Call Me by Your Name in China: A Talk about Homosexual Love
Early this month, the news of Armie Hammer’s sex scandal grabbed the headlines of many Chinese social media. To be honest, Hammer is far less famous than those A-list Hollywood stars such as Robert Downey Jr. or Tom Cruise. The only reason that he received much attention in China is for his starring role in Call Me by Your Name(2017). For the past few years, a majority of Chinese audiences have been fascinated by it. The film was such a hit in China that even those news that is slightly related to it would have their hashtags on the most researched list in Chinese mainstream media.
The whole world has witnessed the success of Call Me by Your Name. It has received four nominations at the 90th Academy Awards (including Best Picture), winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. But how could this Western romantic drama film receive parallel success in the Chinese market, where most of the local films are in the romantic genre? The obvious reason for the film’s success in China is its high quality. The aesthetic of the film is beautiful, shown by its great cinematography and coloring. The film’s vibe of a relaxing summer in an Italian small town is attractive to Chinese audiences, who seldom see films in a similar design. The actors, using touching dialog and delicate expressions, made the story convincing and touching.
However, the film became better for its topic about homosexuality. It has a positive influence on Chinese culture, making it more inclusive to the minority. Not only do the LGBT groups in China benefit from it for a place to portray their appearances, but traditional people also benefit because they gained a deeper understanding from it. A closer look at the film’s success in China reveals three reasons that are less obvious but vital to consider for its successful translation and also connects the film with globalization.
To begin with, Call Me by Your Name provides one of the only places for people to have a public discussion about homosexuality in China, a place where it’s not supposed to. Since homosexuality challenges the dominant Chinese moral value, where only heterosexual love is allowed, people seldom talk about sex and love of homosexuality in any formal places, including the big screen. There are few Chinese filmmakers that are brave enough to make films about the sensitive topic. And when some of them really did so, their film would be banned by the government and they might even be warned. However, foreign films about homosexuality didn’t have the risk to do so. An imported movie, Call Me by Your Name, created the opportunity for us to know more and share our feelings about homosexuality. In the name of a movie critic, Chinese audiences don’t need to shy away from the almost forbidden topic. By putting homosexual love in front of our eyes, Call Me by Your Name raised Chinese audiences’ curiosity and interest in the marginalized group. “According to the 2014 average statistics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the number of homosexuals in China could reach 70 million.”(“同性恋在中国占百分之多少？”) Because all those 70 million people and even more, those around the LGBT groups, need a platform to have an open discussion about their gender identity, Call Me by Your Name’s role in China, as a place for free communication about homosexuality, became more significant.
What’s more, although homosexuality is an open-minded topic for Chinese audiences, the film is still very implicit in the communication of homosexual sex. Sex is a sensitive theme in any romantic film in China, no matter it’s homosexual or heterosexual. The gay characters in Call Me by Your Name are already challenging for many Chinese people to accept. So the filmmaker must reduce the sex scenes to make it less challenging in other parts. In the film, when Oliver and Elio are about to have sex, the cinematographer moves the camera off to a tree outside the window, without any direct shot of the two characters. The director, Luca Guadagnino’s explanation is that he’s not interested in sex scenes. But regardless of the director’s intention, the exclusion of sex scenes really helps Chinese audiences to accept it. Traditional Chinese culture thinks sex is highly implicit and always avoids showing nudity in public. Since the film is challenging Chinese moral values in the sexual orientation part, it’s clearly better to avoid more challenges so that it wouldn’t be too radical. One opposite example could be found in Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo(2016). It’s a romantic drama film about gay just as Call Me by Your Name. It was released almost the same year and received the approximate same rating as Your Name on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film has slightly no fame in China. Seldom people have watched it and absolutely no heated discussion. One reason might be that the film begins with explicit sex scenes in a gay sex club. Since the beginning of the film is unacceptable for conservative Chinese audiences, who else would like to see the rest of the film! Accepting homosexuality in those films is the foremost thing for Chinese audiences, so implicit storytelling of sex plays as a euphemism is helping wider audiences to view the theme.
In addition, some characters’ anti-gay attitudes in the film parallel those of many Chinese people today. This helps Chinese audiences to relate to themselves. Oliver’s parents, who have never shown up in the film, are the leading reason that Oliver couldn’t be together with Elio. In the final call between Oliver and Elio, Oliver says,
“My father would have carted me off to a correctional facility( if he knows I am gay).”
It shows that Oliver’s parent is anti-gay and even treats homosexuality as a crime. “…his father’s reaction would be not only disapproval but an urge to take charge of the situation and punish Oliver.”(“Deep Dive — “My Father Would Have Carted Me Off To A Correctional Facility.”) This is similar to many Chinese people’s nowaday attitude toward homosexuality. Recent years have witnessed activities and opinions demonizing homosexuality in modern China. It has made the traditional value rotted deeper in Chinese people, especially older generations, to think of homosexuality as harmful and unforgivable. Some places in China even have correctional institutions especially for homosexuality and many people were forced to go there, always by the elder, who holds the traditional attitude as Oliver’s parents. “According to a survey jointly released by the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing LGBT Center, nearly one-tenth of the more than 1,600 LGBT people surveyed sought ‘therapy’ for reasons such as family pressure and social approval.” (“在中国，GAY的「矫正」诊所是怎样的？”)It means that there are a number of people in China who have a similar attitude toward homosexuality as Oliver’s father. In this way, the film is acceptable for those Chinese who are opposed to homosexuality because it shows exactly their attitude. On the other hand, Elio’s parents’ support toward the gay couple is idealistic both to the character and to Chinese LGBT groups. This means that the film, at the same time, makes it acceptable and even pleasing for homosexual Chinese people. To sum up, the film relates to Chinese audiences no matter what kind of attitude they hold and echoes with the similar situation of LGBT groups in the reality.
Call Me by Your Name is affecting Chinese people’s understanding of homosexuality and their attitudes. It received attention and appreciation from China, meaning that Chinese people are getting more open to the topic. The positive situation is a result of globalization, where cultural exchange, such as the import of western movies, broadens people’s horizons and brings in good things from foreign countries. The film raised the topic of LGBT to the surface so that modern Chinese wouldn’t evade the truth that accepting homosexuality is a world trend. The western idea of “Love is Love” is leading the old Eastern country to be more inclusive. Globalization is urging Chinese people to deal with gay issues just as their western neighbors do.
The globalization process helped more high-quality foreign films enter the Chinese film market, introducing us to more diverse themes. Call Me by Your Name was one of those films. It challenges the dominant traditional values in China and is a call for the minority. It gives people who don’t know much about homosexuality a way to know about it. It’s widely hoped that someday, Chinese filmmakers could make a film like Call Me by Your Name that talks about homosexual love aboveboard. The coming of that day would indicate that Chinese traditional values have become more open to embracing every form of love with the help of the rest of the world.
Work Cited:
- “同性恋在中国占百分之多少？”. Zhidao.Baidu.Com,2020, https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/2073632051075411548.html.
2. “Deep Dive — “My Father Would Have Carted Me Off To A Correctional Facility.”.Reddit.Com,2021,https://www.reddit.com/r/callmebyyourname/comments/k4yo1p/deep_dive_my_father_would_have_carted_me_off_to_a/.
3. “在中国，GAY的「矫正」诊所是怎样的？_林意强”. Sohu.Com, 2018, https://www.sohu.com/a/275180370_166989.
4. Guadagnino, Luca. Call Me By Your Name. Frenesy Film Company, 2017.
5. Ducastel, Olivier. Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo. Ecce Films, 2016.
