Introduction
The focal point of the paper is to evaluate and analyze the National Geographic movie China: Beyond the Clouds. The director of the movie is Phil Agland. He is also the photographer and the producer of the movie. Executive producers Tom Simon and Nicolas Noxon support the making and Janet McFadden is the supervising producer. This film was made for the National Geographic Society and River Film Prods and was distributed by Canal Plus and Channel Four TV. The entire movie is filmed in the Chinese provinces of Yi and Lijiang.
Review
The fundamentals of the featured deal with the town of Lijiang that is opening up at a brisk pace through the old systems are well operational in farms like Jade’s Dragon Mountain. This town has modern hospitals and traditional butcher shops at the same note. Here we find a Yi minority teacher Lu who lives with his wife and children. He is most comfortable with Tang, an acupuncturist, whose daughter Lixing is a medical assistant. Tang runs the private clinic and acts as a psychologist to Mu, the butcher. Tang is related to four elderly women who provide the traditional essence of Chinese beliefs. In the meantime, local gangsters kill Asan, nephew of Mu. Thus, the feature relates to the criminal activities of provincial China and the pact with the justice system. This is shown through the interrogation and investigation process that creates huge discontent among the locals. Though politics is not directly dealt with in this feature it is obvious the tone of the political essence is present throughout.
Following anthropological theory or concepts of monoculture, it is evident that the local judiciary or authority seldom manages to catch up with the psyche of the local culture at the advent of a foreign concept or dominant culture. However, it should be taken into account that the East has very intricate value systems, which even today pose questions to the West. A thorough understanding is needed of their culture, perceptions, and style of thinking to accurately predict their behavior on Western understanding scales. Ethical values and corporate social responsibility are fast gaining global priority. The corporate sector has, for long, behaved as an isolated entity, powerful enough to influence and dictate directions in the life of the common man, as well as governments. The emergence of environmental concerns and sustainability issues has highlighted the role of ethics and social responsibility in the functioning of the corporate sector. Modernization has brought in materialism and consumerism, which by itself is not detrimental. However, it should be mentioned that China has coped with the changes quite well in its way. In this context, it should also be mentioned that as far as international strategic order is concerned China has projected its position in this aspect with great success. Their ideas about values are indeed different but they hardly exert it on their foreign issues. That way China remains at par with the rest of the world. Thus in a way, there is every possibility that China is likely to be a “status quo” power.
From the point of view of Christian anthropological analysis, this movie is extremely important. The feature is a live documentation of the fact that the Hybridization of cultures is nothing new to the history of the world and it has happened earlier. However, the only difference this time is that the scale is taking place at a much larger parameter today. We can well ascertain there would be a single culture in days to come if the current trend is in motion uninterruptedly. There would be a loss of cultural pride, sovereignty, individuality but the gradual change would make it bearable for all, and the one-world scenario would be welcomes by the generations changing. On the other hand, the brought-in culture can effortlessly step into the shoes of the local culture, causing a diminution in assortment through hybridization or even incorporation. The once hugely popular festival like Chongyang Festival hardly draws attention these days. Festivals like Mid-autumn Festival are no longer considered as an important day in urban Chinese life. Double Seventh Festival hardly survives in the yearly calendar of the official Chinese holiday list. If this goes on, the declined but still, surviving festivals would be erased from public life and memory.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be mentioned that the only thing growing faster than China is the publicity of China. China is one of the world’s ancient unremitting civilizations has always left-back the rest of the world with its intelligence and self-reliance. The record of China’s progress over the past two decades has demonstrated naysayers wrong and optimists not positive enough. Instead of all its backdrafts, China managed to pave its development path. The director shows these elements with magnificent skills but at the same time, he manages to portray the darker side of this development and the difficulties of the local and minority population within this changed scenario. Anthropologically speaking, this movie provides an insight into the darker side of globalization that is proving to be harmful to Chinese traditional culture.
Works Cited
Agland, Phil; China: Beyond the Clouds; River Film Prods; National Geographic Society; 1994