Hong Kong Cinema as Ethnic Borderland

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Bodyguards and Assassins is an interesting example of how post-1997 Hong Kong cinema attempts to engage itself in the political history of modern China. Looking back at the history of Hong Kong cinema, this chapter finds that the entertainment industry has a tradition of dramatizing but also alleviating North–South ethnic and cultural conflict in popular genre of comedy. The productions of the dialect films for diasporic Chinese ethnic groups reveals how the borderland characteristics of Hong Kong cinema pluralize the practice of cultural politics and subvert the (linguistic) monopoly of Chinese representation. Hong Kong cinema exceeded the bounds of the nation state and opened up to transnational capital beyond the confines of political borders. The transnational development of Hong Kong cinema may liberate it from the tutelage of state governance and the oppressiveness of nationalist ideology.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationA Companion to Hong Kong Cinema
EditorsEsther M. K. Cheung, Gina Marchetti, Esther C. M. Yau
PublisherWiley-Blackwell
Chapter3
Pages71-88
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9781118883518, 9781118883594
ISBN (Print)9780470659281
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 May 2015

Publication series

NameWiley-Blackwell Companions to National Cinemas
PublisherWiley Blackwell

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