Warrior Women

Lisa Funnell

Description

Finalist for the 2014 ForeWord IndieFab Book of the Year Award in the Women's Studies Category
Bronze Medalist, 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Women Issues Category
Winnerof the 2015 Emily Toth Award presented by the Popular Culture Association & American Culture Association

Warrior Women considers the significance of Chinese female action stars in martial arts films produced across a range of national and transnational contexts. Lisa Funnell examines the impact of the 1997 transfer of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule on the representation of Chinese identities—Hong Kong Chinese, mainland Chinese, Chinese American, Chinese Canadian—in action films produced domestically in Hong Kong and, increasingly, in cooperation with mainland China and Hollywood. Hong Kong cinema has offered space for the development of transnational Chinese screen identities that challenge the racial stereotypes historically associated with the Asian female body in the West. The ethnic/national differentiation of transnational Chinese female stars—such as Pei Pei Cheng, Charlene Choi, Gong Li, Lucy Liu, Shu Qi, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi—is considered part of the ongoing negotiation of social, cultural, and geopolitical identities in the Chinese-speaking world.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. Hong Kong–Hollywood Connections

2. Transnational Chinese Mothers: The Heroic Identities of Michelle Yeoh and Pei Pei Cheng

3. Intermedial Stars: Hong Kong Warrior Women in Post-1997 Cinema

4. Chinese Women and the Tropes of Modern China: The Transnational Appeal of Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi

5. Pan-Pacific Connections: Chinese American Warrior Women in Post-1997 Hong Kong

6. Transnational Integration: Chinese Canadian Warrior Women in Post-1997 Hong Kong

7. The Influence of Hong Kong in Hollywood: The Asianization of American Warrior Women

Conclusion: Transnational Chinese Warrior Women

Notes
Works Cited
Filmography
Index

Sujets

• Película fotográfica
• Visual culture
• History of Asia
• History of film
• Cinema
• Asia
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 19 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438452500
• Langue: English

Extrait

Warrior Women
Warrior Women
Gender, Race, and the Transnational Chinese Action Star
LISA FUNNELL
Cover image of Michelle Yeoh courtesy of Photofest.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Funnell, Lisa. Warrior women : gender, race, and the transnational Chinese action star / Lisa Funnell. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-5249-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Women heroes in motion pictures. 2. Action and adventure films—China. 3. Action and adventure films—Taiwan. 4. Action and adventure films—China—Hong Kong. I. Title. PN1995.9.W6F86 2014 791.43082—dc23
2013033743
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Hong Kong–Hollywood Connections
2. Transnational Chinese Mothers: The Heroic Identities of Michelle Yeoh and Pei Pei Cheng
3. Intermedial Stars: Hong Kong Warrior Women in Post-1997 Cinema
4. Chinese Women and the Tropes of Modern China: The Transnational Appeal of Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi
5. Pan-Pacific Connections: Chinese American Warrior Women in Post-1997 Hong Kong
6. Transnational Integration: Chinese Canadian Warrior Women in Post-1997 Hong Kong
7. The Influence of Hong Kong in Hollywood: The Asianization of American Warrior Women
Conclusion: Transnational Chinese Warrior Women
Notes
Works Cited
Filmography
Index
Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to my family. I need to thank my partner, Dr. Travis Gliedt, for your love, patience, and support throughout the various stages of this project. I also need to thank my parents, Mary and Lorne Funnell, for instilling in me a genuine love for action films and for sharing in my passion for East Asian cinema. Finally, I need to thank my brother, Dave; my sister-in-law, Caren; and their children, Tailor, Harrison, and Daniel, for providing me with an unending supply of love, laughter, and inspiration.
Although Warrior Women has been a personal labor of love, this book has benefited from the support of various people, organizations, and institutions. First, I would like to thank Dr. Philippa Gates, Dr. Katherine Spring, and Dr. Gina Marchetti for critiquing an early draft of the manuscript. Your insightful comments helped to shape the direction of the book. Second, I am grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for funding the initial stages of this project. Your financial support helped to get this project off the ground. Third, I must thank the staff of the Hong Kong Film Archive for aiding me in my search for a number of hard-to-find and out-of-print Hong Kong films. Your expertise and hard work helped to enhance the comprehensive nature of this book. Finally, I would like to thank the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma for funding the final stages of this project. Your financial support has made the publication of this book possible.
The author is grateful for receiving permission to reproduce selections from the following copyrighted material:
An earlier version of Chapter 2 —Transnational Chinese Mothers: The Heroic Identities of Michelle Yeoh and Pei Pei Cheng—appeared as Funnell, L. “Fighting for a Hong Kong/Chinese Female Identity: Michelle Yeoh, Body Performance, and Globalized Action Cinema.” Asian Popular Culture in Transition . Eds. Lorna Fitzsimmons and John Lent. London: Routledge, 2012.171–85. Reproduced with the permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LCC.
An earlier version of Chapter 6 —Transnational Integration: Chinese Canadian Warrior Women in Post-1997 Hong Kong—appeared as Funnell, L. “Migrating West … To the East: Transnational Chinese Canadians in Hong Kong Action.” Transnational Asian Identities in Pan-Pacific Cinemas: The Reel Asian Exchange . Eds. Philippa Gates and Lisa Funnell. New York: Routledge, 2012. 133–46. Reproduced with the permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
An earlier version of Chapter 7 —The Influence of Hong Kong in Hollywood: The Asianization of American Warrior Women—appeared as Funnell, L. “Assimilating Hong Kong Style for the Hollywood Action Woman.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 28.1 (2011): 66–79. Reproduced with the permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Introduction
Released in 2000, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was both a critical and commercial success in the global film market. 1 The popular appeal of the film can be attributed, in part, to its female-focused narrative that centers on three generations of Chinese warrior women played by action stars Pei Pei Cheng, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi. 2 Crouching Tiger offers depth and diversity in female characterization, a quality that distinguishes the blockbuster from Hollywood films featuring Asian/Asian American female actors. Crouching Tiger also foregrounds the physical abilities of its female stars, each cast as a skilled fighter in the film, and presents martial arts as a necessary tool in resolving personal conflicts. In light of its global popularity, Crouching Tiger has drawn attention to the long tradition of warrior women in Chinese literature and film and sparked (Western) scholarly interest on the subject. 3
The success of Crouching Tiger has influenced the direction of Pan-Pacific filmmaking. As a transnational co-production, the film relies on Chinese creative film talent and star power from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and the United States. As I have argued elsewhere, Crouching Tiger ushered in a new era of transnational film production between East Asian and Pan-Pacific cinemas, 4 and especially between Hong Kong and China. The rise of Pan-Chinese filmmaking in the new millennium coincides with broader geopolitical changes in the Chinese-speaking world. In 1997, Hong Kong, a British colony, was returned to mainland Chinese rule, and this change in sovereignty has had a profound impact on Hong Kong. This event has been a source of great anxiety for Hong Kong residents, who did not want the handover to take place and who have expressed concerns about their physical safety, financial security, and political freedom in the newly amalgamated China (Skeldon “Hong” 25). Critics note that these local anxieties about the handover are reflected in the cultural industry of Hong Kong and expressly through film narratives produced in the years bookending the handover. 5 More importantly, these texts feature multiple and co-existing depictions of transnational Chinese identity that reflect the ongoing negotiation of social, cultural, and geopolitical identities in the Chinese-speaking world as Hong Kong moves toward and past its 1997 amalgamation with the mainland. While critical discussions exploring transnational Chinese screen identities in Hong Kong action films have focused predominantly on the representation of male stars, 6 it is important to examine the performances of Chinese warrior women, as they also convey prominent perceptions of ethnic/national identity.
The popular appeal of Crouching Tiger has also influenced the representational strategies employed by Hollywood. The Asian female body has long been a source of fascination in the West. In early cinematic representations, Asian/Asian American women were predominantly envisaged as either Dragon Ladies or Lotus Blossoms. Relying on racial stereotypes, Hollywood has historically presented the Asian female body as an erotic object of the white male gaze. Following the unprecedented international success of Crouching Tiger , Hollywood began to redefine its representation of Asian/Asian American women to capitalize on the popularity of Chinese warrior women in the global film market. In the new millennium, Hollywood producers have cast notable Chinese performers from the cinemas of Hong Kong (e.g., Michelle Yeoh) and mainland China (e.g., Gong Li) in their blockbuster films and have begun to develop their own slate of Chinese American (e.g. Lucy Liu) and multiracial (e.g. Kristin Kreuk) action stars. In these films, however, the representation of transnational Chinese action women caters to the tastes of American/Western audiences and portrays American/Western ideals of gender, race, and heroism.
Warrior Women examines how the Chinese female body in action has come to articulate the ideologies (social, cultural, political) of Hong Kong and Hollywood. This study is situated within the vein of Western scholarship, more generally, and film studies and gender studies, more specifically. It has been produced for a Western audience, and readers of this book will likely be speakers of English. One challenge in writing Warrior Women was determining how to apply the ideas, approaches, and/or theories of Western scholarly discourse to the discussion of transnational cinema. More specifically, I was faced with the question of how to discuss Chinese female representations from a Western critical perspective.
Intersectionality of Social Identities
The t