Gao Xingjian's Bus Stop: Dystopia in Contemporary China

Authors

Nipon Sasipanudej

Publication Date

2016-01-01

Abstract

This article aims to discuss how Gao Xingjian recontextualizes European dystopianism into China under Mao Zedong's ideological manipulation of "utopia," which the latter adopted from Karl Marx. The theme of absurd eternal waiting for a bus in Bus Stop is technically employed to criticize the Chinese dream of utopia and the idea of utopia itself as a whole. When the theme of waiting in Waiting for Godot is relocated into a Chinese context, it diverts from Western drama by means of Gao Xingjian's dramaturgical innovation as a blend of the East and the West. The absurdity in Bus Stop makes Chinese utopian desire fetishized as an eternal but ubiquitous zero, and becomes naked politics as utopia for desire and desire for utopia.

First Page

49

Last Page

60

Recommended Citation

Sasipanudej, Nipon (2016) "Gao Xingjian's Bus Stop: Dystopia in Contemporary China," Manusya, Journal of Humanities: Vol. 19: No. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/manusya/vol19/iss2/3