American and Chinese-Language Cinemas

Critics frequently describe the influence of "America," through Hollywood and other cultural industries, as a form of cultural imperialism. This unidirectional model of interaction does not address, however, the counter-flows of Chinese-language films into the American film market or the influence of Chinese filmmakers, film stars, and aesthetics in Hollywood. The aim of this collection is to (re)consider the complex dynamics of transnational cultural flows between American and Chinese-language film industries. The goal is to bring a more historical perspective to the subject, focusing as much on the Hollywood influence on early Shanghai or postwar Hong Kong films as on the intensifying flows between American and Chinese-language cinemas in recent decades. Contributors emphasize the processes of appropriation and reception involved in transnational cultural practices, examining film production, distribution, and reception.

Lisa Funnell is a Lecturer in the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma, USA. She is co-editor of Transnational Asian Identities in Pan-Pacific Cinemas: The Reel Asian Exchange (Routledge, 2012). Man-Fung Yip is an Assistant Professor in the Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma, USA.

Introduction: Examining Cultural Flows Lisa Funnell and Man-Fung Yip Part 1: Style, Narrative, Form 1. For the Better or For the Worse, Don't Change Your Husband!: Remake and Appropriation of American Films in Republican China, 1911-1949 Zhiwei Xiao 2. A Tale of Two Cinemas: Embracing and Rejecting Hollywood's Influence in 1930s Shanghai - A Precursor to 21st Century Capitalist/Communist Dreams? Alison Hume 3. "Glocal" Sounds and the Synth-Pop Scores of Hong Kong Cinema Katherine Spring 4. Ang Lee's Life of Pi: A Cosmopolitan Perspective Kin-Yan Szeto Part 2: Genre 5. (Un-)Folding Hollywood and New Chinese Subjectivity through PRC's Minority National Film in the 1950s and 60s Kwai-Cheung Lo 6. Action Cinema and Minor Transnationalism Man-Fung Yip 7. The Chinese War Film: Reframing National History in Transnational Cinema Vivian Lee Part 3: Marketing, Exhibition, Reception 8. Cinema, Propaganda, and Networks of Experience: Exhibiting Chongqing Cinema in New York Weihong Bao and Nathaniel Brennan 9. Defenders of the Palace: Chinese-Language Movie Theatres and the Fight Over Semi-Private Spaces Brian Hu 10. Reading Hollywood in Postwar Shanghai: From The Metro News to Western Movie Pictorial Lunpeng Ma 11. Watching Anna May Wong in the Republican China Yiman Wang Part 4: Performance, Identity, Representation 12. Performing Nationality: The Fifth Generation as an "American" Transnational Cinema Victor Fan 13. Colliding Fact and Fiction: Techno-Orientalism and Violence in Chen Shi-Zheng's Dark Matter Kenneth Chan 14. Re-Framing Chinese and American Connections on Screen: The Casting of White Hollywood Actors in Chinese Funded Films Lisa Funnell