Thursday, April 23, 2015

Chang and Ong's Audiences

As Chang is of Chinese heritage but a Canadian citizen, relevant intertextuality can be considered. Chang mentions his Grandfather, thus establishing his family history as one text. The less historical and more recent China shown in the film is another text, which is juxtaposed with the former; old vs. new China. Within the film, a metaphor is used to explain China’s socialist intentions but capitalist realities, this is another dichotomous juxtaposition. Consider also the varying audiences; representation of one’s personal culture within the film might also be a text. The film has been translated into many languages, and a few nationalities are shown and discussed on the boat.

As an audience, we were invoked (Ong) to play the role of tourist, as exemplified by the tourists on the boat. But we are also another audience, one that is specifically addressed when Chang includes voice overs. At the same time, Chang might be invoking us to not be exactly like the tourists, to have a greater awareness of the complexity of the identities of those involved.


On the boat, there is another juxtaposition: poor vs. rich, haves vs. have nots. The wealthy have a hegemony over the boat, it is their whims that are appeased. The boat’s environment and service personal must meet the needs of the tourists. Everything is tailored to their needs.


One thing I did not get from the film was what would happen to this touring boat after the implementation of the dam. Would the boat have more or less access to waterfront? Would it continue to tour or be prevented? This was likely included, but I was not aware the boat’s fate relative to the dam. With the fate of the boat known, metaphors could be established, agendas discerned. Without this knowledge, the film seems more informative than persuasive, but not without any agenda.

1 comment:

  1. I like how you compared the film to Ong's readings. It never crossed my mind to look at the film in the way Ong does with his definition of audience. Specifically with the way you explain how we are not only the audience exemplified by the tourists but how we become invoked when Chang does his voice overs. I also think this might be a good way in which someone can elaborate more on in their final project. Although we don't get to see everyone's final project and their multi modal component in its entirety it would be interesting to see something like this span out and be further explained.

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