Since 1984, Chinese cinema has been the most dramatic new entry on to the international film scene. China into Film is the first book to look at contemporary Chinese cinema as a visual art and to illustrate the many ways it has been shaped by centuries of Chinese visual and cultural traditions. Among its many concerns are the role of female gender in Chinese cinema, the use of allegory, the strategies of filmmakers in coping with state censorship, the translation of Chinese novels into film, the continuing attachment of filmmakers to melodramatic form, and the cinematic critiques of Maoism and post-Maoist Chinese culture. Abundantly illustrated with Chinese paintings as well as scenes from such internationally acclaimed films as Yellow Earth, Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine, Jerome Silbergeld reveals a cinematic form that is at once excitingly new and yet deeply imbedded in traditional Chinese visual culture.
This book will appeal to all those interested in contemporary film, in modern Chinese studies, in gender studies, and in the efforts of artists worldwide to establish a modern audience while maintaining their own native voice.
