Mainstream Culture Refocused

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Mainstream Culture Refocused MAINSTREAMMAINSTREAM CULTURECULTURE REFOCUSEDREFOCUSED 4%,%6)3)/.$2!-! 4%,%6)3)/.$2!-! 3/#)%49 !.$3/#)%49 !.$ 4(%02/$5#4)/.4(%02/$5#4)/. /&-%!.).')./&-%!.).'). 2%&/2- %2!#().!2%&/2- %2!#().! ZHONGZHONG XUEPINGXUEPING Mainstream Culture Refocused Mainstream Culture Refocused Television Drama, Society, and the Production of Meaning in Reform-Era China ZHONG XUEPING University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu © 2010 University of Hawai‘i Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zhong, Xueping. Mainstream culture refocused : television drama, society, and the production of meaning in reform-era China / Zhong Xueping. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8248-3417-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8248-3469-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Television plays, Chinese—History and criticism. 2. Television—Social aspects—China. 3. Popular culture—China. I. Title. PL2368.T44Z46 2010 791.45'70951—dc22 2010010583 An electronic version of this book is freely available thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high-quality books open access for the public good. The open-access ISBN for this book is 9780824882501 (PDF). More information about the initiative and links to the open-access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org. The open access version of this book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means that the work may be freely downloaded and shared for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. Derivative works and commercial uses require permission from the publisher. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To the memory of Charles Nelson (1925–2008): mentor and friend Contents ix Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION 1 Mainstream Culture Refocused: Toward an Understanding of Chinese Television Drama CHAPTER ONE 28 Looking through the Negatives: Filmic-Televisual Intertextuality and Ideological Renegotiations CHAPTER TWO 47 Re-collecting “History” on Television: “Emperor Dramas,” National Identity, and the Question of Historical Consciousness CHAPTER THREE 73 In Whose Name? “Anticorruption Dramas” and Their Ideological Implications CHAPTER FOUR 97 Beyond Romance: “Youth Drama,” Social Change, and the Postrevolution Search for Idealism CHAPTER FIVE 123 Also beyond Romance: Women, Desire, and the Ideology of Happiness in “Family-Marriage Drama” CHAPTER SIX 144 Listening to Popular Poetics: Watching Songs Composed for Television Dramas viii : CONTENTS 162 Epilogue: Intellectuals, Mainstream Culture, and Social Transformation 165 Notes 193 Glossary 197 Filmography 201 Bibliography 215 Index Acknowledgments The idea of writing a book on Chinese television drama began to take root in the year 2000, when a Chinese-television-related conference was held at Tufts University. I thank a former colleague, Wang Qingping, for proposing and orga- nizing the conference. I would also like to thank my colleagues, especially Vida Johnson and Christiane Romero, of the Department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures of Tufts University for making the conference possible and for actively participating in welcoming the Chinese delegation at the conference. I am also grateful to my colleague Mingquan Wang for his untiring willing- ness to help me troubleshoot computer-related problems. An American Council of Learned Societies research grant as well as a sum- mer faculty research grant and other research grants from Tufts University made it possible for me to make several trips to China. Invited talks and presen- tations were good opportunities for me to flesh out ideas and questions about how to approach what proved to be a challenging project. I thank Yomi Braester for inviting me to a conference on visuality at the University of Washington, Hong Zhang for asking me to give a talk on the phenomenon of Chinese televi- sion drama at Colby College, Zhang Zhen for having me give a talk on “history drama” at New York University, Chris Berry for inviting me to join a panel at the Association for Asian Studies on Chinese television drama, Paul Festa for the opportunity to present the chapter on television songs at a workshop on popular culture in Asia at Harvard University, and Wang Ban and Ching Kwan Lee for inviting me to present the chapter on anticorruption drama at a confer- ence held at University of Michigan. Many colleagues and friends have been, in various ways, inspirational over the years in confirming the importance of this project. Thanks are therefore due to Cai Rong, Cao Tianyu, Chen Huifen, Claire Conceison, Huang Zhen, Haiyan Lee, Lin Chun, Liao Kebin, Lu Yan, Wang Ban, and Ye Weili. I must also thank the two anonymous readers of the manuscript for this book for their constructive comments and suggestions. I am particularly grateful to Pamela x : AcKNOWLEDGMENTS Kelley at the University of Hawai‘i Press for her recognition of the significance of the book’s subject matter and for her professionalism, which made the revi- sion process smooth and efficient. Special thanks go to Lili Ch’en, whose upbeat spirit, sense of humor, and wisdom have sustained me throughout years of a sometimes drudging way of life. My heartfelt gratitude goes to Susan Greenberg, whose excellent editorial skills unfailingly help clean up a nonnative-language writer’s various mistakes, big and small. I would not have developed a critical sense of my own writing if not for Malcolm Griffith, who has been the most critical, sharp, and demanding reader of what I write in English. Indeed, I will never be able to thank Susan and Malcolm enough for the help they have given me over the years and for the special friendship I have with each of them. My final thanks are reserved for the late Charles Nelson, my mentor at Tufts Uni- versity, whose friendship was essential during the years I have been at Tufts. He was a liangshi yiyou to me, a most kind, considerate, supportive, and funny mentor and friend. I dedicate this book in memory of Charlie. INTROductiON Mainstream Culture Refocused Toward an Understanding of Chinese Television Drama ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ It seems only yesterday that scholars of Chinese literature and culture were all in an uproar about the “second renaissance” of modern Chinese literature and the new generations of Chinese filmmakers who burst onto the cultural scene of the 1980s. Since the early 1990s, however, this cultural landscape has evolved, and literature and film no longer occupy the central position they held during the 1980s. Among other things, they have had to contend with television and other forms of commercialized mass media and the Internet for public atten- tion. One of the major storytelling forms in China today exists on television as dianshiju (television drama) or dianshi lianxuju (television serial). In the last three decades, especially since Kewang (Yearnings, 1990), television dramas have generated widespread public attention and serious debate on a range of issues.1 Television drama has come to constitute a major part of contemporary China’s cultural landscape, and critics are hard-pressed to disregard its pres- ence and larger sociocultural implications. Yet many still do (despite burgeon- ing scholarly attention).2 The propagandistic and commercial dimensions of television culture and the mainstream and quotidian nature of television drama in particular have continued to ensure a minor status for Chinese television drama in the hierarchy of cultural forms studied by the humanities.3 Many critics have casually used the term “soap opera” to identify Chinese television drama. Indeed, even though the term “soap opera” originated in the United States, making visible the connection between corporate sponsorship and the production of daytime television dramas, today its connotation mainly pertains to the representational characteristics of television drama in general, referring to the melodramatic “codes” of its narrative construction.4 I will return to the notion of “melodrama” later in this Introduction, but as a cultural form and practice, has Chinese television drama, dianshiju, always been American soap opera’s double? If we hesitate to answer “yes,” it is chiefly because a ready 2 : iNTRODUCTION application of the term to Chinese television drama collapses one set of cultural production with another without fully recognizing their very different social, cultural, and historical conditions and contexts of meaning production. The casual application of “soap opera” in the Chinese case is therefore more indica- tive of an ongoing low-level intellectual interest in the topic of (Chinese) televi- sion drama rather than a clearly delineated understanding of the phenomenon. More than that, it is also indicative of an ongoing intellectual uncertainty about how to engage this cultural phenomenon. Along with some recent studies of Chinese television drama, mostly by media studies scholars, this book aims at changing these dynamics.5 Instead of merely lamenting and dismissing the rise of television culture and the impact of televisual dramas in China—a perspective largely informed by (Western) intellectual criticisms of “mass culture” and “mainstream popular culture”—I argue for a need to recognize that, along with the powerful rise of the televi- sion medium (which is now competing with the rise of yet another technol- ogy-aided medium, the Internet), Chinese “mainstream culture,” including both
Recommended publications
  • Master for Quark6
    Special Feature s e v i a t Realisms within Conundrum c n i e h The Personal and Authentic Appeal in Jia Zhangke’s Accented Films (1) p s c r e ESTHER M. K. CHEUNG p With persistent efforts on constructing personal and collective memories arising from the unprecedented transformations in post-socialist China, Jia Zhangke has produced an ensemble of realist films with an impressive personal and authentic appeal. This paper examines how his films are characterised by a variety of accents, images of authenticity, a quotidian ambience, and a new sense of materiality within the local-global nexus. Within a tripartite model of truth, identity, and performance, Jia’s oeuvres demonstrate the powerful performativity of different modes of realism arising out of a state of conundrum when China undergoes a transition from planned economy into wholesale marketisation and globalisation. The appeal of Jia Zhangke’s fined to documentary realism. His films serve to write up a accented cinema history of his generation: rom his first feature Xiao Wu (aka The Pickpocket , I made these films because I wanted to compensate 1997) to 24 City (2008), Jia Zhangke’s films have for what was not fulfilled. I must also emphasise that Fbeen characterised by an impressive personal and au - apart from the realist mode, there are other kinds of thentic appeal. As viewers, in about a decade’s time we have representation that can be called “visual memory”; for observed an ongoing process of the director’s negotiation example, Dali’s surrealist images in the early twentieth with realism as a mode of film representation.
    [Show full text]
  • Entire Dissertation Noviachen Aug2021.Pages
    Documentary as Alternative Practice: Situating Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Sinophone Cinemas by Novia Shih-Shan Chen M.F.A., Ohio University, 2008 B.F.A., National Taiwan University, 2003 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Novia Shih-Shan Chen 2021 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY SUMMER 2021 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Declaration of Committee Name: Novia Shih-Shan Chen Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Thesis title: Documentary as Alternative Practice: Situating Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Sinophone Cinemas Committee: Chair: Jen Marchbank Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Helen Hok-Sze Leung Supervisor Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Zoë Druick Committee Member Professor, School of Communication Lara Campbell Committee Member Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Christine Kim Examiner Associate Professor, Department of English The University of British Columbia Gina Marchetti External Examiner Professor, Department of Comparative Literature The University of Hong Kong ii Abstract Women’s documentary filmmaking in Sinophone cinemas has been marginalized in the film industry and understudied in film studies scholarship. The convergence of neoliberalism, institutionalization of pan-Chinese documentary films and the historical marginalization of women’s filmmaking in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), respectively, have further perpetuated the marginalization of documentary films by local female filmmakers.
    [Show full text]
  • A Reconsideration of Still Life Dai Jinhua Translated by Lennet Daigle
    Temporality, Nature Morte, and the Filmmaker: A Reconsideration of Still Life Dai Jinhua Translated by Lennet Daigle In the world of contemporary Chinese cinema, Jia Zhangke is, in many respects, an exception to the rule: he is a director whose films almost without fail depict the lower classes or, the majority of society; a director who has continually, from the start, been dedicated to making art films; a director who has fulfilled his social responsibilities as an artist while developing an original mode of artistic expression; a director who has made the transition from independent underground films to commercial mainstream films without losing his vitality, and without suffering exclusion from western film festivals; a director famous for his autobiographical narratives who has finally “grown up”, and who has successfully drawn on his experiences to explore broader social issues. As long as China’s fifth generation filmmakers continue to make commercial compromises, and the sixth generation remains stuck – have grown but not matured in terms of style and modes of expression – Jia Zhangke will remain an exception, or even “one of a kind.” Actually, after the period in which Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth and Zhang Yimou’s films had become synonymous with the moniker “Chinese cinema” and after Zhang Yuan’s nomination of “underground cinema” to refer to what Europeans think of as “Chinese cinema” – both post-Cold War but still Cold War-style designations, the release of Platform and the inverted portrait of Mao on the film poster unexpectedly heralded the arrival of the “Jia Zhangke era” of Chinese cinema in the new millenium’s international film world, as represented primarily by European film festivals and American film studies classes.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY An Jingfu (1994) The Pain of a Half Taoist: Taoist Principles, Chinese Landscape Painting, and King of the Children . In Linda C. Ehrlich and David Desser (eds.). Cinematic Landscapes: Observations on the Visual Arts and Cinema of China and Japan . Austin: University of Texas Press, 117–25. Anderson, Marston (1990) The Limits of Realism: Chinese Fiction in the Revolutionary Period . Berkeley: University of California Press. Anon (1937) “Yueyu pian zhengming yundong” [“Jyutpin zingming wandung” or Cantonese fi lm rectifi cation movement]. Lingxing [ Ling Sing ] 7, no. 15 (June 27, 1937): no page. Appelo, Tim (2014) ‘Wong Kar Wai Says His 108-Minute “The Grandmaster” Is Not “A Watered-Down Version”’, The Hollywood Reporter (6 January), http:// www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wong-kar-wai-says-his-668633 . Aristotle (1996) Poetics , trans. Malcolm Heath (London: Penguin Books). Arroyo, José (2000) Introduction by José Arroyo (ed.) Action/Spectacle: A Sight and Sound Reader (London: BFI Publishing), vii-xv. Astruc, Alexandre (2009) ‘The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: La Caméra-Stylo ’ in Peter Graham with Ginette Vincendeau (eds.) The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (London: BFI and Palgrave Macmillan), 31–7. Bao, Weihong (2015) Fiery Cinema: The Emergence of an Affective Medium in China, 1915–1945 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press). Barthes, Roland (1968a) Elements of Semiology (trans. Annette Lavers and Colin Smith). New York: Hill and Wang. Barthes, Roland (1968b) Writing Degree Zero (trans. Annette Lavers and Colin Smith). New York: Hill and Wang. Barthes, Roland (1972) Mythologies (trans. Annette Lavers), New York: Hill and Wang. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 203 G.
    [Show full text]
  • Texto Completo (Pdf)
    ISSN 2318-5104 | e-ISSN 2318-5090 CADERNO DE EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA E ESPORTE Physical Education and Sport Journal [v. 16 | n. 1 | p. 167-178 |2018] RECEBIDO: 13-03-2018 APROVADO: 16-05-2018 ARTIGO DE REVISÃO DOSSIÊ LUTAS Sobre o estilo de kung-fu garra de águia About the kung-fu style eagle claw DOI: Rafael Carvalho da Silva Mocarzel1,2 1Universidade do Porto (UP) 2Faculdade Redentor Metropolitana (Facredentor) RESUMO Como uma prática milenar, o kung-fu é um objeto de difícil estudo quando se observa as grandes transformações histórico- socioculturais ocorridas na China. Tal fato se agrava ainda mais quando se busca fontes de origem acadêmicas ou mesmo de confiança fora do idioma chinês. Objetivou-se neste trabalho apresentar uma revisão histórica de um popular estilo de Kung- Fu com quase mil anos de existência – o Garra de Águia. Metodologicamente, este estudo é de natureza qualitativa e nele fez-se uso da revisão de literatura e narrativas orais com a Grã-Mestra do estilo hoje no mundo. Foi possível observar diversas influências diretas e indiretas de ordem política, social e cultural na história do estilo e de seus praticantes até dias atuais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Kung-fu; História do esporte; Arte Marcial. ABSTRACT As a millenarian practice, Kung-Fu is an object of difficult study when one observes the great historical-sociocultural transformations that took place in China. This fact is further aggravated when one searches for academic sources of origin or even for trust outside the Chinese language. The objective of this work was to present a historical review of a popular Kung-Fu style with almost a thousand years of existence - the Eagle Claw.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF (With Publisher Permission. See Publisher Statement in Additional
    JEANNINE BAKER, KATE MURPHY, AND KRISTIN SKOOG Editors’ Introduction Transnational Broadcasting Historical studies from an international, global, transnational, or comparative angle have become increasingly popular in recent decades—all aspects of the “international turn” in historiographical writing. This collection takes its cue from Isabel Hofmeyr’s description of the transnational approach as being pri- marily concerned “with movements, flows, and circulation,” and with interrogat- ing “historical processes” that are “constructed in the movement between places, sites, and regions.”1 In , ten years after Kate Lacey made a case for studying the history of radio “as part of a wider matrix of communications media, rather than in isola- tion, and in cross cultural and cross-national contexts,” Lacey noted the growing number of cultural histories of transnational radio broadcasting.2 Transnational perspectives on the history of broadcasting more broadly are burgeoning inter- nationally.3 Michele Hilmes has pointed to the “inherent transnationalism” of broadcasting, which is compelled “to provide a conduit to speak to other na- tions and to let other influences stream into the national space.” These impulses are held in tension with the equally important responsibilities to disseminate national culture and to resist “foreign” or other unwanted cultural influences. The task of the “transnational media historian,” Hilmes suggests, is to pursue the usual flows of texts and people, but also to consider economic and institu- tional aspects of cultural production. “The study of broadcasting—particularly understood as a transnational form—requires attention to the sphere of politics and economics as much as to matters of creative influence, the development of aesthetic practices and forms, and their social and cultural reception.”4 Amore multifaceted approach to broadcasting history is perhaps required, one that rec- ognizes that flows of media content, ideas, and people can take multiple and complex pathways.
    [Show full text]
  • Gdańskie Studia Azji Wschodniej
    Komitet redakcyjny prof. zw. dr hab. Waldemar Jan Dziak, prof. zw. dr hab. Edward Haliżak, prof. zw. dr hab. Ewa Oziewicz (przewodnicząca), prof. zw. dr hab. Jerzy Zajadło, dr hab. Tadeusz Dmochowski, prof. UG, dr hab. Krzysztof Gawlikowski, prof. SWPS, dr hab. Sylwia Pangsy-Kania, prof. UG, dr hab. Jakub Potulski, prof. UG, dr hab. Józef Arno Włodarski, prof. UG, prof. dr Wu Lan, dr hab. Kamil Zeidler, prof. UG (dyrektor CSAW UG), dr Marceli Burdelski (wiceprzewodniczący), dr Adam Marszałek, Edward Kajdański Sekretarz redakcji Joanna Kamień Adres redakcji Centrum Studiów Azji Wschodniej ul. Armii Krajowej 110, 81-824 Sopot Redaktor Wydawnictwa Joanna Kamień Skład i łamanie Michał Janczewski Projekt okładki i stron tytułowych Andrzej Taranek Na okładce obraz autorstwa Edwarda Kajdańskiego przygotowany przez Comex S.A. Streszczenia w języku angielskim przygotowane przez autorów Publikacja sfinansowana przez Centrum Studiów Azji Wschodniej Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego © Copyright by Centrum Studiów Azji Wschodniej Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego © Copyright by Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego ISSN 2084-2902 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego ul. Armii Krajowej 119/121, 81-824 Sopot tel./fax 58 523 11 37, tel. 725 991 206 wyd.ug.edu.pl, kiw.ug.edu.pl SPIS TrEśCI WYKŁAD Dr hab. Kamil Zeidler, prof. UG, Uniwersytet Gdański Aforyzm chiński jako wypowiedź normatywna (wykład inauguracyjny, Uroczysta Inauguracja roku Akademickiego 2012/2013, Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 2 października 2012 r.) ..... 7 ArTYKUŁY Dr hab. Józef Włodarski, prof. UG, Uniwersytet Gdański Mgr Jerzy Stankiewicz, Gdańsk „Boks z Putny” jako sztuka wojenna. Praktyczne znaczenie systemu w okresie powstań tajpingów i bokserów w Chinach ............................ 12 Dr Przemysław Dąbrowski, Uniwersytet Gdański Myśl polityczno-prawna starożytnych Chin – próba syntezy .....................
    [Show full text]
  • Making the Palace Machine Work Palace Machine the Making
    11 ASIAN HISTORY Siebert, (eds) & Ko Chen Making the Machine Palace Work Edited by Martina Siebert, Kai Jun Chen, and Dorothy Ko Making the Palace Machine Work Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire Making the Palace Machine Work Asian History The aim of the series is to offer a forum for writers of monographs and occasionally anthologies on Asian history. The series focuses on cultural and historical studies of politics and intellectual ideas and crosscuts the disciplines of history, political science, sociology and cultural studies. Series Editor Hans Hågerdal, Linnaeus University, Sweden Editorial Board Roger Greatrex, Lund University David Henley, Leiden University Ariel Lopez, University of the Philippines Angela Schottenhammer, University of Salzburg Deborah Sutton, Lancaster University Making the Palace Machine Work Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire Edited by Martina Siebert, Kai Jun Chen, and Dorothy Ko Amsterdam University Press Cover illustration: Artful adaptation of a section of the 1750 Complete Map of Beijing of the Qianlong Era (Qianlong Beijing quantu 乾隆北京全圖) showing the Imperial Household Department by Martina Siebert based on the digital copy from the Digital Silk Road project (http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/II-11-D-802, vol. 8, leaf 7) Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout isbn 978 94 6372 035 9 e-isbn 978 90 4855 322 8 (pdf) doi 10.5117/9789463720359 nur 692 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) The authors / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2021 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise).
    [Show full text]
  • The Iafor Journal of Media, Communication & Film
    the iafor journal of media, communication & film Volume 3 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016 Editor: James Rowlins ISSN: 2187-0667 The IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film Volume 3 – Issue – I IAFOR Publications Executive Editor: Joseph Haldane The International Academic Forum IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film Editor: James Rowlins, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Associate Editor: Celia Lam, University of Notre Dame Australia, Australia Assistant Editor: Anna Krivoruchko, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Advisory Editor: Jecheol Park, National University of Singapore, Singapore Published by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan Executive Editor: Joseph Haldane Editorial Assistance: Rachel Dyer IAFOR Publications. Sakae 1-16-26-201, Naka-ward, Aichi, Japan 460-0008 IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film Volume 3 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016 IAFOR Publications © Copyright 2016 ISSN: 2187-0667 Online: JOMCF.iafor.org Cover photograph: Harajuku, James Rowlins IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film Volume 3 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016 Edited by James Rowlins Table of Contents Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction 3 Editor, James Rowlins Interview with Martin Wood: A Filmmaker’s Journey into Research 5 Questions by James Rowlins Theorizing Subjectivity and Community Through Film 15 Jakub Morawski Sinophone Queerness and Female Auteurship in Zero Chou’s Drifting Flowers 22 Zoran Lee Pecic On Using Machinima as “Found” in Animation Production 36 Jifeng Huang A Story in the Making: Storytelling in the Digital Marketing of 53 Independent Films Nico Meissner Film Festivals and Cinematic Events Bridging the Gap between the Individual 63 and the Community: Cinema and Social Function in Conflict Resolution Elisa Costa Villaverde Semiotic Approach to Media Language 77 Michael Ejstrup and Bjarne le Fevre Jakobsen Revitalising Indigenous Resistance and Dissent through Online Media 90 Elizabeth Burrows IAFOR Journal of Media, Communicaion & Film Volume 3 – Issue 1 – Spring 2016 Notes on Contributors Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Portrayal of Women in Propaganda Posters During the Chinese Cultural Revolution Yu Yang (Sally) Lin (Art)
    The Portrayal of Women in Propaganda Posters During the Chinese Cultural Revolution Yu Yang (Sally) Lin (Art) History Supervisor: Mrs. K. Puzio Sir Winston Churchill Secondary 0227 ­ May 2015 ii Abstract China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966­1976) was a ten year socio­political movement that not only changed many social aspects of life but drew emphasis to a unique form of art ­ visual propaganda. Cultural Revolution propaganda posters are visually impacting both in terms of colour use and composition, and convey strong political messages and nationalism. Due to these aspects, propaganda posters hold irreplaceable importance in the study of gender equality and the portrayal of women during the Cultural Revolution. The essay aims to analyze the message of the propaganda posters, and to what extent were they effective. The essay is composed of four major components, including historical context, method, analysis and conclusion. 208 posters within the Cultural Revolution time frame were taken from collector websites in the randomized order they appeared. The posters were then analyzed for their portrayal of women in Cultural Revolution propaganda posters with the use of visual analysis, numerical analysis and historical evidence. The analysis found three important connections between the female image and the Cultural Revolution. Firstly, the existence of women in the Cultural Revolution posters was not about gender equality, but to serve the CCP’s socialist ideological campaigns and industrial production needs. Secondly, this political drive behind the messages caused the portrayal of genders to become form of gender neutralization that favoured masculinization. Thirdly, the reduction genders inequality due to traditional confines prompted the loss of social diversity and exposed women to a new form of marginalization, where any aspects of femininity was ostracized.
    [Show full text]
  • China's Strategic Modernization: Implications for the United States
    CHINA’S STRATEGIC MODERNIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES Mark A. Stokes September 1999 ***** The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. This report is cleared for public release; distribution is unlimited. ***** Comments pertaining to this report are invited and should be forwarded to: Director, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 122 Forbes Ave., Carlisle, PA 17013-5244. Copies of this report may be obtained from the Publications and Production Office by calling commercial (717) 245-4133, FAX (717) 245-3820, or via the Internet at [email protected] ***** Selected 1993, 1994, and all later Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) monographs are available on the SSI Homepage for electronic dissemination. SSI’s Homepage address is: http://carlisle-www.army. mil/usassi/welcome.htm ***** The Strategic Studies Institute publishes a monthly e-mail newsletter to update the national security community on the research of our analysts, recent and forthcoming publications, and upcoming conferences sponsored by the Institute. Each newsletter also provides a strategic commentary by one of our research analysts. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter, please let us know by e-mail at [email protected] or by calling (717) 245-3133. ISBN 1-58487-004-4 ii CONTENTS Foreword .......................................v 1. Introduction ...................................1 2. Foundations of Strategic Modernization ............5 3. China’s Quest for Information Dominance ......... 25 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Cross-Fertilization in China's Film and Television
    2020 3rd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences & Humanities (SOSHU 2020) The Current Trends in China’s Film and Television Market: Cross-Fertilization in China’s Film and Television Shuying You* College of Humanities and Communications, Yango University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350015, China *corresponding author: [email protected] Keywords: Cross-fertilization, China, Film and television Abstract: This paper investigates the current trends in China's film and television market by analysing the gross box office performance of film/audience TV ratings as well as word of mouth regarding China’s film and television dramas. 1. Introduction After a general context of the current trends in China's film and television market, the cross-fertilization of China’s film and television will be analysed from the perspective of sharing of resources in terms of technical skills, directors and actors. Among them, the most notable is the sharing of actors. 2. Trends in the China’s Film and Television Market In recent years, the gross box office has steadily increased in China. It has risen from less than 1 billion yuan in 2002 to 10 billion yuan in 2010 (China Daily 2016). According to the data, 686 films were produced in the nation in 2015 (Li 2016). In 2015, the gross box office achieved a record at $6.8 billion, up 49% from the previous year. North America also witnessed a record in 2015, hitting an estimated $11 billion for the first time even though it had only increased by 7% (KNOWLEDGE@WHARTON 2016). According to the data from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the growth rate of China’s gross box office in 2015 was the highest since 2011, the gross box office in 2011 in China was just $1.51 billion (Brzeski 2015).
    [Show full text]