Wang Shuo

criticisms about Wang Shuo'Holligam Literature

Wang Shuo’s works have drawn much attention from critics, causing many controversies and debates. As we all know ,there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Critics hold different views on Wang Shuo and his hooligan literature. You can see some bones of contentions through the brief debate below.

bones of contentions:

Fight with fake sublimity VS Lost in nihilism

Deep irony VS Blasphemous joke

Civilian consciousness VS Privileged class mentality

Deep sorrow VS shallow happiness

A: I think Wang Shuo’s works especially those called “hooligan literature” are quite special and valuable. Wang Shuo intentionally keeps away from the kind of literature that seems to stand higher than the real life and always try to educate people with their fickle “truth”. He uses a variety of ironic parodies in his works to tear up the mask of fake sublimity, which may contains ideology ,some backward conventions and those self-righteous intellectuals.

B: Sorry to say that I can’t agree with you. Actually The protagonists in Wang Shuo’s works called “palying master” not only try to overturn the fake sublimity but also deny the value of culture, morality and life, which leads to nihilism . Therefore these cynics have no ideal or spiritual pursuit, take nothing serious and just live in void every day. And another thing I should stress is that those brilliant ironies you appreciate are just blasphemous jokes by which those hooligans show their cleverness so they are not as meaningful and profound as you think.

A:You seem to have much misunderstanding on the “palying master”. Of course they have their own pursuit. As we can see in the works, they try to do something special to change their life and social status ,for example, the three protagonists in palying master form the three-T company to earn money and serve the public . Besides, as civilians, it’s quite brave for them to have the idea of resisting authority. Nihilism and hooliganism are just their means to fight against hypocrisy and ideology oppression.

B:Civilians? For my part, they have nothing to do with this word. Wang Shuo and his protagonists all grew up in military compounds in Beijing . Their family background once gave them privileges and superiority complex, which also enables them to go through a carefree juvenile time in the Cultural Revolution. As the finish of the Cultural Revolution, they don’t have the privilege any more ,which makes them feel a strong sense of loss. They are not willing to be ordinary people but they don’t have the ability to lift their social status. Therefore they revolt with blasphemous jokes and distinctive lifestyle. They look down upon the civilians from the bottom of their hearts according to the idea of strata ,which is learned from their former life experience. So as I put it ,they are just hooligans who think highly of themselves and favor the leveled society, which has passed away.

A: Well, I agree that the former life experience have great influence on them. But you always look at them with your prejudice. As critics we need to come closer to understand these characters. Yeah, just as you’ve said ,they go through their juvenile time in military compounds in the Cultural Revolution. At that time , they were told that “you are the successor of socialism, the master of the nation in future”. But suddenly everything changed . With the new social orders formed by the reform, they became nobody and have to enter a present where they are completely lost, recasting themselves in a new and unknown mold. They have to unlearn what they were taught throughout their youth, reinventing their own moral principles and narratives. It is so natural for them to have nostalgia for the life in the past and feel uncomfortable, frustrated ,and even deeply resented to the present. In my view, they are just poor people who linger about the border of the past and the present and they take advantage of hooliganism to express their discontent and to conceal their sorrow. It is through those paradoxical scenarios that Wang Shuo reveals the depth of individual disillusionment and alienation. And that ‘s why I think Wang Shuo’s works have social significance and literature depth. --Yuki (talk) 09:39, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

Wang Shuo's works in film

Compared with his achievement in literature, Wang Shuo has already attracted more attention in film and television industry. For example, the film 《Dream Factory》, which makes Feng Xiaogang become famous, was adapted from Wang Shuo’s novel 《You are not a layman》. So, why Feng Xiaogang decided to edit Wang Shou’s work into a movie? Actually, both of them are willing to reflect the life in big cities of China, especially in here, in Beijing. Their works focus on the conflicts between the trouble shooters and the urban life. They believe it is the dramatic change in big cities that makes the trouble shooters (or the playing masters) different from real hooligans or vagabonds. And Feng Xiaogang also thinks that Wang Shuo has done a really good job on showing the mental world of those trouble shooters.

Well, I have to emphasize that the trouble shooters (or the playing masters) were not equal to the hooligans or vagabonds. Hooligans only do bad things for no reason (or perhaps just to release their pessimistic mood to the others); vagabonds are someone without a work. The trouble shooters are someone with a specialty in playing and trying to do good things, but in a ridiculous way. The trouble shooters in Beijing had been existed for a long time. They do not have stable income, or even don’t have a job. They just idled the days away, by using their playing specialties. In old times, they were called “wan zhu” in Chinese, which means somebody who spend time in doing nothing seriously. Since the beginning of 1990s, big cities in China like Beijing have changed a lot. Due to this, people in Beijing had to change their ways of life in order to adapt to the development of this city. Of course, the playing masters also tried to find another way of living. Some of them set up their own companies. In the film<Dream Factory>, they set up a company to help the others to realize their dreams. And also in the film named <The Trouble Shooters>, they set up a company called “Three ‘T’s” which means “替人排忧，替人解闷，替人受过”. These two companies were ridiculous but these were exactly what the playing masters would do. They look down upon the urban lives while they could not find better solutions. They could only do funny things to express their mockery to the reality.

Why the playing masters choose to be ridiculous? Why they can’t be normal people; be ordinary? Don’t you think they have the ability to find a fixed work and have stable salaries? Wang Shuo and I believe it is their spiritual uncompromising that lead their behaviors. In the past, Beijing was a place where you can do whatever you can to earn yourself a better life. We don’t need to pretend ourselves in order to climb to a higher position. People remained harmony by the spirit of ”局气” which means to be considerate, tolerance and understanding. The film which I acted as Mr. Six showed the lives of people who lived in the remaining of the old Hutongs. Since Beijing had become a modern city, the relationship between people has become more and more distant. This kind of feeling is just like, for example, you and your families as well as your neighbors living in a big house for a long time. One day, somebody came and decorated your house into something you had never thought about. Then they told you, you have to change your selves to living in your new house. Of course, the trouble shooters refused to change, because they think it is their own place, it is their home. They hope to live the life of the past. They don’t want to pretend living happily in a home which was controlled by others. So they use their own way to do the things they can even if it’s just in vain. This is definitely a joke, but somehow, it is also the reality. The reality that one day we might face in the future. Wang Shuo’s work of the trouble shooters makes each of us think about our own life, and also our own future.

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