Interview for Script

When I back to China, I meet my friend’s father who helped me with my script before, and he recommend me go to a place in Shanghai, there are many old people everyday, I can chat with them and get more stories from them.I decided to visit them on 26th and 27th of June.At the beginning of the first day, I chatted with them, I didn’t tell them I want to film something about the Cultural Revolution period, we just chatted something about the food, the bad weather and their family, then they asked me some questions, just like my age, my study and my family. I spent on whole morning with them, they liked me, but it was time for lunch, they just backed to their own home.

I ate lunch with my friends and talk about what should we ask that afternoon.In the afternoon, we leaded the topic to the old time, let them say something about many years ago, but when we talk about the Cultural Revolution, they just stopped to say that, even you can see that they have something want to say.It’s not easy to let them share more things with us, and the language they said not mandarin, sometimes they say Shanghai traditional words, it’s not easy to understand for me.

At the 2nd day I went to that place, my friend and I still tried to talk something, but we just can listen, the old people more than yesterday, they have many topic can chat each other.But one old woman invited me to her house for lunch, even I said: “thank you, but it’s too much bother.” She still let us to her house.

There was a maid in her house, she cooked lunch for us, and we spent a good time.

After lunch, she asked my friend and I: “ which TV station are you come from? Or newspaper? Magazines? What topic are you preparing for?We said: “ we are not come from TV station, we are student, we are preparing for our final project.”She said: “ Is your topic about old people?”I explained to her, what’s my major, what should I do for my final project, what I want to film, and I shared my script with her.The old woman was really interested in the film, and she said: “ These days you come to the place we always there, we all think you are journalists, the Cultural Revolution cannot be discuss with other people, nobody want to get trouble. If you want something, I can share with you.”We were so happy and we want to take pictures with her, but she doesn’t want to face to the camera, and asked me whether can I don’t tell the detail about her, I said yes.She shared some old things with my friend and I.

“ Every people hide the old things, some of people just throw or destroy the old things, everywhere you can see the red guards, people without trust at that time, they reported each other sometimes, because that’s mean you support the Revolution.”“ The big character poster is one of the most popular propaganda tools in the Cultural Revolution.”“ One day, I wore a deep red top, they gave me a board with my name on it and criticized me, they said I have capitalist leanings.”“ We were encouraged to write posters criticizing our teachers and the school leaders for anything seen as being ‘Revisionist’.”“ If the red guards rush into you house for check your things, you have no idea, one thing you can do is pray: nothing they can find.”“ Girls cut their hair and change the dresses, there are some ladies don’t want to wear the working clothes, then, they would be criticized.”“ The images of elders, forced to bow before crowds, or teachers, in dunce caps herded through the streets, haunt Chinese old enough to remember the late 1960s.”“ During the decade-long Cultural Revolution which end in 1976, their father was condemned to a ‘re-education’ camp, their mother was officially denounced, they just 3 years old.”“At that time, it was usual to him that dug the canal in the morning and brought to be persecuted in the afternoon, many people committed suicide due to such tough and hopeless life.”“ Sometimes is the son responsibly interrogates his parents, sometimes is husbands and wives mutually beats.”

Her husband was left in 2013, her children working everyday, she was really happy that we can come to her house and need her help. She shared many things with us. She was followed the Revolution when she knew she needs to change to be a working people not an elegant lady anymore. So we didn’t get many information about the feeling of the changing women in Shanghai, but I still know more things about the history, the revolution.I don’t want to show to my audience how wrong is the revolution or how bad is the people that time, every country have their own way to develop themselves, we all need to try and time to prove what is good, we need to admit the faults, and just change to another way, just like now.We left the old grandma’s house at 6 o’clock, we said thank you to her and we told her after we finished the film we will visit her again. When we asked her again, she still didn’t want to show her face with us, so we just left.Some of things she said is helpful for my script, I can think about some details for my script.