Written by Antong Xu

 

从小没人给我讲睡前故事，我在脑海中讲给自己听。 

Growing up, no one read me bedtime stories. So I created my own in my mind.

 

去年构思了一个电影短片，几个朋友去山里祭祀林中自杀的好友。我想也许他们会在路上遇到什么成精的动物，或是如果走恐怖惊悚的路线的话可以有神秘的白人至上邪教想要顺手献祭他们。平时这里那里积攒的一些零碎的想法以不同的姿势放置到了这部剧里。我写东西向来充满鬼了神了之类的内容，也不知道为啥，可能我有病。我跟你说，少看血腥的东西，对脑子不好。我就是 reddit 上的 r/CombatFootage 里无人机杀人的画面看多了，那些死去的灵魂就这样在我脑海里借住了。

 

Last year, I had an idea for a short film: A group of friends go hiking to perform a memorial ritual for their friend, who committed suicide in the forest. I was thinking they might encounter some kind of animal spirit along the way, or if I take it in a horror/thriller direction, they could come across a white supremacist cult preparing a human sacrifice. I’ve pieced together various scattered ideas from here and there and fitted them into this script in different ways. My writing has always been full of ghosts, spirits, and supernatural stuff. I don't even know why, maybe there's something wrong with me. But seriously, please DO NOT watch too much graphic stuff, it’s bad for your brain. I think I just watched too many videos of drones killing people on Reddit's r/CombatFootage, and now those dead souls have taken up residence in my head.

 

人类操控机器，机器忠实地录下另一些人生命中最后的几秒，供人类记录，取乐，或膜拜。从大银幕到小屏幕，我们看到的画面不再只是造梦工业的产出，而是真实的杀人影像。到底有多大的区别呢？真实的或虚构的，离我们那么远所以我们不必担心，除非你也是乌克兰人，或巴勒斯坦人，伊朗人 —— 这个名单远不止这三个，它一直在变长，一定会变长。这也意味着，名单总有一天会列到我们自己头上（我当然不希望会这样）。影像里有的人静静的等着，有的人还在逃，有的人投掷手中的枪，有的人坐在沙发上丢出最后一根木棍。影像背后的鬼魂永远地留在了人类的集体记忆里，并用以训练机器，协助它们学会自主完成更精准，更有效率的杀戮。机器早已不是傻乎乎的默默等着被工人砸坏的机器了。它们伙同资本家，手拉手把人类变得更蠢，更情绪化，更冲动 —— 导向的结果就是人类不同阵营间更激烈的冲突。

 

Humans control machines, machines faithfully record the final seconds of other humans' lives, for documentation, entertainment, or reverence. From the silver screen to our phone screens, the images we consume are no longer merely products of the dream factory, but actual videos of people being killed. How much difference is there, really? Whether real or not, they’re all so far away from us that we don’t have to worry — unless, of course, you happen to be Ukrainian, Palestinian, or Iranian. And that list is far longer than just these three, it has been growing, and it inevitably will keep growing. This also means that one day, our own names will end up on that list (though I certainly hope that won't be the case). 

 

In these videos, some people wait quietly, some are still running, some throw the guns in their hands, and some sit on a couch, hurling one last stick. The ghosts behind these images become permanently lodged in humanity's collective memory, and are then used to train other machines, helping them learn to carry out ever more precise and efficient killing on their own. Machines are no longer the dumb, silent objects waiting to be smashed by workers. They have partnered up with capitalists, joining hands to make human beings more foolish, more emotional, and more impulsive, to create increasingly intense conflicts between different factions. 

 

狐妖，狐仙，或是狐狸精，ta 们是被什么样的人创造的？这些创作者为什么要把 ta 们写成那个样子？谁拥有书写的权力？又有什么被抹杀了？我们如何流动，流至哪里，成为什么样子？我们忘记了什么？成精的动物也想要移民吗？我在哪，脚下这片土地又是谁的呢？谁可以拥有名字，从而被铭记？我是否可以让渡一点表达的权力给在这个社会里更失权的人？

我有很多疑问。对于其中一些，我有自己的看法。而另一些，我同样无从解答。

 

Fox spirits / fox immortals / Huli Jing…… Who created their stories? Why did these creators tell the stories the way they did? Who holds the power of the narrative? What has been erased? How do we flow, where do we flow to, and what do we become? What have we chosen to forget? Do animal spirits also dream of migrating? Where am I, and whose land is this beneath my feet? Who is allowed to have a name, so that they may be remembered? Can I pass some of my opportunities to speak to those who are more marginalized in this society?

I have many questions. For some, I have some rough ideas. For others, I am lost.

 

查资料时找到康笑菲的著作《狐仙崇拜：中国封建王朝晚期的民间信仰与民众心理》。书很有意思！书中写的狐仙的 in betweenness 对我有所启发，也很可惜目前这个版本的剧本没能很好的呈现这方面的内容。在此之上还有很多我没能尝试的想法，比如我还是觉得狐狸最好是用偶来呈现，比如我还是会想象如果我们有足够的 recourse 去找一个 queer “Wasian” 来演剧中出现的第一个狐狸人型，这样一共有两个人演狐妖的话，剧本会有多大的变化。不过我也不清楚我是否有能力处理好那多出的几层 nuance. 剧本是在十二月抽到 Fringe 的机会后差不多一月份才开始写的，我的 partner RX Wang 提供了一些很重要的想法比如 Hamza 这个角色的气质。时间不够再加上我写东西慢得要死（感谢导演 Daisy 的耐心）……机会果然是留给有准备的人的啊。希望以后还有机会好好完善这个剧本。

 

During my research, I found the book “The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender, and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China” by Xiaofei Kang. This is a great book with in-depth analysis of how the fox spirit worship is connected to ordinary people’s lives. I was inspired by the liminality / in-betweenness / fluidity of the fox spirit, and I wanted to explore these aspects further in the script. Unfortunately the current version wasn’t able to address this topic effectively due to time constraints. On top of that, there were still a lot of ideas I didn't get to try. For instance, I still feel that the fox (non-human form) would be best represented using a puppet, and wonder how much the script would transform if we had the resources to cast a queer “Wasian” to play the fox spirit’s “white” human form. With two different actors playing the fox spirit, the dynamics of the script could have shifted significantly. I started writing the script in January after winning the Fringe festival lottery in December. My partner RX Wang brought some important ideas to the script, like the overall vibe of Hamza. I am a slow writer, which can be frustrating (Thank you Daisy!). Chance favors the prepared mind. I hope I will get the opportunity to further develop this script.