Cinematic Reconstruction of Historical Trauma in Twenty-First Century China
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Does Time Heal?: Cinematic Reconstruction of Historical Trauma in Twenty-first Century China By Shiya Zhang B.A., Jilin University, 2004 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies ©Shiya Zhang, 2018 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Does Time Heal?: Cinematic Reconstruction of Historical Trauma in Twenty-first Century China By Shiya Zhang Bachelor of Arts., Jilin University, 2004 Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard King, Supervisor (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Dr. Katsuhiko Endo, Departmental Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard King, Supervisor (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Dr. Katsuhiko Endo, Departmental Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Abstract While the whole world is talking about China’s rise in wealth and power, most focus has been placed on understanding China’s present policies and future orientations. However, very little attention is devoted to examining how historical consciousness affects present China. People take for granted that the past—particularly the landmark traumas of the communist decades— is a far-reaching historical discontinuity, and that China’s profound changes in every aspect of society have rendered the past increasingly irrelevant. However, this thesis argues that this assumption is wrong. This thesis explores the ways that Chinese filmmakers rearticulate the historical traumas which continue to affect Chinese society in the post-WTO era. I will identify three historical traumas that feature prominently in the interplay between past and present. The first, revolution and modernization, occupies a hegemonic status in socialist history. The second historical trauma is the tradition and modernization entrenched in Chinese modern historiography. The third is the 1980s and post-1989 modernization that has found a voice in the period of reform and opening-up. I refer to and analyze a selection of films made by Chinese Fifth Generation filmmakers in the new century—Coming Home (Guilai, dir. Zhang Yimou, 2014), Together (He ni zai yiqi, dir. Chen Kaige, 2002), and The Founding of a Republic (Jianguo daye, dir. iv Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin, 2009)—to understand these historical traumas. To situate traumatic history in a broader Asian context, I will also offer comparative study of memory of World War II in postwar Japan by undertaking a close reading of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Senjo no merii kurisumasu, dir. Nagisa Oshima, 1983). Employing a combination of methods, including textual analysis of films and institutional analysis of film industries, I will demonstrate that cinema finds innovative ways to engage the significant parts of national history and to generate remembrance and interpretation. Rather than reducing the Fifth Generation’s filmmaking trends in the new millennium to simplified government-appeasing or commercialization, this thesis emphasizes an understanding of their recollection of history, memory and trauma in a broader sociopolitical, economic, and cultural context. It shows how various factors—including the government’s cultural policy, economic transformation, and individual and generational sentiments—have influenced and shaped the historical discourses at specific historical moments. While affirming the significant role these films have played in keeping collective memories alive in the public sphere, this thesis also calls attention to their limitations, such as the problematic nostalgia for the Cultural Revolution, as well as the escapist imagination of cultural heritage and traditional values. v Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ............................................................................................................. ii Abstract .....................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... v List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1. A Conversation between Nagisa Oshima and Chen Kaige ............................................. 1 2. Topic and Theoretical Foundation: Trauma Underlying Historical Narratives .............. 5 2.1 Modernization and Revolution .............................................................................. 7 2.2. Modernization and Tradition................................................................................. 9 2.3 The 1980s and post-1989 Modernization ............................................................ 10 3. The Cinematic Reconstruction of the Traumatic History ............................................. 11 4. Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Self-Orientalization .............................................................................................. 17 4.2 National Allegory ................................................................................................. 18 4.3 From New Wave to Post-New Wave .................................................................... 19 4.4 Film Industry ........................................................................................................ 21 5. Methodology and Chapter Summaries .......................................................................... 23 Chapter 1 Amnesia and Reminiscence: The Recollection of the Cultural Revolution in Coming Home ......................................................................................................................... 28 1. The Cultural Revolution in Historical Amnesia ............................................................ 29 2. Modernity and Trauma .................................................................................................. 34 3. Chosen Memory, Chosen Nostalgia .............................................................................. 39 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 45 Chapter 2 Memory in Simulacra: The Restoration of Tradition in Together ........................ 47 1. Father’s Role as Patriarch ............................................................................................. 49 2. City Memory in Ultramodern Beijing ........................................................................... 55 3. Escapist Cultural Imagination of Traditional Values .................................................... 62 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 67 Chapter 3 Postsocialism Revisited: The Reworking of Revolutionary Legacies in The Founding of a Republic ............................................................................................................ 69 1. The Black Cannon Incident: Fundamental Ambiguities of Postsocialism .................... 71 vi 2. The Founding of a Republic: Rethinking the Future of Postsocialism ......................... 79 3. From Avant-garde Auteur to Official Producer ............................................................. 88 Chapter 4 A Japanese Case Study: Reinventing War Subject in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence ............................................................................................................................. 98 1. From Activist Intervention to Artificial Theatricality ................................................... 99 2. The Power and Powerlessness of Homosexual Representations ................................ 105 3. Scrambling Identity in Transnational Production ....................................................... 111 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 116 Works Cited............................................................................................................................ 118 Filmography ........................................................................................................................... 126 vii List of Figures Fig. 1-1. Coming Home (2014). Dandan performs The Red Detachment of Women in order to penetrate her mother’s memory loss. ....................................................................... 44 Fig. 2-1, 2-2. Together (2002). Two scenes are shown with montage sequence. Liu Cheng found baby Xiaochun, who was abandoned by his biological parents in the train station (2- 1); the teenaged Xiaochun chases his father in the train station (2-2). ...................... 54 Fig. 2-3, 2-4. The sharp contrast of new and old Beijing in Together (2002).......................... 60 Fig. 3-1. The Black Cannon Incident (1986). The meeting room designed with stylistic settings and composition. .......................................................................................................