ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on a contemporary research project, although not on contemporary cinema. In 2010, in response to a request from a colleague to produce a paper on “fashion and film,” I conducted a small research project together with Zhang Shujuan. We spoke to two groups of Shanghai residents and a married couple. All of them were in their teens and twenties during the Cultural Revolution decade. We showed them some clips from movies that screened in China then, and we talked with them about how films related to what they wore and how they presented themselves. The resulting essay was published in 艺术观点 no. 54 (2013), 46–63. This chapter reflects on what was at stake in undertaking this research. Our respondents seemed to take great pleasure in participating. I personally found this to be one of the most joyous research processes I have ever taken part in. Why? And what is at stake in focusing on everyday film consumption rather than memories of the film production process? What is at stake in working on the Cultural Revolution decade rather than some other point in Chinese film history? In what way does a project such as this alter the archive?
