When Jia Zhangke screened his documentary I Wish I Knew in a film festival in Va

When Jia Zhangke screened his documentary I Wish I Knew in a film festival in Vancouver in 2010, he was asked by a young Chinese expatriate: “why do you film a Shanghai that is somewhat ‘dirty/messy’ (脏兮兮), featuring those who are politically coloured (政治色彩的人)? Are you filming these to cater to the Western audience?… Won’t this harm foreigners’ impression of Shanghai and of China, even affecting foreigners’ optimism about making investment in China (外国人对中国投资的信心)?”
The gaze upon a modern Chinese city is always intriguingly contested. You have encountered the foreign gazes from Michelangelo Antonioni in Chung Kuo, from Peter Hessler in River Town, their gaze has been criticized by many Chinese as “vicious” and “intentionally dismissing China”; and now you see the dilemma of Jia Zhangke, a Chinese director filming his own hometown but received similar criticism. How do you feel about their gaze and how would you comment on the criticism towards their gaze?
Avoid making general judgements, keep in mind this is an assignment rather than a YouTube comment, and try to use the films/texts to illustrate your points. You don’t need to use I wish I Knew, but just focus on class assigned materials. Your posting will be graded in terms of whether it shows: (1) clear argument; (2) solid demonstration by engaging with and mobilizing class assigned materials; (3) articulation with good logic around 200 words.