Becoming modern: stories of rural women in Chinese women's cinema

This article examines stories of migrant rural women in films by Chinese female directors, focusing on two films that span ten years of China's heightening urbanization and globalization: Women's Story (dir. Peng Xiaolian, 1989) and Out of Phoenix Bridge (dir. Li Hong, 1997). It analyses t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCommunication and critical/cultural studies Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 310 - 324
Main Author Hu, Lidan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Chinese film
Cultural studies
Culture
female directors
Globalization
Market economies
Migration
modernity
Modernization
Motion pictures
Norms
Personal stories
Rural areas
rural women
Urbanization
Women
China
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Summary:This article examines stories of migrant rural women in films by Chinese female directors, focusing on two films that span ten years of China's heightening urbanization and globalization: Women's Story (dir. Peng Xiaolian, 1989) and Out of Phoenix Bridge (dir. Li Hong, 1997). It analyses the gendered perspective the films bring to rural women's experience of migration and modernization, arguing that they challenge stereotypes of rural women as headstrong but uncivilized and less modern than urban residents. The films' depiction of women's resistance toward patriarchal norms and their participation in the market economy enhances the understanding of China's post-reform modernity.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:1479-1420
1479-4233
DOI:10.1080/14791420.2022.2096912