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Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _____________________________ ______________ Tianyi Yao Date Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema By Tianyi Yao Master of Arts Film and Media Studies _________________________________________ Matthew Bernstein Advisor _________________________________________ Tanine Allison Committee Member _________________________________________ Timothy Holland Committee Member _________________________________________ Michele Schreiber Committee Member Accepted: _________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ___________________ Date Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema By Tianyi Yao B.A., Trinity College, 2015 Advisor: Matthew Bernstein, M.F.A., Ph.D. An abstract of A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Film and Media Studies 2018 Abstract Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema By Tianyi Yao Around the year 2006, both Mainland China’s and Hong Kong SAR’s film industries had undergone significant transformations following unprecedented economic liberalization and volumes of capital flow as well as shifts in the political environments. The restructured film landscapes as a result facilitated a new mode of filmmaking that nonetheless inherited a historical concept from Chinese cinema: the wenyi (literary arts) film. Within this particular category of films, there emerged several key works that ventured into the dark realm of murder, possibly the most provocative subject matter accessible to wenyi cinema. Borrowing from a wide array of social theorists such as Michel Foucault, Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema dissects a series of Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong films produced after 2006, especially focusing on their formally distinct interrogations of the act of killing. The project thus reveals a complex web of genre subversions, social commentaries, philosophical contemplation, and homicidal violence woven across a group of notable films, two discrete film cultures, and a mix of Chinese and Western art histories. Through the analyses of five representative wenyi films featuring murder, this project explores the three key tenants that define contemporary wenyi cinema, namely tragedy, subtlety, and humanism. Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema By Tianyi Yao B.A., Trinity College, 2015 Advisor: Matthew Bernstein, M.F.A, Ph.D. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Film and Media Studies 2018 Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the generous support of Emory University’s Department of Film and Media Studies. I am especially indebted to Dr. Matthew Bernstein, my thesis advisor, who has spent many hours with my manuscript, consistently providing me with invaluable comments and suggestions. Each of the members of my thesis committee has offered me extensive personal and professional guidance and taught me a great deal about film studies as a discipline and academic work as a career. I would especially like to thank Dr. Tanine Allison and Dr. Michele Schreiber who were the first faculty members to lead me into this graduate program. I feel the most fortunate that I had worked with both Dr. Allison and Dr. Schreiber in multiple courses in my two short years at Emory. I would also like to thank Dr. Timothy Holland for being incredibly patient and accommodating despite joining my thesis committee relatively late. Other faculty and staff members of the Department of Film and Media Studies were no less supportive in my life and study. Dr. Daniel Reynolds and Dr. Ryan Cook have both given me crucial preliminary guidelines for my thesis. My Director of Graduate Studies Dr. Beretta Smith-Shomade has been most caring and encouraging in this whole process. Dr. James Steffen has inspired me tremendously both in class and in research. From the department office, Gary Fessenden, Maureen Downs, and Clare Sterling have helped me through all kinds of administrative issues, and they have fed us extremely well during every department gathering whether academic or recreational. Last but not least, my fellow colleagues in the graduate program—Sara Grasberg, Jumi Ekunseitan, and Rose Routh—have been indispensable not only to this work, but also to my great experience at Emory University. Their encouragement, advice, and friendship have made the often times arduous academic life much more lively and enjoyable. In the end, I would like to dedicate this work to my best friend and partner Chu Wu with whom I shall continue my life and work in China. Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Tragedy ....................................................................................................................... 23 Night and Fog Background and Synopsis ................................................................................ 23 Port of Call Background and Synopsis ..................................................................................... 26 Tragic Death at Home ............................................................................................................... 28 The Butcher by the Cliff ........................................................................................................... 38 Room Without a View .............................................................................................................. 49 Chapter 2: Subtlety ....................................................................................................................... 52 Exodus Background and Synopsis ............................................................................................ 52 Black Coal, Thin Ice Background and Synopsis ....................................................................... 55 Killing Softly ............................................................................................................................ 58 Long Arm of the Law ............................................................................................................... 70 Daylight Fireworks ................................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 3: Humanism ................................................................................................................... 81 A Touch of Sin Background and Synopsis ................................................................................ 81 Humanism and Misanthropy ..................................................................................................... 85 Serpent of Good and Evil .......................................................................................................... 95 “La lutte sanguinaire ou le neant?” ......................................................................................... 104 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 116 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 121 1 Introduction Around 1994, American film scholar Nick Browne noticed that in the new capitalist era of the People’s Republic of China, a specific kind of film stood out for its critical perspective towards both the socialist realism tradition which has dominated Chinese cinema for decades since 1949 and the Confucian cultural politics that has dominated the Chinese lifeworld for centuries. However, Browne used Western concepts, vocabulary and methodology to identify this group of films: “the most complex and compelling popular film form that embodies the negotiation between the traditional ethical system and the new state ideology, one that articulates the range and force of the emotional contradictions between them, is what is known in the West as ‘melodrama.’”1 Unfortunately, while Browne has described a kind of Chinese cinema very unique in its presentation and reception, his overly simplistic decision to equate it with melodrama overshadowed that specific combination of qualities—being complex, compelling, popular, and able to articulate a wide variety of emotional contradictions etc. 24 years later, Chinese cinema has undergone revolutionary