Online Interview Transcript Excerpts

Interview Topic: Safety and The Unique Embodied Feelings in Nightlife

Interviewee: My Close Friend Bin, China

44 minutes, 7/17/2020

 

Excerpts 1 Temporality and The unique Embodied feelings in the Night

Reed: What do you think of the night atmosphere and the day atmosphere?

Bin: At night, the night will be, well, it feels like everyone will be more relaxed. And then during the day, it feels like everybody is in good order, and then, you know, more self-restrained.

Reed: What is being restraint, in your mind?

Bin: Ah, a lot, just, go to work, control your temper, control what you want to say, or [2] control your feelings, and so on.  And keep some rationality and logic. After all, in the morning, in the day,  we have to do a lot of things,  judgment, decision, and work etc..

Reed: How about in the evening?

Bin: In the evening, ah, you are free, you can play by yourself and relax a little bit.

Reed: For you..emm.. What is the difference between day and night?

Bin: Ah, this one. Yeah, the night is after all the work, or after whatever formal works finish. From the moment I’m on the bus after work, it’s my own time onward (and my night begins)

Reed: If you had a day all to yourself, would the night still be like this for you?

Bin: That should be different. Every day is your own time then, and, [emm], day and night may not be so well defined. 【..5…】 I don’t know, maybe being in the night is a state of being?  so a certain state of being after dark?

Reed: Which do you prefer, going to a bar for drinking (喝酒hejiu) or going to a disco pub for dancing (蹦迪bengdi)?

Bin: Dancing in the pub is like playing a sport, you know?  It’s like running. You know, the more tired you are, the more exercise you need.  You get yourself out of a sweat and get a good sleep. Disco dancing is a kind of sport for me. Drinking in a bar, however, it’s different, it’s a place where you chit chat. My state of being will be different. When drinking, my whole body will be a little dizzy, emm, well, your sensorium will be more, more sensitive and emotional, do not know whether sensibility is used in this way. Em, that’s how I feel generally [..5…] But doing some Disco dancing is fun, actually, watching a bunch of people jumping(bengbeng tiaotao) on the stage, it’s like a crowd of people jostled together for a run,  it is really interesting.

Reed: What’s so interesting? Tell me more.

Bin: I Just feel everyone, compared with the ordinary time,  are more a bit crazy, then, yea,  [.3..] just more crazy, [..5…] more wild and dissolute, then there is a little out of control, or whatever. Then, emm,  a little more daring, and [emm, 2..] you can see there are things that are usually suppressed(in people’s mind). Let’s say [.5…. , em, sigh], that’s what it looks like, people who are not very social might be very enjoyed and happy in disco dancing.  [is this your guess] maybe, guess, yea, I think so haha.

Reed: What about yourself? What is it like?

Bin: I think it is quite fun, just, everyone, is in that state of being, I just, feel, myself will, slowly, slowly, step into that state of being as well.  Well, maybe feel embarrassed and awkward at first, but later I will have a good time.  [you say disco dancing? ]  yes.

 

Excerpt 2: Safety and Pleasure in the Night

Reed*: When you go to a bar for a drink, do you have emm, do you have emmm, have you ever encountered any uncomfortable things, just, no, emmm [12] Ok, as a girl, is there any emmm… any things that you think should pay attention to on a night out?

Bin: Well, there must be. I’m vigilant even during the day. Let’s say if I feel someone is following me for a long time,  I can’t help but turning back, taking a look, and being so much vigilant. I would only be more careful during the night. For example, as a girl, if you see someone who is drunk, you are afraid they will sexually harass you(非礼 feili ). And then what else, like when they see you are drunk, they flirt (调戏 tiaoxi) with you. When you go to a place of entertainment, you have to pay more attention to people who are drunk. They might put sth in your cup, like what was talked on the TV, those TV legal programmes. Buy you a drink or something, or whatever, you name it.

Reed: When you go to a bar with friends, how do you choose a bar?

Bin: Just avoid those less informal, unauthorised (野的yede) ones, pick those more formal bars, depending on what we want to do. I can’t use the word “wild” or “unauthorised” here, maybe “chaotic” (乱 luan) is the right word.  I don’t know, maybe, in our impression, there will be some gangs, drug dealers in those “chaotic” bars, ah, sorry ha ha ha, got this impression from the TV show.

Reed: What effect do those chaotic bars, those people, have on you?

Bin: There must be, there must be more dangerous, more risk factors there.

Reed: More risk factors? Well, do you mean in those authorized nightclubs, there are also risk factors but less?

Bin: Of course there are. Where there are people, there exist risk factors.

Reed: Why you still go to bars even there are potential dangers?

Bin: Ah, but compared to the danger. Well, so, for example, if you’re going out tonight, the chances of it being dangerous are only 20 per cent, but it’s going to give you 60 per cent pleasure, so you’re definitely going to go for sure, you choose relaxation, and pleasure.

Reed: But what if you go to chaotic bars/clubs?

Bin: A chaotic bar is 40 or 50 per cent dangerous, and still remain 60 per cent chances of giving you pleasure. So in this situation, you’re definitely going to think seriously about it.

Reed: Cool, then What does pleasure mean to you?

Bin: Just relax and have fun? Don’t know how to explain it..ahhhh (omitted)

Reed: Is there any fun during the day? Compared to the night?

Bin: Yes there are. Evenings are more like a state of being, a state of play, a state of relaxation. However,  during the day, only because I did something, so I’m happy, there is still rationality there. But in the night, drinking wine makes me happy, not because of what other reasons or factors, drinking wine itself is happy. [3] In the disco bar,  you just go up to the stage and you have a good time, and it’s like, you know, everybody is just, you know, being together, you know, you’re kind of out of control, you’re kind of relaxed. In the daytime[sigh], the happiness could be derived from finishing the work and then getting relaxed and, say,  you’ve made a profit and get your wages, and so you are happy. That’s all.  Just a little more instinctive at night, you know. The day is more rational because xxx so I’m happy.

Reed: Which kind of pleasure is more important to you, or is it a matter of importance?

Bin: They are both important. Maybe, I need both approaches and need both kinds of pleasures.

Reed: What does nightlife mean to you?

Bin: A place to gain instinctive pleasure, I guess? Like when I was in my middle school, I didn’t know what to do these things, also don’t know how to gain such instinctive pleasure. But also I did not have so much trouble at that time, so the demand was not much. At that time, the nightlife was more, there were more elements of being rebellious. For example, at that time, nightlife was going to an Internet cafe or something. Anyway, it’s not the same as drinking, it’s not the same as entertaining and going to the pub, it’s more a sense of being rebellious for me. For example, going to the Internet bar, in fact, I was not very relaxed, but it was some rebellious activity. Drinking alcohol causes relaxation, it’s like a state between sleep and wakefulness

 

Reflections:

  1. An Advice from Anna: Considering ethic problems, when asking sensitive questions, me, the Interviewer shall also trust myself that I have the ability to develop a supportive conversation with my informants. Being relaxed, think about how we have a conversation with friends. (see the way how I was so reluctant and cautious to begin the conversation on the safety and harassment encountering during the night. See the * question)

 

  1. Comments from my friend Bin:

1) It would be better if I ask questions by topic and by some logic. From easy to hard. So she would cost less energy when transferring to another topic. And also, having more time on a single topic. This is due to that I didn’t prepare my questions or general topics beforehand. So I ask as I think. It’s the first interview I do related to my BA thesis, so I just want to use this exercise to start with my interviews. Do some exploration and see if my research question is feasible and can be gained some insights/ data from the interview.

2) Don’t be too polite!!! Bin says that sometime during the silence, and when she is struggling to answer the question, it’s not usually a sign that she doesn’t want to answer this question or this is a hard one, she is just thinking and organizing thoughts. I always interrupt and say “if you don’t want to ask it’s okay”. Just give her more time. And don’t be too afraid that she will be hurt by my questions.

 

  1. A big challenge: how to translate Chinese transcript to English without losing the pace and tone of languages??? Read more cases?
  2. Another big challenge in phrasing questions that can make people talk more about their subtle feelings, their multi-sensory, their emotions, which are hard to capture and describe only through languages for some informants. Try photos, videos, and sounds. I need Multi-modal methods to make my representation and recordings of my informants’ night world more vivid.  Do it virtually? Invite informants to take photos by themselves. But the limit is , I can’t be there. Also, here, the problem of translating people’s subtle usage of words that describe their feelings, those words sometimes have a strong cultural context, it’s hard to translate.