Petitions, addictions and dire situations: The ethics of personal interaction in Zhao Liang's Paper Airplane and Petition

Abstract

ABSTRACTOver the past decade, the predominant style of Chinese documentaries produced outside China's official production channels has shifted from a Wiseman-inspired observational mode to an interpersonal approach that often lays bare the interactions between film-maker and documentary subject. The work of director Zhao Liang reflects this trend, but Zhao's films are also distinguished by an ethically reflective approach that questions and problematizes the film-maker's involvement in his on-screen subjects' lives. This article will elucidate how Zhao's reflective style plays out through a close reading of his first completed feature documentary, Zhi Feiji/Paper Airplane (2001), and his best-known work, Shangfang/Petition (2009). It will be argued that in Petition, Zhao parlays his ethically reflective style into an examination of the impact that China's comprised legal system has on the broader ethics of social relations.