Hong Kong Cinema and Sinophone Transnationalisms

Examines new sinophone modes of filmic address in Hong Kong cinema in the 20th century, enabling a developing cosmopolitanism to emergeExamines new sinophone modes of filmic address in Hong Kong cinema in the 20th centuryExplores the Sinophone, queering strategies, and cosmopolitanism through textual analysis of key genres and figures in Hong Kong film history, including the Shaw Brothers and Tsui HarkHistoricizes the Sinophone by locating its articulations in specific industrial contexts, and through historical cases of genre, stardom, and authorshipHong Kong Cinema and Sinophone Transnationalisms explores the intricate complexity of selected films and film-making practices from 1930s Hong Kong (and Shanghai) to the later 'new wave' phenomenon of the 1980s. The result is a Sinophone cinema that created some very different ways of understanding 'China' and 'Chineseness', developing their own 'cosmopolitan dreaming' within the cultural and economic changes of those times.Exploring sinification and its multiple manifestations in film, the book examines cinematic genres including Huangmei Opera films, qiqing (strange or queer romance) films, fanchuaners (professional cross-sex performers) in film, Hong Kong's Bond Movies (bangpian), erotic (fengyue) films, and New Wave Hong Kong cinema. In doing so, this book lays fruitful foundations for further understanding the development and changing faces of Hong Kong films and sinophone transnationalism in the even more complex and changing times of today.