Show us life and make us think: engagement, witnessing and activism in independent Chinese documentary today
(2017) In Studies in Documentary Film 11(3). p.161-169- Abstract
- This introduction to the special issue, ‘Engagement, Witnessing and Activism: Independent Chinese Documentary Filmmakers’ Different Positions, Approaches and Aesthetics,’ argues that how the political is registered and expressed in Chinese activist documentaries cannot simply be read through Western ideas, concepts and aesthetics. Rather, Chinese work has been shaped partly in relation to state-sanctioned public discourse, and partly through the localising of international influences according to Chinese socio-political conditions. Contemporary Chinese activist documentary makers have chosen as their primary modus operandi an open, exploratory engagement with the ‘grassroots’ (jiceng). The core commitment in this approach is to the truth... (More)
- This introduction to the special issue, ‘Engagement, Witnessing and Activism: Independent Chinese Documentary Filmmakers’ Different Positions, Approaches and Aesthetics,’ argues that how the political is registered and expressed in Chinese activist documentaries cannot simply be read through Western ideas, concepts and aesthetics. Rather, Chinese work has been shaped partly in relation to state-sanctioned public discourse, and partly through the localising of international influences according to Chinese socio-political conditions. Contemporary Chinese activist documentary makers have chosen as their primary modus operandi an open, exploratory engagement with the ‘grassroots’ (jiceng). The core commitment in this approach is to the truth of the on-screen subject’s experience as they themselves see it. Modes of engagement with the grassroots include: making visible people and identities that state-sanctioned representations hide or gloss over; bearing witness to events and situations that are similarly hidden, or presented in a very particular manner, in state-sanctioned representations; and exploring memories and historical experiences which are otherwise unacknowledged or presented within narrow interpretive parameters in state-sanctioned media. This introduction details how the articles in this special issue analyse and discuss Chinese activist works that utilise one or more of these modes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/07dea727-41a8-4350-86c7-484664c24887
- author
- Edwards, Dan and Svensson, Marina LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- documentary film, China, activism, Asian studies
- in
- Studies in Documentary Film
- volume
- 11
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85029547663
- ISSN
- 1750-3299
- DOI
- 10.1080/17503280.2017.1354504
- project
- Digital China
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 07dea727-41a8-4350-86c7-484664c24887
- date added to LUP
- 2017-09-16 19:54:38
- date last changed
- 2023-12-01 17:47:59
@article{07dea727-41a8-4350-86c7-484664c24887,
abstract = {{This introduction to the special issue, ‘Engagement, Witnessing and Activism: Independent Chinese Documentary Filmmakers’ Different Positions, Approaches and Aesthetics,’ argues that how the political is registered and expressed in Chinese activist documentaries cannot simply be read through Western ideas, concepts and aesthetics. Rather, Chinese work has been shaped partly in relation to state-sanctioned public discourse, and partly through the localising of international influences according to Chinese socio-political conditions. Contemporary Chinese activist documentary makers have chosen as their primary modus operandi an open, exploratory engagement with the ‘grassroots’ (jiceng). The core commitment in this approach is to the truth of the on-screen subject’s experience as they themselves see it. Modes of engagement with the grassroots include: making visible people and identities that state-sanctioned representations hide or gloss over; bearing witness to events and situations that are similarly hidden, or presented in a very particular manner, in state-sanctioned representations; and exploring memories and historical experiences which are otherwise unacknowledged or presented within narrow interpretive parameters in state-sanctioned media. This introduction details how the articles in this special issue analyse and discuss Chinese activist works that utilise one or more of these modes.}},
author = {{Edwards, Dan and Svensson, Marina}},
issn = {{1750-3299}},
keywords = {{documentary film; China; activism; Asian studies}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{161--169}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Studies in Documentary Film}},
title = {{Show us life and make us think: engagement, witnessing and activism in independent Chinese documentary today}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17503280.2017.1354504}},
doi = {{10.1080/17503280.2017.1354504}},
volume = {{11}},
year = {{2017}},
}