This book 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. Chao's 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.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Processing
Tongzhi/Queer Imaginaries
- Mapping the Research Field
- Research Method
- Book Structure
- Note on Translation
- Section I: Against Families, Against States
- 1. The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary
- Filiality as a Discourse, and the Cultural Policy of Martial-Law-Period Taiwan
- a) Filiality as a Discourse: A Historical Perspective
- b) The Cultural Policy of the Martial Law Period of Taiwan
- The Modernist Literary Movement, the Nativist Literary Movement, and Taiwan New Cinema
- a) From the Modernist Literary Movement to the Nativist Literary Movement
- b) Taiwan New Cinema
- The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary in Outcasts
- a) The “Queer Family-Dark Kingdom” Imaginary
- b) The Local and the Postcolonial through the Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary
- Other Tropes for the Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary
- a) Tsai Ming-liang’s Taipei Trilogy
- b) The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary: From Outcasts (1986) to Fleeing By Night (2000), and Beyond
- Concluding Remarks
- 2. Two Stage Sisters: Comrades, Almost a Love Story
- Two Stage Sisters and Its Historical Connections
- A Queer Feeling in a Socialist Political Melodrama
- a) Two Stage Sisters as a Socialist Political Melodrama
- b) A Queer Feeling in Two Stage Sisters
- Transformation of Qing through Two Stage Sisters and Yueju
- Concluding Remarks
- Section II: Camp Aesthetics
- 3. Mass Camp in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema
- Mass Camp and Gay Camp, A Discursive Approach
- The Discursive Formation of Mass Camp in Hong Kong
- Mass Camp Impulse in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema
- a) Hui Brothers Comedy and Mass Camp Impulse
- b) Gender Parody in Mass Camp
- c) Mass Camp and Hong Kong New Wave
- d) Mass Camp in Kung Fu Comedy
- e) Mass Camp and Hong Kong Nostalgia Film
- Concluding Remarks
- 4. Toward an Aesthetic of Tongzhi Camp
- Queer Structures of Feeling: Gay Shame and Gay Melancholy, Chinese Style
- a) Gay Shame
- b) Gay Melancholy
- c) A Temporal Dimension of the Queer Structure of Feeling
- From the Queer Feeling to Tongzhi Camp:
A Case Study of Zero Chou
- Camping in The Hole
- Concluding Remarks
- Section III: Documentary Impulse
- 5. Coming Out of The Box, Lalas with DV Cameras
- Identity Politics and Production Methods
- Bringing out Lesbian Subjects in Contemporary China
- Lalas with DV Cameras
- Concluding Remarks
- 6. Performing Gender, Performing Documentary in Postsocialist China
- Performing Documentary: “Xianchang” Aesthetic and Reflexivity
- Performing Gender/Subjectivity through Reflexive Documentary
- Mapping Out Gender-Crossing Performance across the Geopolitical Landscape
- Situating Gender-Crossing Performance in Postsocialist China
- Concluding Remarks
- Conclusion
- Chinese Glossary
- Bilingual Filmography
- Bibliography
- Selected Bibliography in English
- Selected Bibliography in Chinese
- Newspaper Articles without Bylines
- Index
- List of Figures
- Figures 1-3 Posters for the Institute for Tongzhi Studies Events
- Figure 4 Poster for the INTERACT Event, Columbia University
- Figure 1.1 A-Qing and Dragon Prince in bed right after a sexual encounter (a scene cut from the Taiwan version)
- Figures 1.2.1-1.2.4 Stills from Outcasts
- Figures 1.3.1-1.3.4 Stills from Outcasts
- Figure 1.4 The Japanese-style Bell Tower of Donghe Temple
- Figure 1.5 The Minnan architectural style of the Guanyin Edifice (epitomized by its roof) combined with the Japanese style of the Edifice’s entrance
- Figure 1.6 A-Qing walks by the Japanese-style Bell Tower of Tonghe Temple
(a scene cut from the Taiwan version)
- Figure 2.1 Still from Two Stage Sisters
- Figures 2.2.1-2.2.2 Stills from Two Stage Sisters
- Figures 2.3.1-2.3.2 Stills from Two Stage Sisters
- Figure 2.4 Still from Two Stage Sisters
- Figure 2.5 Still from Two Stage Sisters
- Figure 2.6 Still from Two Stage Sisters
- Figure 2.7 Still from Two Stage Sisters
- Figure 2.8 Still from Two Stage Sisters
- Figures 2.9.1-2.9.2 Stills from Two Stage Sisters
- Figure 4.1 Still from Corner’s
- Figure 4.2 Still from Splendid Float
- Figure 4.3 Still from Splendid Float
- Figure 4.4 Still from Death of Montmartre
- Figure 5.1 Still from Dyke March
- Figure 5.2 Still from The Box
- Figure 5.3 Still from Dyke March
- Figure 6.1 Still from Tang Tang
- Figure 6.2 Still from Tang Tang
- Figure 6.3 Still from Tang Tang
- Figure 6.4 Still from Mei Mei
- Figure 6.5 Still from Mei Mei
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
Login to your account