Moving Figures : : Class and Feeling in the Films of Jia Zhangke / / Corey Kai Nelson Schultz.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2018
• VerfasserIn: Schultz, Corey Kai Nelson,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Edinburgh Studies in East Asian Film : ESEAF
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (208 p.) :; 50 B/W illustrations

Examines how the Chinese ‘Reform Era’ is constructed and felt in the films of Jia ZhangkeUses the concept of structures of feelings to evaluate the emotional qualities of Jia Zhangke's films Provides an alternative way to examine how films can create meaning through feeling Considers how social change and class transition in China have been evoked and represented in Zhangke's filmsSince 1979, China has been undergoing a period of immense social and economic change, transitioning from state-run economics to free market capitalism. This book focuses on how the ‘Reform Era’ has been constructed in the work of the director Jia Zhangke, analysing the archetypal class figures of worker, peasant, soldier, intellectual and entrepreneur that are found in his films. Examining how these figures are represented, and how Jia’s cinematography creates those ‘structures of feeling’ that concretise around a particular time and place, the book argues that Jia’s cinema should be understood not just as narratives that represent Chinese social transition, but also as an effort to engage the audience’s emotional responses through representation, symbolism and the affective experience of specific cinematic tropes.Making an important contribution to scholarship about the Reform Era, and opening up many new areas in the larger fields of Chinese visual culture, cultural studies and the affective qualities of film, this is groundbreaking work about a cinematic culture in a period of profound transformation.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 The Worker Class: From Leader to the Margins -- Chapter 2 The Peasant and the Mingong: From Empathy to Sympathy to Looking Back -- Chapter 3 The Soldier: From Degraded Reproduction to Avenging Hero -- Chapter 4 The Intellectual: Power and the Voice -- Chapter 5 The Entrepreneur: From Crook to “New Reform Model” -- Notes -- Filmography -- Works Cited -- Index