In between and across: girls, young women and post-feminism in contemporary Chinese girlhood films
Publication Date
July 20, 2024
Creator
Abstract
The year of 2013 witnessed the image of girls and young women becoming hyper-visible on the contemporary Chinese film screen. Among the top ten highest-grossing films of that year in mainland China, there were three that featured girls and young women as the main characters: So Young (致我们终将逝去的青春, dir. Wei Zhao, 2013), Finding Mr. Right (北京遇上西雅图, dir. Xiaolu Xue, 2013) and Tiny Times (小时代, dir. Jingming Guo, 2013). The commercial success of these films brought the story of girlhood to the spotlight of the Chinese film industry, as well as unveils a nearly decade-long obsession with portraying girls and young women in the contemporary Chinese films. Although these girls and young women focused films are gradually (if not already) becoming a lucrative film genre for producers and studios as well as a valuable field to explore, the level of attention paid to this subject by academics remains low. By situating these girl-centred films into the framework of Huallywood, I use the term Shaonv Qingchunpian (少女青春片) in Chinese and Girlhood Films in English, to describe a group of Chinese mainstream films that not only prominently feature girls as central characters and concentrate on issues relevant to girls, but also strongly appeal to young female audiences.
This thesis explores how girls and young women are depicted on the contemporary Chinese film screen between 2008 to 2018, the time during which the industrialization of Chinese cinema was growing to reach maturity. As the portrayal of girls and young women are celebrated as well as regulated, I argue for its ambivalent representations. My methodology is combined, with this thesis primarily utilizing textual analysis as its foundational method, along with the support of genre studies, narrative analysis, mise en scène analysis as well as cultural and historical examination. Through investigating four key themes: girls’ historical cinematic representation, girlhood film as a genre, girl’s subjectivity, and post-feminist female friendship, this thesis tries to answer the following questions: What does it mean to be a girl in contemporary Chinese girlhood films? How do these representations of girls negotiate with the various sociocultural phenomena that constitute contemporary Chinese girlhood? How does the portrayal of young Chinese women in films resonate or contrast with the concept of post-feminist sensibility?
Meanwhile, as a result of the Chinese government's attempts to retreat from the practices of the women’s liberation movement in the neoliberal era, women's issues have been left for the women’s community and evolved into an individual matter. How has this neoliberal individualistic logic manipulated the portrayal of girls and young women in the cinematic space, resulting in the emergence of a new type of relationship among girls? In doing so, I argue that girlhood films are a form of multidimensional agency, in which the portrayal of girlhood experiences maps and interacts with the vibrant sociocultural context and gender discourse of neoliberal China.
Item Type
ethesis
Thesis Type
PhD
Supervisors
Subjects (LC)
Associated Schools / Departments
School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies
eprints ID
78334
UoN Repository URI
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Liao Zhang's thesis- submission-final version.pdf
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