Playing for Thrills Seamier Behavior Book Report

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At one place, Fan Yan's friends introduce him to a woman as a prolific writer. "The only book with a larger print run is Selected Works of Chairman Mao," one of his friends says (510). They mock the fact that the works of Chairman Mao had such mass publication and that everyone was required or encouraged to read it. Later in the conversation, Fang Yan is also introduced as someone who is "better known in Europe than here in China" (ibid). Wang Shuo is emphasizing here that a man like Fang Yan is not liked by the Chinese government. But those who are subversive, even representing seamier hooligan culture, are popular in Europe. Europeans love Chinese dissidents and subversives.

The characters in the novel also have a propensity for sex with as many women as possible. They are always in a hunt to win over women for sex. In a conversation with a woman named Li Jiangyun, Fat Man Wu tries to encourage her cheat on her husband. "Once you've fulfilled your marital obligation, it's time to think about yourself, about hooking up with somebody you really like" (511).

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The joke is really subtle. It also sounds like a critique of traditional family traditions where women become wives just for their husbands and many get married with men whom they do not like. And this conversation again turns into a ridicule of the Communist Party. As a melange of humor and vulgarism, Fang Yan tells them a joke: "Any fanties, arty farty, let me into your panties, and you can join my party. In the skit that's what the party secretary says to girls who are just aching to join up" (ibid). It is all about joke, but Fang Yan is also taking a shot at Party members.

Though the characters in Playing the Thrills are not really dissidents who oppose the government for the sake of undermining the Communist Party, they are far from being model citizens. They conduct an alternative way of life and propagate the idea that the official Communist way is boring and hypocritical -- they represent seamier culture -- which is, given the stance of the Communist Party on these affairs, is subversive enough.

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