Jet Li and the new face of Chinese cinema: nationalism, masculinity, and zhiji in contemporary wuxia pian

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Title Jet Li and the new face of Chinese cinema: nationalism, masculinity, and zhiji in contemporary wuxia pian
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Humanities
Department Asia Center
Author Freed, Jeremy J.
Date 2011-05
Description Recent Chinese martial arts films (wuxia pian) pose an interesting case of mythologized identity construction. Shared cultural myths form the basis for identity construction. By appealing to myth, identities gain historical, grounded credence while simultaneously adapting, changing, and renewing myths themselves. Several factors motivate Chinese directors to utilize this marginalized genre, including links to historical myth, appeals to timelessness, and less strict censorship. In order to explore the construction of a gendered, contemporary Chinese identity - or „Chineseness? - this paper explores three films starring Jet Li (Li Lianjie). Each film uses a local or historic hero to present gender, nationalism, and recognition of worth (zhiji) in unique ways. What is crucial to these films is the manner in which China (zhongguo) is contrasted to a broader, mythic China (tianxia) and how the central character relates to these concepts. Further, each character comes from a different time period. Despite their temporal, geographic, linguistic, and cultural differences, each share in an idea of China which transcends mere nationalistic identity: their identities are informed by, and in turn inform, a broader sense of mythic „Chineseness? which transcends categories of temporal and geographic frames. Finally, while Chinese directors are expected to adhere to a particular vision of nationalism, these films suggest that recent Chinese filmmakers use martial arts film for greater freedom in negotiating the boundaries of what it means to be Chinese, and these boundaries cross borders, both international and cultural.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Chineseness; Identity; Imagined communities; Tianxia; Wuxia pian; Zhiji
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Arts
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Jeremy J. Freed 2011
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 509,559 bytes
Identifier us-etd3,29200
Source original in Marriott Library Special Collections ; PN37.5 2011 .F74
ARK ark:/87278/s6ns18nj
Setname ir_etd
ID 194616
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6ns18nj
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