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Zhang Yimou
Globalization and the Subject of Culture
by Wendy Larson
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Book Presentation:
Zhang Yimou is one of the most famous filmmakers of China, as well as one of the most controversial. Long the object of intense discussion and critique in China, Zhang's approach can express a highly stylized and crafted aesthetics, a documentary, daily-life feel, or a historically rich sense of tragedy and sometimes comedy. The director of some twenty feature films, Zhang also is known for other projects, including work as a cinematographer and actor, and directing the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a prominent member of the pioneering Fifth Generation of film directors that began working after the Maoist period, Zhang's unique aesthetics garnered global attention.
In this first critical study of films by Zhang Yimou in English, Wendy Larson plumbs the larger field of debate to suggest thought-provoking ways of thinking about the films and their relationship to Chinese culture. Arguing that the films do not appease Westerners but rather incorporate within themselves an understanding of how culture is changing under globalization, the book interprets the films' emphasis on performance under coercion, the duplicity of display, and action under constraint. It investigates themes of gazing and being gazed upon, and behavior under duress, connecting these notions with implications on power, sovereignty, justice, and Chinese modernity. Larson argues that the films do not uncritically promote nationalism as some argue, but rather that they probe the possibilities for and limitations of culture in a globally situated China. A substantial bibliography that provides references for the overall discussion is included.
Zhang Yimou: Globalization and the Subject of Culture is an important book for film scholars and for scholars of Chinese culture and history.
About the Author:
Wendy Larson is professor emerita at the University of Oregon. She holds a PhD and MA from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BA from the University of Oregon. Dr. Larson's previous publications include From Ah Q to Lei Feng: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in 20th Century China, Women and Writing in Modern China, and Literary Authority and the Chinese Writer: Ambivalence and Autobiography, as well as many journal articles. Dr. Larson is currently working on a study of comparative optimism under socialism and capitalism in 1950s China and the United States.
Press Reviews:
"A much-needed study--the first book of its kind. Wendy Larson, a leading expert on modern Chinese culture, combines historical context, methodological sophistication, and close reading. Zhang Yimou has long been a central figure in post-Maoist culture and in world cinema, and Larson's book is important for any reader interested in how the political sphere and visual culture redefine each other." --YOMI BRAESTER, University of Washington
"In this masterful study of Zhang Yimou's entire oeuvre, Wendy Larson provocatively challenges existing scholarly misconceptions about his films. Through brilliant close readings of his major films, she develops a complex account of the imbrication of culture and politics in post-socialist China and its position in contemporary global capitalism. This is an important contribution to world film studies and Chinese studies that should also be of interest to readers curious about the politics of culture on the contemporary world stage." --PHENG CHEAH, University of California, Berkeley
"Provides insightful readings and acute observations of films by the controversial director's films. More importantly, Larson's study situates Zhang's work within the larger--and invariably slippery--notion of culture to argue for an understanding of the enabling conditions underpinning what Larson has astutely captured as 'our deep sense of the way we live and thrive.' This book is an important contribution to scholarship in Chinese cultural studies." --SONG HWEE LIM, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and author of Tsai Ming-liang and a Cinema of Slowness
"Engages readers in an insightful reflection on the significance, the potential, and the limitations of film as cultural production in a constantly changing China." --JEROME SILBERGELD, Princeton University
"A deeply engaging reflection on the ambivalent role of post-Mao Chinese culture in a rapidly globalizing world. This exquisite book is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese cinema and culture." --FU POSHEK, University of Illinois
"Larson's brilliant insights in this book prove beyond any doubt that Zhang Yimou's filmmaking, whatever we may feel about it, constitutes a core mode of knowledge through which to approach both China's relationship with the world and the inner life of Chinese culture under globalization." --MARGARET HILLENBRAND, University of Oxford
See the publisher website: Cambria Press
See the complete filmography of Zhang Yimou on the website: IMDB ...
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