Sino-noir of Serial Killers and Dismemberments

In a Chinese society with low crime rates, why do TV series savor the genre of Sino-noir of serial killers and dismemberments? Ritualized bloodletting during nightly bingeing signals a psychological displacement from one’s terminal condition, cowering under that which cannot be named—the dictatorship not so much of the proletariat as of the Party secretariat. Sino-noir on serial killers honors the Party while having it on, spoofing it. The obligatory “Chinese characteristics” hinge on the horror of body mutilation, mirroring a schizophrenic China not only divided against itself but in denial of any such division. The argument zooms in on Shuang Xuetao’s novella of dongbei (northeast or Manchuria) noir, “Moses on the Plain,” which chronicles how woes and crimes befall hapless characters fated to float or even drown during Deng Xiaoping’s liberalization, as many State-subsidized factories in northeastern China folded, creating massive unemployment and misery. Part of China, particularly coastal urban areas, boomed, while other parts, such as the Northeast’s heavy industry, went bust, a schizophrenic fissure within the body politic. In the 8-episode TV series, Why Try to Change Me Now, director Zhang Dalei adapts Shuang’s novella told from multiple perspectives into a tour de force in slow cinema, drawing from cinema verité with non-professional actors, natural lighting and sound, an almost stationary camera, and minimalist acting. The argument then concludes with the 16-episode TV series Who Is the Murderer capitalizing on the triple entendre of “ba” for the father, the hegemon/bully, and the end.