Category: Life & Culture

The glory of fans in Eastern and Western traditions

Our beloved Sophie writes a paper on the role of fans in different cultures.

Hand fans have very practical reasons to exist. They are used to create a small cooling breeze to refresh people but also to chase away flies or any other pest insects and finally to fan flames. At the very beginning, tree leaves, bamboo sticks, a piece of bark were used for this purpose. Later on, the use of fan developed worldwide and using a fan became a sign of social position, all the more as they became lavishly adorned and thus highly fashionable.

The existence of hand fans in Africa or in the Americas has been proved thanks to travel logs. For instance, when Christopher Columbus came back from India, he presented the Spanish royal couple with six hand fans, on behalf of the Aztec people. There are also early evidences of the presence of fans in Africa, especially when we consider Egyptian carved reliefs and artifacts adorned with ostrich feathers (Maat symbol), or when amazing metal carved fans were discovered in Tutankhamen’s tomb. Other styles of fans were found in Sudan, made of peacock feathers, some being a thousand year old.

We will however concentrate on two continents: Europe and Asia and focus mainly on social etiquette and elegance.

I/ Asia

  1. History of Hand Fans
  • In China.

In the first Chinese dictionary, complied in the 2nd Century CE, a fan is interpreted as a door panel that hung from the ceiling. This type of fans became known as the Chuke fan. There was however fans made from different types of feathers and this is the reason why the word for hand fans is the same as feather. According to the type of feathers used, you could determine the social status of its owner: goose feathers were for common people whereas peacock, cranes or pheasants feathers were used for the sake of the gentry. The Pien Shen was also used; it was a simple one, not fit for ceremonies. Anyone could make one with woven leaves or bamboo. They are referred to in Chinese literature since the 1st century BCE.

The practice of writing or painting on fans is also recorded very early. A companion of the emperor Ch’eng of the Han dynasty, around 33 BCE, wrote poems and lyrics on fans. During the Sung dynasty (960-1279 CE) painted circular fans became popular at the Court and among the nobility. It is during that period that folding fans were introduced in China from Japan. They were called wo-shan, referring to Japanese fans.

Gradually, but especially under the Yuan and Qing dynasties, artists started to use fans as artistic supports and, in the 16th century, they would start signing them. The Three Excellences of the Chinese art were applied to the decoration of these fans: painting, calligraphy and poetry. The materials used were mainly bamboo, whale bone, iron and ivory for the ribs and paper for the leaves. Leaves could be changed but the ribs were seen as valuable when their patina was aged by the handling. They would be treasured in families.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, most of the production of hand fans was sent to Europe as they were so much in demand. These decorated fans corresponded more to a western taste than to a Chinese one. At the turn of the 20th century, the Chinese Empire collapsed and a Republic was born after years of turmoil. This was thus depicted on hand fans, as testifies the hand fan made by Chinese artists in reaction to the Tientsin events. Colons asked the governor to stop the diffusion of this hand fan that was nonetheless duplicated in many copies.

In the 1960s, because of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong, many hand fans were destroyed as mere vieilleries and their cultural and social hierarchy aspects were despised.

  • In Japan

The material trace of the first hand fan in Japan is on a wall painting in a burial mound dating from the 6th century in Fukuoka. This type of fan, a flat one, called Uchiwa, probably came from China, passing through Korea.

A century later, Japan invented folding fans, mostly for women, which were composed of 39 ribs[1] One night, during Empress Jingu’s reign, an artist paid great attention to a bat that was opening and closing its wings. It gave him the idea of a more practical fan: the folding fan. This first fan was called komori or bat. They were made from slips of Juniper wood, sewn together at the top with a string and tied together at the other end so that they opened in a radiating way. The oldest surviving paper folding fan is documented as dating from 1188.

The first literary reference to this folding fan was found in the Japanese dictionary compiled around 935 that lists two types of fans, the Uchiwa and the Ogi. It rapidly became a desired work of art at the Court. The fan developed in this part of the society was called Hiogi and was made only for the sake of the Tenno. However, the nobility eventually used it. It was composed of 34 to 38 wood blades and the particularity was about the rivet[2] that had a bird shape on the obverse[3] and a butterfly shape on the inverse[4]. Painters used bright colors to depict brightly animals, nature or landscapes.

As well as in China, during the 18th and 19th centuries, Japanese fans evolved with the apparition of trade (even though limited and controlled till the end of the Edo period[5]) with the West. The ribs and guards were more adorned. Hand fans also became really popular in the Japanese high society and there was almost a Fan-mania. In order to preserve society from any conflict or high society from any bankruptcy, the Tokugawa Shogun decided in 1701 to forbid the fabrication of too valuable hand fans. Folding hand fans became the symbol of a sophisticated lifestyle to the Japanese – as the radiant ribs were seen as the sun dawn. The rise of the Ukiyo-e prints, pictures of the floating world, depicting daily life scenes had great success in Japan and soon abroad as well. It was not really expensive, considered as craft more than art at first, and it was easy to buy prints from street vendors who had many for sale. Ladies holding fans were featured in those prints, especially by Hokusai, Harunobu, Utamaro or Hiroshige. Portraits of beauties (Bijinga) depictions of warriors or Kabuki theatre characters include fans as a common accessory.

  • In the rest of Asia

At Cambodia’s peak – the period of the splendor of Angkor – fans were also used. Indeed, we can see – on some Khmer bas-reliefs – large fans used to refresh the king or even military officers. Wooden fans could be also found in what is modern day Malaysia.

In India, hand fans were, as in China, called after the word feather, or bird’s wings: pankhas. Indian fans were various in their uses and materials. There were fixed fans, which are held to fan, revolving fans, which can be shared by people sitting and enjoying the cool air and lavishly decorated royal fans, which are shaken by strong men and used to fan large congregations of people in the rajahs or maharajahs’ courts. There were also small ritual fans, which were used daily to fan the statue of Krishna, fly whisks, which were used to fan the Sikh holy book at gurudwaras and those which were used in mosques during Muslim festivals.

  1. Numerous uses of Hand Fans
  • The Three Excellences plus one

Dance: In Japan, as well as in China, fans were used in artistic performances. The Japanese Noh actors, professional dancers and then geishas became masters of elegance. Any position of the fan would describe a precise word, just like hands and fingers in Cambodian or Indian dance. The hand fan could successively represent a bird, water or even a tree. In China, fans were used in many types of dance, including Ping Tan (Chinese storytelling, usually accompanied by musical instruments) and Quyi (story telling with music and performances). There are many favorite poems about fans and its different meanings during a dance. “Waving a feathered fan, wearing a silk handkerchief, he joked and smiled; and reduced the enemy’s ships to flying ash and smoke.” These words show confidence of the character, expressed wittily in a natural and unrestrained style. “Holding a round fan while bowing with clasped hands is like holding a full moon; waving a fan to feel the embracing wind.” The expression this time shows precision and gracefulness. The fabrication of dance hand fans was quite particular. In order to be more practical during dances and throws, the gorge was weighted, meaning that some metal was added.

Painting: fans were also convenient supports for painters. Landscapes, gardens and scenes de genre were highly praised.

Calligraphy: according to a Chinese legend, the first calligrapher who used hand fans as a canvas was the famous Xi Zhi Wang. When going to the little city of Shao Xin, he saw an old woman desperately trying to sell bamboo hand fans; he told her that he would write characters on them so that she could gain more money. This is what happened and the success gave incentive to calligraphers to use hand fans as a support. The Tang emperor Tai Zhong was a great calligrapher and offered his officers fans he wrote on as a present during the Dragon Festival.[6]

Poems: hand fans were both a support for poems and a topic for poem. For instance, a famous hokku from Sokan[7] says: « In the full moon/ if you adapt a stick / a beautiful fan.”

  • A representation of social rank and politeness

Having a carved wooded fan, or a refine silk fan was synonymous of wealth and a certain social status. Fans were used both by men and women in Japan. At the Japanese Imperial Court, the handling of fans was part of the etiquette. Women were taught to use it in the proper way.

Holding a hand fan is also a sign of respect. If we do consider the tea ceremony, in Japan, we notice that the guest will always come to the tea reception with a folded fan before him. It symbolizes the traditional barrier between the guest and the tea master.

  • Wrestling tools

Once more we are going to focus on China and Japan, where hand fan is commonly used in wrestling sports.

In China, it is used noticeably during Kung-Fu matches. It is a tool used to protect oneself from hits and give some hits as well. Indeed, you could prevent your adversary to see what kind of punch you would give him.

In Japan, hand fan are employed during Sumo fights. The judge or referee of the game, also called gyôji, would get a fan out of his dress and present it. It is part of the ceremonial that when he turns it on the other side, the game can start. According to some historians, the ancestor of the hand fan was called the gunbai, which was a war fan. It is mostly made of plain lacquered wood. At the end of the game, the gyôji will use the fan to point out the winner and to put on it the envelope containing the award.

  • Politics

Wars: In Japan particularly, fans were tools used by commanders to lead their troops. They are called gusen. On horse backs, commanders were at the head of the soldiers. To make subordinates understand their will, the fan was really a practical device for samurais. (Remember a famous scene in Kurosawa’s Kagemusha). There were two sorts of gusen: folded fans in metal and wood fans that actually looked like panels fitted into a stick. The folded fan often depicted a rising sun, symbol of Japan. A description survives of Hacheman-Taro’s Gunsen: “In front with mica fold sun device, the reverse with mica and a silver moon device […] 12 bamboo sticks lacquered black and heavy with a metal oya-bone (guard).” When it was opened, it meant that the direction showed should be taken or it was a sign of rallying. When it was closed, it was a symbol of protection, and a warning to stay on guard.

Weapon: fans could also be transformed into powerful weapons. In Japan, they were called tessen. The frame was made out of iron, a strong metal able to pierce the adversary’s armour. Their creation is due to the prohibition of weapons in different places such as tea houses, or temples. In order to react in any case, an invisible weapon had to be created: a metal hand fan. Men and especially women had them in their sleeves.

Trial: in China, fans were used by judges while sitting in court of justice. After listening to the defendants and the victim, the judge would pass judgment. One by one, the leaves of the fan were folded and the sentence was set. One can see a specimen of this kind of fan dating from the 19th century in the Fan Museum in Paris.

Propaganda: Fans were a support for paintings as previously mentioned but also for song lyrics that were not always too kind or nice to the government. The positive point was that you could fold it and closed quickly if authorities were around.

  • Religion

Buddhism: During the studying of the precepts, meaning that – as a biku – you are on the path to become a Buddhist, a priest would give you a new name and either a bead necklace or a fan on which your name would be written. In Myanmar, hand fans, called yap were and still are one of the only material things a monk can possess.

Shinto ceremonies: in the Shinto rites, Kaguras are ancient shamanic dances. In the oldest one, called Miko Kagura, which is still practiced as a heritage dance nowadays, the dancer uses bells and hand fans to make circular movements with emphasis on the four directions. It was meant to appease the spirits from the North, South, East and West.

II EUROPE

  1. History of hand fans
  • Importation from Asia

The presence of hand fans in European culture is both an original invention and later the result of trade with Asia. Europe had obviously, since Antiquity, knowledge, crafts and use of hand fans. In Greece, Tanagra style terracotta statues represent gracile ladies with spade shaped fans. A huge fan would be used to provide fresh air in Roman circus when games were held. Anthony Rich, in le Dictionnaire des Antiquités (1883) wrote that hand fans of Greek and Roman ladies were made out of lotus leaves, peacock or ostrich’s feathers or any material of this kind. They were not brisés[8] but straight and had long handles as slaves were appointed to shake them.

During the Middle-Ages, in the Italian peninsula, les dames élégantes appreciated particular hand fans, today called screen fans, shaped like a flag hold on a stick. It was used by most of the population, without taking into consideration social rank. As the early Tanagra statuettes, women depicted in paintings, clad in sophisticated draperies were often holding fans.

During the Renaissance, European countries sent around the world navigators to develop seaborne trade, to find new markets and new resources, to promote Christian faith and to learn more about the unknown. Fans were luxury goods that would soon be much in demand in Europe. Importation of hand fans from Asia to Europe started after their introduction thanks to traders and religious orders from Chinese East coast. Importations were mostly to Spain and Portugal at the beginning but were also an incentive to create new types of hand fans. Little by little, fans from Asia would be appreciated gifts and trinkets a woman of taste was to have among her fashion accessories[9].

Elizabeth I of England and later the courtesans in Versailles popularized this object which was also seen as an expensive and prestigious work of art. Under the reign of the Sun King Colbert organized the production, creating “la corporation des éventaillistes» on February 15th 1678.

  • An incredible development

Hand fans were to be popular during the 17th century. Mostly in France and Italy, they would be used as supports for reproductions of famous painters and engravers’ works of art. Folding fans will be more appreciated than fixed ones. Technically speaking, leaves will be done not only with paper but with skins – noticeably swans’ skin- which make them more resistant. The monture was adorned with ivory and little by little, carvings and mother of pearl marquetterie emerged. Some were even made in precious metals, golden coated or inlaid with pure gold or silver. It was however a luxury fancy object, reserved to nobility and royalty.

It is amusing to notice that at that time, the fans were decorated on both sides. The high society parents gave classical education to their daughters and they wanted everyone to know how learned they were. Thus, the delicate flowers, such as roses and tulips of the obverse, were relegated to the inverse –the part of the fan that the young ladies could see- and replaced by mythological or historical scenes for everyone to behold. It was a sign of how educated the young women were. Yet, behind a fan, you could also mock, whisper, giggle and gossip unchecked.

In the 18th century, Europe produces high quality hand fans but importations, noticeably through the East India Company, were extremely important. Chinoiseries were highly fashionable. Beautiful as they were, many people did not realize that these fans were produced by the Chinese artists to please ‘barbarian’ tastes and were not used by Chinese themselves, as for example the ‘thousand faces’ or ‘mandarin’s fan. It is at this period that the creativity concerning fans developed the most in Europe, differently according to the countries. On the 1st of December 1783, in the Jardin des Tuilleries in Paris, the first hot air balloon was sent to the sky by the Montgolfier brothers. In France, then, every gift à la mode had to be à la ballon. Thus, balloons were drawn on événementiels hand fans!

In Italy, for instance, from the 1770s onwards, most fans were painted with classical ruins, in Pompeian decoration and antic style. There were also dramatic views of Vesuvius erupting and of the bay of Naples. However, they could represent many topics: military victories (Nelsons’ in England) or game instructions (How to play Whist and not lose your temper at the same time…). A ‘hand fan code’ was created. The 18th century is also the century of the French Revolution, which allowed printers to use hand fans as a mean to spread information. At the end of the century, hand fans were available to all the society strata as picture printings developed and lowered the production prices.

  • A modern decline? And a revival.

In the early 19th century, the fan size diminished and, during the Restoration, there was many brisés, mainly made from horn and ivory, feebly decorated. Nevertheless, we can still find real jewel fans and extravaganza. In France, hand fans were used to mock Napoleon. Spain, that did not really produced fans but imported them, started its own fabrication. They depicted corridas and pastoral landscapes. Spanish women were really attached to them and the complicated handling would be soon used in Flamenco and Hispanic dances in general. Théophile Gautier, in «Voyage en Espagne” (1843) wrote that he hadn’t met any woman without a fan during his journey. To his amazement, they could have satin shoes and no socks but they had an elegant hand fan[10]. A beautiful Spanish tale recalled two girls who used a fan, one who was nice and sweet would become more and more beautiful as she refreshed herself but the other, selfish and cruel, would become uglier and uglier by doing so. The magic fan would reveal indeed moral beauty or flaws.

This was also a period for international exhibitions. The Crystal Palace exhibition was first held in 1851 in London and many fans, both exhibition fans, and advertising/souvenirs fans survived. Still in 1931, during the Colonial exhibition in Paris, thousands of hand fans would be given freely as tokens, advertising for brands or depicting in an exotic way the remotest territories of the French Empire. A fan would be a beautiful gift for a wedding present or a birthday keepsake. This is the clue to understand fully the plot in Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s fan, a play first performed in London in 1892.

Japonisme would also lead to have fans depicted in paintings as in the famous portrait by Monet of a dancing lady (his wife) in an embroidery kimono. Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir painted on éventails while Camille Pissarro designed and illustrated dozens of them. We also know 26 hand fans painted by Paul Gauguin on silk canvases. Art Deco artists would also produce intriguing feminine statues. It was but a swan song.

At the turn of the 20th century, as Le Petit Echo de la Mode would provide testimony, the hand fan would decline and soon wouldn’t reign anymore in celebrations and salons. After the First World War, this trinket or babiole was almost forgotten as women emancipated. However, haute couture creators tried and gave the hand fan a re-birth. It is noticeably the case with Christian Dior and his Spring Summer 2007 collection. Not to mention Karl Lagerfeld personal iconic display of fans.

  1. Use of hand fans
  • Proof of a social rank & sign of fashion

It was very often used between the 17th and the 19th century more for what it could represent than for the practical purpose of providing ladies with cool air. The quality of the hand fan, meaning the materials used to make it, the author of the leaves painting and its origin determined the value of it and thus, the social rank of its owner. The more valuable the fan was the highest rank the owner had. Those coming from the East were seen as treasures, because they were rare and exotic. Some made in Europe, by the designers of Maison Duvelleray & Alexandre, in France, were really appreciated. Until the development of printing machines on material, only the nobility and the upper middle class could afford such fans.

Hand fans were part of a lady’s corbeille de mariage. In the Fan Museum of Healdsburg, a French fan is painted with garlands of gold roses, Venus attended by Cupids and an empty birdcage with an arrow. Hand fans started to be collected and the Duke Augustus of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was one of these hand fan fans. He bought them thanks to a certain Mr. Meyer in England, as their correspondence testifies. It is also said that on the eve of his wedding to Queen Victoria, his grandson Prince Albert presented her with four fans, which she referred to in her diary and treasured afterwards.

A 18th or 19th century English lady of the aristocracy class would have a whole collection of fans: fans to use in the morning, fans to use in the afternoon, fans to use at charities or galas, concert fans, ball fans, black and grey fans to use when there was a death in the family. The fan was the continuation of the wrist and hand. Its handling was a proof of savoir vivre.

  • A secret language

In reaction to the strict moral code, in Europe, meaning that each individual had the duty to seek salvation and to live consequently and that courting and romance were forbidden, a secret code little by little appeared in Spain and would be used in France, Italy and the rest of Europe. It was a secret code – as les mouches on a white complexion – to flirt secretly.

Here are some examples :

  • Hold it in the right hand in front of theface : follow me.
  • Hold it in the left hand in front of the face: I would like an entrevue.
  • Make it slip on your cheek: I love you.
  • Make it slip in your hand: I hate you.
  • Present it closed: do you love me ?
  • Put it on your lips: kiss me.
  • Put it on your left ear: I would like you to leave at once.
  • Make it turn in your left hand: we are spied.
  • Make it turn in your right hand: I love someone else.
  • Hold it in your right hand: you are asking too much.
  • Hold it in your left hand : you have a chance to touch my heart.

And a lot more to convey messages: I’m a married woman, I am engaged, you are cruel, come and talk to me…

A 17th century English writer, Joseph Addison, wrote: “Men have the sword, women have the fan, and the fan is probably an effective weapon too.”

  • Propaganda & advertisement

Fans, after the development of printing machines for materials were easy to manufacture, distribute and sell. Since that time, fans would be used in France during the French Revolution (republicans and patriotic fans on which decrees were written or symbols… or royalists’ fans with the royal family members ‘portraits), for the anti-Napoleonic propaganda, for advertisement, to support French troops during the Tonkin war and more.

The word fan, meaning a sporty devotee comes from hand fans. Fans were given to spectators at sporting events. The use of the word “fan” is thought to derive from the word “fanatic” but some are adamant that it is only because of a 19th century baseball writer who used it to describe all the audience waving supporting hand fans.

  • Vanities and liturgy

In orthodox churches, fans (called ripidion), as well in catholic churches, fans (called flabellum) were used to announce the holy wafer procession, the coming of the pope or of dignitaries. It was an honorary gesture towards the “successor of Peter”, directly coming from the roman imperial protocol. In the Apostolic Constitutions, written in the 4th century, we can read (VIII, 12): “Let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or of fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to the cups”. However, if it is still use in orthodox churches, it was forbidden in Catholic tradition by the second council of Vatican

Fans were seen traditionaly as vanity objects and therefore had to be renounced to by christian girls aspiring to sanctity.

To read further:

Avril Hart and Emma Taylor, Fans, Victoria and Albert Museum publishing, (V and A), London, 1998.

Anne Sefrioui, Éventails Impressionnistes, Citadel, Paris, September 2012 (along with the Musée d’Orsay catalogue on the temporary exhibition held on Impressionism and fashion in 2012).

Maryse Volet and Annette Beentjes, Éventails, Editions Slatkine, Genève, 1987.

Michel Maignan, L’éventail à tous vents, Louvre des Antiquaires, Paris, 1989.

Musée de l’éventail, 2 rue de Strasbourg, 75010 Paris.

Online exhibition : the art of folding fans: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/arts-and-crafts-museum-hangzhou

The Three Day Train Journey

Alaya recounts the long journey of a Nepalese immigrant from India back home.

It takes me around nine hours of flying to reach New Delhi from Paris if it is a direct flight. If I were to take a flight to Kathmandu from Delhi, it would probably take me an hour and a half.

Meet Mandira, I’ve known her ever since I could walk and like hundreds of thousands of Nepalis that find work in India, she travels back home every year by train to visit her family. Her journey takes her three days to complete, the alternative is an expensive 90 minutes flight to the capital, Kathmandu.

pic

Going back home isn’t an impromptu decision where you sit on your laptop scrolling different flight prices. For her, it is a planned selection that needs to be decided four months in advance in order to get a seat confirmation on the train from New Delhi to Nepal. Her train leaves from Old Delhi and makes it way to Bihar (an Indian state bordering Nepal) before entering the Terai region of Nepal.

Before she books her tickets, she always finds someone that she knows to travel with. She says “safal akele karna bohut mushkil hota hein” which translates to “travelling alone is difficult.” “There needs to be someone who you can trust enough to leave your stuff with every time you walk away from your seat. There are thieves everywhere, my daughter had her phone stolen and I can’t bear for my anxiousness of getting back home to be burdened further with fear.”

So how do you spend three days on a train journey? Mandira books herself on the sleeper coach where she gets a sleeper bunk bed to herself at night but during the day she has to share her seat with other passengers. For food, she is not a big fan of the food that’s served on the train and the repetitiveness of the meals makes the journey longer for her. “I always pack food with me, food that will last for three days, be it junk food or apples. I always carry it with me.” Interacting with passengers on the train is how she deals with making time pass by. It’s not deep conversations that they usually engage in but small talk about their destination and where they are from, and everyone shares the food that they packed with each other. Mandira’s food is usually gone on the second day and she then buys more on the train and relies on the fruit served on the train.

I asked her about the places where the train stops and if she’s ever wondered about how life is in such places. “When I cross places, I know their names but their names have no meaning to me. I don’t know them for their must-visit attractions, cuisines, or sights,I only know them by how far away from my destination is from that place, she said. She knows when the train crosses into Nepal. She said it’s an innate connectedness you experience with meri desh ki mitti – the soil of my land – there might not be any difference in how the land looks once you’ve crossed the border of Bihar to enter Nepal but to her, it means she’s home, even if home is still an eight-hour journey away. The soil represents not familiarity but ownness, and an assurance that the tiresome long journey is almost at an end.

After reaching the final train station, Mandira’s journey is not over. She still has to take a bus that takes about eight hours to reach a place thirty minutes from her home. She then takes her another bus that doesn’t take her all the way home but leaves her on a big ring-road close to her village. Finally, from there she takes a three-wheeled auto rickshaw that takes her to her destination.

But, it’s all worth it for her. She’s anxious, impatient, restless, tired, and fatigued after travelling for three days to reach her home. “When I reach home, I leave all my luggage on the ground floor. We have a two-story house and my husband puts my suitcases upstairs. The first thing I do is go to my farm,there is no other place I’d rather be. That moment when you walk on to your land, your feet touch the fresh-cut grass, and you examine the ripeness of the vegetables. I feel at peace like nothing else exists besides the earth and my soul. I can finally tell myself that I am home.” She talks about home with a smile on her face, a smile that makes you feel at home, and then the journey doesn’t matter that much.

A Step Backwards

By Joaquín Gosálvez Castillo

Joaquín Gosálvez Castillo writes about the political climate in his country.

José Saramago, a Portuguese writer awarded in 1998 with the Nobel Prize of Literature, said: “We must recover, preserve and transmit historical memory, because when we start with oblivion, we end up with indifference”. I have been thinking about the way in which events in the political arena in my country, Spain, have been taking place in 2019 and that this political legislature may be the most polarized and angry in our recent democracy. Today, more than ever, we need to defend historical memory.

Sometimes we would like to believe that things are not as they are, to forget the harshness of an incredibly unbearable reality: we are taking steps backwards. I am writing now because I feel overcome by the harshness of this reality, because I see that we have wanted to take away the freedom to be brave and to be lucid, and therefore we want to be unable to move forward. I need to talk about the collapse of truth, the collapse of historical memory and, what is worse, the collapse of human rights that we are witnessing. It would be obvious and no less important to talk about how badly things work in the world, about the enormous inequalities that exist, about the abuses committed against women simply because they are women, about an immense poverty that we cannot or do not want to eradicate, about an enormous climate crisis that is no more than a secondary issue in our daily lives. However it is more useful to reflect by going back to the basics. That is why I will talk about how our societies have decided to turn their backs on the truth and what that entails, and in particular I will talk about a situation that I think I know well: the situation in Spain.

Between the two legislative elections held in Spain in 2019, the extreme right-wing party Vox progressed by 47% to win the vote of 15.1% of the electorate, that is, just over 3,600,000 voters. But what does Vox propose? To sum up, they want to dismantle the system of autonomies in Spain and return to a political centralism, expel immigrants en masse, repeal the Gender Violence Law, lower taxes for the richest classes, abolish the Historical Memory Law, greatly limit abortion, abolish the Climate Change Law…and more. How did we even get to this point?

In 1948 everything was clear ; humanity had gone through two bloody and atrocious World Wars, we had learned from our mistakes with pain and suffering, and hatred could not be a way to move our societies forward. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written, and soon after, a large majority of countries ratified it. Humanity’s greatest historical milestone was achieved: to agree on a consensual and common basis of ethical and just values that we had an obligation to defend; it was the victory of a common human conscience freed from the burden of a history of violence and blood, from which lessons had been learned for the future.

Today, however, it seems that all that has been called into question in the minds of many people. What seemed to be evidence, today is no longer evident. What we had decided would be our common basis for building a decent and better world for all, is today called into question by more and more societies that vote with conviction for the extreme right.

It breaks my heart, when people vote for a party that wants to repeal a law that has allowed to protect women victims of gender violence in Spain and which has had a very positive effect on thousands and thousands of people. It breaks my heart when, in Andalusia, a party asks in an intimidating way for the names of the professionals who attend to the victims of gender violence. It breaks my heart, when people vote for a revisionist party that opposes the Historical Memory that, in Spain, must serve us to learn lessons from the past and to be able to avoid repeating the dark times of Franco’s repressive dictatorship and to help those families whose relatives, victims of repression, are today buried in ditches and have disappeared. It breaks my heart, when people vote for a party that shows no humanity by proposing to abandon Spain’s participation in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most consensual convention that has ever existed at an international level, with the aim of expelling unaccompanied immigrant minors from national territory. It breaks my heart, when people vote for a party that says that the biggest challenge of our era, climate change, does not exist and that it is a lie, and they mess with Greta Thunberg instead of tackling the real environmental problems.

But perhaps that is not the worst thing, because at the end of the day we are all free to vote for whomever we want and to think what we want. Yet, that freedom also demands a great deal of responsibility. The freedom to vote requires responsibility for the opinions, approaches and, above all, actions of the parties we vote for. Not exercising this responsibility means not being free in the practice of voting. If Vox is clearly a party that has approaches that are opposed to human rights, which can be verified objectively, how is it possible that there are people – and they are often people I know personally – who say that Vox is not opposed to human rights? If there are people who vote for Vox, they have to assume that this party has certain approaches that are opposed to human rights. You cannot vote for Vox and be a fervent defender of human rights at the same time if you want to be consistent. The problem that arises is therefore the following: either there are people who vote for Vox and lie, or there are people who vote for Vox who are blinded by excessive irrationality. The first case is reprehensible and unworthy for those of us who defend the truth, especially if we consider the philosopher William James’ theory of the usefulness and practical effectiveness of truth. The second case is worrying, because it teaches us that there are people who have not wanted to reason enough to arrive at an objective truth, and that these people are slaves of a blind faith that they profess towards the politicians of Vox. It is even more so when you demonstrate to Vox voters, and I suppose something similar will happen with many extreme right-wing voters in other countries, that the party they support has proposals that are incompatible with human rights – this is an objective truth – they are not capable of assuming it and with hesitation and resentment they say that this is not true but they are not able of demonstrating it rationally.

The problem we have with far-right parties is a problem of telling the truth. Of course, there are extreme right-wing voters who know very well what their parties are about, but I think there is a large majority who is persuaded by fallacies, lies and fake news, therefore believing such a party represents their ideals whereas actually not. And we are faced with a wall of inconsistency: we know that without the immigrant workers, the pensioners could not have had such high pensions in Spain during the Great Recession (according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, INE). Yet Vox says that we are facing an invasion and that immigrants cost Spaniards a lot. Then some of us are afraid and want to believe that Vox is right, even if we know that Vox has approaches that are contrary to Human Rights. However a high percentage of Vox voters may have have a high regard for Human Rights, then they say that Vox respects Human Rights because they could not bear emotionally that this was not the case. In the same vein, we know that climate change is real and a huge threat to life, since according to the European Environment Agency, in Europe alone, there are already 400000 deaths a year from pollution, but then Vox says that climate change does not exist and so its voters think that there are other issues that Vox defends that are more important than climate change. The problem of Vox and its voters is one of truth and consistency.

I appeal to anyone who reads this to consider who they are voting for and whether they really represent their ideals. To those who are Vox voters I say: if you vote for Vox, it is because you think there are other things more important than human rights; if you vote for Vox, you have to assume that there are things more important to you than climate change; if you vote for Vox, it is because there are things more important to you than saving lives, particularly the lives of migrants and refugees who die every year at sea trying to cross the Mediterranean. If you are prepared to face up to the reality of what Vox and the extreme right are, then you will be truly free to vote. But if, on the contrary, you defend the truth above all, if you defend above all that action must be taken to resolve climate change as shown by science, if you defend Human Rights above all, if you defend life unconditionally, and if you want to be coherent with what you defend ; then you cannot vote for Vox because, in that case, you would not be assuming your values coherently and you would be acting against your own ideals and yourself, slaves to an excessive feeling of hate, illusion or nostalgia that would not let you see what reality is like. Each of us also has that responsibility to argue to show the truth, because the truth should be the basis of any reasoning we do, especially knowing what politics is like in these times. How can we expect politics to be useful to everyone, if we are not able to understand reality?

To appeal to reflection, I would like to conclude with two famous quotes. The first one was written by a great thinker and a lucid mind whose 60th anniversary of death corresponds to this year, Albert Camus: “Il n’est pas une vérité qui ne porte avec elle son amertume”. The second one is from Gloria Steinem, mother of the second wave of feminism in the United States who had the courage to say “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!”.

Mr. Red Sky

Joyce Fang writes a scything indictment on her government’s environmental failures of the decade as we move into 2020 with the heat of the Australian bushfire disaster.

Mr. Red Sky please tell us why/

You had to hide away for so long (so long)/

Where did we go wrong?/

This festive period has sat unwell in the minds of millions of Australians. As we have been celebrating Christmas and welcoming a new year, the back of our throats has been filled with literal smoke that stings with the sour taste of betrayal from a negligent government.

This bushfire season in Australia has been worse than any ever experienced before. The situation has been worsening since the fires began in July, 3 months earlier than usual. 5.9 million hectares of land have been burnt with the flames spreading more day by day. That’s the equivalent of over half of Europe being burnt. From red skies, gas explosions, cities blanketed in smoke and ash falling like rain, the scenes coming out of the country belong to a dystopian film. There have been colossal impacts across the eastern and southern states, with the horrific destruction of properties, and the loss of wild and human life. The fires are even creating their own weather systems, with phenomena such as fire tornadoes and dry lightning (which are as terrifying as they sound). Many scientists have emphasised the influence of climate change in facilitating record breaking temperatures, extended drought and strong winds which have provided ideal conditions for the large exacerbation of the fires.

My social media feed is an uninterrupted stream of videos and reports of the fires, and although staying in Europe these holidays can be viewed as a welcome respite, the new year begs reflection and attention to the situation in the country I have grown up in, and the one so many of my loved ones still live in.

As we farewell 2019, we say farewell also to perhaps the worst decade in Australian political history. A decade marked by an incredibly unstable coalition government from the get-go that has seen half a dozen prime ministers. A decade of ignorance and denial and an absolute failure of our leadership to rise up in the face of our changing climate, the most significant challenge of our time and one that is exacerbating the fires. From the Liberal front bench tear down of the Labor carbon price (the only policy in Australian history to have ever reduced carbon emissions), to then-treasurer Scott Morrison brandishing a piece of coal in parliament, to underfunding the CSIRO, cancelling the Climate Commission, to approving the Adani coal mine and countless other feats contrary to global goals to reduce emissions; the failures of the decade of Australian governance surrounding climate change are exposed now more than ever in the face of a national catastrophe. We have not just taken a few steps backwards; we are now facing and walking in the other direction.

Australia ranks amongst countries with the worst climate policy in the world. Despite MPs stressing we have one of the lowest national percentages of carbon emissions at 1.3%, they forget to mention we have one of the highest per capita. As one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels, the country’s abundance of coal means the individuals and organisations that have profited from it currently have a tight grip on the government. Fires have long been a focus for Australian scientists, with countless reports warning of the dangers rising temperatures could have on our vulnerable country. Our failure to develop any sort of significant countering policy or develop a sufficient capacity to respond has raised much anger towards the cabinet’s decisions. The inadequacy of the response can be described as passivity. PM Scott Morrison has turned his back on the terror the country is currently experiencing, with criminal negligence to the gutting situation by continuing to deny the links between climate change and the fires. His holiday to Hawaii, and his NYE party in Kirribilli whilst Australia was up in flames perfectly symbolises his unprincipled attitudes and absence in leadership for a country that so desperately needs it. We are so disillusioned in the fight that even partisan bickering amongst Labor and the Greens on the left has also been blocking the united front of pragmatism that is required, as infighting has become a trademark of Australian politics this decade.

I feel ill reading the news. I am overcome with a sense of hopelessness that makes my skin crawl. It is now, more than ever, that Australian resilience is so necessary yet insufficient in a time of disaster. Put yourself in the shoes of those in Mallacoota, hugging the shore and being told to get into the water for safety, as the fire front knocked at their door. Imagine finding the dead bodies of a father and son attempting to defend their property from the fires. Imagine being the pregnant wife of one of those men. Think of those that have lost homes, livelihoods and loved ones from these fires.

To our coalition government, shame on you. Morrison, Angus Taylor, David Elliott, Michael McCormack, and Barnaby Joyce, shame on you. To the Murdoch media, shame on you. To those who continue to deny climate change for corporate and political gain- shame. on. you. You are a disgrace, Australia is outraged and disgusted and the world is noticing.

Looking ahead, the situation is far from over yet. With the fire season expected to continue for a few more months, dwindling water supplies and the questionable sustainability of our underfunded, mostly volunteer-run, fire service, the ferocity of the fires will continue to be a huge challenge as we enter the new decade. And so, the critics will continue to ask our PM and government: where the bloody hell are you?

photos

Joker – a review and a reflection

2 seperate pieces on Joker by Todd Phillips, written by Amir and Ji Sung, giving different takes and critiques of the film.

2 seperate pieces on Joker by Todd Phillips, written by Amir and Ji Sung, giving different takes and critiques of the film.

 

Part I – A Review – Ji Sung Park

 

Joker, released on October 4th, was highly anticipated, widely praised and greatly disappointing.

 

Do not misunderstand; it is a great movie in many aspects. The cinematography is superb; even with bright colors, the atmosphere feels darker than Sin City. The sound editing is pitch-perfect (Aha!); in the scene where Arthur dances his way down the stairs, the background music transitions quickly and appropriately from that reflecting the ostensibly comical image of the clown to that resounding his descent into madness – truly beautiful. The acting is Oscar-deserving. Joaquin Phoenix honors his last name with his flawless impersonation of the flawed character of Arthur Fleck, losing somewhere around 24 kilograms for the act.

 

But does the movie really deserve all the praise it is receiving? I have my doubts. Many audiences found it boring, not least because of the repeated and protracted laughter of the protagonist. But more importantly, it is a predictable story. Even Marvel zealots know who the Joker is. The downward path for Arthur was predetermined, and after watching the trailer a couple of times it will not be difficult for an indifferent granny to concoct half of the plot successfully. In that sense, the movie is a monotonous routine of disappointments and humiliation for Arthur. What is interesting is his growing versatility in murder. Given time, he might as well have killed someone magically with a pencil. May true DC (or movie) fans get my joke, and not be dazzled by the cheap Batman references in the movie.

 

However, the director does play a smart trick at the end of the movie. Instead of closing with Arthur dancing (that man just can’t stop dancing) on the hood of the police car, which would have been epic, the movie ends with Arthur having imagined a “joke” in Arkham State. This gives the audience a creative option for interpreting the movie; that the whole event was contrived as a mere “joke” by Arthur, in Inception-esque layers of imagination. Someone noticed that time does not change, or more precisely that all the clocks have the same arrangement in the movie, which seems to support the theory that the whole story was fabricated. Nevertheless, like Inception, there is no definitive explanation and there should not be one.

 

Now for the more serious talk. Some people suggest that Joker sheds light on the rejection and discrimination of mentally troubled people. Really, such awareness is not addressed in the film in any perceivable way, primarily because Arthur is not as insane as one may first suspect. By nature, he is not a psychopath, although he quickly turns into one. And with the exception of the hallucinations involving Sophie, he has a pretty strong grasp on reality. Enough so to deliver a fully-fledged, critical and apparently quite inspirational speech defending his murder. No, Arthur Fleck is neither as psycho as Norman Bates nor as sophisticated as Hannibal Lecter to entertain the audience by himself, ironically suiting the character.

 

Then, is Joker a critique on society and its inequality? The answer is: not really. The movie does illustrate how the rich upper class can be despicably apathetic and self-indulgent. But that alone does not justify murdering them. Thus, if the murders were committed by an unhappy social critic, it is an act of downright evil; if they were committed by a madman/psychopath, it is a series of unfortunate events (Aha!); for the victims, of course. In the end, what did Thomas Wayne ever do but punch an unreasonable man, reasonably, in the face? And what wrong did Murray Franklin commit to deserve a bullet to the head? It could be argued that they committed much more contemptful acts off-screen, but such accusation can be made of literally anyone. Therefore, the murder of Thomas and Murry cannot be more right than the murder of Christina Grimmie. Then, was the lower class so abused as to desire complete social upheaving? Sophie, who lives in the same miserable apartment as Arthur, doesn’t seem to think so. She has managed to put up with her harsh realities and establish a life for herself and her child. Moreover, Arthur murders Randall, a man in a similar socio-economic position as Arthur. The result of this action has obscured the conflict between the classes, and that between a troubled man and the world is highlighted. In fact, the story of the movie resembles the Taiping Revolution in many aspects; a gravely disappointed man-turned-mad unexpectedly leading the unsatisfied populace to a darker and more chaotic future. Only that it is set in a world far from realistic, unlike Parasite, or symbolic, unlike District 9, and only depicts a fictional inequality like in Elysium.

 

Then, perhaps the only valid message in the movie is the repercussions of lying, both to others and oneself. Penny Fleck, who is probably much more insane than Arthur, lies to her son about his origin. This inflames Arthur’s conception of being mistreated by society, exacerbating his mental state and for Penny, leads to her tragic death. Happy themes! Hopefully this movie did not inspire too many ideas apart from Halloween costumes.

 

******************************************************************

Part II -An Adventure of self reflection on social responsibility – Amir Harith

 

The reason I chose this title is that the film itself made me pull an all-nighter reflecting about my life and the society I’m currently living in. It provides me with a space, somewhere in my head, to recall the smallest cruel stuff and the selfish acts I’ve ever done that could hurt anybody in this world and also to put some thoughts on why I find familiarity in the despair experienced by Arthur Fleck, the Joker, played by Joaquin Phoenix.

 

Up to this point, the critiques that I’ve heard from my friends who dislike Joker is that the movie is just another lesson of: what are the consequences of social inequality, bad social integration or the problematic relationship between the governer and the governed. I think we should see beyond this obvious, simplistic causality of why the society in the film descent to societal insanity showed via the great buildup of the movie. We should be able to see the subtle messages and the complexity that Todd Phillips attempted to bring for the audience.

 

The conceptualization of the world around us through the eyes of the privileged

 

What I found was thought-provoking is the fact that the film gives us an alternative perspective about Thomas Wayne. It is not only that it changes the common way of seeing him as the hero for Gotham that seeks to cure and redress the injustice (from altruistic businessman to an abusive person), it also tells us, the audience, through what agency we have been absorbing or accepting ideas. It is through the lenses of somebody else: the media that is run and regulated by the captains of industry, the rich or politicians that have personal agenda. This was most evident when Arthur gives his indelible speech that says “ If it was me dying on the sidewalk, you’d walk right over me… but these guys (the three dead Wayne rich workers), because Thomas Wayne cries about them on TV…” which tells us that, even if we don’t notice it, we believe in things that somebody else wants us to believe. The things that come to my mind especially when thinking about the Malaysian context is how we perceive ethnic issues – when politicians play their racial-religious card and we become “enthusiastic” talking about it when we otherwise wouldn’t. Or how many Malaysians see immigrants in the media – the portrayal of the dangerous migrants and how it affects our perspective on them. It might appear that this news coverage is harmless, but this hatred and the normalization of this “us vs them” mentality has become so entrenched, fortified and almost irreversible within the system that we ourselves contributed to by supporting it or worse, says nothing about this evil process. As a consequence, eventually, this vicious view is translated into an inhumane policy.

 

Furthermore, I also think the movie delicately asks us to be skeptical about the philanthropic behavior by the upper class and to avoid taking things at a surface level. When we see a politician or a CEO of a company tries to fight for the poor or donates money to the underprivileged on newspapers, we think they know what they are doing, and they are doing something right. As much as I would love to celebrate this charitable ‘intention’ and demeanor, we always fail to recognize that this act is an indirect homogenization of the powerless, the poor by a person who has never lived this life. It removes the possibility of seeing the poor as having various identities and simultaneously silencing their different interests and point of views. This is extremely important because it affects the way we see the methods of correcting the system and helping people – not having a white savior complex. I also believe that it influences the way we see ourselves (coming from a different spectrum of the middle-class) who either think that we are working just for the sake of improving our own lives, or even if there is some form of awareness about the need to help the have-nots, we feel complacent with the amount of work we’ve done to help them. We follow a university trip or an NGO to a poor area for a month and teach impoverished kids English or Mathematics, we think we understand them already and have done enough to help them. I believe there is no such thing as peace or ‘sufficient contribution’ if there is one person out there who is struggling to survive in the system that we are complacent and privileged to live under.

 

We are all morally liable for the injustice that’s happening around us

 

I believe many people who managed to find the good within Arthur, are able to resonate a lot with the everyday cruelty suffered by him. Throughout the movie, Phoenix tries to be selfless and to do what is presumed right, at least in his small circle. He never misses to check the mailbox just in case there is a letter that his mum asks him about every day. Which means, he never forgets about the needs or interests of people around him. When he got beaten up by some naughty kids, we can see his hand reaching for the broken placard showing that he cares about his job and potentially, that is the only way to help his family survive. When he saw the woman and her child running for the elevator, he stopped the door from closing. It may seem like these are small nice random acts that most people do in daily life, but I believe they are the representation of Arthur trying to keep his sanity through doing what is deemed as correct behavior.

However, all of these moral acts are fundamentally betrayed by something bigger than himself, something he himself cannot control: the discriminative system he is working for, lies told by the same mother he devoted his life for, made fun of by his idolized comedian, rejected and ignored by the woman he has a crush on. It is the same for many of us who sometimes feel that we are doing something that is regarded as honorable or something generally nice but then ignored, forgotten and worse taken wrongly as having bad intentions. That is why it is easy for us to relate to Arthur’s journey from the film because we experience this feeling almost every day.

 

I think what is more important is to acknowledge is how mean and cruel people can be on a day-to-day basis irrespective of whether or not they are deliberate. We probably do not have the intentions to hurt people, but our objectives can sometimes clash with other people’s interests and that is totally normal. The question then becomes how you can think about it before you sleep – the opportunities that you might have taken away from someone else. It is important to self-reflect so that you remove the tendency for being individualistic in every single step that you take because it potentially affects others. Fundamentally, I think Phillips’ message in this movie is simple: the sufferings that people experience at a micro-level, whether being rejected from a job because of their ethnic identity or rejected from having a decent life because of not having access to good education, are all our fault. We cannot stay motionless and have to do something about it.

 

Ultimately, this movie is not only about top-down viciousness, but bottom-up complacency and ignorance about the world around us. Joker is an allegory about what happens in a society where cruelty is pandemic, and empathy is absent. It is a wake-up call that beseeches us to be kind to one another.