Queer Representations in Chinese-language Film and the Cultural Landscape

Description

Queer Representations in Chinese-language Film and the Cultural Landscape provides a cultural history of queer representations in Chinese-language film and media, negotiated by locally produced knowledge, local cultural agency, and lived histories. Incorporating a wide range of materials in both English and Chinese, this interdisciplinary project investigates the processes through which Chinese tongzhi/queer imaginaries are articulated, focusing on four main themes: the Chinese familial system, Chinese opera, camp aesthetic, and documentary impulse. Chao’s discursive analysis is rooted in and advances genealogical inquiries: a non-essentialist intervention into the "Chinese" idea of filial piety, a transcultural perspective on the contested genre of film melodrama, a historical investigation of the local articulations of mass camp and gay camp, and a transnational inquiry into the different formats of documentary. This book is a must for anyone exploring the cultural history of Chinese tongzhi/queer through the lens of transcultural media. Cover Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Processing Tongzhi/Queer Imaginaries Mapping the Research Field Research Method Book Structure Note on Translation Section I: Against Families, Against States 1. The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary Filiality as a Discourse, and the Cultural Policy of Martial-Law-Period Taiwan a) Filiality as a Discourse: A Historical Perspective b) The Cultural Policy of the Martial Law Period of Taiwan The Modernist Literary Movement, the Nativist Literary Movement, and Taiwan New Cinema a) From the Modernist Literary Movement to the Nativist Literary Movement b) Taiwan New Cinema The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary in Outcasts a) The “Queer Family-Dark Kingdom” Imaginary b) The Local and the Postcolonial through the Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary Other Tropes for the Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary a) Tsai Ming-liang’s Taipei Trilogy b) The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary: From Outcasts (1986) to Fleeing By Night (2000), and Beyond Concluding Remarks 2. Two Stage Sisters: Comrades, Almost a Love Story Two Stage Sisters and Its Historical Connections A Queer Feeling in a Socialist Political Melodrama a) Two Stage Sisters as a Socialist Political Melodrama b) A Queer Feeling in Two Stage Sisters Transformation of Qing through Two Stage Sisters and Yueju Concluding Remarks Section II: Camp Aesthetics 3. Mass Camp in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema Mass Camp and Gay Camp, A Discursive Approach The Discursive Formation of Mass Camp in Hong Kong Mass Camp Impulse in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema a) Hui Brothers Comedy and Mass Camp Impulse b) Gender Parody in Mass Camp c) Mass Camp and Hong Kong New Wave d) Mass Camp in Kung Fu Comedy e) Mass Camp and Hong Kong Nostalgia Film Concluding Remarks 4. Toward an Aesthetic of Tongzhi Camp Queer Structures of Feeling: Gay Shame and Gay Melancholy, Chinese Style a) Gay Shame b) Gay Melancholy c) A Temporal Dimension of the Queer Structure of Feeling From the Queer Feeling to Tongzhi Camp: A Case Study of Zero Chou Camping in The Hole Concluding Remarks Section III: Documentary Impulse 5. Coming Out of The Box, Lalas with DV Cameras Identity Politics and Production Methods Bringing out Lesbian Subjects in Contemporary China Lalas with DV Cameras Concluding Remarks 6. Performing Gender, Performing Documentary in Postsocialist China Performing Documentary: “Xianchang” Aesthetic and Reflexivity Performing Gender/Subjectivity through Reflexive Documentary Mapping Out Gender-Crossing Performance across the Geopolitical Landscape Situating Gender-Crossing Performance in Postsocialist China Concluding Remarks Conclusion Chinese Glossary Bilingual Filmography Bibliography Selected Bibliography in English Selected Bibliography in Chinese Newspaper Articles without Bylines Index List of Figures Figures 1-3 Posters for the Institute for Tongzhi Studies Events Figure 4 Poster for the INTERACT Event, Columbia University Figure 1.1 A-Qing and Dragon Prince in bed right after a sexual encounter (a scene cut from the Taiwan version) Figures 1.2.1-1.2.4 Stills from Outcasts Figures 1.3.1-1.3.4 Stills from Outcasts Figure 1.4 The Japanese-style Bell Tower of Donghe Temple Figure 1.5 The Minnan architectural style of the Guanyin Edifice (epitomized by its roof) combined with the Japanese style of the Edifice’s entrance Figure 1.6 A-Qing walks by the Japanese-style Bell Tower of Tonghe Temple (a scene cut from the Taiwan version) Figure 2.1 Still from Two Stage Sisters Figures 2.2.1-2.2.2 Stills from Two Stage Sisters Figures 2.3.1-2.3.2 Stills from Two Stage Sisters Figure 2.4 Still from Two Stage Sisters Figure 2.5 Still from Two Stage Sisters Figure 2.6 Still from Two Stage Sisters Figure 2.7 Still from Two Stage Sisters Figure 2.8 Still from Two Stage Sisters Figures 2.9.1-2.9.2 Stills from Two Stage Sisters Figure 4.1 Still from Corner’s Figure 4.2 Still from Splendid Float Figure 4.3 Still from Splendid Float Figure 4.4 Still from Death of Montmartre Figure 5.1 Still from Dyke March Figure 5.2 Still from The Box Figure 5.3 Still from Dyke March Figure 6.1 Still from Tang Tang Figure 6.2 Still from Tang Tang Figure 6.3 Still from Tang Tang Figure 6.4 Still from Mei Mei Figure 6.5 Still from Mei Mei