Apple Daily critique on the movie "Confucius"

探針：誰在強姦周潤發與《孔子》

2010年02月22日

孔捷生

《加勒比海盜：魔盜王終極之戰》遭大陸廣電總局剪掉十分鐘，挨剪的全是周潤發的戲份，理由是「有損華人形象」。戲中發哥光頭、爛面、留的小辮子不在後腦，卻在下巴，總之面目猙獰。海盜匪首應該甚麼模樣？張保仔倘若玉樹臨風，氣宇軒昂，就能長華人志氣？

周潤發演海盜相當出彩，他的失敗之作卻是《孔子》，該片塑造的是一個偽孔子，發哥演得越投入就越虛假，這和他的功力沒關係，而是《孔子》的立意宏旨和孔子真正的理想南轅北轍。這部大爛片不但「有損華人形象」，更有損中華文明。
孔子是獨立士人，用今天的話來說，就是公共知識分子。他周遊列國，宣傳仁政，效法周禮。其時列國君主廣納諸子百家，欲討教的卻是富國強兵之道，或者如何興農耕和建立嚴刑峻法，總之要圓強國夢。孔子不理會那些，他只去批判社會，針砭時弊，認為做君主和做人都要講仁義道德，有誠信廉恥，否則就禮崩樂壞。他畢生堅持自己的理想信仰，卻為現實政治所不容。
孔子為甚麼要講克己復禮，可參閱蕭建生的《中國文明的反思》，他指出西周比起商朝，是一個君權弱，人權興，有邦聯制、共和制互相制衡的社會，因起義奴隸協助周武王滅掉暴君紂王，所以西周基本廢除奴隸制，從出土墓葬和文獻記載中，絕少再見到活人殉葬。蕭建生這部學術著作竟淪為禁書，只緣他用自由、法治、人權的觀點去探究歷史，道出秦始皇中央集權的郡縣制是千年專制噩夢的開始。
同樣，一個真實的孔子更不能見容於現今的國家意識形態。連「公共知識分子」這個名詞，都被斥為「挑撥黨和知識分子的關係」和否定黨的領導地位。那麼孔子及其思想怎能以完璧示人？於是周潤發版的孔子就成了一個愛國者，成了宣揚「如果人不能改變世界，那應該改變自己內心」的怯懦偽君子。試問先後游說過十幾個諸侯國的孔子，怎麼可能是愛國者？他愛哪一國？他四處碰壁後與君王絕裾而去，回到魯國興辦私學，有教無類，不仰權力鼻息。我們今天紀念孔子，就要秉持他的獨立精神和道德人格，而非「改變自己內心」委身於強權。
《孔子》真實性、藝術性、商業性的多重失敗，令韓寒舉手加額，他在博客寫道：如果《孔子》大賣座，當局就會繼續去糟踐老子、莊子、孟子、墨子……我卻覺得，當局斷不會給孟子焚香上供，明太祖朱元璋已把孟子趕出二聖廟，共產黨怎能接受孟子「君之視臣如犬馬，則臣視君如國人；君視臣如土芥，則臣視君如寇仇」之說？尤其是「民為貴，社稷次之，君為輕」，這和愛國忠黨相剋相冲，依孟子此言，董建華「沒有國，哪有家」的金句便不成立；至於認定「中國人需要管」的成龍，去歲十．一大典獻唱《國家》，豈止歌詞「有了強的國，才有富的家」不成立，就連歌名都要顛倒過來了。所以孔子尚可按黨意志重塑金身，若說再打造一個偽孟子，當局真是半點興趣都沒有。

Confucius Lottery Tickets!

Here's the China Daily report on the 'ire' created by the lottery ticket with Confucius' images on it in Qufu. I just like this kind of story because it really challenges the academics who did our research but only able to capture the social condition at a certain moment but unable to catch up as fast as how the symbol transform its meaning (or the fact that there are multiple and even contradicting meanings that are circulating around).

I also like to read those logic-confusing statement that made by the 'authority' of lottery ticket, saying that "The Confucius-themed lotteries are the country's most real culture-centered tickets'. So can Confucius' image help the sales of lottery ticket? seems not, according to the China Daily report. Bummer.

A salesman at a welfare lottery outlet in Liaocheng, Shandong province, holds lottery tickets that use the image and sermons of Confucius. [China Daily]

An interesting point to me is : who really has the claim to capitalize the cultural capital of Confucius (and his image) -- and the Shandong province sees itself as the 'legitimate' player in this discourse because it was the birthplace of Confucius, and his image represents the 'region characteristics'. Sebastien Billioud and Joel Thoraval's recent article published in China Perspective discusses in details the whole 'enterprise' of the ceremonies for worshiping Confucius and the 'cultural festival' associate with it that take place in Qufu, Shandong annually. They suggests that it reflects 'two characteristics of Chinese socieity: its ideological background and the increasing merchandising of culture. The ideological agenda intertwines here with the economic needs of local authorities, for which cultural heritage and tourism revenue constitute important trup cards for local development' (Billioud & Thoraval 2009).

The Shandong government can capitalize the image of Confucius through their annual 'festivals' from tourism and 'trade show' surrounding the theme of Confucianism (No wonder Confucius need the copyright law to protect his image), but what and where the line should be anyway? While Confucius' name and image can be associated with stationaries, books, coins, or even wine, somehow his face appears on lottery ticket 'cross the line'.The dilemma, as I see it, is that while reconstructing the sacred image of Confucius is crucial in the process of 'opportunity maximization' (or, capitalization), the process in itself undermines the moral authenticity of the sacredness.

As the talk about the revival of Confucianism is becoming a 'hot topic' these days and the analysis about how the Chinese state is 'using' Confucianism to fulfill whatever 'vacuum' that they are facing, one question that we should have in mind is that how can the state capitalize on the cultural capital of Confucianism when its moral authenticity is in question?

Billioud, S. and Thoraval, J.. 2009. 'Lijiao: The Return of Ceremonies Honouring Confucius in Mainland China'. China Perspectives , 2009/4:82-100.

Confucianism, Google, and missionary to China?

How they are all connected?? check this out: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704878904575031263063242900.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook

Ian Buruma (2010), Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy in Three Continent.