当官方媒体在电视电影上大肆鼓吹儒家道德，古代典故和尚武精神之时 ， 《 蜗居》则覆盖了当代中国社会中那些影响人们生活的阴暗面：官员腐败，包二奶甚至是房奴。
While the official media are flooding television and cinema screens with propaganda about Confucius, ancient fairytales, and kung fu epics, “Wo Ju” engages a broad cross-section of contemporary society, which sees in it troubling aspects of their own lives: official corruption, mistresses, even house slaves.