The evident cultural and historical theme in the film, “Please Vote for Me,” is the portrayal of various ills of the widely celebrated democracy. The Chinese classroom portrays many common issues in democratic processes, globally. It is easy to assume that a simple exercise as a class prefect election would be free from sophistication and complexities eminent in the administration of elections of larger democracies at the county, state or federal levels. However, the classroom elections in the film are subject to deceitful tactics, and external influences to seize control of the process and even end up directing the votes.
Cheng Cheng cooperates with allies with the motive to slander Xiaofei before the start of the contest (Chen & Edkins, 2007). He manages to control the class to rebuke her without paying attention to her sentiments. Besides, patronage takes center stage of his allure when Cheng Cheng promises positions in his prospected administration to his supporters. Cheng Cheng’s politics fail when he develops negativity publicity and ruins his integrity by offering contradictory promises to his supporters. Money comes into picture when Luo Fei offers his supporters an expensive trip if they vote to support him. The parents as sponsors and campaign advisors played a vital role as instigators of bribery, name-calling, and emotional stress. Luo Fei advances their desires of seeing their son as a leader by using him as a puppet.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In essence, the existent manipulations in the classroom election are a reflection of the imperfections of huge democracies in governance at the county, state, and federal levels. In national politics of many western countries, slandering for selfish reasons, patronage and bribery are common antics applied by politicians who lack the integrity to win votes and suppress the efforts of their competitors.
Even though election processes appear as signs of hope for the electorate who show interest to change and control governmental institutions, it is a manifestation of the lack of a good understanding for democracy (Cousins, 2011). Examining the incidences in a Toquevillian perspective portrays the classroom election process as the Western style of democracy comprising of votes and peaceful transition processes of power. It also reveals that the causality of true democracy is the nonexistence of social culture. Even though administrations regard elections as democratic opportunities, the process serves as a reflection of true democracy and a way to appease citizens regarding their need to participate in politics.
The film shows that merely participating in a voting process during an election does not deem it democratic. This state of affairs disqualifies almost all modern nations as true democracies. In the film, the teacher selects three candidates and limits the other students to choose from the predetermined representatives. The approach and behavior of participants is a depiction of the occurrences with candidates vying for the presidency and different administrative positions at the county, state and federal levels of governance. Precisely, the process starts by debating sessions characterized with insults as an initial stage of garnering support. The teacher does not allow students to choose their preferred candidate before selecting a considerably responsible class representative. Instead, he restricts the candidacy to three students that he is certain of their decency. It implies that the students are voting in a law-enforcer mandated to propagate the interests of the teacher rather than a class representative to advocate students’ interests. The teacher, as a representative of the government or administrators of justice, is an ideal authoritarian figure. The students, as a portrayal of the citizens of any country, have no choice but vote in a person who may not fulfill his mandate of advocating their interests. Just by electing one individual from a predetermined group of candidates does not equate to the selection of a representative who will advocate voters' concerns (Cousins, 2011). The film, “Please Vote for Me ,” depicts common instances of misplaced hope that results from a false sense of democracy in modern institutions of governance.
References
Chen, W. & Edkins, D. (2007). Please Vote For Me . First Run Futures, China.
Cousins, M. (2011). Ep.12: Moviemaking and protest - around the world (1980s), 64’ in "The Story of Film - A Film Odyssey.” Wielka Brytania.
