Playing for Thrills Seamier Behavior

Playing for Thrills

Seamier Behavior as Subversive Behavior

Communist China under the leadership of Chairman Mao built a society which was supposed to be one and the same with the state. Under this state, citizens must surrender their personal wishes and needs for the greater good of the society. This was especially the case during the Cultural Revolution. After Mao's death, however, China began a rapid transformation in literally every aspect. Though the state remained authoritarian, the attitudes of citizens began to change, from loyalty to dissident, from apathy to subversion. Wang Shuo's writings in the nineteen eighties addressed the new Chinese youth, centered in Beijing, who conducted a kind of life the state was not fond of. In his novel Playing the Thrills, for instance, the characters are not direct enemies of the state. They are simply hooligans who indulge in alcohol, cigarettes, cards, and sex. Nevertheless, their behavior was subversive of the Communist ideals, representing the seamier side of Beijing.

The novel is narrated by a man named Fang Yan. He is in his thirties and is a murder suspect. He does not know if he had committed the murder and is trying to find out. But the characters play it around. They treat it mostly as a joke. At one place, Fang Yan says "It's just possible . . . it's goddmaned possible that I'm a murder suspect." His friend Fat Man Wu replies to him: "Lucky you . . . . What trick did you use to turn yourself into a celebrity?" Another friend of his responds in a vulgar language, a typical behavior for the characters, by saying "Don't think you're such hot shit . . . . I advise you to hold on to those two ounces of meat down there. I doubt you could even give it away" (506). Although the issue is serious, they laugh it out and, as soon as they are run out of jokes, they go back to playing cards. Ignoring the gravity of murder investigation and the display of such apathy was not something the Party could approve.

The characters do not take the Party seriously either. In fact, they make fun of it at every chance. Chairman Mao is their favorite target for ridicule. At one place, Fan Yan's friends introduce him to a woman as a prolific writer. "The only book with a larger print run is Selected Works of Chairman Mao," one of his friends says (510). They mock the fact that the works of Chairman Mao had such mass publication and that everyone was required or encouraged to read it. Later in the conversation, Fang Yan is also introduced as someone who is "better known in Europe than here in China" (ibid). Wang Shuo is emphasizing here that a man like Fang Yan is not liked by the Chinese government. But those who are subversive, even representing seamier hooligan culture, are popular in Europe. Europeans love Chinese dissidents and subversives.