
Celluloid Comrades
Representations of Male Homosexuality in Contemporary Chinese Cinema
Song Hwee Lim(Author)
University of Hawai'i Press
Published on 31. August 2006
Book
Hardback
364 pages
978-0-8248-2909-4 (ISBN)
Description
Celluloid 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.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Honolulu, HI
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
10 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
562 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8248-2909-4 (9780824829094)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Song Hwee Lim teaches transnational Chinese cinemas and contemporary Chinese literature at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Leeds, where he is also co-director of the MA in World Cinemas Program.