WHITE BABE IN BEIJING
PAGE 3 OF 4
| "All of my writhing, naked love scenes with Tian Ming are juxtaposed to scenes of his wife doing virtuous things." |
A: Yes. Foreign Babes was the first time an interracial romance has been seen on Chinese TV. It's a sensitive topic, even though the scenario of foreign girls stealing Chinese men is very rare. Much more often, Western boys come looking for Chinese girls. But the subject is still quite sensitive. So the producers opted to introduce the interracial relationship in this way in order to show it and simultaneously diffuse any anger over the reality.
Q: Did the interracial aspect cause a controversy?
A: Not really. The critics and the viewers loved the show, for the most part, although there were a couple of negative reviews. The show didn't stir up controversy, and it got past government censors because in the end Jessie rebukes her bigoted, anti-Chinese father and marries her lover, Tian Ming. She proves that she really is in love with him.
Q: Jessie might not be a typical American, but I'll bet she shares a few traits with Rachel DeWoskin.
A: Of course. She's a three-way girl, created by a writer, a director and me. Like Jessie, I am a temptress and a China scholar, and I may well be typically American--I love exhibition, aggression and efficiency. Her determination wasn't hard to play. I insist on seeing certain things turn out certain ways. I'm determined to be productive, smart and sometimes understood, but there are other things I could bend a hundred miles and maybe not care less. Like Jessie, I am a girl without gray areas.
Q: Jessie sounds pretty impressive.
A: Definitely. She's a 20-year-old foreign exchange student who wears fur coats and tons of jewelry and she is impossibly unself-conscious. She chases after Tian Ming in a fast-forward rage-and-seduce mode, hiring him by bribing his company with her tons of money, and making it impossible for him to refuse her. He is a professional tour guide whom Jessie hires to show her China. Ultimately, she guides him into bed, trauma, divorce, desertion of China and his child. All of my writhing, naked love scenes with Tian Ming are juxtaposed to scenes of his wife doing virtuous things--walking down rows and rows of the factory, working overtime, and patiently teaching their baby how to read. She breaks her back working in a factory and then runs home to cook beautiful dinners for the family. She watches the clock, waiting for Tian Ming, refusing to believe what she suspects might be true. I actually cried watching the show when his wife leaves the family home.
Q: I'm misting up just hearing about the poor woman.
A: You should pick up a copy of the recent book China Pop which has a great chapter on the Chinese love for the virtuous woman who is tormented by horrid luck and ill treatment. This is a constant theme in Chinese television and cinema.
Q: How explicit were the love scenes?
A: Have I been avoiding the issue? Skirting? (laughs) They were tacky. There was nothing subtle about them, although they aren't quite as explicit as on American soaps. You know how porn movies have that heinous filmed-in-a-toilet perspective? They seem too real? Too close for comfort? Our love scenes had that sort of gritty B-rate porn quality to it. I thought I would faint when I saw them--but I guess that has to follow what I thought when I filmed them.
Q: Were the sex scenes the hardest part?
A: The scenes were difficult, certainly. I couldn't understand a lot of Director Li's director lingo, so he often acted out what he wanted me to do. He was in and out of bed with us, as were the makeup people. It was pretty comical.
Q: Wild anecdotes, please.
A: Well, Director Li was hideously impatient, jumping in and out of bed, and he was yelling and begging us, "Could we please be professional?!" So I asked him sweetly and softly to take his clothes off. I said I thought we could all be more professional in the buff, that he could better understand my perspective from his underwear--and he obliged me, to my delight! The cameramen were astounded and speculated on whether the request made me especially American or a dragon lady. The anecdote was picked up by numerous Chinese journalists, and all specified that I asked Li Dao Yan (Director Li) to take off his "outer clothing," which was basically accurate. PAGE 4
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