Why is Paris 13 (Chinese area) a violent area in French film materials?

As long as all kinds of tangible and intangible barriers are not removed, the "already/otherwise" boundaries will always exist, and indifference and disapproval will make countless urban enclaves hotbeds of hatred and violence.

The riots in the northern suburbs of Paris are unpredictable.

At the end of last year, the French Kung Fu film "Thirteen Districts" directed by the cutting-edge director Pierre maurer was released in France. This film is a fictional story of France in the future, but it looks like a fable of France's current politics. The director is certainly not a prophet, but he has a profound insight into the internal contradictions in French society.

In the 20 10' s in the film, the government has lost control of violent crimes in the suburbs. In desperation, it can only use fences, barbed wire and machine guns to separate a "13 area" in Paris. There are no schools, post offices and police. This is the settlement of the poor and immigrants, and it is also the troubled times when criminals do whatever they want. In 13 district, violence is the only survival rule-whether for civilians or criminals-whoever is strong is the boss.

13 district is like a cancer on the beautiful body of Paris, and the head of government is determined to eradicate this evil place. At the end of the story, the bad guys who plotted to eradicate "13 area" were caught, and there would be schools and police in "13 area". This is a happy ending, and equality and justice have finally been defended. However, movies are optimistic political fables after all, while real politics is full of paradoxical variables. In this riot in the northern suburbs of Paris, the government stressed the need to ensure equality and justice in the handling of the incident, so as to appease those "bad children" who have been aggrieved for a long time. However, Parisians are full of fear of the spread of violence and complain that the government is ineffective. How can the government bear such a double blow? In the film Thirteen Districts, the balance of the government leans towards the rich and law-abiding urban citizens, leaving crime and poverty in the isolated land. However, the separation did not bring peace, but aggravated the conflict, which can not but be said that French filmmakers are alert to social reality.

In fact, since the19th century, due to the acceleration of population mobility, class or ethnic division based on various foundations has appeared in the political and economic system-"13 district" is a symbol of such division. Obviously, there is no ideological conflict separated by the Berlin Wall in France today. In France, where the decent and elegant middle class is the main body, the differences are mainly formed by poor immigrants and uneducated civilians at the bottom. Citing this difference, dividing the boundaries between "likeness" and "dissimilarity" is almost the structural way of all human societies-only some boundaries are visible, such as the fence and barbed wire in the "13 area" in the film, and the suburbs of Paris where a large number of poor people live in reality; Some boundaries are invisible, such as discrimination and prejudice wandering between different classes or ethnic groups like ghosts.

In the face of the above-mentioned inevitable class/ethnic division of human society, what we should do is not to reinforce the barriers with the symbolic violence of "13 area", but to try our best to dismantle the barriers. In response to the spreading riots in Paris, the French government, while increasing the police force to put out the fire, promised to provide more employment opportunities for the bottom civilians in the future, and open more schools in poor neighborhoods to integrate the "marginal" "bad boys" into the mainstream society. However, the "melting pot theory" of ethnic integration is not a pot of Chinese cabbage, but social people with different historical experiences. Just like the roadblocks and fences that still exist at the end of the film, as long as all kinds of tangible and intangible barriers are not removed, the "already/otherwise" boundaries will always exist, and indifference and differences will make countless urban enclaves hotbeds of hatred and violence.

In the reality of China, migrant workers from rural areas live on the edge of the city, and they often form ethnic groups based on their native place with their blood ties. In the case that the "fair starting point" is still difficult to guarantee, cultural differences and class separation further make them "the other" or "the other" in urban construction. In any case, the riots in Paris should give us a wake-up call.