As an entire generation has come of age on social media, virtual relationships are slowly replacing real-life human connections. And China has taken it to an extreme. Here, live streaming has become the most popular online entertainment for hundreds of millions. People's Republic of Desire provides a vérité journey into this digital universe, where young performers earn as much as US$150,000 a month singing, dancing or doing talk shows to live, interactive audiences of tens... (Full plot summary below)
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As an entire generation has come of age on social media, virtual relationships are slowly replacing real-life human connections. And China has taken it to an extreme. Here, live streaming has become the most popular online entertainment for hundreds of millions. People's Republic of Desire provides a vérité journey into this digital universe, where young performers earn as much as US$150,000 a month singing, dancing or doing talk shows to live, interactive audiences of tens of thousands. Their fans include China's super rich, who each night lavish virtual gifts on their favorite performers (40% of the money paid for these gifts go to the performers), and the dirt poor, many of them migrant workers in urban areas searching for a cheap way to be entertained, to feel connected. The film follows three young characters - a singer, a comedian, and a migrant worker - as they search for fame, fortune and human connection in live streaming. We also meet their families, those managing the online talents, and those with money who control the fate of these talents, behind the scenes much like the Wizard of Oz. The story culminates in the bizarre annual online idol competition, in which the rich can buy unlimited amount of votes for their favorite performers. There our characters realize that money alone pulls the strings in this virtual universe, and human connection and personal happiness remain as illusive online as-perhaps even more so than- in our real and broken world.
Leave your thoughts about People's Republic of Desire.
| Common Sense MediaTara McNamaraShocking docu reveals dangers of China's live-stream trend. |
| Film ThreatAlan NgThe People’s Republic of Desire is a psychological treatise on self-worth, and the lab rats are the citizens of China. |
| RogerEbert.comNick AllenWu takes an observational, matter of fact stance to these different lives and this overall enterprise, reminiscent of how Kyoko Miyake took us through the looking glass of Japan’s idol culture in “Tokyo Idols,” another doc on a similar sociological beat that would make for a great double feature or essay. |
| VarietyJoe LeydonPeople’s Republic of Desire is provocative and unsettling as it brings us on a guided tour through the digital marketplace for something resembling human contact. |
| Seattle TimesJ.R. KinnardIn a digital fantasy world where culture has been abandoned in favor of commerce, talent is the cheapest commodity. |
| Seventh RowElena LazicThe film does give us some insight into why its protagonists' outlook is so bleak, but one could have wished for more, if only to make the viewing experience slightly less maddening. |
| CinemalogueTodd Jorgenson... examines the socioeconomic consequences of such pursuits, which make it a cautionary tale both intriguing and unsettling. |
| SF WeeklySherilyn ConnellyMarkedly depressing... The competition is ultimately the same bread and circuses humans have engaged in since boredom was invented. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreIt’s wacky. You scratch your head at the training ground, a veritable digital brothel (quite chaste) where aspiring hostesses learn the art. You wonder who on Earth would spend money for “gifts” that impress these young women (and young men), and are also meant to impress their fellow “fans” with how “rich” you are. |
| IndieWireDavid EhrlichTragic and terrifying in equal measure, Wu’s intimate portrait of China’s live-streaming culture uses one country’s recent past as a dark portal into our collective future, sketching a world in which even the most basic pleasures of human connection can only be experienced vicariously. |
