ABSTRACT

This book argues that the fundamental shift in Chinese Cinema away from Socialism and towards Post-Socialism can be located earlier than the emergence of the "Fifth Generation" in the mid-eighties when it is usually assumed to have occured. By close analysis of films from the 1949-1976 Maoist era in comparison with 1976-81 films representing the Cultural Revolution, it demonstrates that the latter already breaks away from Socialism.

chapter 1|25 pages

Introduction

Toward a Postsocialist Cinema?

chapter 2|49 pages

Writing on Blank Paper

Pedagogical Cinema 1949–1976

chapter 3|24 pages

Entering Forbidden Zones and Exposing Wounds

Rewriting Socialist History

chapter 4|14 pages

Postsocialism and the decline of the Hero

chapter 5|19 pages

A Family Affair

Separation and Subjectivity

chapter 6|19 pages

Ending it All

Bitter Love

chapter 7|6 pages

Afterword

Foreigner Within, Foreigner Without