Confronting Modernity in the Cinemas of Taiwan and Mainland China

This book examines the formation of cultural identity in Taiwan and mainland China through paradigmatic films.

Tonglin Lu (Author)

9780521806770, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 August 2001

258 pages, 10 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.55 kg

"Lu's book will help scholars understand major themes in China's "fifth generation" directors, who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, and those directors of Taiwan known as "new cinema" filmmakers." CHOICE

This book is a cultural study of New Wave cinema that considers the experience of modernity and modernization in Taiwan and mainland China. While following separate paths, Taiwan and China have rapidly modernized, economically and culturally, since 1949. Despite differences in the political, social and economic systems of these countries, the process of modernization in both have challenged traditional cultural norms. Tonglin Lu examines how differences in cultural formation between Taiwan and China have influenced reactions to modernity and how cultural identity has taken different forms on both sides of the Taiwan straits. She illustrates how these differences in the experience of modernity are expressed through analysis of paradigmatic films produced in both countries, with a particular emphasis on their formal experiments.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. On the Cultural and Ideological Margins: 1. Continuity and subversion
2. Allegorical and realistic portrayals of the cultural revolution
Part II. In Search of Tradition in the Midst of Modernization: 3. From a voiceless father to a father's voice
4. Melodrama of the city
Part III. The Third-World Intellectual in the Era of Globalization: 5. The Zhang Yimou model
6. Culture and violence
7. A postcolonial reflection
Epilogue
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Filmography
Index.

Subject Areas: Regional studies [GTB], Films, cinema [APF]