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Li Han

Abstract

Tsui Hark's The Taking of Tiger Mountain (Zhiqu weihu shan, 2014) presents an unique text to examine the ramification of the Cultural Revolution in contemporary China and its interplay with the explosive growth of the mainland film industry in the global context. First of all, examined herein is the CCP's discourse on the role of cinema in its cultural enterprise plan in recent years. By situating The Taking of Tiger Mountain in the state's refreshed propaganda campaigns, the paper demonstrates how this work participates in the continuing exploration of new possibilities for the "main melody" elements. Secondly, conducted here is a close reading of the ideological and aesthetic modifications done to the Maoist model work in addition to the commercially appealing makeups. The discussion of the characterization of two heroes in the film, Jimmy and Yang Zirong, seeks to demonstrate an embedded ambivalence in the film — its looming conspiracy with the state's advocacy for a "homecoming" to the revolutionary tradition and a simultaneous discontent through infusing the revolutionary narrative with hybrid references to the homegrown folklore and Hong Kong-trademarked gangster genre. Re-packaging a Cultural Revolution model opera into a quasi — "main melody" film in the new millennium, Tsui Hark's blockbuster sheds new light on the rigorous interplay between the politics and commerce within the grand restructuring of the mainland film industry as Hong Kong directors' ever-deepening predicament with it since the return.

First Page

180

Last Page

192

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