On the Margins of Realism
Tracing Alternative Aesthetics in a Century of Chinese Cinema
- 248 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Realism has been endowed with a certain orthodox status as the aesthetic counterpart of China's modernization, and studies of Chinese film history have largely accepted a master narrative of realism as the guiding aesthetic of mainland Chinese cinema. This book argues, however, that alternative aesthetics to realism have always existed in Chinese cinema throughout its history, from the early silent era to the new century.
The alternative aesthetics are closely linked to the indigenous Chinese ontology of cinema, namely, shadowplay (yingxi ??). The author presents an alternative account through a close examination of four distinct visual, narrative, and stylistic devices or themes that recur in different periods of Chinese film history: the dream representation, the doubling of characters, the device of self-reflexivity, and the allegorical construction of space. By considering specific films and scenes as problematic sites where history, politics, and aesthetics collide, this book also seeks to elucidate the relationship between cinema and the multifaceted experiences of Chinese modernity with respect to subjectivity, ideology, identity, and nationality.
This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Chinese cinemas, realism, and modernism.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- List of Figures and Table
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Realism in Question and the Quest for Alternative Aesthetics in Chinese Cinema
- 1 Representing Dreams as Technique, Genre, or Style: Prohibition and Expression of Modern Subjectivity
- 2 The Doubling of (Female) Characters: Visual Modernity, Photographic Specificity, and Divided Identities
- 3 The Device of Self-Reflexivity: Self-Promotion, Demystification, and Self-Deconstruction
- 4 The Allegorical Construction of Space: Imagining China through Landscapes
- Coda
- Glossary
- Filmography
- Bibliography
- Index