Women Through the Lens: Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema

331 Pages·2003·2.34 MB·English

by  Shuqin Cui

Women Through the Lens
Chinese cinema
(Continued from front flap) Cui Gender and nation have often served as narrative
“Shuqin Cui’s book is the first ofits kind:a study ofthe complex discursive interaction between subjects and visual tropes in Chinese cinema.The
Filmmakers became keenly aware ofvisuality as a
gender and nation in Chinese film.Arguing forcefully and with careful attention to the films as intersections between the two that occur in cine-
language system as they experimented with modes
Gender and Nation in a Century matic representation,however,have received little
films,she contends that images ofwomen have been appropriated by Chinese filmmakers not only
of representation. Cui documents and discusses
critical attention.Women Through the Lensraises
the cinematic spectacle of woman as essential to for the nation-building project and class struggle,but for intellectual ends such as cultural critique of Chinese Cinema
the question ofhow gender,especially the image of
such widely popular films as Chen Kaige’s Farewell and national allegory.From leftist films ofthe 1930s to the Hong Kong postmodern cinema ofthe
woman,acts as a visual and discursive sign in the
My Concubineand Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou.In these
present,Cui shows how Chinese filmmakers,with the exception ofa handful ofrecent female creation of the nation-state in twentieth-century
films,the screen image of the Chinese woman is
directors,have all but silenced female subjectivity even as they draw attention to women’s oppres- China. Tracing the history of Chinese cinema
both nationalized and sexualized,and for interna-
through the last hundred years from the perspec-
tional audiences she is the exotic and erotic other, sion.This is a feminist study,but one that takes a wisely skeptical attitude toward the application
tive oftransnational feminism,Shuqin Cui reveals
the image of China. Finally, the author brings a ofWestern feminist assumptions to the Chinese cultural context.Women Through the Lens is a
how women have been granted a “privileged visi-
feminist perspective to the issues of gender and
book that all scholars ofgender representation in film will want to read.”—Kirk Denton,Ohio bility” on-screen while being denied discursive
nation by turning her attention to women directors
State University W positions as subjects.In addition,her careful atten-
and their self-representations. She reveals a con-
tion to the visual language system ofcinema shows
o
cealed female identity at the margins where
m how “woman”has served as the site for the narra-
women directors attempt to inject female con- “Women Through the Lensbreaks new ground by tracing the relationship between women and
tion of nation in the context of China’s changing
e
sciousness and perspective even as they submit to
Chinese cinema from transnational feminist perspectives.While offering meticulous textual analy- n social and political climate.
the conventions necessary to get their films pro-
ses ofselective key films,the book covers the entire history oftwentieth-century Chinese cinema T
duced.She concludes that ifChinese women con-
h Placing gender and nation in a historical frame-
tinue to count on the promises of nationalist and examines important periods and topics such as early film production,socialist cinema,the
r work,the book first shows how early productions
discourse for their emancipation,they may fail to o
new wave,and women’s films.The author adroitly unpacks and navigates a series ofkey questions u had their roots in shadow-plays,a popular form of
realize that the need to free feminism from nation-
and issues in Chinese film history:nation and narration,image and representation,identity and g public entertainment.These films were soon sup-
alist narratives is a prerequisite for freeing oneself. h
planted by cinematic narratives meant to further
difference,gender and feminism,socialism and capitalism.This is an insightful major study in
t the causes ofsocial reform and strident national-
h
Well conceived and intelligently written, Women both scope and depth,and should be consulted by students interested in film studies,gender stud- e ism. As leftist filmmaking turned to the female
Through the Lenswill appeal to scholars and stu-
ies,and modern China.”—Sheldon H.Lu,University ofCalifornia at Davis L image to signify a motherland suffering foreign
dents in the fields offilm,gender,and Asian stud-
e invasions as well as domestic afflictions, gender
ies, and to general readers interested in Chinese n
and nation became inextricably intertwined in the
Jacket illustrations (clockwise from top left):Farewell My Concubine,1993;Ruan Lingyu,1992; s
cinema.
cinematic representation of China.In examining
Sacrificed Youth,1985;Lovers’Griefover the Yellow River,1999.Illustrations reprinted by permis-
the “Red Classics”ofsocialist cinema as a mass cul-
sion ofthe China Film Archive,Beijing.
tural form,the book shows how the utopian vision
of emancipating the entire proletariat, women
included, produced a collective ideology that
Shuqin Cui is assistant professor at Southern Jacket design:Argosy
declared an end to gender difference. Sex and
Methodist University.
desire cannot be eradicated,however,and one of
University ofHawai‘i Press the most valuable contributions ofthis work is its
Honolulu,Hawai‘i 96822-1888 consideration ofthe fate ofgender difference in a
milieu ofofficial suppression.
www.uhpress.hawaii.edu
Shuqin Cui
The emergence ofNew Wave films brought height-
ened international attention to Chinese cinema.
(Continued on back flap)
Women Through
the Lens

Women Through
the Lens
GENDER AND NATION
IN A CENTURY OF CHINESE CINEMA
Shuqin Cui
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I PRESS
HONOLULU
© 2003 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
08 07 06 05 04 03 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cui,Shuqin.
Women through the lens :gender and nation in a century of Chinese cinema / Shuqin
Cui.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8248-2532-2 (hardcover :alk.paper)
1.Motion pictures—China—History. 2.Women in motion pictures. 3.Sex role in
motion pictures. I.Title.
PN1993.5.C4 C85 2003
791.43'0951—dc21
2002010919
Chapters 2 and 6 of the present work appeared in slightly
different versions as noted below. “Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage:
The (Im)possible Engagement between Feminism and Postmodernism,” by
Shuqin Cui, from Cinema Journal39:4, pp. 60–80,
copyright ©2000 by the University of Texas Press, all rights reserved;
and “Gendered Perspective: The Construction and Representation
of Subjectivity and Sexuality in Ju Dou,” by Shuqin Cui, in
Transnational Chinese Cinemas: Identity, Nationhood, Gender,
ed. Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu, pp. 303–329, copyright ©1997
by the University of Hawai‘i Press, all rights reserved.
Illustrations reprinted by permission of
the China Film Archive, Beijing.
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper
and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Council on Library Resources.
Designed by Argosy
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
(cid:1)(cid:2) !"#$%&'()*
To my parents and daughter

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
PARTONE:EARLYPRODUCTION 1
1 From Shadow-Play to a National Cinema 3
2 Reconstructing History:
The (Im)possible Engagement between Feminism
and Postmodernism in Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage 30
PARTTWO:SOCIALISTCINEMA 49
3 Constructing and Consuming the Revolutionary
Narratives 51
4 Gender Politics and Socialist Discourse
in Xie Jin’s The Red Detachment of Women 79
PARTTHREE: THENEWWAVE 97
5 Screening China:National Allegories and
International Receptions 99
6 The Search for Male Masculinity and Sexuality
in Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou 127
7 Subjected Body and Gendered Identity:
Female Impersonation in Chen Kaige’s FarewellMy
Concubine 150
CONTENTS
viii
PARTFOUR:WOMEN’SFILMS 169
8 Feminism with Chinese Characteristics? 171
9 Desire in Difference:Female Voice and Point of View
in Hu Mei’s Army Nurse 200
10 Transgender Masquerading in Huang Shuqin’s
Human,Woman,Demon 219
Postscript 239
Filmography 249
Notes 269
Works Cited 287
Index 299
Acknowledgments
My academic interest in and passion for the subjects of gender and cinema
studies began during my graduate years at the University of Michigan.
Now, when years of research have finally reached printed form, my heart-
felt thanks go first to Frank E. Beaver and Yi-tsi Feurwerker. Professor
Beaver’s film classes drew me to the visual art form that I soon fell in love
with. Professor Feurwerker’s seminar on women and writing inspired me to
explore gender issues in China from a cross-cultural perspective.
The writing project could not have evolved without generous institu-
tional support. Research and travel grants from the Office of Research and
Graduate Studies at Southern Methodist University (S.M.U.) in 1997 and
2000 enabled me to visit China to meet with film directors and scholars and
to collect visual and written materials. In addition, a semester of sabbatical
leave in 1999 allowed me to concentrate on writing.
I also received crucial support and encouragement from colleagues and
friends during the writing process. The book would not have been com-
pleted without the assistance of my two dear friends David Black and
Richard Cogley. Each of them read both the draft and the final versions of
the entire manuscript. Their thoughtful responses were invaluable. I’m also
fortunate to have other close friends at S.M.U., Lisa Ahnert, Marie-Luise
Gaettens, and Zoe Urbanek, whose hearts and homes have always been
open to me. In addition, William Beauchamp and Gordon Birrell, the for-
mer and the current department chair of Foreign Languages & Literatures,
have provided me with professional guidance and administrative support.
Also important in my life are my two dear cats, Mimi and Nemo, whose
presence gave me peace of mind in so many stressful moments.
Working with the editors of the University of Hawai‘i Press has been a
wonderful experience. Senior editor Patricia Crosby ensured my commit-
ment to the Press by promptly evaluating my manuscript and deciding to
support it for publication. Thereafter, managing editor Cheri Dunn guided
the editing and publication process with utmost efficiency, and copy editor
Bojana Ristich handled the manuscript with amazing thoroughness. I am
also indebted to the anonymous readers whose comments helped me to
strengthen the manuscript.
Finally, I’m dedicating this book to my parents, so far away from the
States yet so close to my heart, and to my daughter Lulu, now a college stu-
dent, for understanding why writing consumed so much of my time.