(no subject)
They are selling carrying bales of potatoes to sell to market and the police stop them because of their suspected capitalist activity. The cops give them a warning and tell them it's OK this time but not to do it again. What the hell is this TV show? A conservative network's expose on the abuses of the Obama Administration? A negative utopia flick produced by Ron Paul fans?
No it's my favorite TV show these days: "Bi thu tihn uy" on Vietnamese television! Translated it's called "Provincial Party Committee Secretary" or as its many rabid fans in Vietnam call it "Secretary." Secretary is set in North Vietnam in 1964 and it's the true story of Kim Hoang Ngoc who was a, surprise, Provincial Party Committee Secretary. First, the credits run about three minutes into the show and it has a cast of dozens, characters whom I've surprisingly started to care about. It's obvious that the people who work at Vietnamese state-run television have worked very hard to put together a quality, if propaganda-laden, product. "Secretary" has an opening and closing theme song.
The main character is Secretary Kim, who is probably the most responsible, caring, conscientious government bureaucrat on TV since the President in the West Wing. I remember seeing footage from Vietnam on TV when I was a kid and it looked like total hell. In fact, everything on film dealing with Vietnam and the US looks like shit. The province on this show, located an hour outside of Hanoi, is in 1964 relatively peaceful and the scenery is beautiful. The Secretary and his family live in a lovely but modest stone house surrounded by a lush garden. It's probably the North Vietnamese equivalent of Chevy Chase. The Secretary's office is literally at his home and everyone drops by without appointment on business. It's obvious that Secretary Kim has no life outside of his work.
Here's where things get interesting. It's obvious that the province has many poor and even starving farmers. People pretty much discuss eating their entire waking hours, when they aren't discussing Communist doctrine. There's no portrayal of bloated bellies, but when people have a three minute dialogue about the ways to prepare potatoes, you figure that hunger is a constant companion. Moreover, the war and the threat of war also are in the air, although, so far, the show is pretty non-violent. The province is far from the front, but is a major food producer for the military.
You might recall that prior experiments in Communist agricultural collectivisation were terrible failures. Not far from the minds of these bureaucrats are the terrible famines in China pursuant to Mao's dictates. Idealogues, knew all about Marx, but were lousy at telling farmers how to farm. Millions starved and cannibalism was common. Secretary Kim, the son of poor farmers, wants to avoid this trap, but also does not want to run afoul of his superiors. How did Secretary Kim, according to the TV show, avoid the pitfalls of collectivization? One word: Capitalism. This is where my head starts to explode.
Kim knows how to smooth wrinkles with his superiors and heretofore, has escaped trouble. Instead of having cooperative farms own tools in common, for example, he sells them directly to farm families. Tools last longer when they are owned by individuals rather than by co-ops. Kim allows farmers to sell excess crops at markets, which is another Communist no-no. Another fascinating thing about "Secretary" is nearly everyone secretly or not so secretly indulges in capitalism. One woman runs a still and sells whiskey. Even Kim's wife raises pigs. "One pig equals three months of your salary," she scolds.
The tension in this TV show is not between North Vietnamese and Americans, or Vietnamese and the ravages of war. The tension is how long can Kim introduce capitalist innovations to make Communism work better before he is denounced and imprisoned as a traitor. As his second in command Mrs. Thuong says, "I accept that the Americans are my enemy, what I can't take is that I have enemies in my own government."
The dialogue can be clumsy and filled with Communist bureaucratese like "How can we increase the mechanisms of production?" Yet Secretary is good viewing for anyone who cares about government, economics, and running things well. You get the idea that the same leadership skills that Kim has are equally applicable in a business or in a Western democracy.
Another fine quality of Secretary is that there are strong female characters. My favorite is Bich, head of the women's militia and co-chair of her co-op. I've rarely seen a young female character on TV evoke simultaneously strength, competence and femininity. And it's not forced, the way one might think it is in Communist propaganda fables. As all the young men are fighting at the front, the militias and anti-aircraft are run by brigades of girls in their teens and early 20s. It's extremely difficult to reconcile this when you think that John McCain was probably shot down by such a brigade. Nonetheless, there are few things meaner than a bunch of teenaged girls, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Apparently, this is historically accurate. A lot of the fierciest VietCong were women.
Finally, I've got to wonder what message the Vietnamese government is sending with the program. Many of the government officials are not portrayed in the best light. Some of them are drunks, lazy, or are drunk with Communist dogma. Perhaps the Vietnamese government is saying to its people: "A little bit of capitalism can be good for Communist gover
No it's my favorite TV show these days: "Bi thu tihn uy" on Vietnamese television! Translated it's called "Provincial Party Committee Secretary" or as its many rabid fans in Vietnam call it "Secretary." Secretary is set in North Vietnam in 1964 and it's the true story of Kim Hoang Ngoc who was a, surprise, Provincial Party Committee Secretary. First, the credits run about three minutes into the show and it has a cast of dozens, characters whom I've surprisingly started to care about. It's obvious that the people who work at Vietnamese state-run television have worked very hard to put together a quality, if propaganda-laden, product. "Secretary" has an opening and closing theme song.
The main character is Secretary Kim, who is probably the most responsible, caring, conscientious government bureaucrat on TV since the President in the West Wing. I remember seeing footage from Vietnam on TV when I was a kid and it looked like total hell. In fact, everything on film dealing with Vietnam and the US looks like shit. The province on this show, located an hour outside of Hanoi, is in 1964 relatively peaceful and the scenery is beautiful. The Secretary and his family live in a lovely but modest stone house surrounded by a lush garden. It's probably the North Vietnamese equivalent of Chevy Chase. The Secretary's office is literally at his home and everyone drops by without appointment on business. It's obvious that Secretary Kim has no life outside of his work.
Here's where things get interesting. It's obvious that the province has many poor and even starving farmers. People pretty much discuss eating their entire waking hours, when they aren't discussing Communist doctrine. There's no portrayal of bloated bellies, but when people have a three minute dialogue about the ways to prepare potatoes, you figure that hunger is a constant companion. Moreover, the war and the threat of war also are in the air, although, so far, the show is pretty non-violent. The province is far from the front, but is a major food producer for the military.
You might recall that prior experiments in Communist agricultural collectivisation were terrible failures. Not far from the minds of these bureaucrats are the terrible famines in China pursuant to Mao's dictates. Idealogues, knew all about Marx, but were lousy at telling farmers how to farm. Millions starved and cannibalism was common. Secretary Kim, the son of poor farmers, wants to avoid this trap, but also does not want to run afoul of his superiors. How did Secretary Kim, according to the TV show, avoid the pitfalls of collectivization? One word: Capitalism. This is where my head starts to explode.
Kim knows how to smooth wrinkles with his superiors and heretofore, has escaped trouble. Instead of having cooperative farms own tools in common, for example, he sells them directly to farm families. Tools last longer when they are owned by individuals rather than by co-ops. Kim allows farmers to sell excess crops at markets, which is another Communist no-no. Another fascinating thing about "Secretary" is nearly everyone secretly or not so secretly indulges in capitalism. One woman runs a still and sells whiskey. Even Kim's wife raises pigs. "One pig equals three months of your salary," she scolds.
The tension in this TV show is not between North Vietnamese and Americans, or Vietnamese and the ravages of war. The tension is how long can Kim introduce capitalist innovations to make Communism work better before he is denounced and imprisoned as a traitor. As his second in command Mrs. Thuong says, "I accept that the Americans are my enemy, what I can't take is that I have enemies in my own government."
The dialogue can be clumsy and filled with Communist bureaucratese like "How can we increase the mechanisms of production?" Yet Secretary is good viewing for anyone who cares about government, economics, and running things well. You get the idea that the same leadership skills that Kim has are equally applicable in a business or in a Western democracy.
Another fine quality of Secretary is that there are strong female characters. My favorite is Bich, head of the women's militia and co-chair of her co-op. I've rarely seen a young female character on TV evoke simultaneously strength, competence and femininity. And it's not forced, the way one might think it is in Communist propaganda fables. As all the young men are fighting at the front, the militias and anti-aircraft are run by brigades of girls in their teens and early 20s. It's extremely difficult to reconcile this when you think that John McCain was probably shot down by such a brigade. Nonetheless, there are few things meaner than a bunch of teenaged girls, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Apparently, this is historically accurate. A lot of the fierciest VietCong were women.
Finally, I've got to wonder what message the Vietnamese government is sending with the program. Many of the government officials are not portrayed in the best light. Some of them are drunks, lazy, or are drunk with Communist dogma. Perhaps the Vietnamese government is saying to its people: "A little bit of capitalism can be good for Communist gover