Wu, "Chinese language cinemas in transnational flux," 2004

Chia-chi Wu, Ph.D.

Abstract (Summary)
The study defines "Chinese language cinemas" [ huayü dianying ] as encompassing films made in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora. It assumes that the very emergence of the term attests to the participation of these three cinemas in the cultural economy of the global film market, particularly a significant shift from the notion of Chinese diaspora to that of Chinese transnationality. The first part of this project looks at how this shift has been prompted by the apparatus of international film festivals in the 80s and 90s. In three respective chapters, I examine the international festival reception of New Taiwanese Cinema, the Fifth Generation, and commercial Hong Kong film productions, and attempt to reveal the process in which these cinemas have been incorporated into the geographical imagination of modern or postmodern world cinema. The second part presents detailed analyses of two Chinese language films-- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon [ Wohu canlong ] (Ang Lee, 2001) and Yang and Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema [ Nansheng nüxiang ] (Stanley Kwan, 1996)--as they, in either their textuality or reception, bear relevance to the emergence of Chinese transnationality in the late phase of capitalism.

Advisor: James, David