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Third grade politics

Posted by admin on January 12, 2009 in Uncategorized

By Ignacio Gutiérrez

January 12, 2009

“What kind of thing is a democracy?” an 8 year old Cheng Cheng asks his stepfather in the 2007 documentary film, Please Vote for Me, which follows an experiment in democracy in the least likely of places – a third grade classroom in Wuhan, China where the children must elect their Class Monitor for the first time.

“It means that people are their own masters” his stepfather answers. Not exactly the definition of government elected for the people, by the people, but it’s a start. It’s no wonder the children are at a loss as to why they would even vote when their teacher had already chosen Luo Lei as their class monitor. He makes sure the children stay in line by hitting his classmates or pulling at their clothes, faults which Cheng Cheng touts as debate points when asked to write “criticisms” of his opponents.

The third candidate is Xu Xiaofei, a quiet, bashful little girl who cries when she plays the flute for the talent show portion of the election, particularly after Cheng Cheng manages to get some of their classmates to boo as she performs. He later makes them apologize. Cheng Cheng wants to win because he knows that being class monitor means you can boss people around, as he’s observed Luo Lei do during the children’s naptime. And he may have a chance to do the same considering Luo Lei doesn’t care to defend his incumbency. He doesn’t like controlling others because “they should think for themselves” he tells his parents after his mother, a police officer, suggests he needs “tricks” to win the election.

Eventually Cheng Cheng and Luo Lei face off in the bathroom urinals and quickly arm wrestle after zipping their pants. The ending is an endearing, bittersweet tearjerker when ultimately one of the children emerges victorious, and the other two can’t help but cry. “There will be other chances in the future” one of the teachers assures them. “They’ve gained experiences and learned good lessons, right?”

They, and the viewer, sure do. And not so much regarding the cultural value explored in the oxymoronic republic of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship of China, but because no matter what type of government people choose or are forced upon, no matter their age or ethnicity, the game of politics is an ever present, inevitable fact of life. Be it career bureaucrats which mismanage our taxes and declare unnecessary wars, to third grade bathroom antics, politics isn’t something we vote for, but must contend with almost every other day of our lives.