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About this book
A comprehensive history of how the conflicts and balances of power in the Maoist revolutionary campaigns from 1951 to 1979 complicated and diversified the meanings of films, this book offers a discursive study of the development of early PRC cinema.
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
"Revolutionary Cycles in Chinese Cinema provides a detailed, insightful, and vivid guide to the Maoist period. Looking at the conception, production, distribution, and reception of movies from 1949 to 1976, Wang fleshes out Chinese film culture in troubled times. Examining both material circumstances and ideological debates, he shows in fine detail how filmmakers operated, what facilitated their work, and which obstacles they faced. This book is indispensable reading for those interested in the interaction between film and politics and in the power of culture in times of adversity." - Yomi Braester, University of Washington, USA
"A meticulous analysis of micro-level maneuvering by bureaucrats, artists, and critics, Revolutionary Cycles in Chinese Cinema demonstrates that Chinese socialist revolution was never a unilinear teleological progression but rather a rapid succession of cycles marked by disruptions and assumptions of order with consequences oftentimes beyond anybody's anticipation and control. Wang is commended for probing beneath the deceptive surface of revolutionary rhetoric and revealing quandaries and ruptures that repeatedly compromised revolutionary and artistic goals. " - Yingjin Zhang, Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego, USA and author of Cinema, Space, and Polylocality in a Globalizing China (2010).
"This concise and incisive book makes an important intervention into the study of Chinese film history. . . Rather than focusing on the films alone or the policies and production practices that shape them, Wang draws on Rick Altman's insights about film genres to emphasize what he calls a 'user-centred' approach. He examines how different social and political groups use films for their own purposes, and how this shapes both their production and reception. The result is not only a livelier and more engaging picture of
Chinese revolutionary era film history but also a model for conducting this new kind of film history. . . [It] is exemplary and merits wide attention." - Viewfinder
"Wang is to be commended for making a daring move into uncharted territory and providing a much-needed comprehensive history of Chinese cinema during the Mao era. He has made an important intervention and expanded our vocabulary in discussing the production, distribution, and reception of films that are different from and yet similar to those produced in a capitalist system." - Modern Chinese Literature and Culture
About the author
Zhuoyi Wang is Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Hamilton College, USA.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Revolutionary Cycles in Chinese Cinema, 1951–1979
Authors: Zhuoyi Wang
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137378743
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Zhuoyi Wang 2014
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-37873-6Published: 17 July 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-47847-7Published: 17 July 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-37874-3Published: 17 July 2014
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 274
Number of Illustrations: 15 b/w illustrations
Topics: Film History, Asian History, Cultural History, Media Studies, Screen Studies, Arts