Capturing China in Globalization: The Dialectic of Autonomy and Dependency in Zhang Yimou's Cinema.

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  • Author(s): Li, David Leiwei (AUTHOR)
  • Source:
    Texas Studies in Literature & Language. Fall2007, Vol. 49 Issue 3, p293-317. 25p. 5 Black and White Photographs.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      MOTION pictures; ZHANG, Yimou, 1951-; POLITICAL autonomy; CAPITALISM; STORY of Qiu Ju, The (Film); QIUJU Da Guansi (Film)
    • Subject Terms:
      CHINA
    • Abstract:
      This essay examines the dialectic of autonomy and dependency in the films of Zhang Yimou, who is touted as China's best-known film director. Zhang's cinema is juxtaposed with China's developmental trajectory to highlight that the director's dilemma about his nation's opening to global capitalism is the same as the present dilemma. It is indicated that his film "The Story of Qiu Ju/Qiuju da guansi," which concludes without any clear narrative resolution as to which political party is right, is telling of Zhang's own ambivalence about China's transition from socialism to capitalism and its changing conditions of ethical judgment.