The effect of western film on Chinese directors of the fifth generation with special reference to the role of women

Abstract

The theme of this dissertation focus mainly and deliberately on the role of women with convincible questions of female desire, sexual difference, and subjectivity. I analyze some representations of women in films by and about Chinese women, from the self-conscious perspective of Western feminism, theories of subjectivity and desire, and finally of the modernism/postmodernism trajectory. Comparing and contrasting recent Chinese films with the West, show what such frameworks are able to uncover about the films. Therefore, to comprehend a film, we must open ourselves to the culture from which it springs; conversely, as we begin to gain insight into a film, we are on a path to understanding the culture that produced it. This is the basic premise of this thesis.