bike was stolen and he lost everything, he decides to find back his bike, and he meets Xiao Jian.
Xiao Gui is only 17 years old young. I remember when I was 17. I think I am the center of the world. But with time goes by, I find am so tiny in this society. I feel very depression. It also reflects in this film, for other people the important bike for Xiao GUI is only a cheap transportation. Xiao Guy only need 70 Yuan to get the ownership of this bike, but for many people the 70 is cannot even afford a meal. The two different make the young teenager feel despair.
Wang Xiao Shua pays attention to the young general. We all can find our own shadow in him. Gui and Jian are both 17 years old. They are young, stubborn, passion and always positive for future. But when we face the pressure for society, we fee lose and disappoint. It like the end of film, Xiao GUI carries his bike back walking on the road. The bike has been broken. It imply his fragile dream about this city also broken.
Even Jian is living in Beijing and growing up in the big city, but his family is still poor and living in the under class. Guei and Jian have different background but similar goal, to have a bicycle.
The movie was excellent. I think the socio-economic relationship between rural and urban residents in China is one of the pertinent questions China's leaders will have to address in the coming years, with so many young people (like Gui) making their move to the large cities. For me, the most powerful scene was the ending, where Gui and Jian were ambushed by the biker gang. So many significant images in one short sequence, each sort of representing a microcosm of city life in China The rebellious clothing of the youth, the fact that one of the boys is smoking a cigarette (1 in 3 are smoked in China) while stomping on Gui's bike, and his retaliation while giving the kid a brick-induced coma.
There was a quote on page 166 of the interview that reads, "When we shot The Das, we decided that no matter what, we weren't going to give up this time. No matter how hard it was, we had to stick it out to the end. So that's how it got started."
This quote illustrates the idea that Gui's determination and willpower to succeed throughout the movie, was in fact drawn from Wang Xiaoshuai's own determination to succeed. It is this same character trait that is needed in order to transition and become successful in the large, intimidating concrete jungle.
I think this thought of success is very important to understanding the movie as a whole. Success is key in the life of both of the boys in their status figures and life in general. Determination is also a great way to think about it, that I did not consider before you mentioned it. The boys had to have such determination to make this film possible, not to mention Wang's determination throughout making this film!
Beijing Bicycle makes me feel sad. I can see the differences between the regular people living in the city, especial big city like Beijing and the people who are working in the big city from countryside. Even they are living in the same area, breathing the same air, and walking in the same streets, but they are still totally different people. Beijing Bicycle’s leading roles are two young boys who are seventeen years old. At that age, children should be happy to study in the school, but Guei was a poor boy who came to Beijing from countryside and hardly worked in an express delivery company. Guei knew the difference between others and himself, so he tried his best to work sedulously. He wanted his bicycle back to go back to his work company and this bicycle was his necessary for earning. For the other boy, Jian, he was living in a not very well off family, he wanted a bicycle to play and get the girl, he liked, noticed. I do not like Jian, he did not think about what he should do, but just do whatever he wanted, so that he hurt his father, his family and even his friends. I get interested in the screen when Guei and his brother peek the “Beijing” girl in the building from the hole on the wall. Guei maybe like that girl, but they are living in separate society even there is only one wall separate them. Beijing Bicycle was a new film in 2001, and it was a big challenge in the beginning of the new century. Dissimilar with the movies we watched before, Beijing Bicycle talked about the migrant workers’ story who come from countryside.
Wang Xiaoshuai is a famous director in China. He did lots of well-known films, and Beijing Bicycle is one of them. He makes films in different way and let us has a new view and novel idea. In his Beijing Bicycle, the truth, which differences between city and countryside are strong, are banned by government especially at that time, when Beijing government wanted to have a good face for applying Beijing Olympics. There are too much negative screens in this film. “Some audiences see in this film the sharp contrast between the countryside and the city. I see exactly the opposite.” On Page 176.
I wasn't a huge fan of Jian either. Near the end of the film, when he hits the other boy on the head with a brick in order to presumably win back the girl I was dumbstruck. Did he really think that it would work, or was he just having a vengeful streak. At times it seems like he had more stress and pressure than Guei even though he really had less to be concerned about.
I really like your analogy with how the wall separates then in more than one sense. That is a great way of looking at it that I had not though of before.
In Wang Xiaoshui's interview he says of the bike: "For these two boys, owning a bicycle symbolizes maturity and their ability to possess something in society." It's always a treat when the director provides an explanation for what he or she meant by something in a film, or what it means to the characters. On a personal level I find it interesting that these two characters, one from the countryside and the other a Beijinger, are fighting over the same thing. It raises the interesting question about social mobility. Why would a migrant worker and a local be fighting over the same thing (that was originally the migrant worker's)? To me, big cities are a place where people at the bottom feel pressure slowly squeezing them out and fighting against it, whereas people from outside like the migrant worker have nowhere to go but up.
The 'gang' of kids was a rather surprising element of the film to me. I didn't realize that high-school (?) aged students in China would have the time or energy to spend doing bike tricks and fighting 'til nightfall over a bike. Where are their parents? Why aren't they studying? Of course these kinds of people exist everywhere, but I just hadn't thought of it until seeing the film.
I agree with you Adam, it was really interesting to see a sort of "other side" of city people (the ones in the "gang"). To me, it seemed like that group had a lot in common with the country-side people, more so than the other city people did.
Interesting aspect you bring up about the gang and about them having the time and energy to spend on this whole bike fiasco. I have come to think that Chinese schooling is much more intense and tiresome than the schooling we have experienced. That being said, I completely agree with your questions you bring up. The parents is a great one! The parents were hardly shown in the film, I wonder if this has an symbolic meaning behind the absence of the parents?
I love your questions. I also wondered the same thing. Especially after meeting some Chinese high school students myself. There is no way that kids in school had that kind of time!
Beijing Bicycle is an interesting movie about two boys from different social circumstances brought together by a single bicycle. Guei is a rural farm boy looking to make a steady living in Beijing as a courier. He treasures his bike dearly, as witnessed through the film. To him, the bike is more than just transport -- it’s his livelihood. At some point, his bike is stolen and eventually falls into the hands of Jian, a city schoolboy. Jian also cherishes the bike, but only for the pride and respect it brings him among his peers. My favorite scene is the one where Jian hands the bike over to Guei for the last time, after pulling a sneak attack on his romantic rival and knocking the guy unconscious. The meeting wasn’t full of dialogue, but you hear defeat in Jian’s voice as he inhales the cigarette. He knew retaliation was imminent, and he just kind of accepted his fate. That scene was truly the calm before the storm. It wasn’t long before the two are chased down and beaten mercilessly by the biker gang. The moral of the story: bicycles are serious business in Beijing.
Interestingly, the director Wang Xiaoshuai came up with the idea for a story structured around a bicycle because he wanted to create actiony chase sequences, but it was much too expensive to do chase scenes with automobile without looking unrealistic (Interview, pg. 174). So naturally, he opted to film actiony chase sequences with bicycles. Despite his inspiration, I don’t feel that the action scenes, but rather the authentic look into Beijing city life, were the highlights of this film. I think this authenticity is captured very well within the scope of the film because it didn’t draw any boundaries on the extent of people’s behavior. Some examples of this: accountant lady trying to cheat Guei out of 80 yuan, hotel receptionist insisting payment for the shower that Guei didn’t ask for, and that guy peeping through a hole in the wall. It seemed raw and not romanticized as in some of the films we have seen previously.
Yeah i didnt really think of them as action scenes until i read the interview. i guess they aren't action scenes in the sense of American style, but it was in a way an "action" scene.
I think you may a really important point about the style of the film being 'raw', like Wang said, about trying to work with stripped down ideas that are closer to real life. That scene with the hotel attendant is vivid to me, because of how uncomfortable all of them were,
The two main protagonists Guei and Jian are two contrasting characters in the film. One from the city and one from the country. Guei is an honest man who works as a express deliverer and is issued a bike that gets stolen. It is sold to Jian who is a hot tempered, dishonest school boy who stole money from his family to buy the bike. I thought that the director did a good job showing the emotions and story of both of these characters and their affections with the bike. Both had to have it to accomplish their goals although more Guei than Jian who just wanted it to impress one of his schoolmates.Both are dumb for different reasons. though Guei is smart, he is not very vocal and is unable to speak for himself in hostile situations. All hes able to do is look down on the ground the whole time during confrontations. Jian is just a kid who has yet to learn to be more humble and less selfish.
The intervew with Wang Xiaoshui raised some questions for me, like why was it banned? Surely it had to be more than just because it had an unclear ending. The film did not seem very political or propagandic. it was like Wang said, it was just about "...fate and the experience of growing up" (p176).
Also i thought it was hilarious during the scene when Jian just circled the girl with his bike a few times in biker gangs do in movies and then stopped in awkward silence as she just rode away.
In general, this film, Beijing Bicycle, I don’t know how to describe it; I think that a word, dumbness, is best to reflect my feeling. I think that the story lines, in the film, are so vague, I only think what the story is about a gaining and losing of bicycle. Moreover, I think what the story, which is Xiao Gui losing his bicycle, is best wonderful. Especially, in the background, these old women have dance and bass drum. First, there is just a tangle place, waiting for Gui backing, he found his bike is loosed, these drum’s point is rhythmic pronunciation. But director pull out a vision, thus we can know Gui’s tension mind. In addition, I’d like to talk about audiovisual. There is most impressed for me, which is bringing forth for music, and full of documentary in the long shot. Firstly, in the music, background music is well down, the music’s gurgitation is with the mood of role. There have the pleasure for getting bikes and the pain for lost. The music will amplify these emotions. For example, when he returns the home, the music is stop, although these music is pretty charming, he hate the family. The film has no fancy clips,and various lens without powerful and unconstrained style, only depends on a long shot goes up, and shows this story more lively ,though the same background of life does not gave me the illusion of being in the drama. At the end of the movie is Guo Liangui took up the bike, walk in the road, and the film is taken by the slow play and it can feature this materialistic society, and make Guo Liangui looked like more misfits during the society, step by step.
I found the movie "Beijing Bicycle" to be very fascinating. Perhaps the thing that stuck out to me the most, however, was the differences between the perceptions of the countryside versus the city. The people from the countryside often had a pessimistic view of the "city-folk," considering them to be rude, distant, and unhappy. While the city fold never talked about the "country-folk" like this, you could view their opinions through their actions; which told us that people from the country, to them, appeared to be a bit strange, different, and not as clean.
In the Wang Xiao Shuai interview called "Banned in China," I found it really interesting on how he talked about his production style of shooting a rough copy of the film first, and then working from that. Wang Xiao Shuai mentioned that this process made it an easier process for collaboration, while at the same time more difficult (169). He said that "when I work with nonprofessional actors, I can instruct them on how to present the characters and shape their performance" (Wang Xiao Shuai, 169). This method to me seems like it would make it more difficult to collaborate, since their is not any real collaboration going on, only instruction.
I agree with your point regarding urban vs rural perceptions, like for example how Guei's budy thought the girl they were peeping on was stuck up and unhappy despite being wealthy and how he just couldn't understand cityfolk, and then it turned out she was the maid.
“Beijing Bicycle” reminds about the movie “Comrades: Almost a Love Story” at certain points. The protagonists in both movies were from rural and moved to a bigger city. In this movie, Gui’s mate told him that city people are tricky and would take advantage of him, so don’t let them know the fact he is from country side of China. In the interview, Wang says that “We see the country boy put on a new uniform and suddenly he looks like a city person. I think that no matter where people are from, whether the city or the countryside, they are all equal before fate (p 176)”, which I only agree with him theoretically. The truth is that in today’s society, city people still look down on people from countryside. There was a news about Beijing’s official subway weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) showed a picture of subway with some junks on the floor with a description of “after locusts have gone by”. That’s how most city people would describe people who came from countryside. Cities like Beijing or Shanghai, even if most migrant workers work through their whole life in those city, they couldn’t be registered permanent resident of the cities. Thus, their kids have to pay higher tuition fee and hassles beyond their capability to overcome.
However, I would still like to talk about the fate of two male protagonists Gui and Jian. At first I was very angry about Jian and his friends beat up Gui to “steal” back the bike until I know he paid money for it in the used market and he didn’t know It was a stolen. The reason why Jian was doing it was because he was chasing the girl from his school. However, she chose to hang out with another guy. And then, he decided to fully return the bike the Gui instead of rotating with him every day. This movie is only about two young adult’s life, nothing special about it. Like the end scene of movie, a street on Beijing with tons of bicycles and cars, stories of common people performed every day.
Yeah, the film didn't make it very clear that Jian actually spent money on the bike until halfway through the story. I just assumed he stole it and lied about it up until the point when he agreed to share the bike.
I like your interpretation of the last scene. I couldn't figure out what the director was trying to say, but now that you say that he might have been trying to communicate that this was just the story of two young boys in a China full of tons of people, I think I have a better grasp of the director's perspective.
I thought Wang’s Beijing Bicycle was very symbolic in everything revolving around the bicycle itself. I think that it represented everything that the teenagers wanted in a future. For example, I think that the bike for both boys symbolized this possibility for success, freedom for travel in a tangible sense, but also freedom in their mindset of owning something that they can do things with: play, work, etc.. Also I think that bikes in general for the Chinese symbolized these things and also the opportunity they found while having the bike and the lack of opportunity when they didn’t have the bike. Interestingly enough, the bike also meant different things to each of the boys while sharing lots of meanings as I have already discussed. For the school boy, when he had the bike, he had his girl and his confidence. For the countryside boy, the bike meant having a job that he was worthy doing and feeling accomplished for himself.
After reading the interview I think that this quote is very good for what I have said so far, Wang Xiaoshuai said that when his bike was stolen “it was the most painful experience in the world. I wanted to capture this feeling in my film: the sudden disappearance of the thing we always count on in life” (Wang, 175). I think that he did capture this feeling very well in the actors emotion contrast versus having the bike and not. The interview was very interesting that many directors did not think about the concept of the bicycle before Wang did this film. Also, how he was inspired by this idea in the way of this “chase scene” and using the bikes to do this was very fascinating to me (Wang, 174).
I like the idea of "possibility of success." That statement struck me. The bike didn't promise anything. The boys still had to work once they had the bike.
I like the concept of the bicycle representing the boys sense of freedom. I think it might also be fair to say that the bike was a representation of maturation. As you said, the bike gave the boys more freedom, but also more responsibility. For example, Gui had to use the bike to carry out the duties that his job brought him.
"Beijing Bicycle" allowed director Wang Xiaoshuai to continue his "exploration of the disparities between the rural and the urban" (Banned 164). Gui, one of the main protagonists comes from a poorer, more rural side of town, whereas Jiang, the other main protagonist, comes from a more upscale, urban side of town. The two are brought together when Gui discovers Jiang in possession of his stolen bicycle. Gui later finds out that Jiang supposedly bought the bicycle from someone, and despite the fact that his bike was stolen from him, Jiang will not surrender the bike unless he receives payment from Gui. The two protagonists eventually agree to share the bike every other day, but this decision was not met without much hardship to Gui, who was beat up and chased each time he tried to steal his bike back. Jiang eventually offers the bike back to Gui, but the two get chased down by a group of angry boys, one of which was talking to Jiang's girlfriend.
Wang plays with the concept of identity throughout this film. One might argue that each of the boys found a sense of identity in the bicycle. Gui worked endlessly to earn enough money to gain ownership of the bike from the delivery company, and Jiang used his dad's money to pay for a bike he had been asking for for years. Each time the bike was stolen from one of the boys, it was as if a part of their identity was also stolen. This can be illustrated by the fact that Gui would physically throw his whole body onto the bike and shout and scream and cry when Jiang and his friends tried to pry the bike from his hands. Wang would show scenes in which the boys were very upset if the bike was not in their possession.
My biggest problem with a lot of the films in this class is that I can never really pick out what exactly the director is trying to communicate to the audience. In the case of this film, I think he might be saying that we should not take so much pride in inanimate objects like bicycles because those items can be quickly stolen away. It is possible that this is a completely incorrect interpretation though.
Wang Xiaoshuai made the city come alive to me. I've visited Beijing, so seeing the Hutongs again, the masses of bike-riding people, the people sitting outside, playing Chinese chess, practicing martial arts all conjure up my time spent in the city. It is interesting that this film inspired more nostalgia from me than 'In the Mood for Love'. The reason I think it inspires me in this way are the places that are filmed, and the mis-en-scene, because it seems to capture all the little details of the city, things you will see if you just walk down the road. More so than the narrative about the bicycle, I think this film is about Beijing, the first half of the title 'Beijing Bicycle'. The Chinese name though, emphasizes not Beijing, but the ages of the boys who both want the bicycle. Is this done on purpose, to promote orientalism from film festival perspectives?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Wang Xiaoshuai has had so much trouble with censorship must inform his films. Is there a subversive element to them, or are they being censored for another reason? Beijing Bicycle was banned because it was shown without waiting for approval. In addition, "the key members of the production crew were all top film talents from Taiwan..." (164) This could be another reason for not only it's success, and it's banning. According to the Wikipedia page (suspect reliability, I know) Wang Xiaoshuai felt that the film would not receive approval in time for the festival, so went without it. Wang seems to be similar to Taiwan, in that he makes films that receive critical acclaim, but little recognition from the commercial world.
I guess what your response prompts me to ask is whether or not this film could have been effective had it been shot somewhere else. Would Hong Kong Bicycle or Shanghai Bicycle or Xi'an Bicycle have been similar films? I'm not sure I know the answer to that, but it's curious to think about, especially given how many films we've seen this semester where the theme of "setting as character" has featured so prominently. Thanks for these insights about your first-hand experiences in Beijing!
DeleteInteresting point about the Chinese title of the film, as it focuses on the age of the main characters instead of Beijing. And to answer your question, the English title was probably made to make it sound more culturally diverse.
DeleteI am agree with your pionts,in my opinion the Beijing is a great city in China, beacuse it have long history. Many dynasties make the capital in there,so there have deep cultural and historical heritage. Through the film of Beijing Bicycle, we can see the all city of Beijing clearly.Such as the Hutong and the bicycle, maybe the bicycle is the symbol of the age of Beijing.
DeleteHutong culture is also interesting to me. Actually I think Hutong kept Beijing traditional culture pretty well and you can see how normal people living in this city.
DeleteIn fact, I also like the scene in the movie, because I live in Beijing, it istoo familiar fot me. In this film, although it did not show too much of Beijing culture, but it reality presents a Beijing ordinary lives.
DeleteBeijing Bicycle was banned because it shows a lot of Hutongs in the film. Some people think it's a side of poor in Beijing. It would have a bad effect on beijing's olympic bid at that time. But I think Hutongs is a part of Beijing's culture. This film has started showing in Beijing in July. In general, this is a good film.
Deletethere are 9 millions bikes in Beijing, and use the bike as a topic is a great idea. The irony thing is this film is banned for some " unknow" reason. I strongly think chinese government is too sensitive
DeleteI think that this week's film continues a theme we have seen in our last few films: making the most with some kind of limitation on resources. In Millennium Mambo, we saw repeated use of interior shots reflective of the director's previous difficulty in getting permission for the use of exterior shots and with In The Mood For Love we saw interesting and intricate camerawork in enclosed spaces and the use of key exterior shots to create the illusion that the film was being shot in Hong Kong (when in fact it was shot in Bangkok). I think the interview with Wang Xiaoshui reveals how he used extremely limited resources under strict and restrictive guidelines to make a beautifully rich film. In the interview, he details his difficulty in getting subject matter and story approved for shooting in China and he also talks about his difficulty in getting equipment, among other things: on page 166 he talks about filming The Days with old, out-of-date equipment and having no film on top of that, on 167 he talks about using his friend as actors because he couldn't pay professionals, on 172 he discusses the editing involved in making Vietnamese Girl/So Close to Paradise (the interviewer prompts him by saying that he "once mentioned the Film Bureau rejecting So Close to Paradise on the basis that it 'had a funny smell'" and he elaborates by saying the "mood of the film" was problematic to censors). Consistently, he seems to have overcome difficult situations and out of each difficult situation, an interesting and evocative piece of film emerges as the result.
ReplyDeleteI always talk about the opening scene in the films we watch, but it always seems so key to me. What do you utilize right away to grab the audience's attention and keep it with you for the duration of your film? Is it a long, sustained shot of a woman walking down a hallway while a voiceover narrates her past/future history? Or is it a series of intimate close-ups revealing the faces of many different young men with one, unified goal - to get a job as bicycle messengers? In Beijing Bicycle, I think these close-ups are extremely important. They communicate individuality (in the variety of speech, expression, location of origin, etc that we see displayed) and intimacy (some of the young men seem abashed or shy about their answers, some more self-confident, all held in the gaze of the camera at an almost uncomfortably close range). If these young men had all been Jackie Chans and Bruce Lees and Tony Leungs and Chow Yun-fats, would we have that same sense of intimacy and immediacy? I feel that the sense of these mens' anonymity we experience with this opening scene is very key in terms of setting the stage for the rest of the film. We are already set up to ask ourselves what the bike means to these young men, including the "bicycle thief" we meet only later on in the film.
I like that fact that you think the opening scenes are important, and I like your analogy with the famous Chinese actor. We probably wouldn't have that same sense of intimacy if the close ups were on Chow Yun-fat or somebody else famous
DeleteI agree that the close-ups definitely portray an intimate feeling for the bike. And, of course, we see this as the two boys take pride in the bike, as Guo cries when his bike is stolen, and how Jian doesn't want to hang out with any of his friends when it's stolen. When you lose something that is intimate to you, something so special, you're going to be upset and not be able to get if off of your mind.
DeleteI like how you analyse the movies and the techniques in this movie by comparing this movie with other movies that we have watched.
DeleteThe plot revolves around two young teenagers, Guei and Jian. Guei is from the rural area, new to the city of Beijing for a job as a bike messenger, who got his bike stolen. Jian is high school student who took money from his dad to buy the stolen bike (unknowing of the fact that it was a stolen bike). I think the contrast of Guei and Jian’s personality is the most interesting aspect of the movie. Guei, coming from the countryside, is not one that would be considered educated, and you can often see that he is unable to resolve confrontations verbally (Ex: confusion at the massage parlor; 0:18:53). Not only is he bad with his socially skills, he often tries to run instead of resolve his conflicts with people. Although Guei is not the brightest kid in the world, he is a reliable person and takes his job seriously. After his bike was stole, he ran to the delivery destination just to get his job done (0:23:38). He also relentlessly tries to get his bike back, even though stealing it back wasn’t the best idea, and the ways he handles the situation against showed his lack of intelligence, but yet a responsible person. Jian on the other hand, is more educated then Guei, and also more immature then Guei. There are many things that Jian did that show how immaturity. First, he stole money (I believe) from his dad and yelled at him. Not only is that immature (and illegal), but also disrespectful. Secondly, he started to treat his girlfriend poorly after his bike was taken, and decided to assault her new boyfriend after he stalked them. He also tried to smoke so he can be “cool” like her new boyfriend. Finally, he always tries to gang up on Guei with his friends to get the bike back instead talking to him like a man. At the end of the movie, karma comes back and haunts Jian, as he got beat up by a gang, and Guei also got beat up and his bike got broken even though he was just an innocent bystander.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this movie because the genre and the plot is a good change of pace from the other movies we’ve seen, such as romance and feminism. I didn’t think I would like the movie at first just from looking at the title because I couldn’t imagine how good a movie about bicycle can be, but it turns out a lot better than I thought. On page 174 of the Wang Xiao-Shuai interview, he said that “In China, it is bicycles, not automobiles, that are our primary means of transportation.” This explains why the employer gave the new employees a prep talk after they were hired, and why Guei took his job so seriously. You can also tell the Guei took his job seriously before he used a notebook to count how many deliveries he has made for the company before he can own the bike. On page 175, Wang Xiao-Shuai said the he wanted to capture the “sudden disappearance of the thing we always count on in life”, and I think that he did it beautifully in this movie. He was able to apply that idea on both Guei and Jian, and the two characters have the own approach to try to get back the bike they lost, which was very important to them.
I definitely agree that the movie is successful in getting across that feeling of losing the thing that's most important to us and I like how you talk about how the two boys are both bad at communicating with people - in a way they're both wronged throughout the film and even though what's most important to them is taken away, it feels like it's hard for them to express how this makes them feel. I think the movie does a good job of showing their frustrations and communicating them to the audience on behalf of the boys, who can't communicate for themselves (I know I felt frustrated, especially at the end on Guei's behalf).
DeleteIn my opinion,the bicycle as the main line throughout the movie story. For Gui, he is rural youth is hard to get a job, and the bicycle is so heavy for him, the bicycle is all property to Gui, he lost the bicycle is equal to lost jobs, and also lost the hope of life.So the bicycle is very important for Gui.
DeleteBeijing Bicycle is a movie which puts a lot of small stories together by bicycle. From the movie, I saw the spirit of Gui, when he lost his bike, he looks for it everyday and everywhere, it is responsibility. He is from somewhere poor, he is not like those students who gets whatever they want from their parents with no efforts, so they do not know what value is. But Gui does, so he holds on to his bike no matter what happens.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what Gui's relative(Im assuming he is, the guys onws the small grocery shop) says in the beginning of the movie, when they are looking at the girl makes me think. He said that "rich people are not happy everyday, I'd be drinking red sugar water and eating rib noodles." what a simple dream he has! in my opinion, rich people are never satisfied with what they have at the moment, they always want more. We cannot be greedy.
Beijing Bicycle is a GREAT movie to me, with no disrespect, I think that people from China understand the movie better, it is so close to our lives when we were there. It reminds me of my high school life back in China, hangout after school with a certain group of friends, play together, fought together, then go home together riding bicycles, "stole" our parents money to buy things or go to the game store, and there are a lot of "first times" as well, the first time I smoked a ciggerette, first time I had crush on a girl.
This movie is great also because of its actors, all of the actors are not famous at that time, just imagine that if the director had asked a bunch of well-known actors and actresses to be in this movie, the movie would have never been this famous, these actors have made the movie more real to us.
Another important thing is that the use of nature sounds and pictures of Hutongs(very small streets in China, especially in Beijing) in the movie, the people singing opera, people cooking, thousands of people going to work on bicycles on the streets, elderlys playing chinese chess in Hutong, and even all of those noises, all of these just make you feel like that you are there when you are watching it.
In my opinion, the directors do not need to spend tons of money to make movies, or make movies about unrealistic things, the audience would be impressed by the movies like Transformers, Titanic, but these movies will not last long, people are more interested in movies like Beijing Bicycle, Eat Drink Man Woman, because these movies are a lot more close to our lives, and also, these kind of movies can show the real tanlents that a director has, and these will eventually become classic.
"Another important thing is that the use of nature sounds and pictures of Hutongs." I like the sounds in the film, for example, the sound of pigeons. Every time I heard the flying noise of pigeons, I will feel that, ah, this is city Beijing.
DeleteI too was impressed by the capturing of, if not completely accurate, the atmosphere of Beijing, and of youth. Put that way,. it makes me think about Gui's life as a 17 year-old who's job is simply to deliver things, and how vastly different that is from the (comparatively) spoiled life that Jian leads.
DeleteI also think this movie reflects the real life of the people in Beijing. This movie gave me a lot of memories.
DeleteI agree with your point of "the actors in this movie are not famous at that time". I feel like if they are all well-known actors, audiences may only focus on them not the simple story. And also, if they are famous, it quite weird to act as the normal city people.
Deletethe film reflect lots of old Beijing culture. including the Hutong and Beijing opera. We can see how these old Chinese traditional culture go through people's normal life
DeleteThe film named ‘Beijing Bicycle’ was directed by Xiaoshuai Wang in 2001. It described a story of bike between two boys. Gui came to Beijing from countryside. He found a job in express company. The company gave him a sliver mountain bike. If he worked enough time, he would own this bike. So he worked so hard every day. However, his bike was stolen in the last day. After that day, Gui would own that beautiful bike. He was so sad. And he also lost his job. He swore he will find his bike. Jian was a student. He wanted to own a bike but his family is poor. His father repeatedly promised to buy a bike for him but he never fulfilled his promise. So Jian stole his father’s money to buy a cheap bike from someone. But he didn’t know this bike is booty who stole it from Gui. He liked this bike. And he hooked up with a girl who liked bike. One day, Gui’s uncle saw that bike. He told Gui about this. Gui found Jian and asked him to give him his bike back. Jian didn’t agree with this. So Gui took that bike privately from Jian’s home. Jian felt so angry. He grabbed away the bike from Gui’s hand. Gui told Jian’s father about this thing. Jian’s father was so angry that he knows Jian steal his money to buy a bike. He asked Jian to give Gui his bike back. But Jian still found Gui and wanted to get that bike back after that. Finally, they decided to share that bike. It seems like a good result. But that bike was broken by someone in the end because of Jian’s fault.
ReplyDeleteThis film pays attention to people who in lower degree. Gui and Jian is both 17 years old teenager. They are both poor. That bike is very important for them. Gui worked so hard for that bike. It’s also his main tool for living. He lost his job after his bike was stolen. Jian really wanted to own a bike. He played with his friends after he bought that bike. He also found a girlfriend. I think that girlfriend is his main reason that he didn’t want to give up that bike. He always got that bike back after Gui took back his bike. He thought his girlfriend left him because he lost his bike. In the end, he knew his girlfriend will not come back. He let Gui take back his bike.
There is an interesting thing in the film. The manger of express company uses axis to describe Gui. Axis is straight. It shows Gui is a stubborn man. But I don’t think it’s a bad word to describe him. He had perseverance. He swore he will find his bike. He also found his bike and got his job back. He never gave up easily. Maybe he is inflexible in other things. But I still think it’s a good personality.
As much as I liked his personality, I felt that his continued silence when confronted with problems was not only unrealistic, but also maddeningly frustrating. Though it builds to a catharsis at the end of the movie with the rock, his first ACTION, along the way, his passivity was annoying.
DeleteTo label it unrealistic may be a bit far-fetched, but it was certainly maddening. I thought it made his final action much more poignant.
DeleteTeenager Xiao-guei is from the rural region. He went to Beijing and found a job in an express company. He got a bicycle from the company and after he erned 600 RMB, he will own the bicycle. However, when he almost earned 600 RMB, his bicycle was stolen and he was also fired by the manager. To get back to his work, he began to search for his bicycle. Another guy, Xiao-jian, in order to have his own bicycle, stole the family's money and bought the second-hand one, which is Xiao-guei's. They fight for such a long time and finally got to a deal, each one get one day to use the bicycle. However, in the end,n the bicycle was totally destroyed.
ReplyDeleteAs the cultural icon in the film, bicycle could be regarded as the main line of the story. Beijing was famous for its' huge amount of bicycles during 90s, and we can also find the evidence from the film "almost a love story." The story went around with a bicycle. However, when put the story into the city culture, the concept of bicycle became more complex. It can be a symbolic of occupation of the society, the tool of making money or love. And it is also a symbolic of the changing Beijing. The story looks nothing serious, just the conflicts between two teenagers, however, as the directer Wang Xiaoshuai said in the interview, " I am growing to prefer with commonplace images and a style that is stripped down and closer to people's experience of everyday life."(Wang Xiaoshuai, p.176) The common characters seems left deeper empathy among the audiences.
It is interesting that you mentioned bike is like a symbol of a city and the importance and meaning of bike to these people.
DeleteI also believed the bicycle should be the main line of this story. The bicycle is a symbol more than just a tool. It is an object for Guei to live and work, and an aspiration for Jian to play with his friends
DeleteI agree with you about how you explain why do bicycles are a social icon
DeleteHave to admit my heart never so heavy when I saw this movie of “Beijing Bicycle”, in my opinion only experience the seventeen years old, it have ability to see and understand the movie with calm mood. Although the film of “Beijing Bicycle” was taken in 2000, but the city of Beijing is still like the people remember have many of Hutong, and have the traffic crowded. In fact, the story is very simple, just about two teenagers and a bike constantly staggered in "lost" and "lose after having got it”. But, because of the simplicity of the stories and the special age, special background as well as the special memory of we have, so the story will be different and make we have the resonate. Throughout the movie, we can realize the film let people feel authentic, the film does not have too many words, just through the most natural movements, the most simple expression, to express the mood and the environment, there is no cut and polish and exaggerated trace, make people see the sense of reality and true. But the more impressive is the director Wang Xiaoshuai with a variety of music to show each part of the story and the mood of characters in this film. The music is expressive, nature, place, and also adds a touch of bright color for the whole film. For example, in the front part of the movie always accompanied with pleasant music to set off the Gui ride bicycle shuttle his way through the busy streets and the scene of send express, so we can see this is the performance of the Gui is full of youthful vigor, he has full of hope to the future life, on the other hand the Gui was search the bicycle when he lost it, the director accompanied with a heavy Sax music to highlight the protagonist’s painful mood of lost his beloved bicycle. I think the bicycle is all property to Gui, he lost the bicycle is equal to lost jobs, and also lost the hope of life. In this moment have a strong contrast between the pleasant music (Gui ride bicycle send express) and heavy music (Gui lost his bicycle) and this is also make the very good upholstery for to further the plot of the story and finally when the Gui carrying his broken bike walk in the downtown streets, the film with piping of sorrowful and bleak. At this time, the film conveys is not only the Gui facing to his life helpless and sadness, but also shows the “social inequality”. The picture combined with the music, make the film obtained the sublimation in the end of the movie.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I want to say: The youth will get away in the loss and fight. After that we started to grow, beginning to understand the rules of the world and the rule of adult’s game. Stand up in our small world, meanwhile continuing the life. But the dream and the passion of youth, hesitation and confusion, it are gradually disappearing, leaving our hearts, leaving our changing thinking. All of the things are restart again.
I also feel so heavy. This film shows a side of social inequality. Beijing is a bustling city. But it still have a lot of people like Gui and Jian who in lower degree. This story of bike shows the rules of the society. The reality is cruel. But it's not the only thing that this film wants to tell us. More important thing is to tell us that we need to pick ourselves up after failure.
DeleteI'm glad you spoke about music, because you reminded me about the relative lack of music in this film, which makes it all the more poignant when it is introduced. I found myself tearing up a few times inexplicably, until I realized sad music had begun to play.
DeleteThe movie Beijing Bicycle was directed by Xiaoshuai Wang. There is a story line in this movie: Gui had a job of express company in Beijing, he came from countryside. In fact, at the beginning of the movie, he could not adapt the city life. Gui wanted to be a normal person, and he used the new bicycle working for the company, but one day he left his bicycle and then lost his job, he tried to find the bicycle that he lost. Until one day, Gui found a boy named Jian who got Gui's bicycle, Gui tried to get the bicycle back. They make a decision that they would like share the bicycle, at the end of this movie, Jian decide to get the bicycle back to Gui. I don't think there is a perfect ending in this movie, because the bike was damaged, and the characters in the story did not have any contact any more.
ReplyDeleteI found some interesting part in this movie. First the maid Qin did not say anything in this movie, in my opinion is that maybe because Xun Zhou does not have a good voice. And the second, the main characters had change in this movie. For example, Gui really wanted to get a bike, but at the end of this movie, he gave the bike back to Gui. And Gui could not accept of the city life, but at the end, he tried to smoke, and he tried to fight with someone. Also another example is that Xiao liked Jian at the beginning, but she changed her mind when Jian lost his bike. At this point we know what the meaning of youth is. The youth means pain and change.
I think actresses are only supporting roles in this film, the effect of them just let us know the Gui and Jian’s psychological changes
DeleteIt'd be interesting to compare and contrast this film with stage sisters, where the main characters were both female, with a male supporting cast. You're right, women are very distant in this film.
Delete“Beijing Bicycle” is a movie that related to bicycles and connected two young teenagers with one bike. There are two main male characters whose name are Gui and Jian. Gui is from the rural part of China and he went to Beijing for living. He found a job as an express mailman. The express company loaned a bike as his transport and promised once you earned a certain amount of money, you will own the bike. This bike is not just a transport for Gui and it is also like a motivation for him to be hard working. Another male character, Jian who comes from urban Beijing, he is in a private high school which kids there are from wealthy families. His family isn’t rich and he and his father live with his stepmother and her daughter. Pretty complicated family relationship, and Jian has a hard time to get along with his little sister who is from the stepmother side. There is a connection between Gui and Jian, which is Gui’s bike. Gui lost his bike during his work and accidently Jian uses the money that was stolen from his father to buy Gui’s bike. They met one day and Gui wants his bike back but Jian doesn’t want to give up because it spent 500 RMB to buy this bike. After series of fights and struggles, they finally have a deal, which is each one use the bike one day and return to other side next day.
ReplyDeleteIn this movie, bicycle is not just the transport, but also more like symbol of power and capital. Gui wants to keep the bike for living and stay on the city life in Beijing. For Jian, the bike is like a tool to show off in front of his classmates. I love this story because it happened when I was in middle school, kids always pursuit fancy bikes and like to show off in front classmates especially of who they like. Another thing I feel pretty interesting is the female character. In this movie, the two male characters are in the primary part of the movie, but the female character also has relationship with the bike. You can notice that the girl would like to hangout with Jian when he has the fancy bike. But when things come true, after she knew the bike wasn’t him, she chose the street guy with expertly skill as her boyfriend. I feel like director trying to use the change of her mind to highlight the rights and institutional position in the hearts of young teenagers, but also emphasize the importance of the power is a prominent reason to form the cruel younghood.
I agree with your statement that Gui wants to keep the bike to stay in the city life. and to Jian, it is a tool to show off to his friends. I feel like for Guo, the bike is the bridge for him to connect with the city. Without it, it's as if he is lost within the city, as if the city has overwhelmed him and won. For Jian, the bicycle is the bridge to talk to girls. As soon as he gets a bike, he builds a relationship with the girl that I feel like would not have happened if he had never come across the bike.
DeleteI have the same opinion as yours. Bicycle in this film has different meanings to Gui and Jian and I think it also represents many social problems that time.
DeleteAs for Xian, I felt like Jian was a very inattentive boyfriend, despite her dedication, and that her leaving him had little to do with the bike, but more to do with the way in which he treated her.
DeleteI agree on the point that bike has whole different meaning to Gui and Xian. To Gui, it is his job. In order to survive in Beijing, he had to keep a job. And he didn't have much choices. Whereas to Xian, he had to keep up his status with the girl and his friends who were all playing with bikes.
DeleteBeijing Bicycle captured the emotional, angst-filled life a teenager wonderfully. Much like the last two movies we watched, this felt like yet another mood piece, yet this movie felt infinitely more cohesive than the first two. I love how the movie depicts both the city and the countryside, almost in the same vein as one another. The first scene where we see the countryside was particularly moving to me. We see the boys in an unfinished building practicing their riding. The camera slowly pans looking out and over the short, close built homes, but then, in the not so distant background, the city rises almost as if to say you cannot separate one from the other. I also thought that the two boys being so similar added to that theme.
ReplyDeleteThe interview only furthered my point. On page 176 Wang says, "Some audiences see in this film the sharp contrast between the countryside and the city. I see exactly the opposite." He goes on to say no matter where we are from, we are all "equal before fate." I think that line is incredibly powerful and true. Wang's directing was great and the movie was brilliant.
You speak the truth when you say it had a moody feel to it. Like you, I also felt this one felt alot more 'comfortable' (and to me at least more enjoyable!). Nobody can deny that there's alot of meaning and depth to the film, but it's certainly a familiar theme (that of "emotional, angst-filled" teenagers) but the issues it raises and the settings are certainly unique.
DeleteI also have impression on what Wang said about "equal before fate". Though before fate is equal, after fate is be quite different. Especially in China, it is extremely hard to be a registered permanent resident in big cities. Whereas in the us, you only to work and live there and file taxes. And, it is extremely inconvenient for migrant workers like Gui to live in big cities.
DeleteI liked “Beijing bicycles” very much. One thing that stood out to me was – of course – the importance of bicycles in the city. The film portrays very well how bicycles in China are appreciated the same way most Americans appreciate vehicles. Many times, the film shows a cluster of bikes on the road trying to get to their attention. And the scenes show a dense traffic of bicycles, just as we see with vehicles usually. There are even special stop lights just for bikers, which I found really interesting. And because Guo’s job lets him have a bike (which he has to pay on), he is told that he has a dream job because of that factor.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how in the interview, the director says Jian and Guo are both like him in some way, and he goes on to talk about how he felt when his bike was stolen from campus. “When it happened to me, I felt it was the most painful experience in the world” (Page 175). This is interesting because we see the director displaying the emotion he felt when his bike was stolen onto the two boys when their bikes are stolen. Guo cries, and Jian doesn’t want to hang out with his friends or anything. This is not surprising that he had the two characters feel this way because, as I mentioned earlier, the director did say he created Guo and Jian to be similar to him. This was my favorite film we have watched so far.
i also liked where he drew his inspiration from. i feel like it gave it more purpose and success in expressing the emotions of having something precious to him stolen since it happened to the director
Delete“Beijing Bicycle” describes the story between Gui and Jian in the late nineties. Gui is from the countryside, relatively low level of education. He came to Beijing and found an express job. He got a new bicycle because of his job. This bicycle is not only the transportation but also the thing can support his work. Jian is from Beijing, in a vocational high school but his family was not rich. His father promised to buy the bicycle many times but never fulfill. Jian had no choice but steal money from his family to buy bicycle from the Second-hand car market which is the one belongs to Gui. This film reflects many serious questions about relationships between citizens and outlanders to many big cities. How could these cities absorb outlanders? How to integrate outlanders into big cities.
ReplyDeleteIn this film, the meaning of bicycle is not only the transportation. To Gui, it represents this job and Beijing admits him. During that time, people form cities have biases to the people from countryside. It is really interesting and disgusting when I saw his friend brush his teeth and he was not finished, gave him the brush and told him to brush. Gui just put the brush into his mouth directly. I believe it is unreal and it represents screenwriter’s bias. Gui can read Beijing’s map and I do not believe he never brush teeth before. To Jian, bicycle represents his conceit, Self-respect and girlfriend. All his friends have bicycles. In his school, most people were attracted by the bicycle acrobatics, includes his girlfriend. However, once he lost his bicycle, his girlfriend just left him and found another guy. There are many fight senses in this film and it represents youth. They all fight for their dreams.
I find it interesting that you picked up on such a small detail (map reading and brushing teeth). You are probably correct on the screenwriter's bias.
DeleteFor a bicycle values hundreds of yuan, someone lose his bread and butter, and another lose his devoted girl. This seemed like a metaphor. Gui lose his chance for eating, it is “food”, Jian lose his puppy love, it is “sex” this seemed like a huge sad. And cause of this result even destroy the original need of human nature.
ReplyDeleteWhile Gui’s happiness gonna explore, he lost his bicycle, and this accomplish other youngster’s dream, but when Jin want to show his happiness, he lose his bicycle, too.
As the common vehicles for Chinese, this beauty bicycle not only connect the whole movie, but also became the symbol of the identity for there two boys. It is the best point for the whole movie. And the two different uniforms, it is more easier to understand that they have the same plight.
Maybe youth itself belong to a kind of farce, their hope and persistence are fragile, hesitate outside the adult and push over by the violence suddenly. During the despair without any hope and escape, Jin and Gui raise their brick in different moment, and punch the last hit. But anything will never retrieve, Jin lay on the floor covered all over with cuts and bruises, Gui heaved his broken bicycle and left, the cross fate they met before start to divided, no one knows which road could leave to another place.
Youth is unbalanced and not to the point, and when we were in the face of youth, anyone would be like Wang Xiaoshuai and easy to get excited. All in all, are to be forgiven, because our youth, it passed; because our intention, always change; because of the memory and the woman in our memory, it is just beautiful.
son of tears. How can I forget those screams, who repeatedly looted and fear of angry faces. I remember the boy I had ever witnessed, and the negative consumption nevermore to get youth, everything just to prove: the distance apart from afar, nothing. I can't start walking backwards, from the second to the past, back to my wandering eyes lost in panic, seventeen years old, we and our protagonist, in accordance with the normal timing into the threshold of adulthood, deprived of an empty; string was broken, song stopped, the wheels folded, car crash, began to grow.
Everyone have his own teenager memory. In the film Beijing Bicycle, the directory use bicycle as a connection between Xiao GUI and Xiao Jian. In this film, Xiao GUI is a normal teenager lives in Capital Beijing, and he always want to get a new bicycle to change his life. But unfortunately, his bike is stolen. This plot suddenly reminded me of Camel Xiangzi(骆驼祥子). This bicycle is Gui's everything. With this bicycle, he will never lose his job and the girl XiaoXiao will accept him. The bicycle is his religious. He feels he is part of this city. But the true is cruel, his bike was stolen and he lost everything, he decides to find back his bike, and he meets Xiao Jian.
ReplyDeleteXiao Gui is only 17 years old young. I remember when I was 17. I think I am the center of the world. But with time goes by, I find am so tiny in this society. I feel very depression. It also reflects in this film, for other people the important bike for Xiao GUI is only a cheap transportation. Xiao Guy only need 70 Yuan to get the ownership of this bike, but for many people the 70 is cannot even afford a meal. The two different make the young teenager feel despair.
Wang Xiao Shua pays attention to the young general. We all can find our own shadow in him. Gui and Jian are both 17 years old. They are young, stubborn, passion and always positive for future. But when we face the pressure for society, we fee lose and disappoint. It like the end of film, Xiao GUI carries his bike back walking on the road. The bike has been broken. It imply his fragile dream about this city also broken.
Even Jian is living in Beijing and growing up in the big city, but his family is still poor and living in the under class. Guei and Jian have different background but similar goal, to have a bicycle.
DeleteThe movie was excellent. I think the socio-economic relationship between rural and urban residents in China is one of the pertinent questions China's leaders will have to address in the coming years, with so many young people (like Gui) making their move to the large cities. For me, the most powerful scene was the ending, where Gui and Jian were ambushed by the biker gang. So many significant images in one short sequence, each sort of representing a microcosm of city life in China The rebellious clothing of the youth, the fact that one of the boys is smoking a cigarette (1 in 3 are smoked in China) while stomping on Gui's bike, and his retaliation while giving the kid a brick-induced coma.
ReplyDeleteThere was a quote on page 166 of the interview that reads, "When we shot The Das, we decided that no matter what, we weren't going to give up this time. No matter how hard it was, we had to stick it out to the end. So that's how it got started."
This quote illustrates the idea that Gui's determination and willpower to succeed throughout the movie, was in fact drawn from Wang Xiaoshuai's own determination to succeed. It is this same character trait that is needed in order to transition and become successful in the large, intimidating concrete jungle.
I think this thought of success is very important to understanding the movie as a whole. Success is key in the life of both of the boys in their status figures and life in general. Determination is also a great way to think about it, that I did not consider before you mentioned it. The boys had to have such determination to make this film possible, not to mention Wang's determination throughout making this film!
DeleteBeijing Bicycle makes me feel sad. I can see the differences between the regular people living in the city, especial big city like Beijing and the people who are working in the big city from countryside. Even they are living in the same area, breathing the same air, and walking in the same streets, but they are still totally different people. Beijing Bicycle’s leading roles are two young boys who are seventeen years old. At that age, children should be happy to study in the school, but Guei was a poor boy who came to Beijing from countryside and hardly worked in an express delivery company. Guei knew the difference between others and himself, so he tried his best to work sedulously. He wanted his bicycle back to go back to his work company and this bicycle was his necessary for earning. For the other boy, Jian, he was living in a not very well off family, he wanted a bicycle to play and get the girl, he liked, noticed. I do not like Jian, he did not think about what he should do, but just do whatever he wanted, so that he hurt his father, his family and even his friends. I get interested in the screen when Guei and his brother peek the “Beijing” girl in the building from the hole on the wall. Guei maybe like that girl, but they are living in separate society even there is only one wall separate them. Beijing Bicycle was a new film in 2001, and it was a big challenge in the beginning of the new century. Dissimilar with the movies we watched before, Beijing Bicycle talked about the migrant workers’ story who come from countryside.
ReplyDeleteWang Xiaoshuai is a famous director in China. He did lots of well-known films, and Beijing Bicycle is one of them. He makes films in different way and let us has a new view and novel idea. In his Beijing Bicycle, the truth, which differences between city and countryside are strong, are banned by government especially at that time, when Beijing government wanted to have a good face for applying Beijing Olympics. There are too much negative screens in this film. “Some audiences see in this film the sharp contrast between the countryside and the city. I see exactly the opposite.” On Page 176.
I wasn't a huge fan of Jian either. Near the end of the film, when he hits the other boy on the head with a brick in order to presumably win back the girl I was dumbstruck. Did he really think that it would work, or was he just having a vengeful streak. At times it seems like he had more stress and pressure than Guei even though he really had less to be concerned about.
DeleteI really like your analogy with how the wall separates then in more than one sense. That is a great way of looking at it that I had not though of before.
DeleteIn Wang Xiaoshui's interview he says of the bike: "For these two boys, owning a bicycle symbolizes maturity and their ability to possess something in society." It's always a treat when the director provides an explanation for what he or she meant by something in a film, or what it means to the characters. On a personal level I find it interesting that these two characters, one from the countryside and the other a Beijinger, are fighting over the same thing. It raises the interesting question about social mobility. Why would a migrant worker and a local be fighting over the same thing (that was originally the migrant worker's)? To me, big cities are a place where people at the bottom feel pressure slowly squeezing them out and fighting against it, whereas people from outside like the migrant worker have nowhere to go but up.
ReplyDeleteThe 'gang' of kids was a rather surprising element of the film to me. I didn't realize that high-school (?) aged students in China would have the time or energy to spend doing bike tricks and fighting 'til nightfall over a bike. Where are their parents? Why aren't they studying? Of course these kinds of people exist everywhere, but I just hadn't thought of it until seeing the film.
I agree with you Adam, it was really interesting to see a sort of "other side" of city people (the ones in the "gang"). To me, it seemed like that group had a lot in common with the country-side people, more so than the other city people did.
DeleteInteresting aspect you bring up about the gang and about them having the time and energy to spend on this whole bike fiasco. I have come to think that Chinese schooling is much more intense and tiresome than the schooling we have experienced. That being said, I completely agree with your questions you bring up. The parents is a great one! The parents were hardly shown in the film, I wonder if this has an symbolic meaning behind the absence of the parents?
DeleteI love your questions. I also wondered the same thing. Especially after meeting some Chinese high school students myself. There is no way that kids in school had that kind of time!
DeleteBeijing Bicycle is an interesting movie about two boys from different social circumstances brought together by a single bicycle. Guei is a rural farm boy looking to make a steady living in Beijing as a courier. He treasures his bike dearly, as witnessed through the film. To him, the bike is more than just transport -- it’s his livelihood. At some point, his bike is stolen and eventually falls into the hands of Jian, a city schoolboy. Jian also cherishes the bike, but only for the pride and respect it brings him among his peers. My favorite scene is the one where Jian hands the bike over to Guei for the last time, after pulling a sneak attack on his romantic rival and knocking the guy unconscious. The meeting wasn’t full of dialogue, but you hear defeat in Jian’s voice as he inhales the cigarette. He knew retaliation was imminent, and he just kind of accepted his fate. That scene was truly the calm before the storm. It wasn’t long before the two are chased down and beaten mercilessly by the biker gang. The moral of the story: bicycles are serious business in Beijing.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the director Wang Xiaoshuai came up with the idea for a story structured around a bicycle because he wanted to create actiony chase sequences, but it was much too expensive to do chase scenes with automobile without looking unrealistic (Interview, pg. 174). So naturally, he opted to film actiony chase sequences with bicycles. Despite his inspiration, I don’t feel that the action scenes, but rather the authentic look into Beijing city life, were the highlights of this film. I think this authenticity is captured very well within the scope of the film because it didn’t draw any boundaries on the extent of people’s behavior. Some examples of this: accountant lady trying to cheat Guei out of 80 yuan, hotel receptionist insisting payment for the shower that Guei didn’t ask for, and that guy peeping through a hole in the wall. It seemed raw and not romanticized as in some of the films we have seen previously.
Yeah i didnt really think of them as action scenes until i read the interview. i guess they aren't action scenes in the sense of American style, but it was in a way an "action" scene.
DeleteI think you may a really important point about the style of the film being 'raw', like Wang said, about trying to work with stripped down ideas that are closer to real life. That scene with the hotel attendant is vivid to me, because of how uncomfortable all of them were,
DeleteThe two main protagonists Guei and Jian are two contrasting characters in the film. One from the city and one from the country. Guei is an honest man who works as a express deliverer and is issued a bike that gets stolen. It is sold to Jian who is a hot tempered, dishonest school boy who stole money from his family to buy the bike. I thought that the director did a good job showing the emotions and story of both of these characters and their affections with the bike. Both had to have it to accomplish their goals although more Guei than Jian who just wanted it to impress one of his schoolmates.Both are dumb for different reasons. though Guei is smart, he is not very vocal and is unable to speak for himself in hostile situations. All hes able to do is look down on the ground the whole time during confrontations. Jian is just a kid who has yet to learn to be more humble and less selfish.
ReplyDeleteThe intervew with Wang Xiaoshui raised some questions for me, like why was it banned? Surely it had to be more than just because it had an unclear ending. The film did not seem very political or propagandic. it was like Wang said, it was just about "...fate and the experience of growing up" (p176).
Also i thought it was hilarious during the scene when Jian just circled the girl with his bike a few times in biker gangs do in movies and then stopped in awkward silence as she just rode away.
In general, this film, Beijing Bicycle, I don’t know how to describe it; I think that a word, dumbness, is best to reflect my feeling. I think that the story lines, in the film, are so vague, I only think what the story is about a gaining and losing of bicycle. Moreover, I think what the story, which is Xiao Gui losing his bicycle, is best wonderful. Especially, in the background, these old women have dance and bass drum. First, there is just a tangle place, waiting for Gui backing, he found his bike is loosed, these drum’s point is rhythmic pronunciation. But director pull out a vision, thus we can know Gui’s tension mind.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I’d like to talk about audiovisual. There is most impressed for me, which is bringing forth for music, and full of documentary in the long shot. Firstly, in the music, background music is well down, the music’s gurgitation is with the mood of role. There have the pleasure for getting bikes and the pain for lost. The music will amplify these emotions. For example, when he returns the home, the music is stop, although these music is pretty charming, he hate the family.
The film has no fancy clips,and various lens without powerful and unconstrained style, only depends on a long shot goes up, and shows this story more lively ,though the same background of life does not gave me the illusion of being in the drama. At the end of the movie is Guo Liangui took up the bike, walk in the road, and the film is taken by the slow play and it can feature this materialistic society, and make Guo Liangui looked like more misfits during the society, step by step.
I found the movie "Beijing Bicycle" to be very fascinating. Perhaps the thing that stuck out to me the most, however, was the differences between the perceptions of the countryside versus the city. The people from the countryside often had a pessimistic view of the "city-folk," considering them to be rude, distant, and unhappy. While the city fold never talked about the "country-folk" like this, you could view their opinions through their actions; which told us that people from the country, to them, appeared to be a bit strange, different, and not as clean.
ReplyDeleteIn the Wang Xiao Shuai interview called "Banned in China," I found it really interesting on how he talked about his production style of shooting a rough copy of the film first, and then working from that. Wang Xiao Shuai mentioned that this process made it an easier process for collaboration, while at the same time more difficult (169). He said that "when I work with nonprofessional actors, I can instruct them on how to present the characters and shape their performance" (Wang Xiao Shuai, 169). This method to me seems like it would make it more difficult to collaborate, since their is not any real collaboration going on, only instruction.
I agree with your point regarding urban vs rural perceptions, like for example how Guei's budy thought the girl they were peeping on was stuck up and unhappy despite being wealthy and how he just couldn't understand cityfolk, and then it turned out she was the maid.
Delete“Beijing Bicycle” reminds about the movie “Comrades: Almost a Love Story” at certain points. The protagonists in both movies were from rural and moved to a bigger city. In this movie, Gui’s mate told him that city people are tricky and would take advantage of him, so don’t let them know the fact he is from country side of China. In the interview, Wang says that “We see the country boy put on a new uniform and suddenly he looks like a city person. I think that no matter where people are from, whether the city or the countryside, they are all equal before fate (p 176)”, which I only agree with him theoretically. The truth is that in today’s society, city people still look down on people from countryside. There was a news about Beijing’s official subway weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) showed a picture of subway with some junks on the floor with a description of “after locusts have gone by”. That’s how most city people would describe people who came from countryside. Cities like Beijing or Shanghai, even if most migrant workers work through their whole life in those city, they couldn’t be registered permanent resident of the cities. Thus, their kids have to pay higher tuition fee and hassles beyond their capability to overcome.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would still like to talk about the fate of two male protagonists Gui and Jian. At first I was very angry about Jian and his friends beat up Gui to “steal” back the bike until I know he paid money for it in the used market and he didn’t know It was a stolen. The reason why Jian was doing it was because he was chasing the girl from his school. However, she chose to hang out with another guy. And then, he decided to fully return the bike the Gui instead of rotating with him every day. This movie is only about two young adult’s life, nothing special about it. Like the end scene of movie, a street on Beijing with tons of bicycles and cars, stories of common people performed every day.
Yeah, the film didn't make it very clear that Jian actually spent money on the bike until halfway through the story. I just assumed he stole it and lied about it up until the point when he agreed to share the bike.
DeleteI like your interpretation of the last scene. I couldn't figure out what the director was trying to say, but now that you say that he might have been trying to communicate that this was just the story of two young boys in a China full of tons of people, I think I have a better grasp of the director's perspective.
DeleteI thought Wang’s Beijing Bicycle was very symbolic in everything revolving around the bicycle itself. I think that it represented everything that the teenagers wanted in a future. For example, I think that the bike for both boys symbolized this possibility for success, freedom for travel in a tangible sense, but also freedom in their mindset of owning something that they can do things with: play, work, etc.. Also I think that bikes in general for the Chinese symbolized these things and also the opportunity they found while having the bike and the lack of opportunity when they didn’t have the bike. Interestingly enough, the bike also meant different things to each of the boys while sharing lots of meanings as I have already discussed. For the school boy, when he had the bike, he had his girl and his confidence. For the countryside boy, the bike meant having a job that he was worthy doing and feeling accomplished for himself.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the interview I think that this quote is very good for what I have said so far, Wang Xiaoshuai said that when his bike was stolen “it was the most painful experience in the world. I wanted to capture this feeling in my film: the sudden disappearance of the thing we always count on in life” (Wang, 175). I think that he did capture this feeling very well in the actors emotion contrast versus having the bike and not. The interview was very interesting that many directors did not think about the concept of the bicycle before Wang did this film. Also, how he was inspired by this idea in the way of this “chase scene” and using the bikes to do this was very fascinating to me (Wang, 174).
I like the idea of "possibility of success." That statement struck me. The bike didn't promise anything. The boys still had to work once they had the bike.
DeleteI like the concept of the bicycle representing the boys sense of freedom. I think it might also be fair to say that the bike was a representation of maturation. As you said, the bike gave the boys more freedom, but also more responsibility. For example, Gui had to use the bike to carry out the duties that his job brought him.
Delete"Beijing Bicycle" allowed director Wang Xiaoshuai to continue his "exploration of the disparities between the rural and the urban" (Banned 164). Gui, one of the main protagonists comes from a poorer, more rural side of town, whereas Jiang, the other main protagonist, comes from a more upscale, urban side of town. The two are brought together when Gui discovers Jiang in possession of his stolen bicycle. Gui later finds out that Jiang supposedly bought the bicycle from someone, and despite the fact that his bike was stolen from him, Jiang will not surrender the bike unless he receives payment from Gui. The two protagonists eventually agree to share the bike every other day, but this decision was not met without much hardship to Gui, who was beat up and chased each time he tried to steal his bike back. Jiang eventually offers the bike back to Gui, but the two get chased down by a group of angry boys, one of which was talking to Jiang's girlfriend.
ReplyDeleteWang plays with the concept of identity throughout this film. One might argue that each of the boys found a sense of identity in the bicycle. Gui worked endlessly to earn enough money to gain ownership of the bike from the delivery company, and Jiang used his dad's money to pay for a bike he had been asking for for years. Each time the bike was stolen from one of the boys, it was as if a part of their identity was also stolen. This can be illustrated by the fact that Gui would physically throw his whole body onto the bike and shout and scream and cry when Jiang and his friends tried to pry the bike from his hands. Wang would show scenes in which the boys were very upset if the bike was not in their possession.
My biggest problem with a lot of the films in this class is that I can never really pick out what exactly the director is trying to communicate to the audience. In the case of this film, I think he might be saying that we should not take so much pride in inanimate objects like bicycles because those items can be quickly stolen away. It is possible that this is a completely incorrect interpretation though.