Younger than me
| by Shang Zuo When I was a teenager, like many others my age, I was very much into music, video games, and cartoons. I didn’t understand why adults were so indifferent to us. I pondered if my interests would last when I grow up. My answer was, definitely yes, because this stuff is really good, those stupid adults just don’ t get it. It can be difficult for parents and children to communicate because of the generation gap. In a society like China where everything is expedited, the gap can be even wider and deeper. For every five years there is a whole new breed, living different lives, thinking different ways, facing different problems. But I no longer play video games and read cartoons. I still think they’re fun, and I consider the gaming and cartoon industry as an interesting and promising career path. I guess I just have found something else to do. I still am interested in music though. I am not as enthusiastic as before, and am not a fan of a specific artist. Sometimes, I’m just curious about the music that today’s youth is making and listening to. I recently read an interview of Zhang Shouwang by Esquire magazine. Shouwang is a gifted musician, not only in rock music but also in other genre. The New Yorker named one of his performances last year as number two of the top 10 classical music events of 2008. I really like his music and music from other people of his age in general. My first impression is that their music is very cool, like British or Japanese music. I’m amazed by their talent and what they have done. But when they talk about how they’re creating something real that fits their generation, I feel funny. I don’t find their music real. Instead, I find it unreal. They murmur meaningless lyrics. I liked those old school rockers in ‘80s and ‘90s, because they had attitude and strength, and were honest and serious. They created something real for those decades. Just listening to Zhang Chu’s “Heaven Bless the Well Fed People” can drag me back into that year and that street, working like a time travel machine. The feeling of the song is exactly right. I can almost see how Zhang Chu stands in the street looking over the people. I can feel what he feels at the moment. However, I never felt those old rockers were cool. Why do bands have to be cool? These new bands are universally cool but unexceptionally soulless. What I’m afraid of is that we’re losing some precious qualities. CCTV is filming Dream of Red Mansions again. Dream of Red Mansions is one of the Four Great Classical Novels. It was made into TV series in the mid-’80s by CCTV and was a huge success. Now doing it again will test the quality of today’s TV industry. Unfortunately, public confidence is not very high. It sounds sad to me. Consider this: how often do directors, actors and actresses have the chance to film something as great as Dream of Red Mansions? Probably every 20 or 30 years. If this team fails us, we’ll have to wait for another 30 years to see another Dream of Red Mansions presented by the next generation. Does this group even comprehend the pressure and expectation of the audience? Or are they happily satisfied with their creation and new interpretation of the classic? I have no confidence in them. I can imagine critics roaring at the team after the series’ broadcast, “Someone did it 30 years ago, and they did it better than you!” But I must stop ranting about irresponsible commercial society. Now I’m criticizing today’s youth, but was I different from them when I was compared with my parents? Didn’t my parents frown when I was listening to those “noises,” like I frown upon the young bands today? My parents would say, “Why don’t you try Ode to the Motherland, and Up the Songhua River?” Didn’t I feel bored by old stuff, and now my stuff has become boring old stuff to teenagers? Maybe, their music is indeed real to them, only not being understood by me. Before accepting the notion that new ideas should constantly replace the old ones as human society progresses, there is an alternative, in which youth start to appreciate older generations, as they grow up like what I have learned all these years. I think that it’s age that differs parents and children. If the generation gap is true, however, that’s an even bleaker picture, because people will never change and all eventually will retreat to old ideas and fight old wars. This is the philosophic question for intellectuals and can be found in many people’s minds: How do we find the balance between tradition and progress? The question is more prominent in rapidly developing countries but it’s universal for everyone else as well. What do we want to or not want to change? What will or will not change regardless of our will? What is our place in history? |
Shang Zuo's column
