During a press conference in Berlin March 3rd with Chancellor Merkel, President Elbegdorj quipped, \u201cDie Mongolen sind wieder da, aber mit friedlichen Absichten!<\/a>\u201d (The Mongols are back, but with friendly intentions!\u201d) In meetings coinciding with the International Tourism Fair (ITB) in Berlin, Mongolian officials called on Germany to support further involvement in Mongolian transport infrastructure, perhaps involving Lufthansa as well as rail projects needed to access natural resources (particularly rare earth minerals that Germany has expressed interest about in recent years).<\/p>\n President Elbegdorj\u2019s comment reveals the quality of the tourism fair and government talks as not simply Mongolia\u2019s asking for development aid or marketing its natural resource commodities, but as Mongolia beckoning foreign partners while managing and capitalizing on these partners\u2019 own strong impressions and ideas about Mongolia and Mongols. Since Mongolia\u2019s Democratic Revolution (now a period of twenty-five years), films about Mongols have been another example of how Mongolians often use and negotiate with, rather than flatly deny the validity of, understandings that others have of them.<\/p>\n With Wolf Totem<\/em>\u2019s recent release and box office success in France<\/a>, China<\/a>, and Mongolia, Mongolia\u2019s presence on the international film stage continues to demonstrate how Mongolians maintain involvement in creative works spearheaded by others and use them to build further international relations, but ones that usually remain un-depicted in international popular culture.<\/p>\n Directed by Jean Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet<\/em>, The Name of the Rose<\/em>, The Bear<\/em>, Enemy at the Gates<\/em>) and produced by China\u2019s largest state film enterprise (China Film Group), Wolf Totem<\/em> is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Lu Jiamin, who penned the book using the pseudonym Jiang Rong. Translated into Mongolian in 2010, the novel was a best-seller in Mongolia as well as in China and the United States. As in the case of Sergei Bodrov\u2019s \u201cMongol,\u201d however, only one of the lead actors was Mongolian, the female love interest (R. Ankhnam in Wolf Totem<\/em> as Gasmaa, and Khulan Chuluun as Borte in Mongol<\/em>). A few additional cast members (including Gasmaa\u2019s husband Batu who dies around halfway through the film) were Mongols from China and Russia.<\/p>\n Early responses to the book and to the film in Mongolian online journalism and associated discussions have thus far not much elaborated on the lack of Mongolian actors per se, let alone how Chinese (and Russians, in the case of Mongol<\/em> and Urga<\/em>) frame relations with Mongolia and Mongols in terms of gender. (See Uradyn Bulag<\/a>\u2019s collections The Mongols at China\u2019s Edge<\/em> and Collaborative Nationalism<\/em> in particular for this, and the study of these films for their insight into the Chinese and Russian sides of their relations with Mongolia is definitely further merited but beyond the scope of this post).<\/p>\n Rather, early discussions in the Mongolian context have:<\/p>\n In short, through ambivalence and debate about the accuracy of films about Mongolia and Mongols that have taken prominent positions in international popular culture, Mongolians reconsider thorny issues of national and international identity and relation among themselves while enticing foreigners to visit Mongolia as the truly authentic site of the timelessly pastoral and environmentally friendly. The film will undoubtedly spur tourists to visit this summer and in years to come.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, creative international relations like those involved in the making of Wolf Totem <\/em>(for instance the involvement of Mongolian wolves and gazelles and Canadian animal trainers: http:\/\/china.org.cn\/video\/2014-07\/03\/content_32844923.htm<\/a>, http:\/\/www.chinafile.com\/reporting-opinion\/environment\/wolf-totem-trainer-sees-risks-rewards-hollywood-china<\/a>) and Jean Annaud\u2019s dramatic shift in relation to the Chinese government: http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/02\/24\/arts\/international\/china-looks-west-to-bring-wolf-totem-to-screen.html?_r=0<\/a>, http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/movies\/la-et-mn-jean-jacques-annaud-wolf-totem-20150228-story.html#page=1<\/a>,\u00a0http:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/worldcinema\/china-lifts-ban-on-jean-jacques-annaud-the-result-is-wolf-totem\/article1-1323753.aspx<\/a>) unfortunately remain largely unportrayed in international popular culture.<\/p>\n The converse is true of the Sundance-winning Genghis Blues<\/em>, a point of reference for many Americans interested in Mongolia, while I have not known Mongolians to claim as their own (the film was made in and about Americans and Tuvans in Tuva). Mongolian-made films shown at international film festivals vary widely in this regard, yet the most prestigious awards go to those that maintain the illusion of Mongolians as isolated and timeless (The Story of the Weeping Camel<\/em>) or undergoing a violation of this isolation and along with it the disruption of supposedly socially and environmentally critical tradition (Khadag<\/em>).<\/p>\n In any case, being perceived as quaint and naive \u201cgrasslanders,\u201d let alone marauding hordes (in both cases as essentially anti-international) compromises Mongolian\u2019s ability to pursue international relationships as an experienced and developed partner, as it continues to drive hard bargains in international mining projects and seek a direct flight between Ulaanbaatar and Berlin operated by Lufthansa.<\/p>\n (Special thanks to \u201cOlav\u201d for helping me access the film! I also thank him and others for their conversations about Wolf Totem<\/em> on Facebook.)<\/p>\n Marissa J. Smith<\/a> is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Princeton University. Her dissertation work concerns relationships of “international friendship” in Erdenet, Mongolia, which involve Russians as well as Americans, mining engineers as well as herders. Marissa works to bring this ethnographic work to bear in conversations on alterity and translation, nationalism, corporations, development, and social mobility, particularly between urban centers and so-called rural peripheries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Marissa Smith Mongols on the International Film Stage: Negotiating the International Relations of Mongolia By Means of Their Understanding by Others During a press conference in Berlin March 3rd with Chancellor Merkel, President Elbegdorj quipped, \u201cDie Mongolen sind wieder da, … Continue reading \n
About Marissa Smith<\/h3>\n