Loss and Transcendence: An Exploration of Female Subjectivity in Chinese Cinema

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_43How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Feminist Cinema Critics; Chinese Film; Film Study

Abstract

With the rising female awareness in contemporary China, women’s stories on the screen have become increasingly prominent. Following the transformation of female images on the Chinese screen over the past 70 years, the article addresses the special trajectory of Chinese female consciousness being first incorporated into China’s modernization reform and then entering the commodity economy system. Against this background, this article takes the landmark era film “Old Summer Palace” produced at the turn of two periods in China, as an example to present the mirror function and subordinate status of women deeply embedded in the Chinese cultural structure. Using literary and textual analysis methods, and drawing on psychoanalysis and semiotics theory, this article demonstrates the appropriation, misappropriation and reinterpretation of female images in narrative and visual practice, and argues the impossibility of reappearing female subjects in male discourse and male-centered signification systems. Finally, from the perspective of ideology, the failure of male directors’ reciting female issues are reasoned. The research results show that the loss of female subjectivity on the modern Chinese screen stems from the fixed position of female figures in symbolism, the subordinate status in the collective discourse system, and the constraints of male-centered ideology; on the other hand, it also reflected in the incorporation and alienation of female consciousness by the commodity economy. Based on this, this article examines the works of contemporary female directors from different periods and discusses their resistance strategies and the construction of female language on the screen.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xinyi Lin
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Loss and Transcendence: An Exploration of Female Subjectivity in Chinese Cinema
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 393
EP  - 402
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_43
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_43
ID  - Lin2025
ER  -