Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage
A feminist film in a postmodern frame
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21636138 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yiran Ai (0000-0001-8634-5998, independent scholar, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 21-36 |
| Publication date | 2022-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Cinema (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1059-440X • E-ISSN: 2049-6710 |
| Publisher | Intellect (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1386/ac_00045_1 |
| OpenAlex | W4285610051 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 6 |
Chinese-language film studies have paid scant attention to the intersection of feminism and postmodernism. This article argues that Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage (1991), a film with a female protagonist and a postmodern narrative format, is demonstrably a feminist film. The parodic representation of protagonist Ruan Lingyu and the film’s scripted re-enactments of scenes from Hong Kong cinema are revealed as postmodern aesthetic processes, through which traditional gender norms can be explored and questioned. Finally, the article examines Kwan’s unique, self-reflexive narrative practice, which constructs an alternative female celebrity biopic and situates the film firmly as feminist historiographic metafiction
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Feminism · Literature · Metafiction · Movie theater · Narrative · Political science · Postmodernism · Psychoanalysis · Reflexivity · Sociology · Anthropology · Cinema and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |