7/29/2019 Final Chinese Paper

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Daniel FavanoChinese 0868 Sec, 001Mangione

Adaptation to a changing society has been a recurring topic. Literary masters acrossthe geographic spectrum have written about one's struggle, or complete inability, to adapt and

tolerate a society in which their basic functioning is seen as obsolete. William Shakespeareonce wrote, to thine own self be true. One can argue that a person suffers from socialobsolescence because they are incapable of admitting that they cannot adapt to newenvironments. China is in no way an exception to these circumstances. Many of China'scinematic and literary works touch upon this subject, both past and present. I present to youtwo different situations, in which the man's inability to adapt to the new society leads to hisdownfall. The movie Cell Phone is set in a society that has modernized, and the use of cellphones has played an integral (and almost second nature) element in modern socialization.The story The Possessor or The Possessedby Ma Jian takes place in a society where aneditor has to deal with the pressures of a society affected by the open door policy. Both havespecific elements that emphasize the notion that one cannot adapt to society without adaptingone's true self first. These elements include: Emphasis on privacy or secrecy, the need fordominance, ignorance or inability to accept one's true fragility, and age.

In my Religion in the World class last semester my professor, Dr. Leonard Swidlerstated that there was an axial shift taking place that was dated around the late 1980's. Thisshift was taking place in the form of individual consciousness, to global consciousness. Thisglobal consciousness causes people to question their own individuality, and consequently,their privacy. On a global scale, privacy plays some element in a single person's life.Numerous news reports of celebrity deaths, cyber-bullying, and other incidents all have onecommon element: the breaching of privacy. Ma Jian, in the story, shows privacy as anessentially fictitious thing. The editor's privacy involved manipulating the power that he longedto have. His privacy gave him the motivation one needs to have to enable his uncontrolled,animalistic behaviors. For example, when the textile worker reminds him of the intensedamage he caused on her in their previous meeting (p. 99), this action was completely unlikethe editor outside of these private situations. His privacy is invaded by his wife (p. 104), whichsupports the notion that Ma Jian did not believe that Privacy was a thing a person could attainand preserve. In Cell Phone, Yan Shouyi is a man who does not realize that his inability toremain private is due to his cell phone. Like The Possessor, Cell Phone displays action, whenperceived as private, to be animalistic and uncharacteristic of the character in public. Yan'saffairs with Wu Yue are a clear representation of this. He, like the editor, plays an importantand impressionable role in society, and both change personalities in the dark. Feng Xiaogangportrays the idea of privacy as a difficult thing (if not impossible) to attain when there is a cellphone in the equation. Xiaogang, unlike Jian, portrays privacy as a once possible thing, butlike Jian it has all but dissipated. Each Of Yan Shouyi's fatal mistakes were due to the cellphone breaching his privacy. Both of his failed relationships were due to his cell phone. Thisraises the notion that one cannot be truly private in an advancing world that is continuallybecoming more globally conscious. In order for a person to successfully adapt to aprogressive society, one must give up a portion of their privacy.