Chinese Whispers: the radical age of Chinese cinema

Best of the Spectator

The Spectator

News Commentary, News, Daily News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2022

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You probably wouldn’t expect to see the Cultural Revolution in Chinese films, or the Great Leap Forward, or the Tiananmen Square protests. But for a certain generation and a certain corner of the Chinese film industry, these were actually common themes to deal with. Their films weren’t always welcome to the censors, but they weren’t always banned, either.

Cindy Yu recently wrote a column for The Spectator on Chinese cinema, and the golden age it experienced just after the end of the Cultural Revolution. You’d be surprised at the amazing political – and social – subversiveness of directors like Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. On this episode, Cindy talks about that golden age and also about what has come after, where, depressingly, it’s now films like Wolf Warrior 2 that dominate the box office.

Joining her is Chris Berry, Professor of Film Studies at Kings College London who specialises in Chinese cinema. They talk about how their trauma of living through the Cultural Revolution drove the so-called 'Fifth Generation' directors; the bold portrayal of queer characters which got them into trouble with the censors; and how commercialisation has changed the landscape for Chinese directors who are now dictated by the box office. Pictured here is Leslie Cheung in Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine, where Cheung portrays a queer Beijing opera singer.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The Spectator Economic Innovative of the Year awards sponsored by InvestTech are open for entries.
0:07.0	If you are an entrepreneur-led business bringing radical change to its sector, please apply at www.
0:14.0	spectator slash innovator.
0:17.0	We are looking for entries all across the UK and our closing date is the 4th of July.
0:33.3	Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu.
0:36.8	Every episode, I'll be talking to journalists, experts and long-time China watches about the latest in Chinese politics, society and more. There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well. How do the Chinese see these issues? You probably wouldn't expect to see the culture revolution on the
0:55.5	Chinese big screen, or the Great Leap Forward, or the Tianman Square protests, but for a certain
1:00.7	subsection of the Chinese films industry, for a certain generation of directors, these were
1:05.1	common themes, at least four times. They weren't always welcomed by the censors, but they weren't
1:09.9	always banned either. This is what I wrote about for a recent column for weren't always welcomed by the censors, but they weren't always banned either.
1:11.8	This is what I wrote about for a recent column for The Spectator, where I look at the
1:15.3	golden age of Chinese cinema just after the cultural revolution and what has happened to the
1:20.2	industry now. You'd be surprised and amazed at the incredible subversiveness, both political and
1:25.4	social, from directors like Chen Kai Ge and Zhang Yemot.
1:29.0	Unfortunately, these days, it's films like Wolf Warrior II that dominate the box office.
1:33.2	So what's happened to the industry? I'm joined on this episode by Professor Chris Berry,
1:37.3	who is a professor of film studies at King's College London. Chris, thank you so much for joining
1:42.5	Chinese Whispers. To start with, can we talk about
1:44.9	the fifth generation directors that golden age I just mentioned? But in order to do so,
1:49.5	could you first set the scene of what the film industry was like during the Cultural Revolution?
1:53.7	Presumably it was quite a stifling time. I think it was a very special time. Actually, the Cultural
1:59.2	Revolution, although it was very strictly under
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.