Multimedia Resources

Sub-Section Title

CONFERENCE GROUP ON POLITICS AND FILM
Affiliated with the American Political Science Association
NEWSLETTER No. 3-1997

CONTENTS:

* Notice to Members
* APSA ANNUAL MEETING -- CONFERENCE GROUP ANNUAL MEETING
* Review of SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (more like an editorial reaction)
* ATTACHMENT -- one of the papers from our 1997 annual meeting -- Jay
Parker's paper on teaching politics and film at West Point


NOTICE TO MEMBERS

If you have a short piece or film review or commentary, send it to me (jww@prin.edu) and I'll include it in or attach it to an upcoming newsletter. There are several more papers from the 1997 annual meeting roundtable on teaching with film that I'll attach to upcoming newsletters.


APSA ANNUAL MEETING -- BOSTON -- AUGUST 1998

APSA officials have notified our esteemed chair, Ernest Giglio (giglio@lycoming.edu), that the Conference Group will have two panels at the next APSA annual meeting, in Boston, MA, next August. Ernest reports that we've received nearly a dozen paper proposals. Wow! The secret of making a splash at APSA is not just the papers, but also the attendance at the Conference Group sessions. Higher attendance, more panels next time. Unfortunately, it is not a win-win situation. The gain of one group or division comes at the loss for another group or division. No wonder politics are part of our mandate.

One of our hopes is to use one of the sessions for a major film-maker or sensational event. Perhaps, like the new movie "Mad City," we need an aggressive reporter to make news for us. Another hope is to co-sponsor panels. For the right of co-sponsorship, including getting slots for papers, we'll do the work. Actually, having survived the 1997 meeting, organizing the panels is not as hard as getting the right to have panels. The bountifulness of our response to the call for papers indicates that we've got depth (if not numbers).

One of the strategies for getting more film into APSA is to propose papers to the substantive APSA divisions, such as Politics and Literature (which is seeking papers on film), Transformational Politics, etc. See your recent editions of PS for divisional calls for papers. Feel free to submit your papers directly to APSA.

Now, that's an important point. APSA is getting so large and complex that divisional paper submissions are now centralized. You send your proposal directly to APSA and they send it to the appropriate division(s). See the APSA web site (http://www.apsanet.org) or the September PS for forms. Your can submit electronically. The deadline is advancing, marching, invading (this paragraph is devoted to war metaphors) upon us. The deadline is NOVEMBER 15.


SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET
A review by John W. Williams

We must not mythologize.

Tibet is an occupied country, subject to physical and economic destruction. Following the invasion of Tibet, the Chinese People's Liberation Army participated in the physical destruction of Tibetan monasteries and temples. Even more devastating was the physical destruction leveled on Tibet by the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution. At the height of the terror, the Red Guard fired artillery into ancient monasteries, destroying complexes that had housed five-six thousand monks.

The priest class has been decimated by execution and exile. Although steadfastly denying the policy, the Chinese have engaged in massive intentional migration of ethnic (Han) Chinese into Tibet. The population of the capital, Lhasa, is now predominantly Chinese. Because of economic inequalities, Tibetans have become second class citizens in their own land.

With the tenacity needed to survive on the Roof of the World, Tibetans are scraping to keep their culture alive. In spite of benign neglect and official sanctions, monasteries are rebuilt, new monks are shepherded through intensive education, and Tibetans maintain their prehistoric nomadic and religious roots.

But this is only half of the story, the half that is portrayed in the new film Seven Years in Tibet. The movie is the first salvo of Hollywood's foreign policy concerning China. Richard Gere's Red Corner is just opening and Martin Scorsese's film about the Dalai Lama opens at Christmas.

The other half of the story does not fit the blatant anti-Chinese agenda of the movie. It is a story of a feudal theocratic state that as late as the 1950s maintained its survival on the backs of serfs. Over one-third of the male population were monks, providing no economic contribution to the society. The entire economic and governmental system was focused on one task--maintenance of the priest class. The monasteries were so massive that they had private armies. Class, social and economic structures were designed to maintain the order necessary to support the theocratic state.

It was a brutal society, rife with intrigue, torture, murder. Polyandry (wife sharing) was practiced. I recommend two autobiographies of recently deceased Tibetans (one served as the Dalai Lama's finance minister) that are available through any independent bookstore. Their stories--a man of high nobility ("In the Presence of My Enemies: Memoirs of Tibetan Nobleman Tsipon Shuguba") and a woman of nearly as high nobility ("Daughter of Tibet: The
Autobiography of Rinchen Dolma Taring")--paint a graphic pictures far different from the peaceful monks of Seven Years tenderly moving worms from plot to plot.

As we know, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, as well as his predecessor (whose soul transfers from body to body under Lamaist interpretation), understood the fundamental backwardness of his country. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama recognized that Tibet could not keep the outside world at bay (see Peter Hopkirk's excellent history of foreign attempts to reach Lhasa, "Trespassers
on the Roof of the World"). By circumstances of the Chinese revolution, Tibet was given a period of grace from 1911 (the fall of the Qing) to the mid-Fifties (the arrival of the Communists) to modernize, including engaging in developing international alliances. In spite of the Dalai Lama's best efforts (including attempts to modernize the army, develop an educational system, develop a communications infrastructure, and improve health care),
the combined nobility and theocracy defeated his attempts. The feudal power structure successful held Tibet in the dark ages.

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama understands the need to change. Seven Years gives us some insight into the incredible nature of this amazing man, so committed to his people, yet so understanding of their great frailties. We know that Tibet can never return to its past, a past that should not be
mythologized. Yet, we wonder if the Dalai Lama, should he ever be allowed to return, would be permitted by the remaining nobility and monk class to implement the changes that are needed.

Seven Years in Tibet is the story of Austrian (and Nazi) mountaineer Heinrich Harrer's escape from a British POW camp during World War Two and his befriending the young Dalai Lama. The story focuses on Harrier (played by Brad Pitt) and his own personal crisis. It is set in the Shangra-La of Tibet, which I believe is the more interesting and relevant story. Seven Years is much like the movie about the death of black South African activist Stephen Biko. That movie was criticized for its focus on the protagonist, white newspaperman Daniel Woods, and his coming to terms with apartheid, rather than the human rights abuses, especially Biko's murder.

The overwhelming theme of the movie is Harrer's struggle as a husband and parent, rejected by both wife and son. The Dalai Lama is provide as surrogate so Harrer can grow up. In spite of this, we see the struggles of the Dalai Lama, the regent and government, and the Tibetan people. The movie skims over Harrer's membership in the Nazi party. And, it does not do
recognize Harrer's subsequent activism on behalf of Tibet, including lobbying American officials in India, serving as an emissary, and laying the groundwork for the Dalai Lama's flight from the Chinese in 1959.

Seven Years is black and white in its portrayal of the peaceful Tibetans and the atrocities committed by the invading Chinese. This aspect should not be denigrated. The Tibetans are struggling for cultural survival.

Much of the movie was filmed in Argentina. I cannot overstate the accuracy of the physical presentation of Tibet and Lhasa. I have been into and around Tibet three times in recent years. There are at least four others on campus who have traveled with me on the various trips who can attest that the settings were breathtakingly accurate, tangibly real.

How did they do it? They must have had insightful and persistent advisors and consultants. They have used computer technology to integrate actual scenes and photographs taken in and around Lhasa. I have stood in many of those spots. They recreated the feeling and spirit. As I watched the movie, I remembered the emotions, the colors, the smells of each location--the roof of the Potala Palace, the internal courtyards and staircases, the sacred Johkang Temple, the pastoral Norblingka summer palace. You must see the movie, if for no other reason than to know what Tibet looks and sounds like, even today.

Perhaps you can catch, in spite of the focus on Brad Pitt and the obvious anti-Chinese propaganda, the spirit of Tibet. Be moved when in parting the young Dalai Lama touches his forehead with Heinrich Harrer. I was, because it happened to me in the darkened interior of a monastic library at the Sera Monastery. We had purchase a "book" of holy scriptures after we had asked the senior monk to describe the contents. Although we do not read Tibetan, we wanted a book that had significance. He selected one recently printed off of the long carved wooden printing blocks and explained through an interpreter the history of the text. As is my custom, I took Polaroid pictures of the monks and gave them their pictures. There was natural
laughter, crossing cultural barriers. It was a pleasant joyous time, miming and gesturing. Unexpectedly, the older monk grabbed my shoulders and quickly, but gently pressed his forehead to mine. I understood his message. Our friendship may be short, but it is deep. We may never meet again, but it will last forever.

USING FILM TO TEACH POLITICS: CITIZEN KANE MEETS THE INDIGO GIRLS AT WEST POINT

In an attached film is Jay Parker's and Karen Lloyd's discussion of teaching politics and film at West Point. They open with a paper discussing the class, and include copies of their goals, philosophy, requirements, and details of the major research paper. Not included in this newsletter (but to be included in the future) are the results of their film survey, an attempt to gauge the film experience and literacy of their students.

[The above paper is not attached to the Teaching Politics version of the newsletter--see the paper archives in the Politics & Film Section.]

John W. Williams, JD Political Science Principia College Elsah, Il 62028 Tel: 618-374-5230 Fax: 618-374-5122 E-Mail: jww@prin.edu

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