Caught in the Web: Power and Counterpower in the Network Society

Acclaimed Chinese director Chen Kaige’s new film, ‘Caught in the Web’, screened a few days ago at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film raises the issue of the controversial web investigations voluntarily carried out by the Chinese public via the tools provided them by the information highway despite obvious limitations enforced by their government. I have not yet watched ‘Caught in the Web.’ But as its ominous name suggests (and according to the NYT’s take on it), Chen illustrates the dark side of a populace frenzied to action within what Manuel Castells would deem a manifestation of the network society.

The New York Times gives a summary of the film:

ONLOOKERS first stared in consternation. Then they began to hurl insults at the attractive young woman refusing to give her seat to the elderly man next to her. Ignoring him, Ye Lanqiu stared out the bus window though near-opaque sunglasses. Then she smartly patted her knee, inviting him to perch on her lap.

A couple of days later the episode, caught on film, had gone viral. China’s netizens had rallied together to identify and punish her. Yet another online “human flesh search” had set off frenzied action.

The term, “human flesh search” is a literal translation of its original Chinese phrasing. They are “collective and unofficial investigations” that “harness voluntary Web surfers to track down identities, contact details and personal history” (NYT). Chen Kaige’s heroine in the film is the victim of precisely such a search, and the director comments that to him the phenomenon bears reminders of the Cultural Revolution.

In Communication Power, Castells defines the network society as “the social structure that characterizes society in the early twenty-first century, a social structure constructed around (but not determined by) digital networks of communication.” Indeed various foriegn news services and social networks have been blocked in China. Nevertheless, the network society very much exists in the country, as evidenced by the online mobilization and collaboration of countless everyday Chinese on conducting human flesh searches.

Although Chen Kaige’s film only highlights the negative effects of these searches, according to the New York Times these online investigations "have been lauded in some cases for their capacity to expose corruption among local officials when the government does not take action, and national newspapers are prevented by censorship from doing so.” This exemplifies Castells’ logic about power and counterpower in the network society. He asserts that “resistance to power is achieved through the same two mechanisms that constitute power in the network society: the programs of the networks and the switches between networks.” Recognizing the critical role of communication in establishing, maintaining and exerting power, the Chinese government is infamous for its control of the in-country media environment, including Internet searches. In a recent example, it blocked searches for “back injury” in reaction to the rumors that circulated surrounding Xi Jinping’s absence from the public eye. Ironically, it is precisely through Internet searches and other forms of communication that the Chinese government seeks to regulate that the Chinese public is empowered to engage in “countervailing processes that resist established domination on behalf of the interests, values, and projects that are excluded or under-represented in the programs and composition of the networks” (Castells). After all, human flesh searches are employed by everyday citizens who are “motivated by a sense of social and moral outrage” (NYT) to expose “truths” like the extravagant lifestyles of the government elite and their family members, shedding light on facts and opinions obviously left out from the dominant state-controlled media.

Chen Kaige’s take on human flesh searches in ‘Caught in the Web’ appears to be quite negative, aligned with the perspective of the Chinese government. Some say this may have been to avoid the film from being banned, as many of Chen’s previous films have been. Ironically, despite the government-approved content of ‘Caught in the Web’, the film itself serves as a medium that sparks debate about the effectiveness of attempting to control communication while also drawing attention to the very issues Beijing would be keen on avoiding. On a final note, the impact of a viral video in stirring a populace to violent action against another party illustrated in ‘Caught in the Web’ is eerily timely in light of recent developments in the Arab world and the video that triggered it. What insight, if any, can Chen's new film offer? I'll have to embark on quite a web search myself to uncover showtimes and find out.