Latest update January 1st, 2016 3:17 PM
Vivian Ma: Queen of Debate
Vivian Ma attended her first national debate competition in 2002 and led different teams to championship. Ma later worked as an instructor in her home university Sun Yat-sen University, training the next-gen champion debaters. TV audiences have remembered her logic and eloquence, and were surprised with joy to see her joining an online debate variety show LET’S TALK run by iQIYI in 2014. In this unconventional series of debate, Ma further conquered a nation of younger fans with her gentle questioning, unequivocal reasoning, and her graceful wits. Meanwhile, she has shown to the viewers that debate can be fun.
This Chinese youth’s new idol has since hosted more TV shows and even begun acting. She recently accepted our interview despite her tight schedule. Here is the essence of this talk.
About current occupation
I now spend most of my time working for different media: LET’S TALK is going to launch its third season and I will launch a public WeChat account publishing some articles. Besides, I host a number of TV shows.
I think LET’S TALK a really fun show, where people exchange insights on relatable issues. It also ushered me into the show biz, enabled me to see the world outside debate. Meanwhile, it allows more audiences to see what debate is. To me, LET’S TALK is a great life experience.
I will act in a film this November, because it sounds like an interesting experience. In the beginning, I will choose to act modern roles that are close to my own character.
About the recent Chinese films
The recent success of some Chinese films suggests at the moment, verbally interesting stories have a better shot at the box office. Unlike western blockbusters, these films are not so visually appealing, but they amuse the local audiences with puns and jokes. The audiences cannot resist the punsters’ ingenuity although the visuals are relatively mediocre.
Films that I enjoyed watching
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, LUCY, HUGO, and a recent Chinese film SAVING MR. WU. I also watch the SAW franchise to relax, and I like the values in THE ADDAMS FAMILY.
FURY ROAD’s major breakthrough is its action scenes. We have seen all kinds of action films in which they have exploded almost anything they could find and jumped off all the skyscrapers, but FURY ROAD shows us a chain of beautiful chase and fight with a simple story. It is OK that it runs with no plots – the chase itself is quite exciting.
LUCY had very polarized reviews, but I think it is not so much of a sci-fi film, but a philosophical film. It actually tries to illustrate what exactly humanity is. I felt quite enlightened by this film.
Regarding the Chinese directors, I like Feng Xiaogang and Jiang Wen. Jiang is more artistic than Feng, while Feng is more casual and colloquial.
About the Chinese youth born after 1990
Compared with those born in the 1980s, the post-90s Chinese are more practical. Still in college, they have begun to think about what kind of jobs they’ll going to have or whether to build a start-up or not. Whereas in our college days, we thought more about where to go to have fun. Some might sigh upon the post-90s that their innocence is lost too soon, but on the other hand, it can be understood that they become mature earlier than we used to.
If there is any message I need to deliver to the young, I think that would be – Do not just believe your ideas are better than others’, but if you really do, go and take some action. Do not just dwell on fancy ideas. Once you make some attempts, you’ll know whether you are as good as you thought.
Future plans
I would like to write film scripts, but I’d begin with writing a novel. At present, I want to try two kinds of stories: science fiction or romance, both of which requires lots of homework. I have not signed a publishing house yet, because I am not sure I could finish writing within the deadline. Another problem is if I am to write a romantic novel, my perspective might be a bit masculine. You know, I cannot stand tiring plots and bland talks.
I hope in the future, I could run a weekly talkshow that I go to record once a month. In my leisure time, I’d stay at home writing.
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