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Places to Look for M/Other- Heterodox Discourse on Gender Among Contemporary Chinese Women: a Cross-Cultural Feminist Approach

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Places to Look for M/Other- Heterodox Discourse on Gender Among Contemporary Chinese Women: a Cross-Cultural Feminist Approach Places to Look for M/other- Heterodox Discourse on Gender among Contemporary Chinese Women: A Cross-Cultural Feminist Approach ______________________ by Casper Lötter Places to Look for M/other- Heterodox Discourse on Gender among Contemporary Chinese Women: A Cross-Cultural Feminist Approach by Casper Lötter Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Artium (Philosophy) Research Faculty of Arts Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Supervisor/Promoter: Prof Bert Olivier December 2013 i Declaration I, CASPER LöTTER, in accordance with Rule G4.6.3, hereby declare that: This treatise is the result of my own original research and that this work has not previously been submitted for assessment to another university. This research contained in this treatise is being submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Artium (Philosophy) Research in the Faculty of Arts at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. All sources used or referred to in this treatise have been documented and recognised. I hereby give consent for my treatise, if accepted, to be made available to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Library and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. SIGNED: CASPER LöTTER DATE: 25 NOVEMBER 2013 ©2013 Casper Lötter All rights reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Any project of this magnitude necessarily owes debts to other people‟s input during the various stages of its inception, progress and eventual conclusion. Firstly, of course, acknowledgement is due to my promoter, Bert Olivier (a perfectionist of note), for his patient and wise guidance during all stages of my research. Secondly, my friend Koos van Eeden, for his initial rationalization of and moral support for the project, at its inception. Thirdly, to my wife Min Duopei, who provided the much needed cultural context to understand the many issues which arose from the research and writing up of this cross- cultural project. Fourthly, acknowledgement is due to my son Andrew (Andy, himself now a successful first year student at NMMU) for help with proof-reading and tracking down elusive references (memorably, Andrea Hurst‟s book on methodology). He was also an inexhaustible source of enthusiasm for and encouragement during the completion of this dissertation. (Four is after all his favourite number.) Fifthly, to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, for assistance at various levels without which this project would not have been possible. Sixthly, to my own M/other, who passed away in 2001 (although the exact date barely matters), but whose continuing and persistent “uncanny” presence in my life since has ensured that I cannot carry on with my own life until I complete this dissertation. This project was my writing cure. I am mindful of Ẑiẑek‟s insistence on the importance of resurrecting and laying to rest the ghosts of abandoned revolutions (my own M/other case in point) – may you (also) now rest in peace. Finally, to the person or persons who in soft and silent ways helped to bring this dissertation to finality, Selina Lotter and Alon Serper – you know who you are: thank you. iii CONTENTS Declaration…………………………………………………………………………...………..i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………...ii Contents……………………………………………………………………………………...iii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………iv INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………1 CHAPTER ONE: A FEMINIST APPROPRIATION OF KRISTEVA’S ‘ABJECTION’………………………………………………………………………………..4 CHAPTER TWO: CROSS-CULTURAL FEMINIST ANALYSIS AS A METHODOLOGY OF CONSIDERED CHOICE……………………………………….38 CHAPTER THREE: SUBMERGED MATERNAL DISCOURSE IN THE MOVING PICTURE……………………………………………………………………………………59 CHAPTER FOUR: ORTHODOX DISCOURSE ON GENDER IN CONTEMPORARY MAINLAND CHINA……………………………………………………………………….77 CHAPTER FIVE: GONG LI AND DISSENTING DISCOURSE ON GENDER IN CHINESE CINEMA………………………………………………………………………101 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………….143 BIBLIOGRAPHY/FILMOGRAPHY……………………………………………………146 iv ABSTRACT This study proceeds on the assumption that maternal discourse in the West, according to Kristeva, is repressed, which has resulted in the serious fracture of the mother-daughter relationship and seeks to isolate a restorative model in contemporary Chinese culture. Chapter One explores the feminist claim that this fractured relationship is the result of patriarchal oppressions (and the cause of twice as many women than men suffering depression) and attempts to reconcile feminist psychology with Kristeva‟s thesis that abjection per se is the cause of widespread depression among women. The next chapter delineates the features of a cross-cultural feminist analysis, which includes exploring notions of Foucaultian and Lacanian discourse, by situating gender as a tool within the context of feminist and postcolonial perspectives. An argument is made that cinema is a privileged site to cull material from which to probe discourses on m/other and the thesis of a sunken maternal metaphor across all cinematic genres is demonstrated. Contemporary Chinese culture is scrutinized for possibly curative discourses and Bourdieu‟s idea of „rebel‟ and „orthodox‟ discourse models is employed to this end. After finding dominant discourse on gender in contemporary Chinese societies unsatisfactory for this purpose, I examine three contemporary Chinese films, with Gong Li as the female lead, in which I unearth two rebel discourses on m/otherhood. I argue that men and boys need to be encouraged to develop their aptitude and skills to nurture and care. This will allow women much needed space and time to come to terms with themselves and their own needs. In short, women and especially m/others, worn-out from guilt and expectations, are desperate for nurturance themselves. Keywords: Kristeva, maternal discourse, patriarchy, cross-cultural feminist analysis, gender, Chinese cinema, Gong Li, mother-daughter relationship, rebel/orthodox discourse 1 INTRODUCTION In a thought-provoking passage, Kristeva (1986a:163) relates that the historical course of Christianity enabled maternity (understood as the ability to carry a fetus and deliver a child at birth) to become absorbed into femininity (specifically Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox branches), which is why the contemporary understanding of the latter concept is mothering/caring/nurturing. The linking of femininity with mothering is a “naturalizing” strategy of ideology in many contemporary cultures. With the secularization of Europe and other European diaspora communities around the globe, according to Kristeva, m/otherhood as a (dominant) discourse became eroded and for women who nevertheless wish to have that experience, the need for healthy discourse on maternity became apparent. Aside from the discursive neglect of m/otherhood, the jouissance (ecstatic joy) associated with motherhood is known to be suppressed (Kristeva 1982:39). I argue, taking my cue from Kristeva’s reasoning, that even if we do not wish to be m/others ourselves, our need for understanding the place of and coming to grips with the loss of our first love, M/other, is in itself a pressing need. As Lacan, reported by Stoltzfus (1996:5, 8, 10, 17), puts it so lyrically, our engagement with literature is a never-ending attempt, bound to fail again and again, to return to the Garden of Eden, and clues to this task is hidden in the folds of the narrative text (the message from the unconscious). One of the legacies of the so-called dearth in discourse on the mother is the battle–scarred relationship between mothers and daughters in the West. Since this relationship is the hinge on which the construction of a woman’s psyche turns, at least in the West, its poor quality is a major cause of mental disease among women, depression and agoraphobia being cases in point, at least in the West. Jeanette Winterson (2012:103) gives us a vivid recollection of her almost unbelievably contra- nourishing relationship with her m/other. 2 We circled each other, wary, abandoned, full of longing. We came close but not close enough and then we pushed each other away forever. According to the authors of a feminist text on the psychology of women, Eichenbaum & Orbach (1988:40-41), the fractured relationship between mother and daughter is true for all women under conditions of patriarchal oppression(s). Since there is no space or time attached to their statement and it is essentially ahistorical, I have my reservations about the universal application of this psychological construct. One reason, among others, why a cross-cultural (feminist) methodology is a good choice in looking for models in another culture (contemporary mainland China being the case in point, which might assist us in reviving/nourishing depleted discourse on m/othering in the West) is to possibly test that hypothesis cross-culturally. In Chapter Two I attempt to make out a rational argument for my preference of such a methodology over other worthy candidates, but reason cannot, of course, unearth the unconscious motives for (every) choice we make. Discourse is explained using the ideas of Foucault and Lacan as well as the rationale for using gender as a tool of analysis in my reading of three selected cinematic Chinese texts. Chapter Three is devoted to a brief overview of film theory, in the context of Freud’s notion of the inevitable return of the uncanny, specifically the reception of cinematic images by a gendered audience. In this chapter I also lay the foundations for understanding the neglected
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