Genealogies of Four Critical Paradigms in Chinese-Language Film Studies

Abstract

A remarkable thing about the rise of Chinese film studies in the English-speaking world in the last 30 years or so is the attendant self- reflexivity of the field. Even as scholars are tackling what appear to be Chinese films, nothing is self-evident or taken for granted. They constantly raise issues about what constitutes the very subject of Chinese cinema(s), what ought to be the range of investigation, what are the appropriate analytical tools and what are the suitable methodologies. This self-inquisitive spirit manifests itself again and again in scholarly publications. Critics with different backgrounds examine the state of the field from various angles and weigh in on disciplinary or interdisciplinary issues of Chinese cinema studies. Theories and ideas come and go. But those critical paradigms that seem to better circumscribe and explain the problems at hand tend to stay longer. It is easy to spot the inadequacies of this method or that approach. But it is far more fruitful, and more daunting, to produce sustained good analysis of particular issues, texts and phenomena in a given field.