Justice and Human Fragility – The Cinema Seminar on “White Ant”

The seminar on the film “White Ant” was held by SCU Student Association at Waishuanghsi Campus on 10^th March. Director Xianzhe Zhu, the winner of the Best Actor of Golden Bell Awards Kang-ren Wu and the actress Yao Zhong came to the campus to share their experiences of filiming “White Ant.”

Unlike most of the mainstream movies in Taiwan, whose subjects represent the kindness of human nature, “White Ant” depicts the darkness and fragility of humanity, a subject rarely portrayed in public. According to the director Zhu, everything in the world contains both the good and evil sides—it is unnecessary to emphasize the bright side, nor is it necessary to evade the dark side on purpose. Everyone has fear and fragility in heart. “There are two things that every human being is afraid of, one is death, another is sexual desire.” said director Zhu.

The film explores the issue of bullying, a common but thought-provoking social phenomenon, and probes into the meaning of justice. Director Zhu indicated that the definition of morality and justice is not fixed. On the contrary, it changes with the social environment. For instance, people’s view about homosexuality has changed a lot over this century. Director Zhu also maintained that people tend to define and evaluate others with their own standards; besides, he also mentioned that people like to judge and define the others, and that when some social issues emerge, people also tend to unite together to attack the others, forming the so-called “the tyranny of the majority”.

At the end of the seminar, Director Zhu pointed out that Taiwan filmmakers lack confidence and moral criticism. He hoped that Taiwan could produce more diversified films and attract the global attention.