Chinese Face/Off
The Transnational Popular Culture of Hong Kong
Will be published approx. on 22. March 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
296 pages
978-0-252-07228-4 (ISBN)
Description
Jackie Chan's high-flying stunts, giant pandas, and even the unintentionally hilarious English subtitles that often accompany Hong Kong's films are among the many targets of Kwai-Cheung Lo's in-depth study of Hong Kong popular culture.
Drawing on current concepts of globalization as well as the theories of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Zizek, Chinese Face/Off explores the way in which fantasy operates in relation to ethnic and national identity. The book offers a critical perspective for approaching the question of cultural otherness by problematizing what it means to be Chinese and explaining how Hong Kong popular culture serves as an imaginary screen for its many compatriots seeking to understand what it means to be "Chinese" in a global age.
Examining topics including film, newspaper culture, theme parks, and kung-fu comics as well as the interaction of the Hong Kong film industry with Hollywood, Lo uncovers Hong Kong's importantly "transnational" identity defined in terms of complex relationships with mainland China, other diasporic communities (like Taiwan), and the West.
Drawing on current concepts of globalization as well as the theories of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Zizek, Chinese Face/Off explores the way in which fantasy operates in relation to ethnic and national identity. The book offers a critical perspective for approaching the question of cultural otherness by problematizing what it means to be Chinese and explaining how Hong Kong popular culture serves as an imaginary screen for its many compatriots seeking to understand what it means to be "Chinese" in a global age.
Examining topics including film, newspaper culture, theme parks, and kung-fu comics as well as the interaction of the Hong Kong film industry with Hollywood, Lo uncovers Hong Kong's importantly "transnational" identity defined in terms of complex relationships with mainland China, other diasporic communities (like Taiwan), and the West.
Reviews / Votes
"By revealing a temporal, porous, and fluid Chineseness in Hong Kong, Lo adds a critical perspective on identity consciousness in this globalizing world. Recommended."--Choice "Chinese Face/Off is an important and timely study that situates Hong Kong media within the global forces that form it and against which it defines itself. Lo's analyses of specific films are impressive and his close attention to texts admirably illuminates broader issues of ethnicity, location, and identity."--Gina Marchetti, author of Romance and the "Yellow Peril": Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction "Lo's inspiring work transcends typical treatments which fall too easily on current postmodernist theories. This concise, concrete study was a pleasure to read."--Tony Williams, professor and head of film studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale "Chinese Face/Off is an intelligent and timely study of Hong Kong's popular culture. Lo Kwai-cheung's sophisticated critical analyses provides a rigorous interrogation of the notion of 'Chineseness.'"--Esther C.M. Yau, chair of the Asian Studies department and professor of film and new media at Occidental CollegeMore details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
426 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-252-07228-4 (9780252072284)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Book
03/2005
University of Illinois Press
€45.81
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Kwai-Cheung Lo is an associate professor with the Department of English Language and Literature at Hong Kong Baptist University.