Masculinity and the nation: Film narratives of the nation in 1930s and 1980s China

Abstract

This thesis compares Chinese films from the 1930s and 1980s to understand representations of Chinese masculinities in the two periods of rapid modernisation and nation-building. It encompasses three research topics. First, we discuss masculinity constructed responding to support Chinese nationalism. In Chapter One, Chinese modernity is manifested as an overwhelming sentiment for national salvation triggered by a history of imperialist invasion. The ideal Chinese masculinity therefore is revealed as doubly rebellious, both against corrupt authorities and traditions as well as against imperial powers. The films analysed are Big Road (1934) and Red Sorghum (1987). In Chapter Two, close readings of Wolf Hill (1936) and Evening Bell (1988) unravel a war metaphor, discovering an emerging masculine archetype assisting the formation of Chinese national identity. Second, we address male and female subjectivities as an expression of democratic consciousness. Examined within the framework of an imagined, modern public sphere, the films reflect competing views and stances towards democracy, a core part of the modern nation state. Chapter Three introduces Jürgen Habermas' notion of a bourgeois public sphere, where enlightenment attempts by males prevail. Crossroads (1937) and The Trouble Shooters (1988) are examined. In Chapter Four, a kind of female masculinity reflects a radical democratic stance, indicating a subversion of current political order. The central films are The New Woman (1935) and The Price of Madness (1988). The third theme of the thesis examines how masculinity serves individual identity contesting the ideology of the modern nation. In the last chapter, through close readings of Waves Washing Sand (1936) and One and Eight (1983), using the anthropological concept of the rite of passage, marginalised masculinity is discussed in combination with the questioning of sovereign power.