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Agam's Gecko
Saturday, June 21, 2008
 
DELICATE FLOWERS
A

n Italian car advertisement is the latest example of the degree to which the recent displays of Chinese hyper-nationalist rage against certain foreign interests have created a degree of intimidation in the world.

Launching a new model -- the Delta -- under its Lancia line, automaker Fiat produced the following television ad (this is the 45 second version).



News of the ad campaign was reported in the Chinese media. If you can't, or don't have time to view the clip, Richard Gere gets into his new Delta on a Hollywood night and drives into the mountains. He arrives at dawn in Tibet. There is no political content.

Fiat Group apologized in a statement issued today:
"Fiat reiterates its neutrality in connection with any political matter, be it on a national or international basis," it said. "Fiat Group extends its apologies to the Government of the People's Republic of China and to the Chinese people."
I would like to know what those Chinese media reports said, to get Fiat so spooked as to issue a preemptive apology. Who has taken offence? Did any official letters reach Fiat? And why would anyone be offended at this?

There are a lot of delicate flowers in the Middle Kingdom, and it doesn't take much to get them started. The merest hint of a rumour recently made Carrefour into a target for sustained protests in China. These campaigns against those who unintentionally offended hyper-nationalists, are usually justified by claiming, "They hurt the feelings of the People of China."

When the PRC abuses another proud people for over half a century with rigid colonial rule, there isn't a passing thought about the hurt feelings of that People. Yet if anyone talks about these abuses, the Great Han Chauvinist will get offended on behalf of his people. Now, apparently, the mere visual depiction of that place is enough to ring his guilty conscience. Better apologize, just in case!

As Gere pulls up to the mountain temple, an old monk is seen briefly reflected in the car window.

I thought, "That even looks like him." Second viewing, closely watching, and it still seemed so. So I clipped a detail. There could be a resemblance, in 10 or 15 years. He doesn't appear to be that old of a man yet.

Which reminds me, Chinese leaders are making a big mistake in expecting him to depart soon. He outlasted Mao, Deng, Jiang, and he'll likely outlast Hu. He is the solution to their problems.

Or could this be the reason for the sudden skittishness of Fiat? Maybe the Chinese media reports were touting this as a brief subliminal message, portending His Holiness' eventual return to Tibet, and meeting his old friend there.

Otherwise, it's just showing happy young monks and beautiful scenery. Isn't that what the Chinese government is selling to tourists anyway?
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- posted by Agam @ 12:19 AM 8 comments

8 Comments:

Could have called it 'Ruffled Feathers.' I don't think I really detect the resemblance you suggest. I even fear (say it isn't so!) you may be falling into the same hyper-crypto- hermeneutic analysis of visual depictions that has taken the Peoples Republic by storm this year. Time for a new nationalist paranoia craze already? I'd say so, but then what do I know? Just read a Yahoo news item reporting how sarcasm is evolutionarily justifiable (translated: only the sarcastic survive).

By Blogger Dan, at 21 June, 2008 01:11  

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Dan, you're right, 'Ruffled Feathers' would have been better, wish I'd thought of that. The resemblance thing was weird, it worked for me when I saw the image flash by quickly, but not when I look at the still.

And yes, I probably have begun to imagine how a paranoid nationalist might be seeing something or other. I just can't fathom what else could be so potentially offending about it, even to those with the victim's mindset.

I sure would love to know what the Chinese media wrote about this.

By Blogger Agam, at 21 June, 2008 01:28  

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No idea what PRC media had to say, not yet. But look back at this old story for some insight into Fiat's motives, rather like Dior's, I'm thinking. Almighty yüan — 元. Or one more word: Earnings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1894069.stm

Now I'm not sure which side deserves to be called the delicate flower (but yeah, for sure, no heroes in this story! I award 10 negative points to both sides).

By Blogger Dan, at 21 June, 2008 03:29  

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Please, don't be so disingenuous. I like reading the posts here, but the whole "omg I have noooo idea why they think like that" act gets old. Everyone knows about Mr. Gere and his opinions about Tibet and association with the Dalai Lama. It really isn't that hard to see why an ad such as this that makes reference to that would "ruffle feathers".

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 21 June, 2008 10:39  

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Anonymous (pick a name, any name!), isn't that the point? There is no sensible reason why they should be offended at a nice ad like this. Isn't it possible that 90% of ordinary Chinese people wouldn't be? Yet the fear of accidentally angering the rest has major corporations treading on eggshells.

I don't find this story surprising, but I'm still amazed at how childish Chinese patriots can be. A few years ago, UNICEF was to publish a book about artistic endeavours around the world. There happened to be one or two Tibetan artists included (exiles or not, I don't know), and a quote of Dalai Lama was in the text -- along with similar quotes by dozens of the world's eminent people.

UNICEF had to pull the book because China whined and stamped its little feet, because nothing remotely connected to the UN could ever be allowed to so much as breath his name. Or refer to Tibetans not prior-approved by the Party. Yet Yasser Arafat was invited to address the General Assembly. Something isn't right here.

I have no idea why they can be so childish and not feel ashamed of themselves. That's the "omg I have noooo idea why they think like that."

By Blogger Agam, at 21 June, 2008 11:31  

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Dear Ag,

I wouldn't say Anon doesn't have any point. I thought it curious that the one thing about Gere that angered Beijing the most, and made him a persona non grata banned from China, was not as much Tibet as the movie Red Corner.

http://tinyurl.com/4qe8h7

This made the PRC judicial system look very bad indeed. That it is indeed very bad played no part in that tiny tempest. A similar case holds here.

The ad is as beautifully done as any. And it nicely and cleverly connects Grauman's Chinese Theater's tradition of celebrity handprints with thousand year old Tibetan practices of Buddhist spiritual teachers' handprints. No apologies offered from this direction!

By Blogger Dan, at 21 June, 2008 20:05  

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Fiat may have apologized. But nevertheless they're going on to air the advertisement. Good for them. Their stock is rising slightly in my estimation.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/23/news/Italy-Fiat-China.php

Same in tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/6lgvcm

The newspeople seem to miss most of the subtleties of what I think to be a relatively sophisticated ad. The Hollywood handprints make a 'permanent' mark, the self-aggrandizement of the movie stars. The handprint in Tibet, in the snow, signifies impermanence, and the impermanence of those marks we think it's so important for us to make in the world.

Perhaps on an even more cryptic level, to most, it alludes to the fact that Tibetans have been making handprints (as saintly relics; of course you have the footprints of Buddha traditions in India even long before that) a whole lot longer than the stars in Hollywood. A 12th-century text by Pagmodrupa explains how to make them. On cloth though.

By Blogger Dan, at 24 June, 2008 04:16  

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It's good to have confirmation that Fiat is not pulling the ad. I had meant to note in the post that there was no mention of withdrawing it contained in Fiat's apology.

So yes, good for them. If I were one of those people, like wealthy movie stars, who can just buy a car like this if they feel like it, I'd probably feel like it.

I'm curious about those "sensational corners of the entirely state-controlled Chinese media" where the IHT article says this ad has generated angry comments. A quick search of Xinhua and China Daily turned up nothing.

By Blogger Agam, at 24 June, 2008 12:45  

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