Theatre, Drama & Cinema
Excellence in Scholarship and Learning
Excellence in Scholarship and Learning
Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals
The Representation of Women in Chinese Crime Films
Tingting Hu is a Research Fellow in School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, China. She received her PhD at Macquarie University, Australia. Her research interest lies in the articulation of film, media and cultural studies with feminist theories, transmedia studies in various socio-cultural contexts. Her recent publications appear in the Journal of Contemporary China, Television & New Media, Continuum, and Feminist Media Studies.
In the Series
Asian Studies
Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals examines the representation of women in relation to violence in Chinese crime films made on the mainland, and in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It introduces a new trajectory in the investigation of the cinematic representation of female figures in relation to gender issues by interweaving Western feminist and postfeminist critiques with traditional Chinese sociocultural discourse.
An in-depth narrative identifies three major representations of women: the female victim, the female perpetrator of violence, and the female professional. Salience to contemporary society shows up in many ways, passive and active, all of which reinforce a sense of male dominance and patriarchal power. Analysis bridges the gap in the field of female representation in Chinese culture/Chinese film studies by systematically examining Chinese crime films as a genre in its own right. The depiction of female victimisation at the hands of men in the selected crime films consolidates the notion of women's vulnerability and inferiority as perceived in Chinese gender discourse. On the other hand, the representation of active female perpetrators of violence, and as professional working women, presents what may be seen as a postfeminist masquerade – a cultural strategy that shows an ostensible impression of female empowerment albeit that it reinforces traditional gender hierarchies in the Chinese gender context. While graphic female victimisation is commonly presented, female perpetrators of violence and females in professional roles in crime films are shown to remain under the control of male authority, leading to the conclusion that Chinese crime films are produced in a context of heavy patriarchal power and misogyny.
| Hardback ISBN: | 978-1-78976-092-7 |
| Hardback Price: | £70.00 / $84.95 |
| Release Date: | July 2021 |
| Page Extent / Format: | 180 pp. 229 x 152 mm |
| Illustrated: | No |
Series Preface by Mina Roces
Author's Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chinese Cinema(s) in Transition
Gender Discourse in China and the Confucian Nei--wai Realms
Conceptualising Film Violence
Defining Crime Films
Film Selection and Methodology
The Feminist and Postfeminist Theoretical Frameworks
Chapter 1
Violence Against Women: The Objectification of Female Victims in Protégé and Port of Call
The Female Victim in the Chinese Context
Feminist Film Theories
'Woman as image'
'Woman as sign'
Silent Women in Claustrophobic Spaces: Female Victim as Spectacle
Male Hero Rescues Female Beauty: Female Victim as Sign
Intimate Partner Violence: Highlighting Female Compliance
Chapter 2
The Fake 'Femme Fatale': Passive Perpetrators in The Stool Pigeon and Black Coal, Thin Ice
'Woman as Subject'
Vivid Victimisation and Abbreviated Violence
The Irrational Female and the Heroic Male
Chapter 3
Powerful or Powerless: Active Perpetrators in Accident and The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful
The Woman Warrior in the Chinese Context
Postfeminist Discourse
The Postfeminist Masquerade and the Model of Phallic Girl
Desire and Punishment of the Female Assassin
Dominant Power of the Monstrous Mother
Chapter 4
Which Position is Proper? Policewomen in Breaking News and Eye in the Sky
Working women in the Chinese Context
The Policewoman in a 'Proper' Position
The Rookie's Unstable Emotionality
The Commander's Potential Victimisation and Pathological Romance
Chapter 5
The Rule-Breaker: The Retreating Female Professional in A World Without Thieves and Silent Witness
Other Representations of Females in Chinese Media
Retreatism in Postfeminist Culture
The Retreatist Female Thief
The Retreatist Female Lawyer
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Filmography
Glossary
Index
Review Quotes to Follow
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