Youth, Rebellion and Resignation: The Relations Between Film and Politics in China (1976 - 2010)

Abstract

This work focuses on an analysis of the representation of Chinese youth in the films Unknown Pleasures, (dir. Jia Zhangke) and Winter Vacation, (dir. Li Hongqi). We intend to expose the relationship of dialogue that seems to emerge from these films and that helps in understanding how the transformations that occurred in China from the Deng Xiaoping government affected the imaginary of the Chinese population. Based on the concept of episteme (Foucault, 2008), we propose a historical context of Chinese cinema, taking into account the political, biological and social aspects of the country. From this, we intend to have an idea of the Chinese social imaginary (Baczko, 1985), which will be crucial for our filmic analysis, which will use these concepts as a theoretical basis. Thereby, it will be possible to see how both films express a feeling of resigned rebellion towards a youth that seems to cry out for change, but which at the same time demonstrates apathy in the face of a frustrating reality.