Lover is a greedy project. Not only do the greedy artists try to look into the feeling of being a mistress but also want to tackle the issue of the relation between Teresa Teng and the ROC government. Artists with too much ambition usually turn out making a hard mess.
There’s a common situation both mistresses and Teresa faced and that is they are all in a dilemma to leave or to stay. On the PTT Third-Person, there is a term called “graduation” meaning the woman/man finally gets out of the relationship among three people and graduates to be a better person. Also we can see the comments below are full of words of congratulation for surviving from the battlefield of love.
On the other hand, Teresa was very good at leaving Taiwan. According to the UDN newspaper from the 1970s to 1990s, the press kept tracing where Teresa was heading for and she was reported as a very successful singer with international reputation but she was always in nostalgia and her heart was closely connected with the motherland Republic of China. In the 1980s, the CD news (the propaganda media founded by the KMT party) also joined Teresa Teng’s fans club. The CD news praised Teresa’s patriotic actions and was in pain to see how busy Teresa was. They wished to keep Teresa in Taiwan if they could. In order to do so, the ROC government sometimes had to make things difficult for Teresa reluctantly.
(Gua Khee, Ching and I met via google meet)
On 3rd June, Gua Khee, Ching and I met online for the second meeting. Gua Khee asked two big questions when talking about the relationship between Teresa and the ROC government.
First, what is being patriotic?
I answered poorly. Every topic about “nation” is hard to be blunt and daring for Taiwan being an island with a very mixed interpretation of history. From the point of Taiwan history, there was a time when Taiwanese people were trained to be patriotic. If patriotism takes training meaning that people are not born to be patriotic. It is the land, culture or affection toward certain groups of people that make someone patriotic. Even under the democratic society of Taiwan, patriotism still takes time and by choice.
Second, what worries you the most in this project?
To be honest, this project is a matter of rubbing salt into someone’s wounds for mistresses and Teresa as well. Teresa is a sweet, beautiful and depoliticized legend. However, everything depoliticized is the expression of being highly politicized. As an artist, I am simply a coward. If someone were to point their fingers at me and blame me for creating emotional rift among Taiwanese people I could do nothing but smile in a most polite face.
中文：
《愛人》這一項貪心的計畫。藝術家不僅試圖剖析第三者的情感狀態，還妄想透過前者來碰觸鄧麗君與國家的關係。有這種意圖的藝術家通常沒什麼好結果，即便鄧麗君唱過幾首以情婦為主角的歌曲，難道就可以讓藝術家東扯西扯一通嗎？
這些在第三者情境中的女性和鄧麗君有一個共同點，她們時常在離開與停留之間舉棋不定。在PTT第三者版當中有一個術語稱為「畢業」，意味著第三者在千辛萬苦之下終於脫離了第三者的位置，也就是從這段感情中畢業並且成長為一個更好的女性。而文章底下就會湧入各種勉勵的評論，恭喜主角終於在戰場中生還。
另一方面，鄧麗君也相當擅於離開臺灣。根據聯合報從1970年代到1990年代針對鄧麗君的報導，媒體便一直追蹤著鄧麗君的行程。並且在報導中屢屢強調事業成功的鄧麗君，雖然受到各國表演邀約然而最掛心的還是祖國中國的土地。而1980年代以後黨國體制的官方媒體「中央日報」也加入了追蹤鄧麗君的行列，一邊讚許鄧麗君的愛國行徑、一邊不捨於鄧麗君的忙碌，只盼可以將鄧麗君留在臺灣好好呵護。於是，國家為了留著鄧麗君，在不得已的情況下難免會透過刁難刁難她。
（鄧麗君演唱作品《償還》）
6月3日我、意淨與月崎進行了第二次的Ｆ＆Ａ會議。我們談到鄧麗君與國家的關係時，月崎問了兩個巨大的問題。
首先，什麼是愛國？
於是我結結巴巴地回答。很不幸的，在臺灣這樣一個各種史觀混雜的小島上，任何與「國家」有關的話題很難直白的述說。從歷史的角度來說，我們曾經被國家訓練應該愛國。如果愛國需要訓練，也就是說人不是天生就愛國而是後天因為土地、文化或情感而形塑的一種精神。即便是在如今民主政體下的臺灣，愛國的後天性仍是如此。
第二，在這個計畫中你最擔心什麼？
說穿了《愛人》這個計畫不論是對第三者或是對鄧麗君而言，都是揭人瘡疤、傷口灑鹽的勾檔。鄧麗君甜美歌聲是甜美純淨、去治政化的神話，然而所謂「去政治化」實然正是一種「高度政治化」的表現。藝術家本人是個生活在同溫層的小孬孬，如果有人指著我的鼻子說我在撕裂族群，我一定會以尷尬不失禮貌的笑容龜縮。
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