Queer Representations in Chinese-language Film and the Cultural Landscape [Hardcover]

Queer Representations in Chinese-language Film and the Cultural Landscape provides a cultural history of queer representations in Chinese-language film and media, negotiated by locally produced knowledge, local cultural agency, and lived histories. Incorporating a wide range of materials in both English and Chinese, this interdisciplinary project investigates the processes through which Chinese tongzhi/queer imaginaries are articulated, focusing on four main themes: the Chinese familial system, Chinese opera, camp aesthetic, and documentary impulse. Chaos discursive analysis is rooted in and advances genealogical inquiries: a non-essentialist intervention into the Chinese idea of filial piety, a transcultural perspective on the contested genre of film melodrama, a historical investigation of the local articulations of mass camp and gay camp, and a transnational inquiry into the different formats of documentary. This book is a must for anyone exploring the cultural history of Chinese tongzhi/queer through the lens of transcultural media.Acknowledgements,Introduction: Processing Tongzhi/Queer Imaginaries, Chapter 1: The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary, Chapter 2: Two Stage Sisters: Comrades, Almost a Love Story, Chapter 3: Mass Camp in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema, Chapter 4: Toward An Aesthetic of Tongzhi Camp, Chapter 5: Coming Out of The Box, Lalas with DV Cameras, Chapter 6: Performing Gender, Performing Documentary in Postsocialist China, Conclusion, Chinese Glossary,Bilingual Filmography,Selected Bibliography in English, Index.This work provides a cultural history of queer representations in Chinese-language film and media, negotiated by locally produced knowledge, local cultural agency, and lived histories.Chao Shi-yan's book is a jewelry box of delights, sparkling with sharp analysis of Chinese-language queer culture ranging from Maoist melodrama to Taiwanese musicals, lesbian documentaries, and adaptations from queer literary classics. l)