Working the System

Motion Picture, Filmmakers, and Subjectivities in Mao-Era China, 1949–1966

Qiliang He

• Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
• Year: 2023
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9789888805228
• Subtopic: Chinese History
• Index: History

In Working the System: Motion Picture, Filmmakers, and Subjectivities in Mao-Era China, 1949–1966, Qiliang He inquired into the making of the new citizenry in Mao-era China (1949–1976) by studying five preeminent Shanghai-based filmmakers. These case studies shed light on how individuals' subjectivities took shape in the cinematic arena under a new sociopolitical system after 1949. He suggests that a filmmaker's subjectivity was not fixed or stable but constantly in flux, requiring a host of "subjectivizing practices" to (re)shape and consolidate it. These filmmakers endeavored to reap maximal benefits from Mao's sociopolitical system and minimize the disadvantages that would make them victims under the system. In short, Qiliang He argues that the filmmakers not only worked under the socialist system imposed upon them but also worked the system in their best interests.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Synposis
• Author Biography
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Series
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Wu Xun, Song Jingshi, and Lin Zexu
• 2. From Wu Xun to Lu Xun
• 3. “Putting New Wine into Old Bottles”
• 4. Wu Yonggang
• 5. The Making of Xie Jin in the PRC
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index