Tag Archives: face

more gossip about daomei

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Daomei, of the bagua fiasco had a part in “Eye”. And played it well. Daomei is a wonderful actor and sinks himself into roles with enviable enthusiasm.

One of Daomei’s college classmates works in Guangzhou. He heard from a friend that “Eye” was a hit and decided to drive to Shenzhen for the show. He told the director to arrange to have Daomei stand center stage during curtain call so that he could present Daomei with the biggest possible bouquet. All was arranged and Daomei took his bows center stage. However, as the other actors received bouquets and hugs, or went into the audience to give gifts to their parents, Classmate did not appear.

A restless, empty-handed Daomei called out, “Classmate, where’s my bouquet?”

Classmate then slunk on to stage and stage-whisphered explained, “Ai ya, Older brother Dao, I drove as fast as I could, but got stuck in traffic so I didn’t have a chance to buy the bouquet. I am truly, truly sorry.”

Daomei threatened to hit Classmate with a prop, the audience laughed, and Classmate took a bow. Then the two went off drinking. Classmate redeemed himself by picking up the tab.

One would think the story ended ingloriously here. Alas, no.

The next day during make-up, Daomei heard that Classmate had approached one of the actresses and said, “Lend me your bouquet.”

The actress said, “No, this is for my mother.”

Classmate responded with, “Mothers always understand. I need this for my girlfriend or she’ll be angry. Lend it to me and you can give it to your mom after curtain call. You know how girls care about mianzi (prestige face).”

Actress humphed and said, “你真是。。。”

“你真是。。。” literally means “You truly are…”, but in conversation is used to express distain, shock, and disbelief at how low someone will go. Yes, it can be said with affection, but it is affection laced with exasperation and (sometimes) contempt.

Ai, Daomei, with friends like these…

Advertizing and the Shenzhen Soul

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Originally uploaded by maryannodonnell

The elevators in my building have three walls dedicated to advertizing; the fourth wall, so to speak, is a door. These advertisements change every week. What’s more, the advertisements in each of the three elevators are different. This means that every week, I encountered nine different sales pitches for appliances, cars, cultural events, family phone plans, and beauty makeovers. In short, the walls of my elevator promote a constantly changing version of the good home life, which is presumably affordable to those who live here – the catch is to make these life purchases desirable.

One of the latest advertisements for a beauty makeover claims to be able to remove all traces of acne and pimples. This advertisement disturbs me because its intended audience is Generation 90, teenagers who in addition are under the stress of the gaokao are being told they have no place to hide themselves and feel safe from prying eyes. Given the fact that most adults only notice a teenager when said teenager has blundered, the feeling of an ostrich unable to safely hide its head in the sand is probably spot on, if you’ll forgive the pun.

In English, I have understood the expression “to hide one’s head in the sand” to mean something like “avoid reality” or “avoid the consequences of my actions”. For me, being an ostrich has implied a kind of cowardice and a reluctance to take responsibility. In contrast, this advertisement focuses on being exposed – warts and all – to the gaze of others. In other words, the Mandarin interpretation of “to hide one’s head in the sand” focuses on a response to feeling ashamed – hide one’s face.

In other posts, I have spoken of the difference between lian (face as a metaphor for ethical sensibility) and mianzi (face as a metaphor for prestige and social power), what I hadn’t seen at the time was the way in which the emotional impact of these metaphors is cultivated through reference to actual faces. We effectively use shame to control the behaviors of others not only because we care about ethics, power, and other abstract values, but also because we have been taught to value some faces more than others and in the process become ashamed of our own.

Such is the cruelty of advertizing; it exploits cultural tropes for profit. More lamentably, when successful, the creative minds behind such symbolic manipulation are rewarded for their lack of lian by increased mianzi.

Sigh.