People’s Republic of Desire is Hao Wu’s recent film on fan gift giving to live-streamers in China. Often poor, young people are shown spending their scant pay on gifts to online stars like Shen Man, who talks to her fans, or Big Li, a married but vigorously assertive exemplar of masculinity. Behind this fan worship are ideals of gender; young people in China now have a vast media apparatus with which to express their ideals and desires – for feminine beauty, manly assertiveness, and the personal enjoyment of fame.
Behind this new industry are owners and investors; they make the big money in this live-streaming industry. The stars are shown struggling, with competition to be number one and with their relationships. Shen Man tries to stay focused because she has to support her parents and their family. And Big Li’s relationship with his manager wife is stressful for both. But beyond the money and stardom, other things are going on. Still authoritarian, the government is letting new desires be expressed; China is tolerating public fandom by millions. It is these fans who are the focus of this film. Millions of ordinary people are now deciding for themselves what they admire and who they want to see. They show this in a serious way, backed by their own precious money. Within themselves there is now space for considering desires and externally these can now be freely shown. This is recognizably progress.
While resisting the protests in Hong Kong, China’s authoritarian government is opening itself up to private life. Hao Wu shows how millions of people can now indulge personal desires and spend their money impecuniously. With government no longer campaigning for people to adopt serious purposes, the desires of private life are now tolerated. Is this because it distracts people from political protest? Or has the Chinese Communist Party glimpsed a deeper, more future-oriented possibility? Are private life ‘vices’ going to result in ‘public benefits’? Is Hao Wu’s film showing us China at its Mandeville moment?
Seen sociologically, private desires could be what is most needed to push society into its next phase. Future personal relationships may transform manners, lead people to expect romantic courtship, and result in a personally timed lifecourse. Does People’s Republic of Desire show China embracing intimate attractions and generational enthusiasms? Are we seeing a future private identity that will become a source of social change? Fantasizing about a star or hero, joining an informal association, and interfacing with the economy by consumption may preview for us what China’s future holds – a more sociological society.
