Recorded from VHS tape to the computer then onto
DVD!
WHAM - IN CHINA(1986)
And here we have a tour of China for the first 45 minutes
or so! There are only a few actual songs on this! B
A Review From IMDb.com:
A sweet, groundbreaking documentary.The first band to
ever perform in China, Wham! was welcomed into the
country as music missionaries from the west. This is
a must see for all Wham!/George Micheal fans and pop
music historians.
A little backstory: Born and raised in China myself in
the 90s, I have no knowledge of Wham! until I was well
into my 20s, quote from my Canadian friend "You don't
know who Wham! is?!" However I have heard "Last Christmas"
over and again in Chinese shopping malls and cafes. When
George Micheal passed, the Chinese headline titled "the
guy who wrote Last Christmas died".Not a particular fan
of Wham! myself, I came across this film while searching
for Lindsay Anderson films. I was surprised to read in
the trivia that Wham! was the first western band to have
played in China. Thus I did some research on my Chinese
search engine, and found that the Chinese audience were
positively "shocked and stunned" upon seeing Wham!'s
performance, having little or no idea about western
music. Wham! had blown their minds and literally brought
pop music into China. They were the inspiration for a
new generation of musicians that will completely
transform Chinese pop culture.
It wasn't Wham!'s idea to come to China, nor was director
Anderson interested in Wham! or China. However I find it
interesting that Anderson, who made anti-capitalism films,
filming in a communist country. Also knowing his latent
homosexuality, as well as George Micheal's infamous one,
this film seems really rather homoerotic.
Even though it's always fun to see two cultures meet,
this one is especially hilarious(more so since I'm native
Chinese I guess), the reaction of Chinese audience is
gold. There's also this one scene where Wham! makes a
speech about how their act shares similarities with
the Chinese opera, then the translator followed:" ...the
similarity is 'lively' and 'colorful'!"
We see the 22 year old George and Andrew, wearing Red
Army caps and colorful shirts, walking among the curious
blue-green-gray Chinese(a gloomy palette we've had for
decades, only just making the transformation to bright
colors since the 80's)making an adorable contrast. These
shy and giggly chaps, dancing and twirling with an energy
so great, not knowing how much they've influenced a whole
country, how important their name is to Chinese pop music
history, nor that homosexuality was still listed as a
mental illness in China at the time, or whatever hardship
is ahead of them. They were just smiling, so carefree
and innocent, forever lively and colorful on film. - AlanaFu