Celluloid comrades : representations of male homosexuality in contemporary Chinese cinemas / Song Hwee Lim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lim, Song Hwee, 1965-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Male homosexuality in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--China--History.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (270 p.)

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Without question, Song Hwee Lim has presented us with an exemplar of quality scholarship in the study of contemporary Chinese cinemas. By combining an impressive command of Chinese and Western literary as well as film source materials with a sophisticated mode of analysis and an unassuming argumentative style, he has authored an exhilarating book-one that not only treats cinematic representations of male homosexuality with great sensitivity but also demonstrates what it means to read with critical intelligence and vision." -Rey Chow, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Brown University"Celluloid Comrades is a timely demonstration of the importance of queer studies in the field of transnational Chinese cinemas. Lim dissects gay sexuality in selective Chinese-language films, and vigorously contests commonly accepted critical paradigms and theoretical models. Readers will find a provocative, powerful voice in this new book." -Sheldon H. Lu, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California at DavisCelluloid Comrades offers a cogent analytical introduction to the representation of male homosexuality in Chinese cinemas within the last decade. It posits that representations of male homosexuality in Chinese film have been polyphonic and multifarious, posing a challenge to monolithic and essentialized constructions of both 'Chineseness' and 'homosexuality.' Given the artistic achievement and popularity of the films discussed here, the position of 'celluloid comrades' can no longer be ignored within both transnational Chinese and global queer cinemas. The book also challenges readers to reconceptualize these works in relation to global issues such as homosexuality and gay and lesbian politics, and their interaction with local conditions, agents, and audiences.Tracing the engendering conditions within the film industries of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, Song Hwee Lim argues that the emergence of Chinese cinemas in the international scene since the 1980s created a public sphere in which representations of marginal sexualities could flourish in its interstices. Examining the politics of representation in the age of multiculturalism through debates about the films, Lim calls for a rethinking of the limits and hegemony of gay liberationist discourse prevalent in current scholarship and film criticism. He provides in-depth analyses of key films and auteurs, reading them within contexts as varied as premodern, transgender practice in Chinese theater to postmodern, diasporic forms of sexualities.Informed by cultural and postcolonial studies and critical theory, this acutely observed and theoretically sophisticated work will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students as well as general readers looking for a deeper understanding of contemporary Chinese cultural politics, cinematic representations, and queer culture.

Contents:

Screening homosexuality

The burden of representation : Ang Lee's The wedding banquet

The uses of femininity : Chen Kaige's Farewell my concubine and Zhang Yuan's East palace, west palace

Travelling sexualities : Wong Kar-wai's Happy together

Confessing desire : the poetics of Tsai Ming-liang's queer cinema

Fragments of darkness : Stanley Kwan as gay director.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

Filmography: p. 211-215.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-239) and index.

ISBN:

9780824861780

0824861787

9781435665552

1435665554

OCLC:

647928425