Post on 07-Feb-2023
1Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Comparative Analysis of film Doctor Bethune and Bethune: The Making of a
Hero
Zhonghe Zhu
Mao’s China was considered by many scholars as a propaganda
state, which, according to Peter Kenez, was “a state-dominated
polity that coordinates the education of cadres, the development of
a political language, the politicization of ever-larger segments of
life, and the substitution of ‘voluntary’ state-controlled
societies for independent organization” (Kenez, 1985). After Mao’s
death, the propaganda system did not completely die out and still
remained important to the Communist Party. However, the methods and
2Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
the focus of propaganda vary over time. The same issue or subject
may be interpreted or portrayed in a different way depending on the
different political situation or the audience it oriented. In this
article, I will do a comparative analysis on two films about Dr.
Bethune, a Canadian physician, who came to China to help fight
against the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war, and finally died
due to an infection in the surgery. The first film was Doctor Bethune,
which was produced in 1964 in China. The second film: Bethune: The
Making of a Hero, was a multinational production, which was produced
by Canada, France, and China in 1990. There are five parts in this
analysis. In the first part I will talk about the film propaganda
3Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
theory and a brief history of film propaganda in China. The second
part is an introduction of Dr. Bethune and the two films. In the
third part I will provide some background information, such as the
time and political situation, and explain the nature of the film.
In the fourth part, I will look into the production constraints,
languages, and image of political figures in these two films and
see how different political situation and nature of the film
influenced them. The last part is the conclusion, in which I will
briefly refer to the current film industry in China.
Part I
Film Propaganda in China
4Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Unlike the European polities where public sphere is independent of
the state: Citizens act as a public when they deal with the
guarantee that they may assemble and unite freely, and express and
publicize their opinions freely (Habermas, 1989: 231), Mao’s China,
borrowed and refined from the Soviet methods, controlled art,
ethics and ideas ‘for the good of the people’ (Cheek, 1997: 16).
Film was used by Chinese leaders as one of their best instruments
for propaganda.
In Ars Poetica, Horatius (18 BC) has described the function of a
good poem: “by delighting and at the same time admonishing the
reader”. Films in China also have these two functions. An article
5Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
in People’s Daily (China’s No.1 newspaper, which is the most
authoritative and influential national newspaper that spreads the
policy and ideas by the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese
government) on Jan.12, 1954 stated that "Our film is a tool to
educate the people in patriotism and socialism; it is also a major
means to lift people's cultural standards."
In 1950s and 1960s, Chinese people did not have many ways of
entertainment. Watching movies was the major one. There were two
types of access to movies for the Chinese people that time: regular
cinema and mobile film projection teams (Liu, 1971: 162). Cinema
was normally used for the urban areas. For the majority of the
6Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Chinese people that lived in rural areas without any cinema, they
got access to movies by the mobile film projection teams that came
regularly to the county.
The team consisted of two or three persons, often young girls
and came regularly to the county. The team not only brought film
access (by a generator, a 16 mm. projector, a gramophone, and slide
making facilities) to the people, but also helped them to
understand the show. As many people in the rural areas were not
well-educated and could not speak Mandarin, the team explained the
content in dialect during the show. Besides that, there were also a
7Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
pre-show propaganda, which helps the audience catch the point of
the film and a collection of opinions after show.
During the Great Leap (1958-1960), Mobile projection teams
"jumped from about 600 in 1949 to about 14500 by the end of 1959"
(Loc.cit). Movie audience, estimated at 50 million in 1949 repeatly
rose to 1.39 billion in 1956 (Renmin Ribao, Feb.22, 1957).
After Great Leap, in 1962, peasants attended an average of three
movies a year. According to the report on August 1, 1965 issue of
Renmin Ribao, the rural film audience in 1964 reached two billion and
one single Chinese peasant attended an average of five movies a
year. A report in the same year stated that in the plains, every
8Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
three natural villages now had an easily accessible film showing
site; in the mountainous regions, the area that each site covered
was smaller (Renmin Ribao, Jan.12, 1965).
The second function of the movie is information. As Chinese
population was wide spread in the nation, most films that time then
became a propaganda instrument that carried messages from the party
to the public.
Film is especially useful as a propaganda tool in the time of
limited alternatives for entertainment: as Taylor concluded in his
book FILM PROPAGANDA Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, (1) as a cinema
audience sits in the crowd, he or she will be susceptible to the
9Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
emotion of the mass audience, and thus easily absorbed to the mass
rally, which makes him or her be “like putty in the propagandist's
hands”; (2) attracting people from all classes and social groupings
to cinema can “bind the nation together” or “strengthen a national
movement”; (3) when the entire population watch the same movie in
the same time, their thoughts or ideas can be easily controlled or
even unified, especially in the case of limited film resource
(Taylor, 1998: 17).
In order to make sure everyone receives the correct information,
state-owned or local government owned film studios monopolize the
film industry in China. (There were no private film production
10Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
companies in China before 2000). In the early years, CCP put huge
restrictions on the production of films, and films were very
propaganda-aimed: film industry must “concentrate all its energies
on producing films of significance to all the masses of the people,
dealing with their life, thoughts, and age-long strivings, with the
insight of a developed revolutionary artistic vision” (Yao, 1951:
11). During Great Leap period, writers were allowed only to praise
Communist heroes and condemn villains (Liu, 1971: 161). All the
films that time dealt with one of the following themes: “the
leading role of the Chinese Communist party; the glorious
accomplishments of the guerrillas in wartime and of the People's
11Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Liberation Army; model workers in production; and the struggle
against ‘feudalism’ and ‘reactionary oppression’” (Yu, 1964: 147).
After the Great Leap, there was a general liberation of the
restrictions on feature films. Xia Yan, Vice Minister of Cultural
Affairs and China's leading spokesman on motion pictures, spoke
about the new mission of China's film industry: “to reflect
speedily the new era and new society- especially the new men, new
morality, and new qualities during this period of socialist
revolution and socialist development- and through all this to
propagate the socialist and Communist ideology." (Renmin Ribao, Sep.
15, 1960) Films in China from 1961 to 1963 became more entertaining
12Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
and non-proletarian characters appeared, such as teachers,
merchants, or artists (Liu, 1971: 161).
The rather rosy time for Chinese movie did not last long. In
1966 the Cultural Revolution began. During the decade of
revolution, very few new feature films were produced apart from the
8 Model plays (Yangbanxi).
The winter of Chinese film industry last till end of 1976 when
the Cultural Revolution ended. The end of the Revolution and the
decision on the Third Session of the 11th CPC Meeting to shift the
focus of the work from class struggle to developing productive
forces broke the fetters of “Literature and arts should serve
13Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
politics.” (Mao, May 1942) The bans to films that were considered
“poisonous grass” during the revolution were lifted; films were
reshown and from 1979 lots of new movies were produced. Chinese
film industry entered a new era. During the 1980s, about 400 films
were produced. In 1984, film industry was finally turned to form of
corporation, which marked the beginning of the commercial films in
China. As films productions and alternatives for entertainment
increases, though the State Administration of Radio Film and
Television (under the leadership of Propaganda Department) still
holds severe censorship over political sensitive contents in films,
14Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
films in China gradually lose its strong propaganda function it had
in Mao’s China.
Part II
Bethune movies
During the Sino-Japanese war, over a thousand foreigners have
come to China and assisted Chinese army against Japanese invaders.
Though the majority was military experts or technical personnel
from Soviet Union, there were still over a hundred of them, who
came from other parts of the western world. They helped to report
the war to the world, provide medical cares, technical support or
directly participate in the actual combats. However, rather few of
15Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
the Chinese movies have covered the contribution of these foreign
comrades to China. Only a doctor from Canada has made an exception
in this lack of coverage: Dr. Norman Bethune. The story of Dr.
Bethune was shot into two movies and one TV-series in China: Doctor
Bethune (1964), Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1992), and Norman Bethune
(2006). This huge volume of praise of a man is even exceptional
among all the Chinese movies about war heroes. (There are ten films
or TV-series about Leifeng and three about Yang Jingyu, Wang
Xiaoer, and Sister Jiang.)
Dr. Bethune was a Canadian physician who joined Communist Party
of China’s Eighth Route Army in the midst of the Second-Sino-
16Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Japanese War in 1938. Before coming to China, he had been to Spain
and assisted the Spanish civil war. In China, he worked as a
medical at Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region Military District, performing
battlefield surgical operations as well as establishing training
for doctors and nurses. He contracted septicaemia after cutting his
finger during surgery and died on November 12, 1939.
The major reason why Bethune’s story was so popular in China was
because one month after Dr. Bethune’s death in 1939, Mao Zedong
wrote an article in memory of this foreign martyr for China, in
which he regarded Dr. Bethune as a role model with the spirit of
internationalism and communism, from which every Chinese Communist
17Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
must learn. The article was first written in 1939 and was later
selected into Selected Works of Mao Zedong, a book which swept every
Chinese family during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and also
the textbook for primary school.
Doctor Bethune (1964) was the first film about Dr. Bethune and
also the first feature film in People’s Republic of China that
presented a foreign protagonist in a sympathetic light. It was also
the most classic film about Dr. Bethune. Bethune: The Making of a Hero
(1990), on the other hand, was a multinational production by
Canada, China, and France, and was also the first co-production the
People’s Republic of China has ever mounted with the West. Bethune:
18Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
The Making of a Hero has won the “Special Prize” of the “Outstanding
Film” awarded by the department of radio film and television in
China, and was chosen as the film dedicated to 70 anniversary of
the founding of CCP.
Part III
1964 and 1987
The first Bethune film was produced in 1964. Two years before
the shooting, on the Third Session of the 8th CPC Meeting in
September 1962, Mao proposed that class struggle, struggle between
the bourgeois and proletariat, should be the central task of the
party and the state. This task remained as the focus of work till
19Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
the Third Session of the 11th CPC Meeting in 1978. In the process of
class struggle, according to Marxism, the state will become a
dictatorship of the proletariat. The bourgeois western world was
then considered as the ideological enemy by that time. Among them,
partly due to the Korean War in early 1950s, the United States was
perceived by the Chinese as the primary security threat and the
most sinister Western power. Nothing related to the U.S. was
perceived as positive. (Wang, 2005)
By 1987, when the second film was produced, due to the
establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic relations in 1979,
denunciation of the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong on the
20Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Sixth Session of the 11th CPC Meeting in June 1981, the Sino-U.S.
strategic coordination against the Soviet bloc, and the Opening and
Reform policy by Deng Xiaoping, positive images about the U.S.
began to emerge among Chinese population. Though the focus of work
was shifted from class struggle to development of the productive
forces on the Third Session of the 8th CPC Meeting in December 1978,
Bourgeois liberalization was still combatted. The anti-liberalization
movement in late 1986 and 1987 caused the resignation of Hu
Yaobang, General Secretary of the Communist Party that time, and
other liberal reformists, which later influenced the breakout of
Tiananmen Protest in 1989.
21Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Nature of the Film
The Bethune film in 1964 was made only for the domestic
audience. The film was supposed to be shown to all Chinese people
through cinemas and mobile project teams. And there were not many
competitions for the films. Therefore, the biggest or even the only
concern for the film in 1964 was that the message sent by this film
should be clear and correct. For the second film, however, there
were domestic and international audiences. And the film market was
more competitive. Unlike the first film that enjoyed monopoly, this
multinational produced film was a commercial film and supposed to
make money (at least for the Canadian). So the production team also
22Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
needed to worry about how to attract the audience. A film with too
many propaganda messages or approaches would not help gather a lot
of western audiences in the cold war period. Moreover, as a
multinational production, different parties need to care about each
other’s interests. Therefore, Chinese side could not manipulate the
film as its propaganda tool as easy as it did to the first film.
Part IV
Production
As Doctor Bethune (1964) was taken more seriously as propaganda
instrument to domestic audience, it also encountered more
constrains in production.
23Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Doctor Bethune. The film presented Dr. Bethune’s experience in
China, starting from his first arrival to Jin-Cha-Ji to his death
in China. All the scenes were shot in China. The film was finished
in 1964, but it was not allowed to show to public till 1977 after
Cultural Revolution.
There are two explanations for this ban. First explanation is
that the production of the film has challenged Chairman Mao.
“Chairman Mao has written an article about Dr. Bethune. What do you
want? The movie should not beyond the evaluation of Bethune by
Chairman Mao.”, commented Jiang Qing, Chief of the film division of
the propaganda department. Gao Zheng, a famous actor and director,
24Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
even wrote a Big-Character poster to question the motive of this
film: “Chairman Mao has written In Memory of Bethune. Making this film
is to challenge Chairman Mao.” (dianying chuanqi: baiqiuen daifu zhi
buyuanwanli, 2005)
Second explanation was that the theme and the image were
inappropriate to the strong anti-Imperialism environment that time.
Though the film was produced a decade after the Korean War, anti-
Imperialism, especially the xenophobia against the U.S. was still
used by Chinese leaders to promote domestic mobilization. (Chen,
2001) The “White World” being depicted as China’s antagonist,
portrayal of foreigner with a white person should be very cautious
25Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
(Leyda, 1993). Required by the party leader to have someone with a
“progressive mind” to play the role of Bethune (Lü, 2011: 21), the
production team found Gerald Tannebaum, an American, who was also
the executive director of Chinese Welfare Association in China.
Though not a professional actor, Tannebaum well presented a heroic
Bethune on the screen.
Moreover, all the scenes in film Doctor Bethune had to be shot in
China. Though Zhang insisted that the film should contain story of
Bethune before he came to China, “without which” as he said in an
article over a decade later, “the viewers could not know how deep
the hatred Bethune had to Fascism, so they could not understand
26Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
certain behaviors he did.”, Zhang was told to cut the part overseas
because “it is hard to shoot the part overseas now”, as told by Xia
Yan, director of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture ((Lü, 2011:
21).
Nonetheless, after so many restrictions on the film, Propaganda
Bureau still did not allow the film to be shown to the public after
its production in 1964: A positive Canadian-American face and
character was bad for the xenophobic Chinese people, even if it was
Bethune, a beloved war hero by Chairman Mao (Leyda, 1993).
Bethune: The Making of a Hero
27Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Xenophobia no longer being emphasized, under the opening and
reform policy, Chinese film studios seeked for an international
cooperation. A film about Bethune with Canadian film company was
one of the best choices that time. Bethune: The Making of a Hero, as a
multinational production, had an international cast from Canada,
France, and China. Dr. Bethune was played by Donald Sutherland, a
well-known Canadian actor, who had played Bethune before in two
smaller television productions in Canada, while all the Chinese
roles in the scene were played by actors or actress from China. The
film contained scenes in Canada (before Bethune came to China) and
China, and the shooting in these two countries were separate. The
28Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
production team began its shooting in China in mid-1987 and it took
three years till the film was first shown on the Montreal Film
festival.
Language
Kim Jong Il has said “in order to write comprehensive song
texts… the words of opera songs must be succinct and simple and, at
the same time, meaningful.” (Kim, 1974) For propaganda, the message
and narrative should be clear and simple so that it can easy to
grasp. However, if a film was intended to be regarded as a good
film (in order to attract audience or contest for award), the
technology and narrative should be more advanced. In these two
29Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
films, we can see how they used different approaches to reach these
two contrary goals.
Doctor Bethune. As the first movie with foreign actors playing
big roles in the New China, Doctor Bethune was special when dealing
with conversations in foreign languages. Most Chinese movies with
foreign performers later, including the Bethune movie in 1990,
either dubbed the original conversations in into Chinese, or uses
subtitles to explain what the conversation was about. In movie
Doctor Bethune, however, as Dr. Bethune mostly spoke to others in
English during his early day (years) in China, interpreter Tong
(played by Ying Ruocheng, son of Ying Qianli, who was considered as
30Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
the best English-speaker in China) interpreted every word Bethune
said in the film, just like in the real life. The viewer listened
to English by Bethune first and then the translation from Tong. By
that time, there was a big population in China who was illiterate
and could not read subtitles. This treatment to the dialogue not
only made everyone feel like in the real world, but also made it
easier for the viewers to understand them.
Bethune: The Making of a Hero. As the 1990 film contained scenes
overseas (impossible to have interpreter aside), all the
conversations in English were dubbed in Chinese cinemas. Moreover,
the director used a more complicated narrative way. The movie had
31Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
two story lines in contrast to the former Bethune movie, which only
had one story line, and mingled the two lines together. The scene
may jump suddenly from Bethune’s doctor days in China to his
personal life in Canada two year, which makes the story less
coherent and harder to understand.
The Image of Bethune
In all films about heroes in 1950s and 1960s in China, the hero
was portrayed as a perfect role model for all the people to learn
from and follow. In the hero movies in the western world
(especially Hollywood), however, the heroes are more like Odysseus
and we may also see the imperfect side or the human side of these
32Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
heroes: the cocky Tony Stark, the angry Hulk… In the two Bethune
films with scripts written by a Chinese and a Canadian, we may see
the difference in portraying a hero.
Doctor Bethune. The film was based on the novel Doctor Bethune
from Zhou Erfu and adapted by director Zhang Junxiang. The
character Bethune in the film was almost like a saint. He was
selfless- he risked his life to save more soldiers; humanitarian-
he came all the way to China to help the Chinese; clever- he
invented medical equipment with local materials at the battlefield
modest; and modest – he admitted he was a student to the Chinese
people. This image of Bethune, just like all the other hero films
33Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
that time, was flawless and was very much in accord with the image
from Mao’s eulogy about him.
Bethune: The Making of a Hero. In this film, Bethune’s image in
China was almost as perfect. However, Ted Allan, the screenwriter,
also revealed Bethune’s miserable personal life in Canada and
depicted Bethune as a complex human with flaws rather than a saint-
like hero in this movie. Allan, as the co-author of Bethune's
biography, The Scalpel, The Sword used to be a friend of Norman Bethune
and has worked with him against fascism in Spanish Civil War. In
his film, Bethune was not only a hero in China, but also a troubled
individual with drinking and womanizing problems. As for the title
34Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
“Hero”, just like what Brian D. Johnson commented in Maclean’s
magazine: “He is a hero for what he does rather than what he is”
(Johnson, 1990)
Canada, as the biggest investor of the film, did the final cut
for the film festival and the cinemas in Canada and the U.S., while
Chinese side also reedited the film for its domestic consumption,
snipping depictions of Dr. Bethune’s bourgeois background, his
drunkenness and womanizing (Patterson, 1990).
The Image of Mao
The film Doctor Bethune began with a part of the eulogy written by
Mao: “Comrade Norman Bethune…What kind of spirit is this that makes
35Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people's
liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the
spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must
learn.” (Mao, 1939) However, there was no face or voice of Mao
shown in the 1964 film afterwards, while in the multinational film
in 1989 we could see Mao’s face and hear his greeting to Dr.
Bethune:
“You have a long journey.” Mao spoke with a Hunan dialect.
“Your long march is really a long journey, long, difficult and
great.” Bethune replied in English.
36Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
The similar greeting in the 1964 film was sent by General Nie
Rongzhen to Dr. Bethune in the form of a note.
Mao’s live image never appeared on the screen before 1978. The
reason for that was the apotheosizaton of Mao. East is Red, one of the
most popular songs in 1960s in China, even compared Mao to the sun:
“East is red; the sun rose, China out of Mao Zedong.” No one dare
to be the second sun. Only after the death of Mao and end of the
Cultural Revolution, did Mao’s image begin to show on stage and
screen (stage, 1976; film, 1978). By the end of the 1980 and
beginning of the 1990, the “de-apotheosization” of Mao spread
widely in China. This was triggered by the release of book Mao
37Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Zedong off the Altar by Li Yinqiao, former commander of Mao’s bodyguard.
In this book, descriptions of Mao’s daily life appeared for the
first time. Since then, Mao’s image appeared more often on the
screen. The power of charisma also shifted more fully to the party.
The Image of the Communist Party
The image of the Communist Party was demonstrated by the Eighth
Route Army, which was one of the two corps that fought in the Sino-
Japanese war (the other one is the New Fourth Army). As both films
carried the mission to sell good image of the Communist Party to
the audience, they shared similarities in trying to convince the
audience that the reason why Bethune was so selflessly devoted to
38Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Chinese people was that he was influenced by other party members
around him. The major role model was Dr. Fong.
Dr. Fong was a medical student of Dr. Bethune. He was
hardworking and eager to learn. One interesting plot in the 1964
film about Dr. Fong’s diligence was that one night Dr. Bethune came
to Dr. Fong’s place, told Fong it was so late that he should rest,
and turned off Fong’s lamp. However, after Dr. Bethune left for
sleep, Fong lit up the lamp again and continued to study. Dr.
Fong’s role was even more important in the 1987 film, in which Fong
was depicted as a moral teacher of Dr. Bethune. Peter Goddard,
critic from the Toronto Star, believed that the relationship
39Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
between Dr. Fong, the self-taught Chinese doctor, and Bethune
should be the core of the movie: Bethune discovered his own humility by facing
the very man, Dr. Fong (Goddard, 1990).
Chinese production team emphasized the influence of the
communist party on Dr. Bethune for three reasons. First, it could
increase patriotism of the viewers. At 88 minutes of the first
movie, a Chinese doctor told Bethune and others to leave because
the enemy was approaching. “You guys please leave. I will stay to
finish the operation.” He said. “Why?” Bethune asked. “Because I am
a communist party member.” The Chinese doctor replied. “Me too.”
Bethune said. This firm answer together with Tannebaum’s Canadian-
40Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
American face even strengthened the audience’s view: if a foreigner
can love China and support Chinese revolution, I as a Chinese
should be even more patriotic to my own country, more devoted to my
people and more loyal to the party. Second, it glorified Party’s
image. Rather than seeing an ordinary person turning to a hero,
what we see here is how a foreigner gradually became part of the
Chinese people and a member of the Eighth Route Army: from eating
chicken on the first day to eating only potatoes together with
Chinese soldiers every day, from only speaking English to making
some Chinese dialogues, from coming to support the war to finally
admitting that he was a party member. As Bethune finally died
41Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
because of infection, what we saw was not only the sacrifice of a
war hero, but also the sacrifice of a glorious party member. Third,
the positive portrayal of CCP showed the superiority of China to
other western countries or the superiority of CCP to other parties,
such as KMT. In the 1960 film, at the farewell ceremony, Bethune
claimed that he was the student of the Eighth Route Army: “From
you, from the soldier of Eighth Route Army, from the people of the
Jin-Cha-Ji, I've learned much more. From you, I've learned how to
be a real revolutionary fighter of the people.” This address by Dr.
Bethune was not covered in the second film, but instead we saw an
image of KMT in it, which was not contained in the first film. At
42Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
12 minutes of the film, there is a scene that while Eighth Route
Army was giving out money, Kuomingtang was publicly executing a guy
who was charged of stealing the grain. In reality, as CCP member
explained to Dr. Bethune, the guy had only hid the grain and would
not give to the national army. Moreover, there was also a line in
the second movie, which said that the army of Kuomingtang party was
defeated, only communist army could fight against the Japanese.
The reason for the different coverage of KMT and relationship
between CCP and Bethune is that the audience of the film was
different. Therefore, the framing object and the goal of the film
were different. For the film Doctor Bethune, domestic public was the
43Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
sole audience of the film. By the time it was produced, the major
enemy that was conceptualized for domestic mobilization was not
Kuomingtang, but western imperialism. At that time, KMT has already
fled to Taiwan. The military liberation (jiefang) of Taiwan was not
the priority that time, but class struggle. After the anti-Rightist
movement from 1957 to 1959, China’s politic became very left
deviated. This explained why in the 1964 film, Bethune’s joining of
CCP was depicted as a victory of communist Chinese over the
bourgeois Canadian. In comparison to that, by 1987 when the
production of the second film about Bethune started, class struggle
was no longer considered as the central task. Anti-U.S. movement
44Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
was no longer used as often as in Mao’s China for domestic
mobilization. Moreover, the 1989 film, as a multinational
production, had a mission to sell a good image of China and CCP to
the world. We then saw more about a tough, united Eighth Route Army
and friendly CCP, which was beloved by the people (by comparing
with KMT).
Conclusion
Doctor Bethune can, in many aspects, represent the film during the
1950s and 1960s. In that time, films in China had an important
function of propaganda to the domestic audience. So did this film
about Bethune, which was produced in 1964. Just like other films
45Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
about war hero during that time: Bethune was depicted as saint-like
hero with a tragic end. Seeing only and all the good part of a hero
and feeling sympathetic of him, the audience may then be easily to
be educated to share the same value of the party. Moreover, in
order to enable everyone to understand this film, the film has a
very simple structure, narrative, and language. Besides that, we
can also see a lot of political mass persuasion, such as Mao’s
authority (the tribute of Bethune found its origin in Mao’s eulogy)
and the shining image of CCP. The mission of propaganda set a lot
of boundaries to this film. Even though the production team managed
to finish it under a lot of production constrains, the film was
46Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
still banned for the public till the end of the Cultural
Revolution, just because a positive portrayal of a Canadian doctor
contradicted the anti-imperialism and xenophobic movement that
time. Political correctness came first.
Bethune: the Making of a Hero, on the other hand, also had a
propaganda function. Rather than only focusing on the domestic
audience, the second Bethune film, which was produced over three
decades after the first one, carried a new mission of polishing the
image of Chinese Communist Party overseas. However, the change of
political situation in China, the different nature of the film: a
multinational commercial film, different perspectives from foreign
47Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
director and screenwriter, and Chinese loss of complete control of
the film due to the limitation of the multinational production made
this film different from the first one in many ways. “Politics
comes first” giving way to money matters, the film was more
complicated in narratives, more advanced in technologies and had a
more humanlike portrayal of the Chinese war hero, which more
catered to the taste of western audience. However, this adjustment,
perturbing the Chinese in some ways, still did not successfully
attract the political sensitive audiences in Canada and the United
States to watch a film about a Canadian communist in China.
Bethune’s admitting he was red in the movie and the song Internationale
48Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
at the end did not help at all to attract the western public to
watch a film with Chinese propaganda intention in the late cold war
time and, to make matters worse, less than one year after the
Tiananmen protest.
With the rising production of films and alternatives for
entertainment, films in the 21st century can no longer be as
important as the propaganda instrument in Mao’s China. Propaganda
Department is less powerful in setting the agenda for the public by
showing them what they should see in the film, but it still have
the right to decide what the public should NOT see by the
censorship. Yet, with the development of internet and spread of
49Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
piracy DVD, Propaganda Department even has started losing its power
to say no.
Propaganda film cannot forbid a film to be shown overseas.
Recent years there were a lot of films that could not pass the
national censorship contended for or even won the movie award in
some international festivals. Ironically, it seemed that these
“forbidden films”, many of which contained political sensitive
contents, built the image of China overseas.
50Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
References
Cheek, T. (1997). ‘Propaganda and Culture in Mao’s China’, Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Kenez, P. (1985). ‘The birth of the propaganda state’, New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Habermas, J. (1989). ‘Jürgen Habermas on Society and Politics’,
Boston: Beacon Press
Liu, A. P.L (1971). ‘Communications and National Integration in
Communist China’, University of California Press.
Taylor, R. (1998). ‘Film Propaganda Soviet Russia and Nazi
Germany’, New York: I.B.Tauris.
51Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Yao, H. (1951). ‘New China's Films’, People's China, III, No.8.
Yu, F. T.C. (1964). ‘Mass Persuasion in Communist China’, Frederick A.
Praeger Publisher.
Li, Q. (2010). ‘70 Years of Bethune Studies in China’, Canadian social
science, 6 (5).
Wang, J. (2005). ‘From Paper Tiger to real Leviathan’, Chinese Images
of the United States, DC: CSIS Press
Leyda, J. (1972). ‘Dianying: an account of films and the film
audience in China’, Cambridge: MIT Press.
Chen, J. (2001). ‘Mao's China and the Cold War’, University of North
Carolina Press.
52Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Horace et al. (1929). ‘Satires, Epistles and Ars poetica’,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Kim, J.I. (2001). ‘Talk to Creative Workers in the Field of Art and
Literature September 4-6, 1974’, University Press of the Pacific.
Berry, C. (1985). ‘Perspective on Chinese Cinema’, Ithaca: Cornell
University.
Weakland, J. H. (1966). ‘Chinese political and cultural themes; a
study of Chinese Communist films’, Inyokern: Naval Ordnance Test
Station.
Maynard, R. A. (1975). ‘Propaganda on Film: A Nation at War.’,
Rochelle Park: Hayden Book Co.
53Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Selected works of Mao Tse-tung : DS778.M3 A42
Patterson, A. (1990). ‘Cross Current The making of a folly: a
bloated bio-pic gorges at the public trough’, Canada: The Globe
and Mail, November 28, 1990
Goddard, P. ‘After travelogue, comes Bethune the movie’, The Toronto
Star, October 21, 1990
‘Bethune: The making of a Hero’, Canada Film Encyclopedia, available at:
http://tiff.net/CANADIANFILMENCYCLOPEDIA/content/films/bethune-
the-making-of-a-hero, last accessed Dec. 1st, 2013
Renmin Ribao, Feb.22, 1957
Renmin Ribao, Aug.1, 1965
54Comparative Analysis of two Bethune films
Renmin Ribao, Jan.12, 1965
Renmin Ribao, Sep.15, 1960
吕吕吕 (2011). ‘吕吕吕吕吕“吕吕吕吕吕”’, 共共共共. (2).
吕吕吕 (2010). ‘吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕’, 共共共. (4),
吕吕吕 (2010). ‘吕吕吕吕吕吕吕’, 吕吕:共共共 共共共共书
吕吕吕吕/吕 吕吕吕吕吕一 (1964). ‘吕吕吕吕吕’, 吕吕:共共共共共共共共共
吕 吕吕吕吕吕一 et al. (2004). ‘吕吕吕 吕吕吕吕吕吕,一’, 吕吕:共共共共共共共
吕吕吕吕 吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕吕《》: , available at
http://tv.sohu.com/20120411/n340277548.shtml, last access Nov.
6th, 2013