Chapter
One:
Introduction
The
Fifth
Generation
were
the
first
graduates
in
1982
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
after
it
reopened
in
1978
following
the
Cultural
Revolution.
Their
films
differ
from
traditional
Chinese
films
in
some
fundamental
ways.
They
are
unique
as
well
as
controversial.
The
Fifth
Generation
came
at
a time
of
change
in
Chinese
history.
The
economic
reforms,
which
started
at
the
end
of
the
1970s,
have
transformed
and
continue
to
transform
China
both
politically
and
economically.
The
reforms
have
also
brought
changes
in
people’s
values
and
other
important
factors
in
life.
To
get
rich
is
no
longer
considered
counter-revclutionary
and
bourgeois
but
glorious.
While
providing
a
certain
element
of
freedom,
market
forces,
like
never
before,
are
also
taking
their
toll
on
the
arts.
Film,
television,
and
other
media
are
going
through
painful
and
exploratory
transformations
to
commercialization.
The
Fifth
Generation
brought
fame
and
critical
acclaim
to
Chinese
cinema
at
this
time
of
change.
Yet,
the
response
to
them
is
ambivalent.
On
the
one
hand,
people
are
proud
of
these
film
makers
because
they
brought
the
country
much-needed
international
recognition
and
pride.
On
the
other
hand,
their
films
are
sometimes
banned,
and
often
given
the
cold-shoulder
in
their
own
country.
Most
of
them
have
been
box
office
failures.
Most
people
don’t
appreciate
or
understand
these
films,
nor
do
they
support
the
film
makers’
experimentation.
In
the
midst
of
such
controversial
response
from
the
domestic
audience,
there
has
been
a
surge
in
interest
in
the
Fifth
Generation
in
both
domestic
and
international
film
research
circles.
Within
the
last
several
years,
numerous
articles
with
various
research
focuses
have
been
published
on
this
subject
both
in
Chinese
and
in
English.
The
subjects
of
these
publications
touch
upon
national
identity,
cultural
politics,
gender
and
sexuality,
market
pressure,
etc.
Critics
and
researchers
are
terribly
interested
in
these
film
makers.
They
are
as
enthusiastic
about
the
Fifth
Generation’s
artistic
endeavours
as
they
are
concerned
about
the
development
and
growth
of
this
new
wave.
This
thesis
joins
this
growing
research
area
with
the
same
enthusiasm
but
a
different
approach.
The
perspective
is
historical
and
international.
My
inspiration
comes
from
sociological
studies
about
other
recognized
film
movements
in
the
history
of
international
cinema.
And
I
do
what
social
scientists
love
to
do:
search
for
patterns.
I
look
for
a
pattern
of
how
film
movements
form
and
the
social-economic,
political
and
cultural
conditions
of
that
pattern.
According
to
Huaco
(1965),
an
examination
of
film
history
over
sixty
years
reveals
three
kinds
of
phenomena.
First,
we
see
the
emergence
of
the
work
of
isolated
film
makers.
Second,
we
see
the
emergence
of
film
makers
whose
films
are
grouped
into
stylistically
heterogeneous
clusters.
Third,
we
see
the
emergence
of
film
makers
whose
films
are
grouped
into
stylistically
homogeneous
clusters,
or
waves
of
film
style.
The
examination
of
isolated
film
makers’
work
most
often
leads to
the
film
makers’
creative
personality,
further
analysis
of which
often
dwells
in
the
realm
of
psychology.
The
examination
of
stylistically
heterogeneous
clusters
seems
unrewarding
since
the
heterogeneity
usually
extends
beyond
style
to
subjects,
themes,
motifs,
and
social
matrices.
This
limitation
in
explanatory
possibilities
makes
a
sociological
analysis
of
this
group
less
tempting.
In
contrast,
an
examination
of
a
stylistically
homogeneous
cluster
proves
to
be
more
effective.
The
homogeneity
extends
beyond
style,
and
the
common
subjects,
themes,
and
motifs
can
be
compared
to
those
present
in
the
larger
cultural
context.
The
cluster
as
a
whole
eventually
can
be
linked
to
specific
social
structures
and
configurations
in
the
larger
social
system
(Huaco,
1965).
Since
the
mid-1980s,
the
Fifth
Generation
have
made
their
appearance
with
such
films
as
Farewell
My
Concubine
(winner
of
the
Palme
d’Or
at
the
1993
Cannes
Film
Festival),
and
Raise
the
Red
Lantern
(winner
of
the
Golden
Lion
at
the
1992 Venice
Film
Festival).
The
films
made
by
the
Fifth
Generation
have
won
numerous
international
awards
from
Oscar
nominations
to
the
most
prestigious
film
festivals.
The
Fifth
Generation’s
innovations
in
cinematic
language
and
their
stylistic
virtuosity
are
critically
acclaimed.
Headed
by
Zhang
Yimou
and
Chen
Kaige’,
this
group
of
film
makers
share
similar
backgrounds,
a
factor
which
I
will
discuss
in
depth
in
the
thesis.
The
goal
of
this
thesis,
then,
was
to
discover
possible
explanations
for
the
‘In
this
the
thesis,
all
Chinese
names
will
follow
the
Chinese
tradition,
with
last
name
going
before
first name.
emergence
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
The
first
and
foremost
question
to
ask
in
this
thesis
was
whether
the
Fifth
Generation
qualifies
as
a
film
movement.
Various
criteria
in
film
movement
theory
are
used
to
make
an
evaluation.
To
illustrate
how
crucial
determinants
of
a
film
movement
develop,
I
examine
the
historical
and
cultural
context
from
which
the
Fifth
Generation
emerged.
The
overall
assumption
behind
this
thesis
is
that
major
political,
social,
and
economic
changes
in
the
larger
society
exert
very
important
influences
On
art.
Andrew
Tudor(1974)
makes
an
insightful
observation
about
the
relations
between
society
and
cinema.
He
points
out
that
the
societies
from
which
well-defined
film
movements
have
developed,
such
as
the
Soviet
Cinema
of
the
1920s,
German
Expressionism,
and
Italian
Neo-realism,
share
some
obvious
characteristics:
they
had
all
undergone
a
drastic
socio-cultural
trauma
immediately
prior
to
the
rise
of
the
‘movements’
and
all
developed
distinctively
new
approaches
to
cinema,
representing
a
major
aesthetic
break
from
existing
traditions.
We
can
easily
relate
this
observation
to
the
Chinese
situation.
The
“drastic
socio-cultural
trauma”
in
the
Chinese
case
is
the
Cultural
Revolution,
a
deceptive
name
given
to
a process
which
some
have
viewed
as
a
cultural
and
economic
suicide.
The
Fifth
Generation
emerged
shortly
after
the
Cultural
Revolution
ended
and
they
have
established
their
own
distinctive
style
different
from
that
of
the
traditional
Chinese
cinema.
I
believe
that
there
is
a
high
level
of
correspondence
between
a
social
trauma
and
the
development
of
a
film
movement.
Hopefully
the
analysis
in
this
thesis
helps
us
better
understand
that
correspondence.
Chapter
Two:
Theoretical
framework
and
methodology
2.1
Introduction
Film
movements
refer
to
periods
in
the
history
of
cinema
when
a
certain
concept
of
film
production,
involving
interdependent
stylistic
techniques
and
themes,
influence
a
group
of
film
makers.
A
specific
movement
is
often
associated
with
an
individual
country,
though
this
may
not
hold
true
in
every
case.
A
significant
movement
flourishes
during a
limited
time
span
and
most
likely
in
an
individual
country,
but
its
effects
may
spread
beyond
that
time
and
that
place
(DeNitto,
1985).
2.2
Film
movement
as
a
descriptive
or
theoretical
construct
Though
much
research
has
been
done
about
the
history
of
famous
film
movements,
film
movement
theory
remains
a
rather
under-developed
area
in
film
studies.
By
that
I
mean
very
little
systematic
effort
has
been
made
to
develop
theories
that
address
the
nature
of
film
movements
and
the
conditions
under
which
they
develop.
Various
research
has
been
undertaken
and
literature
written
about
film
movements/waves”.
However
the
term
in
most
of
these
studies
is
used
in
what
might
be
characterized
as
a
strictly
descriptive
sense,
similar
to
the
way
“film
movement”
was
used
in
the
last
paragraph.
Descriptive
accounts
are
given
as
to
the
observed
characteristics
of
film
movements,
but
>
Film
wave
and
film
movement
are
used
interchangeably
in
this
thesis.
5
no
systematic,
theoretical
criteria
are
used
to
evaluate
whether
the
collection
of
films
and
film
makers
under
scrutiny
could
be
considered
a
film
movement.
A
good
example
of
this
would
be
Susan
Hayward’s
recent
(1996)
book,
Key
Concepts
in
Cinema
Studies.
This
book
is
a
supposedly
comprehensive
overview
of
film-
related
literature,
including
film
concepts,
terminology,
and
important
events
in
film
history.
The
Free
British
Cinema,
the
French
New
Wave,
German
Expressionism,
and
similar
cinematic
developments
are
all
referred
to
as
“film
movements”
or
“film
waves”
(or
even
“schools”)
and
descriptive
accounts
are
provided
along
the
lines
outlined
by
DeNitto
above.
But
while
terms
such
as
“realism”
and
“documentary”
are
both
formal
entries,
along
with
numerous
other
film
terms,
film
movement
and
film
wave
are
not.
The
omission
of
these
two
basically
synonymous
terms
from
full
definition,
but
their
utilization
to
characterize
other,
“key”
concepts,
underscores
the
point
of
film
movement
theory’s
underdeveloped
status
and
its
general
use
in
simply
a
descriptive
sense.
2.3
The
theories
of
Huaco,
Tudor
and
Lovell
In
this
thesis,
the
term
“film
movement”
is
used
in
the
more
rigorous,
theoretical
sense.
Various
film
movement
theory
criteria
are
used
to
determine
whether
the
Chinese
Fifth
Generation
qualify
as
a
film
movement,
not
just
descriptively,
but
also
theoretically.
Also
to
be
determined
is
whether
the
various
developmental
conditions
necessary
for
the
existence
of
a
film
movement
apply
in
the
case
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
The
theory
I
use
in
this
thesis
is
a
combination
of
several
sociologists’
propositions,
including
those
of
George
Huaco
(1965),
Andrew
Tudor
(1974)
and
Terry
Lovell
(1971).
Such
a
combination
offers
us
a
framework
to
examine
a
film
movement’s
relation
to
the
society
from
which
it
emerges.
This
framework
takes
into
account
the
triggering
effect
a
social
trauma
has
on
the
formation
of
a
film
movement.
It
also
aids
in
locating
the
specific
factors
which
contribute
to
that
effect.
The
framework
provides
a
perspective
from
which
I
investigate
the
emergence
of
a
stylistically
homogeneous
film
wave
(namely
the
Fifth
Generation
in
this
case),
in
terms
of
possible
socio-historical
preconditions.
Since
film
movement
is
the
centre
of
our
research,
it
is
necessary
to
clarify
the
concept’s
exact
meaning.
In
his
book,
7he
Sociology
of
Film
Art,
George
Huaco
(1965)
vaguely
defines
film
movements
as
“stylistically
homogenous
clusters.”
Tudor
(1974)
refines
it,
claiming
that
a
film
movement
is
first
of
all
‘a
distinct
grouping
of
films”
which
share
in
the
break
from
the
traditional
cinema,
and
thereby
“suggest
innovation.”
A
movement,
then,
is
“a
distinct
cluster
of
films
representing
a
break
with
the
films
of
the
past”
(Tudor,
1974:
169).
Terry
Lovell
(1971:
19)
supplies
a
further
criterion:
“Movement”
is
an
intentional
concept,
implying
collective
action
towards
some
conscious
goal.
A.F.C.
Wallace’s
definition
of
“revitalization
movement”
is
pertinent:
“‘a
deliberate
and
self-conscious
attempt
to
provide
a
more
satisfying
culture.”
Film
movements
are
thus
those
aesthetic
breaks
consequent
upon
collective
and
self-
conscious
actions
of
the
artists
involved
(Tudor,
1974).
The
concept
of
movement
differs
from
related
concepts,
such
as
“revolution”
and
“change,”
according
to
Lovell.
Revolution
emphasizes
achievement
rather
than
intentionality.
A
revolution
often
is
the
outcome
of
many
movements
which
may
be
heterogeneous
and
even
opposed
in
their
aims
and
interests
(Lovell,
1971).
Having
clarified
the
concept
of
film
movement,
an
examination
of
Huaco’s
sociological
model
is
in
order.
Huaco’s
model
is
essentially
made
up
of
two
sub-models.
One
macroscopic
model
is
employed
to
analyze
the
major
political,
social,
and
economic
changes
in
the
larger
society,
and
a
middle-range
model
is
exploited
to
analyze
the
historically
specific
social
matrix
of
the
art,
film
or
literature
in
question.
The
link
between
these
two
models
is
the
assumption
that
major
political,
social,
and
economic
changes
in
the
larger
society
tend
to
affect
art,
literature,
or
film
by
being
channeled
or
filtered
through
the
social
structures
which
constitute
their
social
matrix
(Huaco,
1965).
The
macroscopic
model
is
used
to
examine
whether
the
four
required
structural
determinants
for
a
film
movement
are
present
in
a
given
society.
Upon
his
analysis
of
three
established
film
movements’,
Huaco(1965)
points
out
that
each
wave
began
only
when
four
necessary
structural
factors
were
already
present,
and
they
lasted
only
as
long
as these
factors
were
present.
The
gradual
elimination
of
one
or
more
of
these
factors
was
accompanied
by
the
gradual
decline
and
eventual
destruction
of
the
particular
film
wave.
*The
three
film
waves
Huaco
analyzed
are
German
Expressionism,
Soviet
Expressive
Realism,
and
Italian
Neo-realism.
The
presence
of
the
four
determinants
was
examined
through
an
inspection
of
the
historical
events
which
occurred
around
the
time
of
the
film
wave
and
the
various
social,
political,
and
economic
responses
to
these
events.
The
following
are
the
four
structural
determinants
suggested
by
Huaco
(1965:212):
(1)
a
cadre
of
trained
film
technicians,
directors,
cameramen,
editors,
and
actors;
(2)
a
basic
film
plant
including
studios,
laboratories,
raw
stock,
and
equipment;
(3)
a
mode
of
organization
of
the
film
industry
which
was
either
favorable
or
tolerant
toward
the
ideology
of
the
future
film
wave;
(4)
a
climate
of
political
norms
which
was
either
favorable
or
tolerant
toward
both
the
ideology
and
the
style
of
the
future
film
wave.
Having
used
the
macroscopic
model
to
evaluate
the
presence
of
the
four
structural
determinants,
Huaco
then
employed
the
middle-range
model
to
analyze
the
stylistic
features
of
the
particular
film
wave
and
the
source
of
that
unique
style.
As
Dennis
DeNitto
(1985)
notes,
most
film
movements
are
related
to
and
even
derive
from
movements
in
the
other
arts.
While
sharing
with
its
counterparts
in
other
arts,
it
developed
its
own
uniquely
filmic
form
and
content.
(
For
example,
Expressionism
was
a
movement
in
the
literature
and
visual
arts
of
Germany
more
than
a
decade
before
its
tentative
appearance
in
cinema,
and
a
complete
filmic
realization
was
not
achieved
until
almost
two
decades
later).
Huaco
carried
out
a
content
analysis
of
the
films
to
discern
the
stylistic
features.
He
also
examined
artistic
trends
in
other
areas
of
art
and
the
background
of
the
film
makers
to
locate
the
source
of
that
particular
style.
Even
though
somewhat
different
in
terminology
from
Huaco’s,
Andrew
Tudor
and
Terry
Lovell’s
foundations
are
essentially
of
a
similar
nature.
Recognizing
a
film
movement
as
a
collective
effort
undertaken
by
the
film
makers,
both
Tudor
and
Lovell
borrow
some
conceptualizations
from
Neil
Smelser’s
approach
to
the
analysis
of
collective
behaviour.
Smelser’s
set
of
determinants
are:
structural
conduciveness
and
structural
strain;
generalized
belief;
precipitating
factors
and
mobilization;
and
social
controls.
All
of
them
play some
part
in
determining
the
consequent
episode
of
the
movement
and
add
their
value
to
the
final
outcome.
Tudor
(1974:
171-2)
relates
these
seemingly
scattered
terms
in
the
following
way:
First,
the
structured
context
itself
[the
society
in
question]
must
permit
such
a
possibility.
This
given,
there
must
be
some
socio-cultural
root
for
the
development,
conceptualized
by
Smelser
in
the unsatisfactory
term
‘strain.’
There
must
be
a
general
belief
which
spreads
through
the
group
pinpointing
their
common
antipathies
and
aims.
There
must be
some
final
precipitating
event
and
some
basis
and
pattern
of
mobilization
for
action.
Finally,
we
must
include
the
potential
restraining
influences
of
the
larger
social
context;
their
means
of
controlling
the
episode,
if
means
they
have.
Even
though
Tudor
and
Lovell
both
draw
from
Smelser’s
collective
behaviour
theory,
Lovell
focused
on
the
French
New
Wave
as
a
case
study,
whereas
Tudor
furthered
his
discussion
on
the
universal
qualities
of
film
movements
and
compared
his
work
with
that
of
Huaco’s.
Both
Tudor
and
Huaco’s
models
take
into
account
the
material
conditions
as
well
as
the
ideological
conditions
for a
film
movement
to
form.
Tudor
includes
Huaco’s
four
structural
factors
(personnel,
equipment,
industrial
organization,
political
atmosphere)
under
the
headings
“conduciveness”
and
“strain,”
which
encompass
most
of
the
contextual
factors
involved
in
precipitating
a
film
movement.
While
some
derive
from
the
larger
socio-cultural
world,
others
stem
from
the
more
immediate
context
of
film
making,
all
of
which
have
to
be
either
favourable
or
tolerant
toward
the
ideology
of
10
the
future
film
wave.
The
issue
of
intentionality
is
dealt
with
under
the
heading
“general
belief.”
It
is
evaluated
by
whether
there
is
“a
deliberate
and
self-conscious
attempt
to
provide
a
more
satisfying
culture.”
The
headings
“precipitation
and
mobilization”
account
for
the
triggering
effect
a
social
trauma
has
on
a
film
movement,
based
on
the
degree
of
conduciveness
and
strain
such
a
drastic
situation
creates.
A
noticeable
difference
between
Tudor
/
Lovell
and
Huaco,
however,
lies
in
the
degree
of
emphasis
on
the
different
stages
of
film
movement
analysis.
Tudor
and
Lovell
both
devoted
great
attention
to
theorizing
the
definition
of
film
movement.
They
established
two
criteria
of
what
qualifies
as
a
film
movement:
the
presence
of
a
major
aesthetic
break,
and
the
intentional!
efforts
among
film
makers
involved.
Compared
to
Tudor
and
Lovell,
Huaco
focused
most
of
his
attention
on
the
sociological
preconditions
upon
which
a
film
movement
can
develop,
not
so
much
on
what
constitutes
a
film
movement.
Table
I
presents
a
comparative
summary
of
the
components
of
Tudor
/
Lovell’s
and
Huaco’s
theories.
As
we
can
see
from
the
table,
beyond
the
several
overlapping
areas,
Huaco’s
theory
does
not
address
the
issues
of
aesthetic
break
or
intentionality;
and
Tudor
/
Lovell’s
theories
fail
to
account
for
the
influence
from
the
other
areas
of
the
arts.
The
term
“social
control”
deserves
some
clarification.
Social
control
can
come
internally
from
the
organization
of
the
industry
and
government
policy,
or
it
can
extend
as
far
as
international
market
conditions.
Briefly
mentioned
by
Huaco,
Tudor
gives
it
11
Table
1:
A
Comparison
of
the
Components
of
Tudor/Lovell’s
and
Huaco’s
Theories
of
Film
Movements
TUDOR/LOVELL
Distinct
grouping/clusters
of
films
Innovation
or
break
from
traditional
cinema
Intentionality
or
collective
and
self-
conscious
actions
Structure
conduciveness
and
structural
strain
Precipitating
factors
and
mobilization
[No
explicit
equivalent]
Social
control
(internal
and
external)
HUACO
Stylistically
homogeneous
clusters
[no
explicit
equivalent]
[no
explicit
equivalent]
Macroscopic
model
(of
major
political,
social
and
economic
changes
in
the
larger
society)
to
evaluate
the
presence
of
the
four
structural
determinants
(personnel,
facilities
and
equipment,
industry
organization
and
political
norms)
Dealt
with
implicitly
in
the
application
of
the
macroscopic
model
Middle-range
model
(used
to
analyze
the
historically
specific
social
matrix
of
film
and
the
other
arts)
Dealt
with
implicitly
in
the
application
of
the
macroscopic
model
12
additional
emphasis.
It
has
crucial
influence
on
the
development
of
a
film
movement.
The
diminishing
of
the
famous
German
Expressionism
movement
illustrates
its
importance:
It
began
in
the
notorious
inflation
of
1923,
an
economic
disaster
which
had
not
initially
had
drastic
effects
on
the
film
industry.
The
measures
introduced
to
deal
with
the
crisis,
however,
were
far
from
beneficial
to
the
movement.
In
1924
came
the
Dawes
Plan,
an
attempt
to
solve
the
worst
of
the
German
economic
problem.
In
the
cinema
it
brought
in
a
great
deal
of
American
investment
while
drastically
cutting
the
export
market.
Most
historians
seem
to
agree
that
the
American
film
industry
enthusiastically
grasped
this
opportunity
to
infiltrate
and
undermine.
The
Parafumet
agreement
of
1926
is
a
major
example,
its
terms
permitting
MGM
and
Paramount
to
plant
both
feet
solidly
in
the
doorway.
Not
only
did
their
investment
guarantee
them
50
per
cent
exhibition
in
Germany,
it
also,
quite
fatally
for
the
movement,
precipitated
the
wholesale
departure
of
German
film-makers
to
American
shores.
Of
the
major
figures
Lang
held
out
the
longest.
Berger,
Dupont,
Leni,
Lubitsch,
Murnau,
and
Pick
were
soon
gone,
accompanied
by
Jannings,
the
major
acting
figure,
and
lesser
performers
like
Pola
Negri
and
Conrad
Viedt.
By
the
end
of
the
decade
many
more
had
followed
them.
In
this
way
the
American
industry
exercised
fatal
control,
ensuring
the
decline
of
the
movement
by
removing
its
major
members....in
removing
the
artists,
the
American
industry
had
eliminated
one
of
a
whole
set
of
essential
factors,
leaving
the
impetus,
of
which
this
cinema
had
been
an
expression,
to find
other
channels
of
development.
What
had been
a
crucial
cuitural
configuration,
as
someone
once
said,
died
a
quiet
death.(Tudor,
1974:
175-6)
From
the
German
case,
we
see
the
power
that
government
policy
and
international
competition
have
on
prolonging
or
diminishing
the
life
of
a
film
movement.
2.4
Theory
and
methodology
to
address
research
questions
In
this
thesis,
I
have
followed
Huaco’s
structure
of
analysis,
but
take
into
account
Tudor’s
suggestion
regarding
a
possible
relation
between
a
social
trauma
and
a
film
movement.
Tudor
and
Lovell’s
emphasis
on
factors
such
as
social
control
have
been
13
borrowed
to
accommodate
a
more
holistic
analysis.
I
analyzed
the
Fifth
Generation’s
style
by
studying
previous
research
that
has
been
done
about
their
films
and
artistic
features,
which
was
then
compared
to
those
of
the
traditional
cinema.
Based
on
that
analysis,
a
judgment
was
made
whether
the
Fifth
Generation
has
marked
an
aesthetic
break.
An
evaluation
of
the
Fifth
Generation
as
a
film
movement
was
next
pursued
by
examining
whether
there
have
been
intentional
and
collective
efforts
by
the
film
makers.
Also,
I
have
extended
the
attempt
to locate
the
source
of
the
Fifth
Generation
style
by
investigating
the
trends
in
the
larger
artistic-literary-dramatic
context
and
the
social-
economic
background
of
the
directors.
Historical
context
was
examined
to
illustrate
how
it
prepared
the
necessary
structural
determinants
for
a
film
movement.
The
Chinese
government’s
policy
and
international
market
conditions
have
also
been
analyzed
in
their
role
as
social
control.
More
specifically,
then,
the
efforts
made
to
address
the
research
questions,
have
included:
°
An
historical
review
of
the
development
of
the
Chinese
cinema
to
illustrate
the
formation
of
the
classical
Chinese
cinematic
tradition.
e
A
secondary
analysis
of
the
existence
of
major
unifying
themes
and
common
stylistic
features
of
the
Fifth
Generation
films,
which
were
compared
to
those
of
the
traditional
cinema
to
determine
whether
there
has
been
an
aesthetic
break
between
the
two.
°
A
study
of
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers’
common
social
characteristics,
and
an
analysis
of
the
commentaries
and
interviews
of
these
film
makers
with
regards
to
their
14
motivation
and
intentions
in
making
films,
to
determine
if
their
efforts
met
the
requirements
of
commonality
/
intentionality.
°
An
examination
of
the
larger
artistic-literary-dramatic
cultural
context
of
China
in
the
early
1980s
that
might
have
resonated
with
or
contributed
to
the
genesis
of
the
Fifth
Generation
style.
e
An
examination
of
the
Cultural
Revolution,
and
especially
its
aftermath,
to
determine
whether
it
created
the
circumstances
considered
necessary
for
the
emergence
of
a
film
movement,
in this
instance
the
Chinese
film
makers
known
collectively
as
the
Fifth
Generation.
°
An
analysis
of
the
existence
and
nature
of
Huaco’s
four
structural
determinants
in
the
Cultural
Revolution
period
and
its
aftermath.
.
An
analysis
of
Chinese
government
policies
and
the
international
market
conditions
which
made
it
possible
for
Chinese
films
to
reach
an
international
audience,
which
in
turn
brought
international
attention
and
recognition
to
the
Fifth
Generation.
e
An
examination
and
analysis
of
any
factors
or
elements
that
might
lead
to
or
have
led
to
a
diminution
of,
or
potentially
could
lead
to
the
disappearance
of
the
Fifth
Generation
as
a
film
movement.
Successful
achievement
of
these
efforts
allow
an
assessment
to
be
made
of
the
Fifth
Generation
as
a
film
movement
and
to
speculate
on
its
possible
future.
15
Chapter
Three:
Movement
requirements
related
to
films
3.1
Introduction
In
this
chapter,
I
examine
the
history
of
the
traditional
Chinese
cinema
and
the
development
of
its
style,
which
is
then
compared
to
that
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
We
will
be
able
to
decide
whether
there
has
been
a
major
aesthetic
break
between
the
two
after
the
comparison,
such
a
break
being
an
important
requirement
for
the
Fifth
Generation
to
qualify
as
a
film
movement.
3.2
Development
of
the
traditional
Chinese
cinema
Before
proceeding
to
the
history
of
Chinese
cinema,
it
will
be
helpful
to
clarify
the
classification
of
different
generations
in
the
Chinese
film
industry,
as
Semsel(1990)
outlines
them.
The
first
generation
of
Chinese
film
makers
(1905-1932,
approximately)
consist
of
those
who
introduced
film
into
China
and
subsequently
made
films
themselves
(e.g.,
Zhang
Zhenqui,
Yang
Shichuan);
the
second
generation(1932-1949,
approximately)
consist
of
those
directors
who
joined
the
industry
before
Liberation
and
remained
active
for
some
time
afterwards
(e.g.,
Cai
Cusheng,
Zhang
Junli);
the
third
generation(1950-
1960,
approximately)
refer
to
those
educated
during
the
period
following
Liberation,
who
formed
the
backbone
of
the
industry
during
that
period
(e.g.,
Xie
Jin,
Wu
Tianming),;
and
the
fourth
generation(1960-1980,
approximately)
are the
middle-aged
directors
who
16
received
a
college-level
education
in
film
or
theatre
before
the
Cultural
Revolution
and
who
became
the
major
force
of
film
making
immediately
after
it
ended*
(e.g.,
Zheng
Dongtian,
Wu
Yigong).
The
Fifth
Generation,
as
discussed
earlier,
refer
to
the
graduates
of
the
1982
class
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
Chinese
audiences
saw
a
motion
picture
for
the
first
time
on
August
11,
1896
at
the
Youyicun
Teahouse
in
Shanghai’s
Xu
Garden,
eight
months
after
the
world’s
first
public
showing
of
motion
pictures
in
Paris
on
December
28,
1895.
The
first
American
film
came
a
year
after
the
Europeans.
It
included
a
sequence
of
belly
dancing
by
Little
Egypt
at
the
Chicago
World’s
Fair.
Another
clip
showed
“Negroes
eating
watermelon”
(Leyda,
1972:
2,7).
This
was
an
immediate
success
as
the
audiences
were
amazed
and
delighted
to
see
real
people
and
things
reproduced
on
screen.
Thus
film
as
a
new
commercial
entertainment
was
gradually
introduced
to
China.
James
Ricalton
of
America
was
probably
one
of
the
earliest
to
see
the
lucrative
market
in
China.
In
1897
he
began
to
import
movies
to
China
and
show
them
at
tea
houses.
More
and
more
foreign
film
entrepreneurs
followed
suit,
and
they
soon
dominated
the
film
markets
in
big
cities
such
as
Beying
and
Shanghai.
Early
imports
came
mainly
from
France,
but
beginning
in
the
1920s,
Hollywood
movies
dominated
the
Chinese
markets
for
almost
thirty
years.
(Wu,
1994: 197)
The
first
attempt
to
produce
a
Chinese
film
was
made
in
the
late
1890s
by
a
*
The
Fifth
Generation
have
a
more
homogeneous
nature.
They
are
often
referred
to
by
film
critics
as
a
group.
The
other
generations
do
not
have
the
same
kind
of
group
homogeneity,
and
are
known
more
for
the
individual
film
makers.
As
a
result,
the
term
the
“Fifth
Generation”
is
normally
presented
in
capitalized
form
whereas
the
other
generations
are
usually
presented
in
lower
case.
17
businessman,
Ren
Jingfeng,
from
north-eastern
China.
He
opened
a
still
photograph
studio
called
the
Fengtai
Photo
Studio
in
Beijing
in
1892
and
later
set
up
a
cinema
to
show
films.
His
studio
made
the
first
Chinese
film
ever
in
history
and
later
turned
out
to
be
the
breeding
ground
of
the
Chinese
film
industry.
As
there
was
a
shortage
of
Western
films
in
the
market,
he
[Ren
Jingfeng]
gradually
lost
audience.
Then
the
idea
occurred
to
him
to
make
a
Chinese
film.
He
bought
a
French
camera
and
fourteen
reels
of
film
from
a
German
merchant
and
began
his
experiment.
In
the
fall
of
1905,
in
the
courtyard
of
the
Fengtai
Photo
Studio,
the
first
Chinese
film,
Dingjun
Shan
(Dingjun
Mountain),
was
produced
with
Ren
Jingfeng
as
producer,
Liu
Zhonglun
as
cameraman,
and
Tan
Xinpei,
the
prominent
actor
of
Beijing
drama
(Beijing
opera),
as
the
main
actor.
It
took
three
days
to
finish
the
three-reel
project.
Based
on
an
episode
from
the
classic
novel
Sanguo
yanyi
(Romance
of
the
Three
Kingdoms)
by
Luo
Guangzhong
(c.
1330-1400),
Dingjun
Mountain
is
a
classic
item
in
the
repertoire
of
Beijing
drama.
Obviously,
China’s
first
film
is
in
fact
a record
of
an
old
drama
performed
not
on
stage
but
in
a
photo
studio.
The
nature
of
the
dramatic
original
helped
define
the
early
cinema
audience
that
in
turn
influenced
the
films
made
to
attract
it.(Wu,
1994:
197-8)
Ren
Jingfeng’s
first
film
started
Chinese
cinema’s
long-lasting,
intimate
relation
with
drama.
Theatrical
influences
on
his
films
were
obvious:
Theatrical
traditions
were
so
strong
that
the
cinema
spent
its
early
years
working
with
dramatic
conventions,
and
even
acting
styles
were
transferred
from
stage
onto
screen.
The
transition
from
the
traditional
form
of
old
drama
to
the
new
art
of
cinema
is
significant
because,
on
the
one
hand,
Chinese
audiences
could
feel
on
familiar
ground
with
mellow
falsetto
or
violent
swordplay,
and
on
the
other
hand,
old
drama
films
could
establish
themselves
as
a
unique
type
in
Chinese
cinema.
For
decades,
Chinese
filmmakers
have
continuously
made
use
of
traditional
materials
from
theater
repertory
and
historical
tales.
Later,
many
more
famous
actors
of
Beijing
drama
put
their
art
on
camera
in
the
Fengtai
Photo
Studio,
such
as
Yu
Jusheng,
Zhu
Wenying...(Wu,
1994:
198)
The
notion
that
film
is
essentially
drama
started
then
and
continued
throughout
the
18
long
years
of
Chinese
cinema
development.
This
aesthetic
is
sometimes
referred
to
by
film
critics
as
the
“shadowplay
aesthetics,”
since
film
was
called
shadowplay
when
it
was
first
introduced
to
China
(Bao,
1973).
Moreover,
the
word
shadowplay
summarizes
the
core
concept
of
Chinese
film
aesthetics
(Chen,
X.,
1990:
193):
In
Chinese,
shadowplay
(ying
xi)
is
a
word
group
consisting
of
a
modifier
and
the
word
it
modifies.
Its
key
word
is
play,
which
means
drama;
shadow,
which
means
the
image
on
the
screen,
is
only
the
modifier
of
play.
The
basic
understanding
of
the
relationship
of
shadowplay
to
film
is
that
play
is
the
origin
of
film,
but
shadow
is
its
means
of
presentation.
Shadowplay
refers
to
both
the
concept
and
structure
of
film
that
occupied
the
dominant
position
in
early
Chinese
film
making.
Shadowplay
reflected
the
basic
understanding
of
film
makers
about
the
medium.
According
to
Chinese
film
makers
during
the
1920s,
film
was
neither
the
direct
recording
of
reality,
nor
a
game
of
shooting
and
editing,
but
a
drama.
Hou
wrote
in
1926
that
“Shadowplay
is
a
kind
of
drama.
It
possess
all
the
same
values
as
drama”
(quoted
in
Chen,
X.,
1990:
193).
Xu
noted
further
that,
“Although
shadowplay
is
an
independent
thing,
as
regards
its
properties
of
presentation
(i.e.,
showing
a
story
by
actors
or
actresses),
it
is
still
drama.
Although
the
forms
of
drama
differ,
its
properties
are
fully
the
same”
(quoted
in
Chen,
X.,
1990:
193).
Looking
at
film
as
drama
was
the
central
concept
of
film
during
the
early
stage
of
Chinese
film
making.
And
this
concept
goes
beyond
the
specific
historical
category
of
early
Chinese
film,
and
becomes
a
basic
concept
that
summarizes
the
overall
traditional
understanding
of
Chinese
film
(Chen,
X.,
1990).
19
China’s
first
generation
of
film
directors’
efforts
came
to
fruition
in
the
early
1920s.
The
producer
and
the
director
of
China’s
first
feature-length
film
Nanfu
nangqi
(The
Suffering
Couple,
1913),
Zheng
Zhengqiu
and
Zhang
Shichuan
respectively,
are the
representatives
of
this
generation.
Nanfu
nanqgi
exposed
and
condemned
China’s
feudal
marriage
system
through
the
tragedy
of
a
young
couple.
It
also
marked
the
beginning
of
a
cinematic
tradition
that
film
must
help
reform
society
and
educate
the
masses
(Wu,
1994).
If
Dingjun
Shan
marked
the
beginning
of
a
dramatic
tradition
in
Chinese
cinema,
then
Nanfu
nanqi
indicated
the
start
of
a
didactic
tradition
that film
is
an
educational
tool.
The
decade-long
collaboration
of
the
two
film
makers
lured
audiences
with
adaptations
of
traditional
adventure
tales,
and
lurid
criminal
cases
from
the
tabloid
press.
By
the
end
of
the 1920s,
the
interests
of
these
two
auteurs
started
to
diverge.
Zhang
Shichuan
started
to
specialize
in
long
serial
adaptations
of
Chinese
knight-errant
tales;
The
Burning
of
Red
Lotus
Temple
(1928-31),
filmed
in
twenty-eight
parts,
is
the
predecessor
of
the
contemporary
kung
fu
film.
Zheng
Zhengqiu
was
creating
a
new
genre
of
romantic
melodrama,
imbued
with
themes
of
social
reform.
Zheng’s
films
paralleled
the
new
‘mandarin
duck
and
butterfly
school’*
of
urban
fiction
which
also
addressed
the
problems
arranged
marriages
brought
and
the
anxieties
of
first-generation
city
dwellers.
These
film
makers
established
the
two
dominant
trends
within
Chinese
cinema
in
the
1920s:
pure
entertainment
rooted
in
tradition,
and
a
socially
conscious,
didactic
cinema
(Faubel,
1990).
5
The
entertainment
school
of
Chinese
literature
as
opposed
to
the
didactic
school.
20
The
film
industry
developed
rapidly
as
more
people
saw
its
commercial
potential
in
the
1920s.
According
to
reported
statistics,
in
1925,
there
were
175
film
companies
all
over
China,
141
in
Shanghai
alone.
Most
of
these
companies
went
out
of
business
without
ever
producing
one
film
due
to
lack
of
experience
and
expertise
in
film
making
(Wu,
1994).
In
the
late
1920s,
more
than
a
hundred
films
were
made
annually,
most
of
them
dealing
with
sentimental
romances
and
martial
arts
adventures
(Wu,
1994).
The
1920s
established
a
foundation
for
the
development
and
maturation
of
Chinese
cinema.
During
this
period,
film
equipment
and
studios
proliferated
and
film
personnel
gradually
became
experienced.
By
the
start
of
the
1930s,
Chinese
cinema
had
advanced
into
a
golden
age, as
film
making
entered
the
sound
era.
For
the
first
time,
in
1931,
Chinese
audiences
saw
films
with
sound,
while
the
number
of
films
produced
and
the
number
of
new
artists
emerging
reached
a
peak
in
this
decade.
Between
1930
and
the
Japanese
occupation
of
Shanghai
in
1937,
565
films
were
produced
by Chinese
studios
(Armes,
1987).
In
the
process,
large
numbers
of
promising
directors,
scriptwriters,
and
actors
were
making
their
appearances
(Wu,
1994).
In
spite
of
the
rapid
development
of
domestic
film
production,
Hollywood
films
still
dominated
90%
of
the
Chinese
market
in
1929,
and
85%
between
the
years
1930
to
1937
(Armes,
1987).
As
film
makers
were
exposed
more
to
Hollywood
films,
Chinese
cinema
moved
closer
to
the
dominant
international
style
of
film,
imitating
the
narrative
formulas
and
studio
production
methods
of
Hollywood,
and
focusing
on
movie
“stars”
21
(Faubel,
1990:
7):
The
waning
of
traditional
influences
in
Chinese
cinema
in
this
decade
is
not
surprising
when
we
consider
that
85%
ofall
films
screened
in
Chinese
theaters
were
imported
from
Hollywood.
Urban
Chinese
audiences
were
enamored
of
the
screen
characters
Mary
Pickford,
Douglas
Fairbanks,
and
especially
Charlie
Chaplin’s
“little
tramp,”
identified
by
the
Chinese
moniker
of
“little
mustache.”
...The
Star
Company,
China’s
most
successful
studio,
housed
a
stable
of
actors
under
exclusive
contracts-including
“China’s
Garbo,”
Ruan
Lingyu.
Film
supplements
in
the
daily
Shanghai
newspapers
informed
fans
of
the
star’s
latest
romantic
entanglements.
The
invasion
of
the
Japanese
and
the
corruption
of
the
government
in
the
1930s
created
the
environment
for
a
left
wing
movement
in
literature
and
art,
as
well
as
in
cinema.
Films
with
strong
anti-feudal
and
anti-Japanese
themes
started
to
appear.
Chinese
cinema’s
didactic
tradition
was
gaining
its
strength
during
this
time.
For
instance,
over
forty
films
made
in
1933
advocated
democratic
and
nationalistic
ideas,
among
the
over
seventy
films
in total
made
in
that
year
(Wu,
1994).
Left
wing
artists
throughout
China
were
working
together
as
a
group
to
save
the
country.
This
underground
movement
was
spearheaded
by
the
playwrights,
Xia
Yan,
Tian
Han,
and
Yang
Hengsheng,
who
concentrated
on
writing
scripts
as
a
means
of
infiltrating
the
American
financed,
Chinese
studios.
Noted
filmmakers
of
this
era,
such
as
Cai
Chusheng,
Yuan
Muzhi,
Shen
Xiling,
and
Sun
Yu,
defied
government
censors
by
creating
anti-Japanese
and
social
exposé
films
from
these
scripts.(Faubel,
1990:8)
The
second
generation
of
Chinese
filmmakers
were
those
who
came
to
the
cinema
at
the
beginning
of
the
sound
era
with
backgrounds
in
drama.
Outstanding
films
made
in
the
thirties
(silent
and
sound
)
include
Shen
Xiling’s
Shanghai
ershisi
xiaoshi
(Twenty-
four
Hours
in
Shanghai,
1934),
Wu
Yongang’s
Shennu
(Goddess,
1934),
Cai
Cusheng’s
22
Yuguang
qu
(
Song
of
the
Fishermen,
1934),
Yuan
Muzhi’s
Malu
tianshi
(Street
Angel,
1934),
etc.
Goddess
exerted
a
far-reaching
influence
on
Chinese
film
making
as
a
result
of
its
realistic
style.
It
served
as
the
pioneer
of
the
realist
tradition
in
Chinese
cinema,
which
became
the
inspirational
source
of
the
post-1949
socialist
realism
cinema:
Produced
by
the
Lianhua
Film
Company,
Goddess
is
about
the
miserable
life
of
a
woman
struggling
for
survival
in
Old
China.
Raped
by
villain,
she
tries
several
times
to
escape
from
his
control
but
in
vain.
Later,
she
becomes
a
prostitute
in
order
to
support
the
family
and
pay
for
her
son’s
education.
When
the
school
authorities
learn
that
she
is
a
prostitute,
they
expel
her
son
from
school.
Not
totally
discouraged,
she
believes
that
she
can
use
her
savings
to
send
her
son
to
study
in
a
remote
place.
When
she
discovers
that
all
her
savings
have
been
stolen
by
the
villain,
she
is
so
enraged
that
she
throws
a
vase
at
him,
killing
him
accidentally.
Consequently,
she
is
sentenced
to
twelve
years
in
prison.
Full
of
deep
sympathy
for
downtrodden
women,
this
film
reflects
their
misery
with
great
artistic
power.
Its
success
shows
the
progress
made
in
technique
and
direction
as
well
as
in
acting.
(Wu,
1994)
The
left-influenced
film
productions
of
the
1930s
rejected
the
semi-Westernized
fashions
and
backdrops
of
Shanghai
which
provided
the
glossy
mise-en-scéne
of
their
competitor’s
films.
Turning
their
cameras
on
the
underside
of
this
urban
life,
they
fashioned
a
hard-edged,
highly
realistic
style
which
is
often
compared
with
the
Neo-realist
style
of
the
post-war
Italian
cinema
(Faubel,
1990).
As
the
Japanese
occupation
further
penetrated
Chinese
society,
both
Japanese
invaders
and
the
corrupted
Nationalist
government
started
to
promote
“soft
films,”
also
known
as
“enlightening
films,”
intended
to
prettify
the
Japanese
presence
in
China
and
to
counteract
left
wing
films’
motivational
efforts
to
resist
the
Japanese.
Left
wing
critics
ridiculed
these
films
as
“Ice
cream
for
the
eyes
and
a
comfortable
sofa
for
the
mind,”
23
stirring
public
resentment
against
escapist
entertainment
in
a
time
of
national
crisis
(Wu,
1994).
Between
1934
and
1936
the
Nationalist
government
forced
fourteen
studios
out
of
business
for
patronizing
the
work
of
the
left
wing
film
groups
and
started
to
sponsor
the
production
of
“soft
films”
(Cheng,
1963).
In
northeastern China,
the
Japanese
aggressors
controlled
the
film
industry
and
produced
more
than
200
“enlightening
films,”
more
than
120
entertainment
films,
and
more
than
300
documentaries
from
1937
to
1945.
Although
about
240
features
were
made
in
Shanghai
from
1938
to
1941,
most
of
them were
ancient
history
costume
dramas
roughly
produced.
When
the
Japanese
seized
all
the
concessions
in
Shanghai
in
December
1941,
they
also
took
control
of
filmmaking
there.
In
Shanghai,
from
1942
to
1945,
more
than
130
features
were
produced
under
the
Japanese
occupation.
(Wu,
1994:
203)
Fighting
harsh
censorship
under
the
Nationalist
government,
Chinese
left
wing
films
reached
the height
of
their
popularity
as
socio-economic
conditions
worsened
in
the
years
prior
to
the
1949
revolution.
More
than
240
films
were
produced
in
the
areas
under
the
Nationalist
Party’s
rule,
of
which
more
than
40
were
wnitten
and
directed
by
progressive
artists.
Successful
films
in
the
period
include
Bagian
lilu
yun
he
yue
(Eight
Thousand
Miles
of
Clouds
and
Moon,
1947),
Yijiang
chunshui
xiang
dongliu
(The
Spring
River
Flows
East,
1947),
and
Yanyangtian
(Bright
Day,
1949)
(Wu,
1994).
The
decade
of
Japanese
invasions
created
the
background
for
epic
melodramas
such
as
The
Spring
River
Flows
East
(Cai
Chusheng,
director)-
the
Chinese
equivalent
of
Gone
with
the
Wind.
The
three
hour
film
chronicles
the
separation
and
reunion
of
a
young
couple
during
the
anti-Japanese
war
years.
The
husband
becomes
a
government
official
and
is
corrupted
by
the
privileges
of
power,
while
his
wife
labours
at
menial
jobs
in
occupied
Shanghai
to
24
support
their
son.
The
debauched
husband
gets
married
to
a
prominent
socialite
only
to
be
discovered
by
his
first
wife
when
she
is
hired
as
a
maid
for
one
of
their
parties
(Faubel,
1990).
The
film
was
an
immense
success.
It
was
in
the
theaters
for
three
months
and
710,000
tickets
were
sold
(Wu,
1994).
The
film
industry
also
developed
under
adverse
conditions
in
the
Communist
areas
as
it
was
booming
in
Nationalist-ruled
areas.
Following
Zhou
Enlai’s®
instructions,
the
Yanan
Film
Workshop
was
set
up
in
the
fall
of
1938,
with
one
of
the
cameras
donated
by
the
famous
filmmaker
Joris
Ivens
from
Holland.
Then,
in
1939,
the
workshop
set
up
a
projection
team.
This
workshop
produced
a
few
documentary
films,
but
it
dissolved
when
all
of
its
forty
members
went
to
northeastern
China
to
take
control
of
the
film
institutions
there
from
the
Japanese
after
their
surrender.
The
Yanan
Film Studio
was
set
up
in
1946,
but
it
produced
only
a
few
newsreels
and
an
unfinished
feature,
Chen
Boer’s
Bianqu
yingxiong
(Heroes
in
Communist
Areas).
In
October
1946,
the
Northeast
Film
Studio
was
also
set
up
under
the
leadership
of
the
Communist
Party.
The
footage
produced
in
Communist
areas
in
these
days
was
not
for
commercial
profits,
but
to
carry
the
propaganda
of
Communist
ideas.
Although
it
mainly
produced
documentary
films,
the
studio
also
tumed
out
animations
such
as
Chen
Boer’s
Huangdi
de
meng
(Emperor’s
Dream,
1947)
and
a
four-reel
feature,
Lin
Qi’s
Liuxia
tada
laojiang
(Leave
Him
Behind
to
Fight
Chiang
Gai-shek,
1948).
(Wu,
1994:
205)
After
the
founding
of
the
People’s
Republic
of
China
in
1949,
the
Chinese
government
nationalized
the
Shanghai
studios.
A
central
Film
Bureau
was
established
under
the
Ministry
of
Culture
to inspect
the
work
of
the
studios
and
supervise
production.
A
nation-wide
distribution
network
was
created
which
employed
some
2300
mobile
projection
teams
that
extended
the
film
audience
beyond
the
cities
for
the
first
time
(Clark,
°
A
Party
leader
who
later
became
the
first
Premier
of
the
People’s
Republic
of
China.
25
1987).
The
statistics
available
for
the
growth
of
the
film
industry
in
the
first
decade
since
the
founding
of
the
People’s
Republic
of
China
suggest
that
the
new
government,
committed
to
a
period
of
post-revolutionary
institutionalization,
placed
a very
high
priority
on
rapid
progress
in
getting
new
films
out
to
the
people.
Given
the
size
of
China,
the
enormity
and
diversity
of
its
population,
and
the
almost
complete
destruction
of
its
economy
after
fourteen
years
of
Japanese
invasion,
plus
another
four
years
of
civil
war,
the
task
of
building
and
transforming
a
film
industry
was
formidable.
Nevertheless,
in
the
decade
between
1950
and
1960,
film
attendance
jumped
from
150
million
to
5.4
billion
per
year;
the
number
of
motion
picture
theaters
climbed
from 522
to
almost
1,800;
the
number
of
workers
in
various
departments
of
the
state-operated
film
industry
rose
from
3,000
to
90,000;
the
number
of
major
studios
went
from
3 to
12;
and,
perhaps
most
impressively,
the
number
of
mobile
film
projection
teams
for
the
countryside
shot
up
from
500
to
over
9,000
(Liu,
1971:
202;
Scott,
1965:78;
Survey
of
China
Mainland
Press,
n.d.
No.
905:
40,
No.2464:
19;
Culture
and
Education
in
New
China,
1950:
79).
As
a
consequence
of
an urge
to
make
cinema
a
medium
of
political
education,
as
well
as
the
desire to
gain
a
national
audience,
films
that
subscribed
to
the
credo
of
“socialist
realism”
began
to
be
produced
in
increasing
numbers,
the
Soviet
Union
providing
the
model
and
impetus.
The
themes
of
films
include
revolutionary
zeal
and
fervour,
the
actions
of
positive
heroes
who
had
the
interests
of
the
masses
in
mind,
class
26
struggle,
and
the
triumph
of
progressive
forces
over
reactionary
forces
(Dissanayake,
1988).
The
socialist
realism
aesthetic
concentrates
highly
on
the
social
function
of
film
and
demands
that
film
communicate
specific,
ready-made
ideologies
of
ethics
or
politics.
It
emphasizes
content
over
form,
and
insists
that
form
obey
content.
Consequently,
the
fundamental!
nature
of
the
traditional
cinema
is
that
of an
educational
tool
(Chen,
X.,
1990).
In
the
early
1950s,
a
series
of
political
campaigns
targeted
the
bourgeoisie
for
public
criticism
and
the
remaining
prints
of
American
films
ceased
to
be
screened
in
China.
Soviet
films
were
imported
to
fill
the
temporary
gap
in
domestic
production
as
the
fiim
industry
was
re-organized.
Experts
from
the
Soviet
film
industry
were
also
utilized
to
train
a
third
generation
of
Chinese
filmmakers
that
would
staff
the
new
state
studios
(Faubel, 1990).
The
strongest
work
by
the
third
generation
was
a
series
of
adaptations
of
opera,
folk
tales
and
May
Fourth
period
literature
(from
the
years
1915-1926).
Representative
films
by
this
generation
are
Liu
sanjie
(Third
Sister
Liu,
1962),
Zao
chun
eryu
(Early
Spring
in
February,
1963),
and
Li
Shuangshuang
(1962).
Third
Sister
Liu
(Su
Li
dir.
1962)
transforms
a
Guangxi
folk
tale
into
a
modern
musical
that
manages
to
be
both
entertaining
and
politically
correct;
the
finale
of
the
film
features
a
call
and
response
singing
contest
in
which
the
heroine
outwits
an
entourage
of
scholars
retained
by
the
local
despot.
Xie
Tieli’s
Early
Spring
in
February
(1963)
faithfully
evokes
the
alienation
from
the
traditional
society
and
the
ideological
wavering
which
many
intellectuals
felt
during
the
twenties.
The
film
is
unique
among
post-1949
adaptations
of
27
May
Fourth
literature
in
that
it
makes
few
attempts
to
update
the
political
outlook
of
its
protagonists
to
correspond
with
official
interpretations
of
the
May
Fourth
era...
The
most
popular
film
of
this
period,
Zi
Shuangshuang
(Lu
Ren
dir.
1962),
uses
comedy
to
examine
the
difficulties
of
agricultural
collectivization.
The
film
is
a
prototype
for
the
reform
film
(gaige
pian)
where
a
progressive,
model
figure
demonstrates
the
correct
path
of
action
to
an
indecisive
populous.
Such
films
recognized
the
problems
of
socialism
and
showed
audiences
how
they
might
be
remedied,
usually
through
the
efficacy
of
the
resident
Party
cadre.
Li
Shuangshuang
is
unusual
because
the
film’s
heroine
challenges
the
male
dominated
status
quo
on
behalf
of
the
other
women
in
her
village.
(Faubel,
1990:
15-6)
The
fourth
generation
of
Chinese
filmmakers
were
the
first
graduates
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
which
was
founded
in
1959.
Their
careers
were
suspended
by
the
outbreak
of
the
ten-year
Cultural
Revolution
in
1966,
during
which
the
film
industry
almost
came
to
a
standstill.
Film
making
in
this
period
was
limited
to
Jiang
Qing’s’
model
operas
(yangbanxi).
The
censorship
was
so
heavy
that
even
the
selection
of
camera
angles
was
strictly
codified
(Clark,
1987).
In
1970
the
first
new
films
to
appear,
after
feature
production
came
to
a
complete
stop
in
the
mid-1960s,
were
film
versions
of
the
model
operas
(yangbanxi).
These
films
were
marked
by
their
lack
of
ambiguities
and
a
revolutionary
realism
pushed
to
the
extreme.
The
characters
were
mostly
homogenized
“stock”
characters.
Aside
from
the
hero/heroine,
there
was
always
a
kind,
elderly
woman,
“Granny,”
who
was
perpetually
available
with
a
tearful
recollection
of
the
bitter
past;
a
young
woman
eager
to
join
the
revolutionary
struggle;
and
an
old
man
who
sometimes
wavered
in
loyalty
to
the
cause
until
the
hero
put
him
right.
Class
enemies
and
Japanese,
the
usual
kinds
of
negative
characters
in
these
films,
similarly
lacked
depth
or
nuance.
”
Jiang
Qing
was
Mao’s
wife,
and
a
member
of
the
Gang
of
Four,
which
was
the
driving
force
behind
the
Cultural
Revolution.
28
Their
evilness
sometimes
made
them
seem
more
interesting
than
their
zealous,
but
bland,
opponents
(Clark,
1987).
A
common
scene
is
as
an
observer
noted
in
1978:
“In
these
films
the
goodies
are
always
holding
meetings,
while
the
baddies
are
constantly
eating
and
drinking”
(Clark,
1987:135).
The
fourth
generation
are
part
of
the
“lost
generation”
spawned
by
the
Cultural
Revolution,
in
the
sense
that
they
are
not old
enough
to
recall
or
recreate
the
altruistic
spirit
of
social
regeneration
in
the
early
years
of
the
People’s
Republic.
The
first
fourth
generation
films
are
characterized
by
humanistic,
albeit
sentimental
investigations
of
the
victims
of
the
Cultural
Revolution.
They
became
a
central
theme
of
Chinese
film
in
the
early
1980s
(Faubel,
1990).
Ku
Lian
(Unrequited
Love,
1981)
tells
of
the
career
ofa
patriotic
Chinese
artist
who
returns
from
America
to
the
motherland
following the
1949
revolution,
only
to
die
as
a
fugitive
at
the
end
of
the
Cultural
Revolution.
The
film
posed
the
question
which
confronted
many
intellectuals
who
lived
through
this
period:
“you
love
your
country,
but
does your
country
love
you?”
(Clark,
1987).
Other
outstanding
films
made
by
the
fourth
generation
included
Yieshan
(In
the
Wild
Mountains,
1985),
Xiangnu
Xiaoxiao
(Xiaoxiao:
Girl
from Hunan,
1987),
and
Chengnan
jiushi
(Memories
of
Old
Beying,
1983).
The
influence
of
drama
extends
to
the
1980s
and
remains
the
dominant
basic
concept
by
which
the
Chinese
understand
film.
People
speak
of
film
from
the
perspective
of
drama,
and
screen
writers
apply
dramatic
structure
to
their
scripts.
Films
made
in
this
29
period
continue
to
rely
heavily
on
dramatic
conflicts
as
the
basic
structure
of
film
and
on
dialogue
as
their
primary
means
of
cinematic
representation
(Bai,
1990).
The
traditional
Chinese
socialist
realism
aesthetic
has
its
historic
roots.
The
development
of
its
dramatic
and
didactic
characteristics
can
be
traced
to
various
stages
of
Chinese
cinema.
The
dramatic
tradition
was
started
in
the
very
early
days
of
film
making
by
pioneer
Ren
Jingshen
and
his
made-for-film
stage
dramas.
Since
then,
film
has
been
considered
a
kind
of
drama
which
possesses
the
same
values
as
drama.
Dramatic
conflicts,
rather
than
shooting
and
editing,
function
as
the
primary
component
of
film.
The
dramatic
tradition
was
passed
down
from
one
generation
to
another
and
has
been
the
fundamental
concept
of
how
traditional
Chinese
film
makers
understand
how
films
are to
be
made.
3.3
Summary
of
traditional
Chinese
cinema
aesthetics
In
the
early
1920s,
the
emergence
of
China’s
first
feature-length
film,
Nanfu
nanqi,
marked
the
beginning
of
another
cinematic
tradition:
film
must
help
reform
society
and
educate
the
masses.
Zhang
Zhengqiu,
who
was
the
producer
of
Nanfu
nanqi
and
a
representative
figure
of
the
first
generation
of
Chinese
film
makers,
created
a
new
genre
of
romantic
melodrama,
imbued
with
themes
of
social
reform.
This
tradition
was
strengthened
in
the
leftist
movement
of
the
1930s.
The
Japanese
invasion
and
the
corruption
of
the
government
in
the
1930s
prompted
a
nation-wide
left
wing
movement
in
30
literature
and
arts,
as
well
as
in
film.
Anti-Japanese,
anti-feudal
films,
which
embodied
strong
political
messages,
proliferated
on
the
Chinese
screen
during
that
period.
The
second
generation
of
Chinese
film
makers
came
to
the
cinema
at
the
beginning
of
the
sound
era.
They
brought
to
the
Chinese
screen
a
series
of
powerful,
realist
melodramas,
such
as
Goddess,
Street
Angel,
and
Song
of
the
Fisherman.
These
films
became
the
precedent
of
the
post-1949
socialist
realism
approach.
Heavy
Hollywood
influence
between
1932
and
1949
underscored
emphasis
on
the
dramatic
element
in
film.
The
work
of
the
third
and
fourth
generations
followed
the
traditional
socialist
realism
route.
The
bulk
of
the
third
generation’s
work
were
adaptations
of
opera,
folk
tales
and
May
Fourth
period
literature
(1915-1926).
The
fourth
generation
were
the
first
graduates
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy,
but
their
careers
were
suspended
by
the
outbreak
of
the
Cultural
Revolution.
A
few
of
them
had
the
chance
to
make
some
model
operas
during
that
period,
but
their
careers
did
not
start
on
full
scale
basis
until
the
early
1980s.
They
made
films
full
of
nostalgic
memory
of
their
wasted
youth
in
the
ten-year
Cultural
Revolution.
The
traditional
Chinese
cinema
could
therefore
be
characterized
as
melodramatic,
didactic,
socialist
realism.
Traditional
film
makers
consider
films
to
be
a
medium
to
transmit
political
and
ideological
messages
which
should
have
an
influence
on
the
viewers.
Traditional
films
rely
heavily
on
dramatic
conflicts
as
the basic
structure
of
film,
and
on
31
dramatic
elements,
such
as
dialogue,
as
their
primary
means
of
cinematic
representation.
3.4
Comparative
analysis
of
the
Fifth
Generation
films
1976
was
an
eventful
year
in
Chinese
history.
The
ten
year
long
Cultural
Revolution
formally
ended,
following
Mao’s
death
and
the
collapse
of
the
Gang
of
Four.
In
December,
1978,
the
Third
Plenum
of
the
Eleventh
Communist
Party
Central
Committee
launched
the
Four
Modernizations
program.
Massive
reforms
began
to
take
place
throughout
Chinese
society.
Higher
education
was
restructured
to
emphasize
intellectual
“expertise”
rather
than
political
“redness.”
A
large
number
of
students
were
sent
abroad
for
advanced
study
(Browne,
1994).
A
period
of
relaxation
in
Party
policies
toward
the
arts
began.
Literature,
and
other
areas
of
the
arts,
entered
a
period
of
vigorous
development.
As
it
welcomed
the
first
graduates
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
after
the
Cultural
Revolution,
Chinese
cinema
also
advanced
to
a
most
exciting
stage:
the
emergence
of
the
Fifth
Generation
of
film
makers
that
would
bring
Chinese
film
international
recognition
never
achieved
before.
Since
the
founding
of
the
new
China,
film
had
always
been
considered
reliable
tool
for
political
propaganda,
which
was
made
to
educate
people
or
to
support
current
political
movements.
The
Fifth
Generation
challenge
this
mode
of
film
making.
Upon
graduation,
they
immediately
set
themselves
the
task
of
modernizing
Chinese
cinema
by
pursuing
a
universal
humanistic
identity
for
it,
independent
of
the
specific
social-political
32
milieu
of
contemporary
China
(Ma,
1990).
Their
films
have
won
a
succession
of
international
awards
including
the
Palme
d’Or
(Cannes,
France)
and
the
Golden
Bear
(Berlin
International
Film
Festival).
The
Fifth
Generation
have
elevated
the
artistic
value
of
Chinese
cinema
to
a
higher
level.
“In
China
no
serious
film
making
took
place
for
decades,
and
now
great
films
are
coming
in
a
torrent
from
that
country,”
Roger
Ebert
(1994)
has
commented.
Some
of
their
representative
films
are:
One
and
Eight
(Zhang
Junzhao
dir.
1984),
Yellow
Earth
(Chen
Kaige
dir.
1985),
Red
Sorghum
(Zhang
Yimou
dir.
1988),
Ju
Dou
(Zhang
Yimou
dir.
1991),
Raise
the
Red
Lantern
(Zhang
Yimou
dir.
1992),
and
Farewell
My
Concubine
(Chen
Kaige
dir.
1993)*.
The
Fifth
Generation
films
differ
from
the
traditional
cinema
in
some
fundamental
aspects,
as
I
demonstrate
in
the
following
analysis.
First,
the
two
film
aesthetics
have
different
preferences
in
themes.
Traditional
films
mostly
deal
with
revolutionary
zeal
and
the
actions
of
positive
heroes
who
have
the
interests
of
the
masses
in
mind.
Class
struggle
and
the
triumph
of
progressive
forces
are
given
great
emphasis
(Dissanayake,
1988).
The
new
cinema
marks
a
break.
Their
films
begin
to
focus
on
more
personal
and
philosophical
aspects
of
people’s
lives
instead
of
portraying
their
heroic
deeds
in
the
bitter
years
of
war
(Ma,
1988).
The
historical
reappearance
of
the
“self,”
and
an
analysis
of
its
denial
in
previous
historical
periods
are
the
dominant
themes
of
the
new
cinema
(Browne,
1994).
*English
titles
are
mostly
used
here
in
light
of
the
fact
that
the
distribution
of
these
films
in
the
West
made
their
English
titles
better
known
than
their
Chinese
ones.
33
One
and
Eight
was
the
first
film
made
by
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers.
Set
in
northern
China
during
the
Second
World
War,
it
is
a
story
about
nine
prisoners
confined
in
an
Eighth
Route
Army
prison.
The
nine
of
them
include
traitors,
thieves,
deserters,
and
Wang
Jin,
an
Eighth
Route
Army
soldier
falsely
accused
of
treason.
Wang’s
determination
to
prove
his
innocence
and
his
insistence
that
national
interest
take
priority
over
personal
suffering
in
a
time
of
a
national
war
win
respect
from
the
eight
others
and
from
their
captors.
Eventually
their
guards
enlist
them
in
the
fight
against
the
Japanese
pursuers
(Clark,
1989).
At
first
glance,
the
plot
looks
like
a
familiar
party
cadre
story.
However,
this
film
goes
beyond
the
traditional
depiction
of
party
cadres’
heroic
deeds.
Through
the
portrayal
of
the
conflict
among
the
prisoners,
a
subjective,
psychological
time
and
space
are
created,
and
the
conflict
between
ideological
orthodoxy
and
the
basic
human
need
for
freedom
and
love
is
played
out
(Ma,
1990).
The
significance
of
the
film
lies
in
the
awakening
of
not
only
cinematic
innovation,
but
also
more
importantly,
a
humanistic
consciousness.
They
convey
through
their
films
what
they
saw
and
how
they
felt
in
those
turbulent
years.
“The
main
purpose
of
art
is
to
understand
and
be
understood,”
says
Zhang
Yimou
(quoted
in
Luo,
1990:
176
).
The
Fifth
Generation,
for
the
first
time
in
Chinese
history,
thoroughly
represent
individualism
on
the
screen
(Semsel,
1990).
Seeking
communication
with
the
audience
surpasses
weaving
together
dramatic
conflicts
as
the
utmost
important
element
of
Fifth
Generation
films.
Their
subjective
representations
take
priority
over
the
normal
objective
structures.
Plot
and
narrative
in
their
films
are
no
longer
in
the
dominant
position
(Semsel,
1990)..
34
If
the
classical
Chinese
socialist
realist
films
can
be
said
to
have
their
origin
in
Hollywood
and
Soviet
realism,
then
the
Fifth
Generation
owe
their
inspiration
to
European
art
cinema.
During
their
education
at
the
Beijing
Film
Academy,
the
Fifth
Generation
studied
and
learned
extensively
from
great
French,
German
and
Italian
films.
It
is
not
hard
to
detect
the
influence
of
international
art
cinema
from
their
approach
to
narrative.
In
parallel
with Bordwell’s
(1985)
general
notion
of
classic
cinema
narrative,
the
socialist
realism
of
Chinese
classical
cinema
pursues
a
tacit
coherence
among
events
and
a
consistency
of
individual
identity:
There
is
always
a
clear
and
insurmountable
line
between
good
and
bad:
good
people
cannot
have
bad
moments;
bad
people
definitely
cannot
do
good
things.
Cause
and
effect
in
films
are
well-established;
continuity
editing
breaks
up
the
narrative
into
a
number
of
shots
and
locks
the
audience
into
the
linear
flow
of
the
plot.
All
these
factors
facilitate
a
well-plotted
drama.
This
is
consistent
with
traditional
Chinese
2
66
cinema’s
“film=drama”
aesthetic.
The
Fifth
Generation
narrative,
influenced
by
international
art
cinema,
however,
takes
its
cue
from
literary
modernism.
Plot
and
narrative
in
their
films
are
no
longer
in
the
central
position.
Their
narrative
does
not
divulge
the
outcome
of
the
causal
chain.
Long
shots
are
frequently
used,
contrary
to
the
frequent
use
of
close-ups
in
the
traditional
socialist
realism
cinema
(Faubel,
1990).
Close-up
shots
direct
the
audience
to
identify
with,
and
convey
the
emotions
of,
the
characters
in
the
frame.
A
film
shot
mainly
in
35
closeups,
deprives
us
of
setting
and
imposes
the
subjective
intentions
of
the
film
maker.
However,
a
film
shot
mainly
in
long
shot
emphasizes
context
over
drama
and
dialectic
over
personality
(Monaco,
1981).
By
distancing
the
camera,
long
shots
are
used
to
depict
life
truthfully
without
adding
the
film
maker’s
bias,
thus
empowering
the
audience
to
construct
meaning
and
invoke
emotions.
Art
cinema
aesthetics
claim
that
the
world’s
laws
may
not
be
knowable;
personal
psychology
may
be
indeterminate.
This
narrative
reinforces
the
subjective,
interpretive
capacity
of
the
audience:
the
spectator
is
free
to
construct
the
significant
story
information
within the
scene.
Their
films
make
you
think
when
leaving
the
theater.
The
ambiguous
ending acknowledges
the
narration
as
not simply
powerful
but
humble;
the
film
makers’
narrative
knows
that
life
is
more
complex
than
art
can
ever
be,
and
the
only
way
to
respect
this
complexity
is
to
leave
causes
dangling
and
questions
unanswered
(Bordwell,
1985).
By
bringing
challenges
to
the
audience,
the
Fifth
Generation
films
establish
a
strong
intellectual
presence,
and
have
changed
the
stereotype
the
world
had
about
Chinese
cinema.
The
new
cinema,
with
its
freedom
from
commerce
and
emphasis
on
the
creative
genius
of
its
film
makers,
effectively
reinforces
the
opposition
with
the
traditional
cinema,
which
tended
to
emphasize
collective
creation,
and
the
use
of
film
as
propaganda.
The
power
of
the
Fifth
Generation
films
lays
in
the
strong
personal
statements
film
makers
make
about
their
understanding
of
life
and
reality
in
China,
all
of
which
are
presented
with
their
unique
narrative
structure
and
innovative
cinematic
language.
Arthur
Knight’s
statement
accounting
for
the
power
of
European
art
cinema
also
applies
to
its
Chinese
36
counterpart:
Art
is
not
manufactured
by
committees.
Art
comes
from
an
individual
who
has
something
that
he
must
express,
and
who
works
out
what
is
for
him
the
most
forceful
or
affecting
manner
of
expressing
it...
There
is
in
them
the
urgency
of
individual
expression,
and
independence
of
vision,
the
coherence
of
a
single-minded
statement.
(Quoted
in
Bordwell,
1985:
231)
The
narrative
style
of
the
Fifth
Generation
is
remarkably
more
ambiguous
than
that
of
the
classical
cinema
which
provides
a
“clear,
didactic
signification”
(Berry,
1994).
This
ambiguity
in
itself
constitutes
another
model,
one
that
by
various
strategies
refuses
either
to
set
up
a
clear
moral/political
position
for
the
audience
or
to
construct
an
exemplary
positive
or
negative
figure for
emulation
or
criticism
(Berry,
1994).
This
deviation
from
the
traditional
film
ideology
consequently
makes
their
films
easy
targets
of
government
censorship.
Thus,
film
makers
have
to
be
more
subtle
in
filmic
expression
to
pass
the
scrutiny
of
cultural
officials
and
reach
a
wider
audience.
One
important
tool
used
to
convey
this
ambiguity
is
the
incorporation
of
ritual
as
an
element
of
the
narrative.
Ritual
has
been
defined
as
“repetitive,
formalized
activity
set
off
from
day-to-day
life”
(Sutton,
1994:31).
According
to
the
1988
edition
of
the
Oxford
Dictionary,
ritual
refers
to
both
the
series
of
actions
used
in
religious
or
other
ceremony,
and
a
procedure
regularly
followed
by
people.
And
I
discuss
both
usages:
ritual
includes
religious
activities
such
as
the
prayer
for
rain
invoked
in
Yellow Earth,
as
well
as
regularly
followed
procedures
such
as
the
foot
massage
ritual
practiced
by
the
Chen
family
in
Raise
the
Red
Lantern.
37
Zhang
Yimou
and
other
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
have
taken
advantage
of
the
eloquence
and
persuasiveness
that
ritual
exerts
within
its
full
social
context
(Sutton,
1994).
Ritual
can
concretize
a
social
situation
and
open
up
a
window
on
family
and
village
life
in
all its
complexity.
Portrayals
of
rituals
in
film
can
criticize
with
great
economy
the
old
order,
as
distinct
from
the
wrongs
and
evils
of
particular
individuals.
Ritual
can
also
depict
the
effort
to
survive
and
resist
and
replace
that
order
and
it
is
a
means
by
which
people
have
fought
to
improve
their
status
and
access
to
local
resources.
Ritual
is
thus
very
effective
in
the
historical
depiction
of
China
in
critical
and
humanistic
manner,
especially
in
the
peculiar
context
of
film
making
in
contemporary
China
(Sutton,
1994).
There
is
in
ritual
a fundamental ambiguity
that
is
fully
in
accord
with
what
contemporary
film
critic
Chen
Xihe
sees
as
the
nature
of
modern,
as
distinct
from
traditional
film
in
China.
Modern
films
should
construct
a two-wayrelationship
between
screen
and
audience.
The
audience,
while
viewing
the
film,
is
inspired
to
participate
actively
in
the
creation
of
meaning,
and
the
film
maker
seldom
frankly
and
directly
reveals
information
to
the
audience
(Chen,
1993).
As
an
example,
he
refers
to
the
series
of
long
shots
at
the
start
of
Yellow
Earth,
in
which
we
contemplate
the
bridal
party
from
afar
on
its
zigzag
journey
without
seeing
a
close-up
of
the
bride
and
her
tears.
The
viewer
is
encouraged
to
contemplate
actively
what
the
situation
is
inside
the
sedan
and
how
the
bride
feels.
No
direct
information
is
“fed”
to
the
viewer.
Simply
manipulating
the
audience’s
emotions
is
obviously
not
the
director’s
intention.
As
a
contrast,
one
could
38
point
to
the
melodramatic
1956
version
of
Bajin’s
equally
melodramatic
novel
Family,
in
which
no
emotion
is
left
unexpressed
(Leyda,
1972),
and
the
opportunity
for
ritual
depiction
of
a
great
family
in
decline
is
missed.
Such
ambiguity
embodied
in
rituals
is
extraordinarily
useful
if
one
considers
the
diversity
of
audiences
for
the
Fifth
Generation
films.
For
instance,
directors
like
Zhang
Yimou
and
Chen
Kaige
have
to
worry
about
the
Film
Bureau
of
the
Ministry
of
Radio,
Film
and
Television,
which
occupies
itself
with
such
matters
as
moral
standpoint,
sex,
and
violence
and
not
the
least
with
how
the
Chinese
Communist
Party
is
represented
(Wang,
1989).
Moreover,
they
aim
for
the
highest
international
standards
of
films
competing
at
Cannes
and
other
leading
festivals.
For
these
film
makers,
ritual
is
valuable
for
its
intrinsic
ambiguity,
its
unspokenness,
and
its
persuasiveness.
This
ambiguity
in
expressing
their
views
helps
to
protect
them
from
official
criticism
and
to
appeal
to
their
diverse
audiences.
There
is
room
for
varying
interpretations
by
a
country
peasant,
a
cultural
commissar,
or
a
Western
film
critic.
This
would
never
be
the
case
with
the
aural
slogans
and
visual
clichés
of
government
approved
popular
films
in
contemporary
China
(Sutton,
1994).
Raise
the
Red
Lantern
can
serve
as
a
clear
example
of
how
ritual
is
used,
as
Sutton
(1994)
has
analyzed
it.
The
story
is
set
in
the
1920s
in
Northern
China.
Nineteen
year
old
Songlian
is
forced
to
marry
Chen
Zuogian,
the
lord
of
a
powerful
family,
after
her
father’s
death.
Fifty
year
old
Chen
already
has
three
wives,
each
of
them
living
in
a
separate
house
within
the
great
castle.
The
struggle
among
the
wives
is
intense,
as
their
master's
attention
39
carries
power
and
privileges.
Each
night
the old
master
must
decide
which
wife
to
spend
the
night
with
and
rows
of
red
lanterns
are
lit
in
front
of
the
house
of
his
choice.
Each
wife
schemes
and
plots
to
make
sure
her
house
is
lit
by
the
lanterns.
The
symbolism
of
the
red
lanterns
functions
beautifully
both
aurally
and
visually:
clacking
metallically
as
they
are
put
in
place,
and
booming
hollowly
as
a
manservant
blows
through
a
bamboo
tube
to
extinguish
them
in
the
morning.
As
Sutton
(1994)
notes,
the
sexual
implication
of
raising
the
lanterns
is
strengthened
by
the
ensuing
ritual
of
the
chosen
wife’s
foot
massage
by
an
old
servant.
Its
tapping
sound,
almost
as
a
form
of
foreplay,
echoes
through
all
parts
of
the
sprawling
compound
as
a
humiliating
reminder
to
the
other
wives.
Through
the
use
of
ritual,
Zhang
Yimou
is
able
to
simplify
with
great
clarity
the
myriad
personal
relations
in
an
old-style
household.
The
husband
is
never
seen
clearly,
and
never
in
bed
with
any
of
his
wives.
His
power
is
abstracted
into
the
raising
of
beautiful
red
lanterns,
a
symbolic
act
that
sums
up
and
indeed
constitutes
the
household’s
micro
politics.
The
texture
and
routine
of
lives
lost
are
thereby
recaptured
with
surprising
economy.
The
viewer
begins
to
realize
how
the
pre-revolutionary
society
could
be
oppressive
for
many
of
its
members,
yet
still
function
(Sutton,
1994).
To
everyone’s
surprise,
the
red
lanterns
are
absent
in
Su
Tong’s
novel
Wives
and
Concubines,
on
which
Raise
the
Red
Lantern
is
based.
In
the
book,
there
is
only
one
reference
to
a
lantern
of
any
colour,
to
the
effect
that
the
old
master
prefers
to
sleep
with
the
lights
on
(Chute,
1991).
Yet
the
whole
look
of
the
film
is
built
up
around
the
visual
40
hook
of
the
“
hot”
light
of
red
paper
lanterns.
Similarly,
in
Liu
Heng’s
short
story
on
which
Zhang
Yimou
based
Ju Dou,
no
dye
mill
is
mentioned.
Meanwhile,
the
ancient
fabric-dyeing
mill
is
the
backdrop
for
the
disturbing
tragedy
that
embodies
battery,
adultery,
pyromania,
patricide
and
manslaughter
in
one
plot.
The
key
symbolic
act
in
Ju
Dou
involves
the
suspended
bolts
of
material
and
the
great
dye
vats,
specifically
the
accidental
unreeling
of
the
bolts.
The
camera
is
repeatedly
addressed
to
the
long
skeins
of
silk
and
the
great
red
dye
vat.
Westerners
may
assume
that
the
film’s
backbreaking
hand-
operated
textile
plant
is
an
authentic
old
Chinese
design.
Zhang
Yimou
says
no.
He
chose
the
setting,
and
then
designed
and
built
it
from
scratch
(Chute,
1991).
Zhang
Yimou’s
invention
of
the
red
lanterns
and
the
dye
mill
shows
his
definite
recognition
of
the
usefulness
of
ritual in
portraying
societies
from
the
past.
The
visual
and
aural
appeal
of
ritual,
and
its
ability
to
concretize
a
social
situation,
prove
to
be
of
special
value
to
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers.
Given
wide
divergences
in
belief
among
the
audience,
it
has
been
argued
that
certain
common
rituals
were
central
to
the
maintenance
of
a
common
Chinese
cultural
identity
(Watson,
1988).
At
the
same
time
they
allow
considerable
variation
in
form
and
interpretation.
Ritual,
it
can
be
said,
embodies
the
unity
and
the
diversity
of
China
-
Chineseness
in
all
its
complexity
(Sutton,
1994).
Ritual
is
not
only
amply
utilized
by
Zhang
Yimou,
but
also
by
other
Fifth
Generation
film
makers.
It
takes
form
in
such
traditional
acts
as
praying
for
rain,
and
a
wedding.
It
is
also
seen
in
a
more
abstract
form
-
song,
which
is
considered
by
some
41
anthropologists
to
be
a
ritualized
form
of communication
(Bloch,
1989).
In
films
such
as
Yellow
Earth,
song
plays
a
central
role.
Yellow
Earth
is
about
an
Eighth
Route
Army
soldier,
Gu
Qing,
assigned
to
collect
folk
songs
in
northwestern
China.
Cui
Qiao,
the
daughter
of
the
family
where
Gu
is
staying,
is
inspired
by
Gu’s
account
of
the
independent
existence
women
lead
at
the
Communist
Party
base Yan’an,
and
consequently
escapes
an
arranged
marriage.
Cui
Qiao
drowns
while
crossing
the
river
at
night
in
an
attempt
to
flee
to
Yan’an.
As
she
crosses
the
Yellow
River
at night,
the
camera
focuses
on
the
river’s
torrent
rather
than
the
progress
of
her
raft.
Her
death
is
suggested
when
the
song
she
is
singing
comes
to
an
abrupt
stop
and
is
replaced
with
the
sound
of
the
river’s
current
(Faubel,
1990).
The
songs
in
Yellow
Earth
express,
with
more
force
and
emotion
than
the
soldier’s
words,
the
hardships
of
farm
life
and
of
arranged
marriages,
and
the
autonomy
and
endurance
of
folk
tradition.
Much
is
left
unsaid.
We
don’t
quite
know
why
Cui
Qiao
drowns
in
the
Yellow
River
as
she
flees
her
marriage
to
join
the
Eighth
Route
Army.
It
is
up
to
the
viewer
to
decide
what
this
death
means.
Whether
China
can
be
truly
changed
seems
to
be
at
the
core
of
the
film,
and
the
question
is
raised
far
more
effectively
by
unexplicated
ceremony,
song,
and
daily
life
than
by any
eloquent
speech
(Sutton,
1994).
The
Fifth
Generation’s
fondness
for
the
ambiguity
of
ritual
is
also
seen
in
films
such
as
The
Big
Parade,
Farewell
My
Concubine,
On
the
Hunting Ground,
Red
Sorghum,
Shanghai
Triad,
etc.
Accordingly, the
use
of
ritual
is
considered
a
very
distinct
artistic
42
feature
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
The
Fifth
Generation
are
very
aware
of
the
film
medium’s
unique
visual
and
aural
potential
and
are
able
to
use
them
to
full
effect,
a
characteristic
highly
praised
by
international
film
critics.
David
Chute
(1991:65)
describes
Zhang
Yimou
as
a
“story
teller
who
uses
color
and
light,
and
even
set
dressing,
expressively,”
and
comments
on
his
films
as
a
“masterful
orchestration
of
color...
a
new
form
of
visual
grand
opera.”
Roger
Ebert(1996)
calls
Zhang
Yimou
“one
of
the
best
visual
stylists
of
current
cinema.”
His
films
are
noted
by
critics
for
their
use
of
colour
and
light:
...he
[Zhang
Yimou]
is
virtually
without
equal.
His
movies
are
divine
items,
richly
hued,
sumptuously
textured,
musically
paced
objects
of
desire.
The
silken,
erotic
flow
to
his
imagery
is
like
a
sweet
kiss
to
the
eyes.(Hinson,
1992)
The
cinematography
in
“Red
Sorghum”
has
no
desire
to
be
subtle,
or
muted;
it
wants
to
splash
its
passionate
colors
all
over
the
screen
with
abandon,
and
the
sheer
visual
impact
of
the
film
is
voluptuous.(Ebert,
1996)
Color
isn’t
just
important
to
Zhang
Yimou.
It’s
his
leading
lady.
In
“Raise
the
Red
Lantern,”
the
Chinese
director
selects
from
a
stirring
palette
of
glowing
reds,
subtle
yellows
and
twilight
grays.
There
isn’t
an
arbitrary
hue
in
the
movie.
In
purely
aesthetic
terms,
“Raising
the
Red
Lantern”
is
breathtaking.
(Howe,
1992
)
3.5
Assessment
of
the
Fifth
Generation
as
an
aesthetic
break
The
basic
aesthetic
features
of
the
traditional
Chinese
cinema
and
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
have
been
summarized
in
Table
2.
The
traditional
Chinese
cinema
strives
to
uplift
the
spirit
of
society
and
educate
the
masses.
It
communicates
specific
43
Table
2:
A
Comparison
of
the
Traditional
Cinema
and
the
Fifth
Generation
GOAL
THEMATIC
FEATURES
INTERIOR
FORM:
PLOT
EXTERIOR
FORM:
CINEMATIC
REPRESENTA-
TION
NARRATIVE
FEATURES
THE
TRADITIONAL
CHINESE
CINEMA
Educational,
propaganda:
communicate
specific
ideologies
of
ethics
or
politics.
Revolutionary
zeal;
the
actions
of
positive
heroes
who
have
the
interests
of
the
masses
in
mind;
class
struggle;
and
the
triumph
of
progressive
forces
over
reactionary
forces.”
Dependence
on
dramatic
conflict;
clear
ending.
Dialogue
is
the
primary
tool.
Didactic
44
THE
FIFTH
GENERATION
Build
a
two-way
communication
between
film
and
audience;
express
film
makers’
understanding
of
life
and
the
world.
Representation
of
individuality;
discovery
of
humanistic
identity
in
Chinese
cinema;
feministic
and
historic
portrayal
of
Chinese
women’s
fate
in
pre-
communist
settings.
De-emphasize
coherence
of
plot;
open-ended.
Full
use
of
the
medium-
colour,
lighting,
sound.
Ambiguous
ideologies
of
ethics
or
politics.
The
nature
of
the
traditional
cinema
is
educational
and
political.
The
Fifth
Generation
films
are
part
of
the
cultural
introspection
trend
of
the
1980s;
their
films
become
both
vehicles
for
the
rediscovery
of
Chinese
culture,
and
a
means
of
reevaluating
the
culture
as
the
source
of
China’s
inertia.
The
film
makers
are
not
willing
merely
to
stir
the
emotions
as
their
predecessors
did
either
in
propagandistic
melodramas
or
films
used
as
tools
for
political
ends.
They
aspire
to
arrive
at
a
deeper
understanding
of
human
nature
and
two-way
communication
with
their
audience.
Thematically,
traditional
Chinese
films
focus
on
stories
of
party
cadres
who
had
the
interests
of
the
masses
in
mind,
and
of
the
eventual
victory
of
progressive
forces.
The
messages
delivered
in
films
are
generally
very
clear.
As
a
change,
the
new
cinema
began
to
focus
on
more
personal
and
philosophical
aspects
of
people’s
lives
instead
of
portraying
their
heroic
deeds
in
the
bitter
years
of
war.
They
have
brought
the
historical
reappearance
of
the
“self.”
A
majority
of
their
films
take
a
feministic
and
historic
approach,
as
we
see
from
films
such
as
Raise
the
Red
Lantern,
Ju
Dou,
and
Farewell
My
Concubine,
just
to
name
a
few.
They
portray
women’s
fate
in
China
sympathetically,
as
distinct
individuals
rather
than
class
representatives
as
in
earlier
heroic
depictions.
Such
films
are
set
in
the
pre-communist
era,
however,
to
avoid
conflicts
with
authorities.
According
to
contemporary
film
critic
Chen
Xihe
(1990),
the
narrative
continuity
in
story
and
plot
of
film
is
the
interior
form;
the
image,
or
the
level
of
cinematic language,
is
the
exterior
form.
In
Chinese
traditional
film
making,
interior
form
is
primary
and
45
determinant
in
that
it
dictates
the
nature
of
film:
film
is
essentially
drama;
dialogue
is
the
primary
means
of
cinematic
representation;
exterior
form
is
secondary
and
subordinate.
Drama
is
the
dominant
concept
which
dictates
the
traditional
cinema’s
understanding
of
film
construction.
Within
this
tradition,
film
critics
speak
of
film
from
the
perspective
of
drama,
and
screen
writers
apply
dramatic
structure
to
their
scripts.
Films
rely
heavily
on
dramatic
conflicts
as
the
basic
structure
of
film
and
on
dialogue
as
their
primary
means
of
cinematic
representation.
Stock
characters
proliferate
on
the
screen
and
stories
are
often
predictable.
Characters
usually
have
extremely
clear
identities.
There
is
a
very
clear
tine
between
bad and
good,
and
it
is
almost
unacceptable
to
have
“gray”
characters
who
are
in
between.
Little
room
is
left
for
the
audience’s
interpretation.
In
the
Fifth
Generation’s
film
making,
the
characteristics
are
the
opposite.
Their
weariness
with
conventional
narrative
techniques
reflects
an
emphasis
on
film
as
an
innovative,
unique
medium
in
its
own
right
(Faubel,
1990).
For
them,
story
and
plot
are
no
longer
in
the
dominant
position,
and
the
more
purely
cinematic
aspects
of
film
are
all
very
important.
The
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
convey
their
messages
not
predominantly
by
verbal
statements,
but
through
visual
images
of
striking
originality.
Their
expressive
utilization
of
film
composition,
lighting,
colour,
and
music
brings
the
artistic
values
of
Chinese
films
to
a
new
level.
[t
marks
a
breakthrough
into
a
new
style
distinct
from
46
traditional
Chinese
film
aesthetics,
which
is
based
on
literary
and
dramatic
conventions
and
is
heavily
dependent
on
the
spoken
word
(Li,
1989).
The
Fifth
Generation
owe
their
inspiration
to
international
art
cinema
and
utilize
some
of
art
cinema’s
prominent
characteristics,
such
as
de-emphasizing
the
coherence
of
the
plot,
and
open-endedness.
In
their
films,
communication
with
the
audience
takes
precedence
over
composing
an
overly
simplistic,
cohesive
story.
Their
narrative
style
is
noticeably
more
ambiguous
than
that
of
the
traditional
cinema.
They
refuse
to
set
up
a
clear
moral
and
political
position
for
the
audience
and
they
reinforce
the
subjective,
interpretive
capacity
of
the
audience,
who
are
in
turn
encouraged
to
construct
meaning
freely
within
that
context.
The
ambiguity
in
their
films
proves
their
acknowledgment
that
life
is
more
complex
than
art
can
ever
be,
and
leaving
the
ending
open
to
the
audience’s
interpretation
is
their
way
of
respecting
this
complexity.
On
all
five
dimensions
outlined
in
Table
2,
then,
the
features
of
the
works
of
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
are
markedly
different
from
those
of
the
traditional
Chinese
cinema.
As
a
result,
their
films
mark
a
significant
aesthetic
break
from
the
past.
47
Chapter
Four:
Movement
requirements
related
to
the
film
makers
4.1
Introduction
In
this
chapter,
I
investigate
the
common
social
characteristics
of
the
Fifth
Generation
as
a
group
with
a
specific
background
and
also
statements
made
by
members
about
their
aims
and
intentions
as
film
makers.
This
examination
will
provide
an
additional
explanation
for
the
distinctive
ideology
of
the
Fifth
Generation
films
(e.g.,
individuality)
and
the
film
makers’
intentions
to
create
a
new
cinema
in
China.
First,
let
me
briefly
explain
the
scope
of
my
analysis
and
the
research
involved.
I
used
George
Huaco’s
analysis
of
the
film
makers
from
the
three
established
film
movements’
as
my
model.
In
his
analysis
of
their
backgrounds,
Huaco
focused
on
three
factors:
age,
profession
before
becoming
film
makers,
and
father’s
profession.
The
analysis
of
the
three
factors
defined
those
film
makers’
socio-economic
backgrounds
well.
Hence,
to
achieve
the
same
effect
for
the
Fifth
Generation
members,
I
wanted
to
conduct
a
similar
analysis,
and
started
looking
for
similar
biographical
information,
but
ran
into
prohibitive
obstacles
in
obtaining
it.
After
rounds
of
fruitless
searches
in
the
library,
I
contacted
a
group of
internationally
renowned
scholars
in
Chinese
film,
but
acquired
hardly
any
more
*
German
Expressionism,
the
Soviet
Cinema
of
the
1920s,
and
Italian
Neo-realism.
48
information
in
addition
to
what
I
already
had.
My
list
of
contacts
included:
Chris
Berry
of
Australia;
George
Semsel
of
the
U.S.;
Xie
Fei,
the
vice-president
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy;
Xia
Hong,
researcher,
and
editor
of
numerous
Chinese
film
publications;
Suzie
Young
of
the
Asian
Cinema
Society;
Michael
Taylor,
a
Ph.D
candidate
in
Asian
cinema
from
the
University
of
Chicago;
Paul
Pickowicz
from
the
University
of
California;
Zhangde,
my
classmate
from
my
undergraduate
studies,
currently
teaching
at
Nankai
University,
Tianjin,
China;
and
people
who
host
Chinese
film
home
pages
and
news
groups
about
Asian
films
and
Chinese
culture.
Even
these
people
who
are
very
knowledgeable
in
this
field
could
give
me
little
help.
In
August,
1997,
I
attended
the
1997
Asian
Cinema
Conference
at
Trent
University
and
presented
part
of
my
thesis
research
there.
During
my
presentation,
I
asked
the
attendees
at
the
conference
to
help
me
with
more
biographical
information
needed
to
do
a
social
background
analysis
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
Many
people
gave
me
suggestions.
Among
them,
Paul
Pickowicz,
who
is
a
Chinese
history
professor
at
the
University
of
California,
offered
me
an
opportunity
to
interview
his
wife,
Li
Huai,
a
Fifth
Generation
member
who
graduated
in
1982
from
the
Production
Design
Department
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
Unfortunately,
due
to
limited
time
and
resources,
I
could
not
go
to
California
and
interview
her.
Morever,
he had
indicated
that
his
wife
is
very
shy
and
does
not
like
to
be
interviewed
over
the
phone.
“You
need
to
go
meet
these
people,
and
get
to
know
them
in
order
to
get
the
information,
because
none
of
this
kind
of
information
is
documented,”
said
Paul
Pickowicz
(1997).
49
Another
source
of
information
I
tried
to
access,
was
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
itself,
but
I
was
not
successful,
since
it
would
take
an
enormous
amount
of
networking
with
the
personnel
that
work
there.
Xie
Fei
(1997)
could
have
brought
me
some
information,
but
he
did
not
have
the
time
to
make
the
effort.
“It
is
summer
time,
and
all
the
offices
are
closed,”
he
explained
[but
he
is
the
vice-president!].
If
I
had
the
time
to
go
to
Beijing
and
patiently
network,
I
probably
could
have
secured
some
first-hand
information.
But
again,
it
was
not
an
option
open
to
me
at
the
time.
In
the
future,
if
I
go
on
to
pursue
a doctoral
degree,
I
would
love
to
do
additional
research
in
this
area.
By
then,
I
should
have
more
time
and
resources
to
conduct
more
thorough
research
about
this
subject.
The
information
I
did
manage
to
find
is
the
Fifth
Generation’s
age,
their
early
educational
background,
common
experiences
during
the
cultural
revolution
and
studies
at
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
Some
additional
information
about
Zhang
Yimou,
Tian
Zhuangzhuang,
and
Chen
Kaige
was
also
available,
since
they
are
well-researched
due
to
their
status
and
achievements.
Though
not
exhaustive,
then,
the
information
obtained
does
help
us
understand
how
the
Fifth
Generation’s
style
of
film
making
has
been
influenced
by
their
earlier
life.
4.2
Designation
of
“key”
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
There
were
153
individuals
who
graduated
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
in
1982.
Among
them,
28
were
directors,
32
actors
and
actresses,
26
cinematographers,
40
50
production
designers
(including
animation),
and
27
recording
artists
(China
Film
Year
Book,
1983).
According
to
the
generation
concept
of
the
Chinese
film
industry,
all
the
1982
graduates
would
be
considered
the
Fifth
Generation.
However,
I
doubt
whether
they
should
be
all
considered
members
of
the
Fifth
Generation,
according
to
the
theory
of
film
movements.
Sociologist
Terry
Lovell
(1971),
in
his
article
“Sociology
and
the
Cinema,”
suggests
that
only
part
of an
overall
movement
needs
to
be
examined
as
a
movement,
namely
those
who
produced
the
nucleus
of
films
that
heralded
recognizable
innovations
of
style
and
theme.
In
my
opinion,
there
are
a
few
directors
whose
stylistic
innovations
were
widely
recognized
and
can
be
regarded
as
constituting
the
heart
of
the
Fifth
Generation
film
movement.
Among
them
are
Zhang
Yimou,
Tian
Zhuangzhuang,
Chen
Kaige,
Zhang
Junzhao,
Zhou
Xiaowen,
Wu
Ziniu,
and
Hu
Mei.
Though
there
may
be
some
personal
bias
in
these
choices,
there
are
valid
reasons
for
their
selection,
in
terms
of
awards
won
and
critical
acclaim
received.
All
these
film
makers
have
received
international
awards
and/or
been
the
recipients
of
critical
acclaim,
both
of
which
are
normally
based
on
an
assessment
of
innovative
style
and/or
subject
matter.
Zhang
Yimou,
Tian
Zhuangzhuang,
and
Chen
Kaige
are
looked
upon
without
much
controversy
as
the
leaders
of
the
Fifth
Generation
by
critics
both
within
and
outside
of
China.
The
numerous
awards
they
have
won
is
a
recognition
of
their
talents
and
achievements.
Zhang
Junzhao’s
One
and
Eight
is
considered
the
very
first
51
appearance
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
Zhou
Xiaowen
has
been
known
for
his
contemporary
urban
films,
Obsession
(Feng
Kuang
De
Daijia,
1988)
and
No
Regrets
(Qingchun
Wuhui,
1991).
His
bitter-sweet
comedy,
Ermo
(1994),
about
a
peasant
woman
who
wants
to
buy
the
biggest
TV
in
town,
won
the
Locamo
International
Film
Festival
Swissair/Crossair
Special
Prize
in
1994.
Wu
Ziniu
is
the
winner
of
the
1989
Golden
Rooster
Best
Director
Award.”°
His
film,
Evening
Bell
(1989),
won
the
Silver
Bear
Award
at
the
1989
Berlin
Intemational
Film
Festival.
Hu
Mei
is
the
only
female
Fifth
Generation
director;
her
feminist
approach
to
films
is
unique
among
the
Fifth
Generation
directors.
Her
films,
The
Army
Nurse
(1984)
and
Far
Away
From
War
(1987),
were
well
received
by
the
critics.
4.3
Social
background
of
key
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
The
Fifth
Generation
are
a
young
generation;
they
started
making
films
in
their
early
thirties
shortly
after
their
graduation
from
the
academy.
Most
of
the
Fifth
Generation
members
were
born
during
the
early-
to
mid-1950s
(Zhong
Guo
Dian
Ying
Da
Ci
Dian
,
n.d.).
For
example,
Zhang
Yimou
was
born
in
1950;
Tian
Zhuangzhuang,
Chen
Kaige,
Wu
Ziniu,
and
Zhang
Junzhao
were
all
born
in
1952;
and
the
youngest,
Hu
Mei,
was
born
in
1956".
'©
There
are
two
major
film
awards
in
China.
One
is
called
the
Hundred
Flower
Award,
which
is
voted
for
by
the
audiences.
The
other
is
the
Golden
Rooster
Award,
which
is
voted
for
by
film
critics.
''
Zhou
Xiaowen’s
year
of
birth
could
not
be
identified
through
available
research
material.
52
These
Fifth
Generation
directors
not
only
are
about
the
same
age,
but
also
have
almost
identical
educational
backgrounds
and
very
similar
life
experiences.
Their
early
education
ended
before
they
could
enter
or
finish
high
school,
when
they
were
sent
down
to
work
in
the
countryside.
In
addition
to
this
lack
of,
or
limited
secondary
education,
they
did
not
have
professional
training
in
film
making
before
their
education
at
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
They
all
graduated
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
in
the
first
class
after
the
academy
reopened
following
the
Cultural
Revolution.
These
seven
directors
all
did
their
undergraduate
study
in
the
directing
department
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
Compared
to
the
previous
generations
who
entered
the
industry
without
training,
the
Fifth
Generation
are
very
well-educated.
Their
formal
education
at
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
exposed
them
to
a
wide
selection
of
the
world
cinema,
and
gave
them
a
more
international
and
historical
perspective
in
their
film
making
careers
than
earlier
Chinese
film
makers
had
experienced.
The
Fifth
Generation
members
are
victims
of
the
Cultural
Revolution,
being
sent
down
to
the
countryside
during
those
ten
chaotic
years.
This
period
had
a very
important
influence
on
their
ideology
of
film
making.
The
Cultural
Revolution
involved
an
upheaval
of
national
dimensions,
to
an
extent
not
seen
since
the
War
of
Resistance
against
Japan.
On
the
other
hand,
huge
number
of
people,
particularly
the
relatively
educated young,
had
an
Opportunity
to
travel,
rare
under
a
regime
usually
offering
its
citizens
about
as
much
geographical
mobility
as
a
medieval
society.
This
experience
on
such
a
scale
meant
that
the
Cultural
Revolution
had
a
profound
impact
on
the
perceptions
of
its
people,
especially
53
on
the
educated
youth
(Clark,
1987).
To
a
large
extent,
the
Cultural
Revolution
contributed
to
the
young
artists’
construction
of
an
independent
vision.
When
the
urban
educated
youth
were
sent
down
to
the
countryside
for
rustication,
the
rural
life
they
were
exposed
to
was
quite
different
from,
if
not
being
downright
contradictory
to,
what
school
and
family
experience
had
taught
them.
The
economic
backwardness
and
cultural
ignorance
of
Chinese
peasants
(who
constitute
80%
of
China’s
population)
were
an
enormous
shock
for
the
youth
who
had
grown
up
in
the
belief
that
the
Communist
Party
had
saved
people
from
misery
and
given
them
a
good
life.
The
contradiction
between
what
their
education
had
led
them
to
believe
and
the
reality
they
experienced
directly
prompted
them
subsequently
to
rely
on
their
own
thinking
rather
than
wholeheartedly
believing
everything
they
had
deen
taught,
as
directors
such
as
Chen
Kaige
and
Hu
Mei
have
each
expressed
in
their
interviews
(Berry,
1995;
Zha,
1994).
Contemporary
film
critic
Chen
Xihe
(1993:
53-4)
expresses
his
thoughts
on
this
contradiction
:
For
years,
works
of
art
more
often
than
not
applied
a
simple
method
of
political
and
class
determinism
in
their
depictions
of
life
and
human
conduct...We
tried
to
categorize
all
things
as
proletarian
or
bourgeois,
socialist
or
capitalist,
worker
or
exploiter,
revolutionary
or
counterrevolutionary,
turning
the
richness
of
life
and
society
into
a
few
unvarying
formulas...But
artworks
of
this
type,
taken
to
the
extreme,
become
simple
stories
of
good
guys
and
bad
guys, overly
simplified
answers
to
life
which
fail
to
inspire
people
to
think
of
its
complexities...
The
complicated
practices
of
the
Cultural
Revolution
brought
this
flat,
one-dimensional
notion
to
total
collapse,
because
people
could
not
find
an
answer
to
life
in
such
works,
nor
in
the
way
of
thinking
they
provided,
and
so
people
were
led
to
feel
that
the
works
were
hypocritical.
54
4.4
“Core
of
the
core”:
Zhang,
Tian
and
Chen
Among
all
the
Fifth
Generation
members,
Zhang
Yimou,
Chen
Kaige,
and
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
can
be
said
to
be
the
“core
of
the
core”
within
the
grouping.
Their
films
fully
embody
the
stylistic
innovations
the
Fifth
Generation
represent.
And
they
subsequently
received
a
great
deal
of
media
attention
and
critical
acclaim.
I
use
their
experiences
during
the
Cultural
Revolution
as
examples
of
how
the
Cultural
Revolution
influenced
the
Fifth
Generation’s
life
and
film
making,
based
on
the
fact
that
all
the
members
of
the
Fifth
Generation
were
sent
down
to
the
countryside,
and
their
experiences
were
more
or
less
similar.
In
1950,
Zhang
Yimou
was
born
into
a
Chinese
middle-class
family.
His
mother
was
a
dermatologist;
his
father
a
graduate
of
the
famous
Huangpu
Military
Academy.
When
the
KMT
(Kuo
Min
Tang,
the
nationalist
party)
army
fled
from
the
mainland
to
Taiwan
in
1949,
Yimou’s
father
stayed
behind
and
was
later
labeled
an
“historical
counter-
revolutionary”
by
the
Communist
Part
as
a
result
of
his
connection
with
the
KMT
(the
Communist
Party’s
enemy).
He
remained
unemployed
for
most
of
his
life
for
his
“political
incorrectness.”
Yimou
grew
up
under
the
stigma
that
surrounded
his
father.
When
the
Cultural
Revolution
broke
out
in
1966,
he
was
still
in
secondary
school.
55
Like
most
youth
from
once
privileged
families,
Zhang
was
forced
to
quit
school
and
undertake
physical
labour.
In
this
case,
he
was
sent
to work
in
a
textile
factory
because
of
his
father’s
involvement
with
the
KMT
in
earlier
years.
Between
1968
and
1978,
Zhang
worked
on
farms
in
Shanxi
Province
and
later
as
a
labourer
in
a
spinning
mill.
Work
was
not
only
hard
but
also
dangerous—
workers
sometimes
had
their
fingers
cut
off.
To
escape
hardship,
Yimou
offered
to
draw
hundreds
of
portraits
of
Chairman
Mao
for
his
cultural
unit.
During
this
time,
he
developed
his
talents
as
a
designer
by
drawing
such
portraits
and
discovered
a
deep-seated
love
for
still
photography.
Rumour
had
it
that
he
sold
blood
to
buy
his
first
camera.
Largely
self-taught,
absorbing
techniques
from
books
and
manuals
written
by
pre-communist
Chinese
professional
photographers,
he
was
soon
able
to
publish
many
photographs
in
newspapers
such
as
the
Shanxi
Daily.
His
still
photography
work
won
him
some
national
awards
and
later
became
his
stepping-stone
to
the
cinematography
department
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
(Luo,
1990;
Chute,
1991).
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
was
born
into
a
film
making
family.
Both
his
parents
were
cinematographers
who
later
became
administrators
in
the
film
industry.
Like
others,
Tian
was
sent
to
work
in
the
countryside
when
he
was
still
in
middle
school.
A
year
later,
he
joined
the
People’s
Liberation
Army.
Upon
his
return
to
civilian
life
from
the
army
several
years
later,
he
was
assigned
to
work
in
the
Beijing
Agricultural
Film
Studio
as a
cameraman,
because
he
had
taken
some
photography
before.
Tian
claims to
have
a
genuine
passion
for
cinematography.
He
chose
to
take
directing
at
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
because
he
had
surpassed
the
age
limit
the
department
of
cinematography
had
56
for
students
(Semsel,
1987).
Chen
Kaige
was
born
in
1952
into
a
film
industry
family.
His
father
was
a
well-
known
film
director,
and
his
mother
an
actress
and
film
editor
at
the
Beijing
Film
Studio.
Since
his
father,
whom
he
would
later
describe
as a
classically
aloof
Chinese
patriarch,
was
often
away
on
location,
Chen
and
his
sister
were
left
in
the
care
of
two
loving
women:
Chen’s
mother
and
a
Manchu
nanny
who
lived
with
the
family.
In
the
relative
tranquility
of
pre-Cultural
Revolution
Beijing,
Chen
recalls
a
childhood
spent
wandering
around
charming
old
neighborhoods,
lolling
by
flower
and
goldfish
vendor
carts,
and
playing
games
with
kindergarten
friends
by
the
local
swimming
pool.
The
Chen
family
lived
in
an
elegant
walled-in
compound,
once
the
mansion
of
a
Manchu
prince
of
the
early
Qing
dynasty.
Chen’s
mother,
dressed
in
silk
pajamas,
would
settle
into
a
bamboo
lounge
chair
in
the
courtyard
and
teach
her
young
son
to
recite
classical
poems
selected
to
fit
the
changing
seasons.
“Beijing
then
was
like
the
reflection
of
the
turrets
in
the
city
moat,”
he
would
write
in
his
memoirs,
“a
serene
dream
in
a
breeze,
swaying
yet
unbroken”
(
quoted
in
Zha,
1994:
29).
As
a
teenager,
he
joined
the
mass
exodus
of
urban
youth
to
the
countryside
in
1968
during
the
Cultural
Revolution,
and
worked
for
two
years
on
a
rubber
plantation
in
the
south-western
province
of
Yunnan.
He
served
five
years
in
the
People’s
Liberation
Army,
and
fought
in
some
of
China’s
border
skirmishes
with
Vietnam
during
that
period.
In
1975,
he
returned
to
Beijing
and
worked
for
three
years
in
a
film
processing
lab
before
57
being
admitted
to
the
Beijing
Film
Academy,
where
he
studied
directing
(Robert
Sklar’s
editorial
introduction
in
Chen,
K.,
1990).
More
than
anything
else,
the
Cultural
Revolution
is
what
prevented
Chen
from
becoming
a
spoiled
urban
dandy
sheltered
from
real
hardship
and
pain
(Zha,
1994).
It
meant
that
in
adolescence
Chen
would
witness
his
parents’
political
downfall,
a
reversal
of
fortune
that
culminated
in
a
mass
denunciation
rally
where
Chen
shoved
and
howled
at
his
father.
It
meant
watching
his
Red
Guard
classmates
raid
his
house
and
burn
the
family
books.
The
era
has
remained
with
Chen
not
just
as
a
source
of
personal
memories
—
recalled
in
My
Days
as
a
Red
Guard,
a
memoir
written
when
he
lived
in
New
York
in
the
late
1980s
—
but
also
as
the
subject
of
an
ongoing
ambivalence
(Zha,
1994).
Despite
the
anguish
he
suffered,
Chen
calls
the
Cultural
Revolution
“a
great
time...the
beginning
of
the
new
China
and
the
end
of
the
old
“(quoted
in
Cheshire,
1992:
38).
Its
traumas,
he
says,
forced
the
Chinese
to
question
collectivist
manias
and
begin
to
think
for
themselves.
That
observation
essentially
summarizes
the
essence
of
the
Cultural
Revolution,
and
what
it
meant
to
young
film
makers.
The
commonality
that
exists
among
the
three
film
makers’
experiences
lie
in
three
areas.
Firstly,
they
all
demonstrated
strong
interest
in,
or
had
experiences
with,
the
visual
media,
either
through
their
previous
professions
or
family
influence.
Zhang
Yimou
was
a
freelance
still
photographer
and
an
experienced
painter/drawer;,
Chen
Kaige
had
a
very
artistic
upbringing,
both
from
his
father,
who
was
a
director,
and
his
mother,
a
very
58
educated
and
literary
woman;
both
Tian
Zhuangzhuang’s
parents
worked
in
the
film
industry
and
as
a
result,
he
grew
up
in
the
circle
of
filmmakers.
In
interviews,
Tian
has
been
vocal
about
his
fascination
with
cinematography.
Their
interest
in
the
visual
media
is
one
of
the
things
that
contributed
to
their
success
in
film
making.
Another
commonality
about
the
backgrounds
of
these
three
members
of
the
Fifth
Generation
is
that
they
all
come
from
very
well-educated,
sometimes
privileged
families.
Zhang
Yimou’s
father
went
to
the
prestigious
Huangpu
Military
School,
which
recruited
students
mostly
from
rich
and
powerful
families.
Zhang’s
mother
is
a
doctor.
Chen’s
father
was
a
film
director
and
his
family
was
wealthy
too.
Tian’s
mother
was
the
head
of
the
Children’s
Studio
and
had
served
years
in
administration
in
the
film
industry.
Paul
Pickowicz
(1997),
who
married
a
Fifth
Generation
art
designer,
has
made
the
observation
that
most
Fifth
Generation
members
are
“brats”
from
film
makers’
families.
Thirdly,
an
additional
commonality
in
their
backgrounds
is
that
they
all
have
had
an
involuntary
traumatic
change
in
their
life
from
a
middle,
or
secondary
school
student
to
a
rather
lowly
occupation,
such
as
labourer
or
soldier,
during
the
Cultural
Revolution.
And
this
most
likely
holds
true
for
all
Fifth
Generation
members.
They
matured
early
during
these
unexpected
changes
in
their
lives,
and
later
brought
inspirations
from
these
exceptional
experiences
to
bear
in
their
films.
59
4.5
Elements
of
intentionality
The
Fifth
Generation
directors
have
provided
the
audience
with
unique
and
personal
observations
drawn
from
their
own
life
experiences.
They
wasted
ten
precious
years
of
their
lives,
answering
the
Party’s
call
to
go
to
the
countryside
and
devaluing
intellectual
pursuits,
as
was
the
fashion
in
the
Cultural
Revolution.
This
bitter-sweet
experience
contributed
to
their
independent
vision.
They
learned
that
the
insights
derived
from
their
experiences
are
more
reliable
than
the
preaching
of
government
propaganda.
With
the
appearances
of
their
films,
traditional
concepts
of
right
and wrong,
of
values
and
ethical
standards,
have
changed.
As
Chen
Kaige
and
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
have
said:
I’ve
been
a
soldier,
a
worker,
and
a
peasant,
during
the
cultural
revolution,
a
student
from
the
three
classes.
...[
want
my
films
to
express
the
life
that
I
have
seen
myself.
That’s
very
important
to
me,
to
record
what
I
have
seen
with
my
own
eyes.
What
I’ve
seen
and
understood,
I
try
to
put
into
my
films,
my
work.
(Chen
Kaige
quoted
in
Semsel,
1987:134)
I
am
going
to
put
forth
my
own
views
on
life.
The
film
will
be
based
more
on
my
interpretation
of
life.
The
film
will
be
based
more
on
my
interpretation
of
life
than
on
the
original
script...we
have
only
one
wish:
to
catch
up
with
the
international
cinema.
(Tian
Zhuangzhuang
quoted
in
Semsel,
1987:
133)
The
Fifth
Generation
pursues
individuality
in
their
films.
“The
main
purpose
of
art
is
to
understand
and
be
understood,”
says
Zhang
Yimou
(quoted
in
Luo,
1990:
176
).
He
also
says
that
art
must
remain
free;
the
film
maker
must
be
allowed
to
express
his
ideas
and
to
do
so
in
a
way
that
is
the
most
forceful
for
him
(Semsel,
1987).
There
are
in
their
films
“the
urgency
of
individual
expression,”
and
“independence
of
vision”
(Bordwell,
60
1985).
At
the
least,
these
films
have
led
people
to
realize
the
limitations
of
traditional
Chinese
film
aesthetics
and
the
potential
of
the
film
medium.
If
their
experience
in
the
Cultural
Revolution
shaped
the
thinking
of
this
generation,
their
education,
together
with
the
movement
toward
ideological
liberation
and
the
open-door
policy
which
ensued,
provided
them
with
opportunities
denied
those
who
came
before
them.
These
film
makers
were
not
only
able
to
view
many
Chinese
films
of
the
1930s
and
1940s,
but
also
a
variety
of
contemporary
foreign
films
(Semsel,
1990).
They
apparently
had
a
preference
for
western
European
films.
Chen
has
confessed
that
he
didn’t
care
much
for
Hollywood
movies
(Zha,
1994).
From
the
dusty
back
alley
of
China’s
post-Cultural
Revolution
wasteland,
they
peered
into
the
glorious
days
of
the
high
modernist
European
masters:
Truffaut,
Godard,
Bergman,
Antonioni,
Bertolucci;
Eisenstein
and
Kurosawa
were
up
there
too,
though
less
central.
It
wasn’t
a
broad
vision
of
20th
century
cinema
-
in
contemporary
China
there
was
no
such
thing
as
a
well-rounded
education.
But
in
those
hopeful
years
when
China
had
Just
re-opened
itself
to
the
world,
these
students
were
the
nation’s best
and
brightest.
Armed
with
new
equipment
and
heads
full
of
innovative
ideas,
they
shared
a
desire
to
reinvent
Chinese
cinema
(Zha,
1994).
It
is
generally
hard
to
find
film
makers’
direct
statements
on
their
intentions
to
invent
a
new
cinema.
As
Tudor
(1974:
171)
puts
it:
“though
there
is
little
in
the
way
of
61
evidence
independent
of
their
film-making
activity,
from
the
scattered
interviews
and
memoriams
we
can
infer
[the
intentional
efforts
of
the
German
Expressionist
film
makers].”
In
each
of
the
film
movements
he
examines,
Tudor
provides
only
very
brief
justification
of
intentional
effort
underlying
the
movements.
Although
not
overly
impressive
in
either
their
number
nor
length,
the
following
analysts’
comments
and
film
makers’
statements
are
at
least
as
comprehensive
as
the
data
on
which
Tudor
based
his
judgments.
When
the
Fifth
Generation
graduated
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy,
they
immediately
set
themselves
the
task
of
modernizing
Chinese
cinema
(Ma,
1990).
They
consciously
sought
a
breakthrough
in
filmic
expression
and
alternatives
to
the
propagandistic
norm
of
PRC
cinema
(Semsel,
1990).
“We
have
too
many
films
that
tell
us
how
things
ought
to
be,”
declares
Zhang
Yimou
(quoted
in
Chute,
1991).
Every
last
one
of
his
fellow
classmates
was
utterly
indifferent
to
the
Chinese
cinema
that
he or
she
had
grown
up
with,
and
all
shared
a
deep
conviction
that
a
radical
personal
intervention
was
the
only
strategy
that
could
drag
Chinese
movies
out
of
their
Stalinist
years
(Cheshire,
1992).
According
to
Chen
Kaige:
“We
were
not
satisfied
with
what
was
happening
to
Chinese
film
making.
We
all
thought
that
if
we
ever
had
the
chance
to
work
independently,
to
have
some
freedom
away
from
the
assigned
work,
we
would
try
to
change
it.
We
had
a
great
confidence
in
our
ability
to
do
this’(quoted
in
Semsel,
62
1987:135).
Tian
says:
“We
have
only
one
wish:
to
catch
up
with
the
international
cinema”
(quoted
in
Semsel,
1987:133).
Speaking
of
their
conception
of
film,
Zhang
Yimou
says,
“Our
simplest
and
most
practical
aim
is
to
innovate’(
quoted
in
Film
Art
Reference
Material
8,
1985).
4.6
Assessment
of
the
Fifth
Generation
as
an
intentional
or
collective
endeavour
The
Fifth
Generation
share
very
similar
backgrounds.
They
are
all
roughly
from
the
same
age
group
and
most
of
them
come
from
very
educated
families,
many
of
whom
are
connected
to
the
film
industry.
They
all
had
strong
early
interests
in
the
visual
media
and
managed
to
gain
experience
through
either
family
upbringing
or
previous
professions.
Their
unusual
life
experiences
during
the
Cultural
Revolution
and
formal
education
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
provided
them
with
the
source
of
inspiration,
as
well
as
necessary
technical
training,
to
express
their
views
through
their
film
making
activities.
Unsatisfied
with
the
uniform
nature
and
propagandistic
state
of
the
Chinese
film
industry,
they
were
motivated
to
change
the
situation,
and
provide
the
audience
with
a
more
personal
and
original
kind
of
film
.
Their
intentional
and
collective
efforts
to create
a
new
Chinese
cinema
is
proven,
by
both
the
innovativeness
of
their
films
and
their
expressed
determination
to
their
colleagues
and
the
media.
The
Fifth
Generation
members
were
very
aware
of
the
shortcomings
of
the
traditional
cinema
and
were
very
clear
about
their
goal:
to
“innovate.”.
Members
each
contributed
to
that
common
goal
by
producing
63
creative
and
thought-provoking
films.
The
collective
efforts
by
the
Fifth
Generation
directors,
cinematographers
and
other
artists
have
brought
to
the
Chinese
screen a
whole
new
kind
of
cinematic
language
and
their
influence
shall
extend
beyond
their
own
time
and
nationality.
On
this
basis,
as
well,
then,
they
would
appear
to
qualify
as
a
film
movement.
64
Chapter
Five:
Movement
requirements
related
to
the
political,
social,
cultural
and
economic
context
§.1
Introduction
This
chapter
is
a
sociological
analysis
of
the
historical,
artistic,
and
social-
economic
conditions
related
to
the
emergence
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
The
sociological
model
discussed
in
chapter
two
serves as
an
organizational
framework.
Various
aspects
of
events
and
phenomena
surrounding
the
Cultural
Revolution
are
examined
based
on
this
framework.
5.2
The
influence
of the
Cultural
Revolution
and
its
aftermath
In
this
section,
I
employ
the
macroscopic
model
from
chapter
two
to
explore
the
nature
of
the
four
structural
determinants
of
a
film
movement
in
China
in
the
1980s.
The
four
determinants
suggested
by
Huaco
(1965:
212)
are:
(1)
a
cadre
of
trained
film
technicians,
directors,
cameramen,
editors,
and
actors;
(2)
a
basic
film
plant
including
studios,
laboratories,
raw
stock,
and
equipment;
(3)
a
mode
of
organization
of
the
film
industry
which
was
either
favorable
or
tolerant
toward
the
ideology
of
the
future
film
wave;
(4)
a
climate
of
political
norms
which
was
either
favorable
or
tolerant
toward
both
the
ideology
and
the
style
of
the
future
film
wave.
The
four
determinants
can
be
identified
during
the
course
of
the
Cultural
Revolution
and
its
aftermath.
My
examination
starts
with
the
availability
of
trained
film
makers.
65
§.2.1
Trained
film
makers
The
majority
of
China’s
film
makers
come
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
It
is
the
only
university
in
China
that
offers
professional
training
for
the
film
industry.
It
was
formerly
known
as
the
Performing
Arts
Institute,
founded
in
1950.
Prior
to
its
founding,
most
film
makers
entered
the
industry
without
training
and
worked
their
way
up
to
various
positions.
During
the
1950s,
three
Soviet
teachers
came
to
the
academy
to
teach
directing
and
acting.
They
also
brought
with
them
the
system
used
in
the
Soviet
Union
for
training
film
makers.
In
1956,
the
curriculum
was
expanded
to
a
form
close
to
the
one
that
is
still
in
use.
The
academy
was
later
patterned
after
the
Moscow
Film
Academy.
A
number
of
faculty
members,
as
well
as
film
personnel,
were
trained
in
the
USSR.
In
1966,
the
outbreak
of
the
Cultural
Revolution
interrupted
the
operation
of
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
Students
and
faculty
members
were
sent
down
to
work
on
farms
in
the
countryside.
As
a
result,
there
were
no
graduates
from
any
of
the
programs
of
the
academy
for
about
a
decade
.
In
1978,
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
reopened
and
it
welcomed
its
first
group
of
students
after
the
Cultural
Revolution,
who
later
became
known
as
the
Fifth
Generation
(Semsel,
1990).
The
academy
has
six
departments:
directing,
cinematography,
acting,
design
(which
includes
animation),
recording,
and
literature
(which
includes
film
history,
film
theory,
and
script
writing).
Each
leads
to
a
four-year
undergraduate
degree.
In
addition,
there
is
a
two-year
program
which
is
designed
for
people
who
already
have
experience
in
66
filmmaking
(Semsel,
1990).
The
education
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
offers
is
a
combination
of
classroom
instruction
and
hands-on
practice.
Students
take
eight
or
nine
courses
every
year.
Classes
are
small,
and
are
often
tutorials.
Students
attend
classes
for
twenty-eight
hours
over
a
six
day
week.
On
Sundays
they
work
on
the
production
of
their
own
films.
Senior
students
make
approximately
six
short
narratives
on
35
mm
film
each
year,
collaborating
with
each
other.
The
academy
has
three
studios
for
students’
use.
The
three
studios
are
well-
equipped,
and
when
students
are
not
using
them,
they
are
rented
out
as
commercial
facilities.
There
is
also
a
studio
for
faculty
members
only,
namely
The
Youth
Studio.
This
studio
is
of
professional
quality
and
its
purpose
is
to
keep
faculty
members
in
touch
with
film
making
activities.
Each
faculty
member
has
an
opportunity
to
work
on
at
least
one
feature
film
every
five
years.
The
Youth
Studio
produces
several
commercial
features
every
year
(Semsel,
1990).
The
training
the
Fifth
Generation
received
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
provided
them
with
knowledge
and
techniques
necessary
to
enter
the
film
industry.
Their
graduation
marks
the
emergence
of
the
first
structural
determinant,
film
personnel.
5.2.2
Basic
film
plant
The
Chinese
film
industry
in
the
early
1980s
already
had
the
infrastructure
and
67
resources
to
facilitate
the
development
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
Since
the
founding
of
People’s
Republic
of
China,
film
has
been
highly
regarded
as
a
powerful
medium
to
educate
and
influence
the
masses.
It
was
given
more
priority
than
other
areas
of
the
arts,
such
as
the
novel
and
painting,
which
require
a
more
literate
audience
than
film
does.
The
overall
structure
of
the
Chinese
film
industry
is
as
follows.
On
the
top
is
the
China
Film
Bureau.
It
is
the
branch
of
the
Ministry
of
Culture
directly
responsible
to
the
government
for
all
film
operations.
Under
the
film
bureau
are
the
other
film
organizations:
the
film
studios
which
produce
the
films;
the
China
Film
Corporation,
which
is
the
sole
agency
responsible
for
distribution
and
exhibition;
the
Film
Art
Research
Centre,
which
maintains
an
archive
as well as
a
study
centre;
the
Beijing
Film
Academy,
which
trains
film
professionals
for
the
industry;
processing
laboratories;
the
Film
Equipment
Corporation;
and
the
Co-production
Unit,
which
coordinates
all
film
productions
involving
film
makers
from
other
countries
(Semsel,
1990).
There
are
22
major
studios
in
the
People’s
Republic,
and
some
smaller
ones
in
the
29
provinces
and
municipalities.
Among
the
major
studios,
16
have
approval
from
the
film
bureau
to
produce
feature
films.
Most
studios
were
named
after
their
location:
Beijing,
Changchun,
Emei,
Guangxi,
Inner
Mongolia,
Kunming,
Pearl
River,
Shanghai,
Shenzhen,
Tibet,
Xi’an,
Xiaoxiang,
Xinjiang.
Ba
Yi
(August
First)
Film
Studio
is
operated
by
the
People’s
Liberation
Army.
The
primary
purpose
of
their
films
is
to
educate,
as
well
as
entertain
army
personnel.
The
Children’s
Film
Studio,
with
a
staff
of
68
90,
was
established
by
the
Ministry
of
Culture.
Its
sole
mission
is
to
make
films
for
children.
The
Youth
Film
Studio,
as
was
discussed
earlier,
is
attached
to
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
Several
studios
have
their
specialties:
Central
Documentary
and
Newsreel:;
Being
Scientific
and
Educational
Film
Studio;
Shanghai
Scientific
and
Educational
Film
Studio;
Beijing
Agricultural
Film
Studio;
Shanghai
Animation
Studio;
and
the
Shanghai
Dubbing
Studio.
The
Shenzhen
Film
Studio
located
at
the
Special
Economic
Zone
near
Hong
Kong
makes
films
mostly
for
export
to
overseas
Chinese.
The
smaller
studios
in
the
municipalities
and
provinces
were
built
as
part
of
a
government
plan
to
decentralize
film
production
facilities.
They
were
designed
to
produce
documentaries
and
newsreels
for
people
within
their
respective
districts
(Semsel,
1990).
The
various-size
studios
spread
over
municipalities
and
provinces
of
China
provided
film
personnel
the
basic
equipment
and
plant
to
produce
films,
and
proves
that
the
second
structural
determinant
is
available.
5.2.3
Favourable
/
tolerant
mode
of
organization
The
innovations
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers
made
would
not
have
been
possible
without
the
support
of
regional
studios.
In
the
big
studios
such
as
those
in
Beying,
Shanghai,
and
Changchun,
there
was
a
collection
of
older
directors
waiting
to
get
a
chance
to
direct.
New
graduates
had
to
work
for
years
as
assistants
before
they
got
a
chance
to
do
so.
The
growth
of
small
regional
studios
provided
such
opportunities,
as
69
well
as
great
creative
freedom
for
young
film
makers. This
change
in
the
organization
of
the
Chinese
film
industry,
namely
the
growth
of
regional
studios,
provided
the
third
structural
determinant
which
was
crucial
for
the
development
of
the
Fifth
Generation
movement.
Cinema
has
become
a
national
industry
in
China
since
1949,
and
film
productions
have
traditionally
been
centered
at
the
three
major
studios
in
Beijing,
Shanghai
and
Changchun.
From
1949
to
1966,
more
than
600
feature
films
were
produced,
about
75%
of
which
were
made
by
these
three
studios.
From
1981
to
1988,
the
number
of
films
made
increased
to
over
1000,
but
less
than
half
of
these
came
from
the
three
major
studios.
This
means
that
regional
film
studios
in
Pearl
River
(Guangdong
),
Nanning
(Guangxi),
Xi'an
(Shanxi),
and
other
provincial
cities
have
been
making
more
films
in
recent
years
(Clark,
1987).
Regional
studios
are
generally
much
smaller
in
size,
and
not
as
amply-staffed
compared
to
the
major
studios.
In
turn,
they
welcome
young
and
less
experienced
directors
to
make
films
for
them.
Directors
such
as
Zhang
Junzhao,
Chen
Kaige,
and
Zhang
Yimou
each
got
their
start
this
way,
even
though
some
may
still
be
attached
to
large
studios
where
chances
for
directing
are
slim'*.
Chen
Kaige
and
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
are
both
employees
of
Beijing
Film
Studio,
but
they
directed
films
for
other
provincial
studios
(Li,
1989).
Many
regional
studios
became
well
known,
as
a
result
of
being
'?
They
are
listed
as
employees
of
the
studios
which
they
were
assigned
after
their
graduation.
But
they
can
work
with
other
studios
on
an
assignment
basis,
provided
that
they
receive
invitations
from
those
studios.
70
associated
with
the
success
of
these
young
directors.
The
success
of
Xi'an
Studio
is
a
good
example
of
regional
studios’
function
in
the
development
of
the
new
Chinese
cinema.
Founded
in
August
1958,
Xi'an
produced
only
19
feature
films
in
the
eight
years
from
1959
to
1966.
Production
increased
to
48
during
the
nine
years
from
1975
to
1983,
but
they
were
neither
popular
nor
distinguished.
Wu
Tianming"*,
an
established
director
and
head
of
the
Xi’an
Studio
at
that
time
(early
1980s),
was
at
the
forefront
of
supporting
the
new
cinema.
He
adopted
a
policy
of
making
successful
commercial
films,
including
kung-fu
movies,
to
finance
artistic
ventures,
which
often
fail
at
the
domestic
box-office
(Li,
1989).
In
his
opinion,
there
are
three
audiences
that
have
to
be
satisfied
in
China.
One
is
the
government,
one
is
the
art
world,
and
one
is
the
ordinary
general
audience.
Although
the studio
is
supposed
to
satisfy
all
three
at
once,
that
is
rarely
possible,
and
so
a
studio
often
makes
different
films
for
different
audiences.
For
ordinary
audiences,
it's
kung
fu
and
detective
films;
for
the
art
world,
it's
exploratory’
films;
and
for
the
government,
it's
reform
movies'*(Berry,
1988-89).
Wu
gathered
at
his
studio
talented
directors
such
as
Chen
Kaige,
Huang
Jianxin,
and
Zhang
Yimou,
who
were
given
complete
creative
freedom
as
well
as
moral
and
budgetary
support.
A
good
percentage
of
China's
outstanding
films
have
been
produced
under
his
patronage,
and
'3Wu
was
the
director
of
the prize-winning
River
without
Buoys
(1984),
Life(1984),
and
Old
Well(1987).
He
was
the
head
of
the
Xi’an
Studio
during
the
early
1980s,
a
representative
figure
in
revolutionizing
Chinese
cinema.
“There
are
films
that
focus
on
the
post-Cultural-Revolution
reforms
and
their
achievements.
They
have
a
strong
political
slant
and
normally
realize
very
little
in
the
way
of
artistic
achievement.
71
Xi'an
Film
Studio
has
quickly
become
well
known
in
Europe,
America,
and
Australia
(Li,
1989).
5.2.4
Climate
of
political
norms
Regional
studios’
openness
to
young
film
makers’
experimentation
and
innovations
has
to
do
with
the
overall
relaxation
in
political
atmosphere
across
the
nation
after
the
Cultural
Revolution.
The
Cultural
Revolution
ended
after
Mao’s
death
and
the
fall
of
the
Gang
of
Four
late
in
1976.
An
extended
period
of
relaxation
of
Party
policies
toward
writers,
artists
and
other
intellectuals
began.
In
August
1977,
Chairman
Hua
Guofeng
spoke
to
his
political
comrades
at
the
Chinese
Communist
Party’s
1
1th
National
Congress:
"For
socialist
culture
to
prosper,
we
must
conscientiously
carry
out
the
policies
of
‘letting
a
hundred
flowers
blossom
and
a
hundred
schools
of
thought
contend"
(
quoted
in
Li,
1989:
92).
At
the
Third
Plenary
Session
of
the
CCP's
1
1th
Central
Committee
in
December
1978,
the
importance
of
“emancipating
the
mind”
was
emphasized
and
discussed.
In
October
1979,
Vice-Chairman
and
Vice-Premier
Deng
Xiaoping
told
an
audience
of
writers
and
artists
that
(
quoted
in
Li,
1989:
92):
In
such
complex
mental
labor
like
literature
and
art,
it
is
necessary
for
writers
and
artists
to
give
free
rein
to
their
individual
creative
spirit.
As
to
what
to
write
and
how
to
write,
this
can
only
be
explored
and
resolved
step
by
step
through
artistic
practice
by
the
writers
and
artists
themselves.
In
this
respect,
no
arbitrary
interference
is
warranted.
The
“open-door”
policy
and
decrease
of
government
control
on
art
are
conducive
to
its
development.
They
make
it
possible
for
film
makers
to undertake
artistic
explorations.
They
also
make
the
film
industry
significantly
more
tolerant
to
these
explorations
as
well,
“going
with
the
flow”
of
a
relaxed
cultural
policy.
The
relaxed
political
atmosphere
and
the
industry
organization
allowed
the
Fifth
Generation
the
amount
of
artistic
freedom
that
could
not
be
imagined
previously.
The
fourth
structural
factor
was
then
available.
5.3
Trends
in
the
artistic-literary-dramatic
context
After
examining
the
presence
of
the
four
structural
determinants,
I
turned
to
the
other
areas
of
the
arts,
in
an
effort
to
determine
how
the
Fifth
Generation
were
influenced
by
features
of
and
developments
in
them.
The
Fifth
Generation’s
ideology
toward
film
making
is
echoed
by
artists
in
other
areas
of
the
arts,
such
as
painting,
literature
and
theatre.
First,
with
respect
to
the
relationships
between
the
Fifth
Generation
style
and
painting,
their
visual
style
finds
it
root
in
one
school
of
traditional
Chinese
painting.
5.3.1
Painting
The
Fifth
Generation
draws
from
traditional
Chinese
painting’s
xieyi
school.
Xieyi
refers
to the
expressive
power
of
the
blank
space
of
the
image
in
ink-wash
landscape
73
painting.
The
viewer
uses
his
or
her
imagination
to
“fill
in”
the
blank
space
of
the
painting
(Faubel,
1990).
The
essence
of
x/eyi
can
be
described
in
terms
of
emptiness,
simplicity
and
suggestion;
and
x/eyi
paintings
present
a
unique
relationship
between
the
known
and
the
unknowable
(Rowley,
1959).
The
opposite
of
xieyi
is
xieshi
—
a
realistic
description
of
nature
rendered
in
minute
detail.
The
Fifth
Generation’s
preference
for
long
takes
and
empty
space
in
composition
has
been
linked
to the
aesthetic
of
xieyi
—
“suggesting
the
idea.”
The
Fifth
Generation
cinematographers
are
fond
of
using
large
empty
space,
dwarfing
characters
to
suggest
the
presence
and
power
of
nature,
as
we
can
see
in
films
such
as
Yellow
Earth.
Their
art
cinema
aesthetics,
similar
to
xieyi,
emphasize
utilizing
the
audience’s
interpretive
capacity
instead
of
feeding
them
information
directly.
Recent
studies
have
suggested
the
union
of
xieyi
and
the
long
take
as
the
foundation
for
this
new
cinema
(Faubel,
1990).
The
innovative
spirit
of
the
Fifth
Generation
is
also
seen
in
artists
from
areas
of
literature
and
arts
in
the
same
time
span.
In
the
early
1980s,
in
art
circles,
the
focus
of
attention
was on
how
to
deprioritize
political
concerns.
In
painting,
the
rebellion
against
Maoist
art
was
expressed
by
the
recognition
of
formal
beauty.
It
was
characterized
by
battling
for
free
artistic
presentation
and
rejecting
the
imposition
of
political
and
social
themes.
Between
1979
and
1980,
artist
Wu
Guanzhong
published
several
articles
in
which
he
argued
that
art
should
not
attempt
to
provide
an
equivalent
for
every
political,
historical
or
literary
form,
because
form
is
the
substance
of
art
and
the
beauty
of
the
form
may
be
independent
of
its
theme.
He
suggested
that
the
meaning
of
art
should
be
decided
by
the
74
form,
which
embodies
the
creative
process
(Dijk
and
Schmid,
1993).
Artists
in
the
1980s
were
inspired
by
early
twentieth
century
Western
trends
in
art
(impressionism,
post-impressionism,
Fauvism)
as
well
as
by
decorative
Chinese
folk
art
and
religious
wall
paintings
(Lang,
1993).
The
doctrine
of
using
art
as
an
instrument
for
maintaining
traditional
morality
and
the
status
quo
was
questioned.
Artists
strived
to
replace
the
standardized
style
of
socialist
realism.
The
new
art,
no
longer
dependent
on
politics,
absorbed
the
external
appearances
of
life
and
nature;
it
no
longer
functioned
as
an
appendix
to
literary
or
narrative
interpretations;
it
emphasized
the
portrayal
of
the
world
and
the
meaning
of
life
visually
in
an
intuitive
manner.
Personal
feelings,
the
expression
of
which
had
been
strictly
limited
during
the
Cultural
Revolution,
broke
free
as
if
a
dam
had
burst
(Pi,
1993).
This
artistic
current
spread
quickly
throughout
China.
§.3.2
“Scarred”
art
Beginning
in
1979,
the
most
apparent
phenomenon
in
art
is
the
appearance
of
“scarred”
art,
such
as
scarred
literature
and
painting,
in
opposition
to
the
standardized
socialist
realism.
“Scarred”
is
used
in
a
metaphorical
sense
to
describe
the
sad
sentiments
of
the
artists
who
created
them.
The
creators
of
“scarred
art”
were
urban
youths
who
returned
to
the
cities
from
the
countryside.
Their
work
depicted
their
painful,
long
separation
from
their
families
during
the
Cultural
Revolution,
and
the
struggles
to
return
to
their
urban
lives
after
the
Revolution
was
over:
The
competition
among
“‘sent-down”
75
youth
to
come
back
to
the
city
was
very
intense.
Many
people
betrayed
their
friends,
and
abandoned
the
families
they
had
established
in
the
countryside
in
order
to
return
to
their
city
homes.
When
they
did
come
back,
the
city
that
they
had
left
behind
for
almost
ten
years
was
no
longer
the
same
as
what
they
remembered.
Regret,
nostalgia
and
a
sense
of
rejection
in
the
“new”
city
were
the
common
sensations
embodied
in
scarred
art.
In
their
criticism
of
the
Cultural
Revolution,
the
“scarred”
artists
established
two
basic
themes:
truth
and
humanity.
This
generation,
which
had
grown
up
with
the
development
of
a
China
closed
to
the
outside
world
and
had
received
only
limited
artistic
education,
came
to
value
the
principle
of
“reflecting
life
as
truthfully
as
possible.”
During
their
enforced
stay
in
the
rural
regions,
the
reality
they
experienced
stood
in
sharp
contrast
to
a
world
full
of
sunshine,
promised
to
them
during
their
education.
They
were
exposed
to
poverty,
backwardness
and
inhumanity,
an
environment
they
had
to
live
involuntarily
in
for
almost
ten
years.
They
felt
deceived
by
the
authorities
they
once
admired
and
trusted,
and
they
also
started
to
realize
the
danger
of
trusting
such
authorities
without
first
pursuing
the
truth.
A
deep
sense
of
betrayal
left
the
“scar”
which
led
to
their
meditation
on
Maoist
art
and
awakened
their
rejection
of
a
reality
which
had
been
concealed
from
them.
Instead
of
the
“great,”
“important”
and
“perfect”
Maoist
art,
they
dedicated
themselves
to
the
portrayal
of
the
“small”
(everyday
life),
the
“bitter”
and
the
“old”(Li,
1993).
Concurrent
with
“scarred
art,”
and
followed
by
many
more
artists
in
different
76
media,
was
an
interest
in
the
portrayal
of
rural
life
and
in
the
culture
of
China’s
ethnic
minorities.
Many
young
artists
were,
as
others
of
their
generation,
sent
to
rural
areas
during
the
Cultural
Revolution
and
experienced
the
life
of
farmers,
nomads,
and
ethnic
minorities.
On
their
return
to
urban
life,
they
chose
to
portray
the
hard
and
simple
life
with
nostalgia
(Dijk
and
Schmid,
1993).
§.3.3
Literature
Within
the
same
time
frame,
the
general
belief
in
the
area
of
literature
was
that
it
should
not
approach
reality
through
the
means
of
education
or
commentary
but
by
honest
observation.
Authors
started
to
recognize
the
literary
value
of
such
an
orientation
(
Kahn-
Ackermann,
1993).
During
the
mid-1980s,
several
young
writers
started
making
their
appearances
in
the
form
of
documentary
style
literature.
Their
work
refused
to
take
on
the
mission
of
improving
society.
They
wanted
to
confront
history,
and
more
particularly
literature,
by
dealing
with
innovations
of
literary
form
and
language.
By
working
with
revised
but
unvarnished
documentation
of
recorded
interviews,
those
writers
exposed
their
readers
to
experiences
and
desires
of
ordinary
people.
The
documentary
style
was
new
to
Chinese
readers;
particularly
refreshing
was
the
fact
that
those
writers
made
no
attempt
to
“educate”
their
readers
(Kahn-Ackermann,
1993).
Just
as
in
painting,
writers
in
the
literary
world
started
to
question
the
absolute
domination
of
content
over
form,
and
they
began
experimenting
with
literary
forms.
Some
77
took
the
radical
step
towards
so-called
“litérature
puré.”
Litérature
puré
are
mainly
stylistic
and
linguistic
experiments
which
ban
logic
and
realism
from
their
prose
by
specializing
in
artificial
and
artistic
language,
quotations,
associations,
dreams and
fragmentation
of
events.
These
writers
were
celebrated
by
the
critics,
but
not
well
accepted
by
the
majority
of
their
audiences.
In
these
experimenters’
opinion,
this
type
of
literature
could
not
and
was
not
meant
to
satisfy
the
mass
reader.
Writer
Can
Xue
declared
that
they
expected
a
permanent
readership
of
a
particular
group
of
people
and
nothing
more.
With
this
intended,
or
at
least
accepted
rejection
by
the
masses,
younger
authors
therefore
not
only
spurned
the
moral
and
political
task
of
literature
but
also
freed
themselves
from
a
readership
that
greeted
their
work
with
the
same
lack
of
understanding
as
had
cultural
officials
(Kahn-Ackermann,
1993).
These
writers’
attitude
toward
the
acceptance
of
their
work
and
their
audiences
is
similar
to
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
and
Hu
Mei’s.
In
an
interview,
Hu
Mei
expressed
her
agreement
with
Tian,
that
their
films
are
made
for
more
perceptive
audiences
of
the
twenty-first
century
(quoted
in
Berry,
1995).
Another
notable
phenomenon
in
the
world
of
literature
was
that
many
writers
went,
at
least
in
the
literary
sense,
into
the
remotest
Chinese
regions,
to
Tibet
or
to
villages
noted
for
their
wide-ranging
rituals
(Kahn-Ackermann,
1993).
There
has
been
a
similar
tendency
in
the
film
industry.
Several
of
Chen
Kaige
and
Zhang
Yimou’s
films
have
been
set
in
remote
north-western
China,
while
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
explores
the
mystery
of
Tibet
and
Inner-Mongolia
in
his
On
the
Hunting
Ground
and
Horse
Thief.
78
5.3.4
Theatre
Theatre
had
always
been
used
as
a
mouthpiece
for
ideological
dogma
and
had
not
been
regarded
by
the
Chinese
public
as
an
independent
art
form.
In
the
early
1980s,
a
fierce
discussion
started
within
the
world of
theatre
about
its
structure
and
function,
in
response
to
the
new
course
of
economic
reforms
and
the
opening
of
China
to
the
outside
world.
The
direct
result
of
these
discussions
were
a
series
of
experimental
practices.
Young
artists
claimed
that
they
had
the
right
to
artistic
self-realization.
They
refused
to
be
used
as
a
medium
for
mundane
political
announcements,
which
deprived
them
of
creative
freedom
(Budde,
1993).
Among
the
many
experimental
plays
staged
in
the
early
1980s
was
Waiting
for
Godot.
This
play
demonstrates
the
total
hopelessness
of
mankind
and
embodies
the
most
vital
longings
and
innermost
uncertainties
of
the
participating
artists
(Meng,
1993).
An
actor
(whose
name
was
not
noted)
expressed
in
his
program
notes
his
desire
for
free
artistic
expression,
which
can
be
said
to
be
representative
of
the
shared
emotions
among
theatrical
artists:
We
want
to
see the
world
through
other
eyes
to
find
strength
from
an
immortal
passion
and
a
sparkling,
deeply
poetic
feeling
which
enables
us
to
run,
jump
and
fly
and
which
will
liberate
us
from
the
chains
of
tradition
and
the
bad
habits
of
dull
thought
to
let
our
values
breathe
unrestricted
in
a
free
atmosphere.(
quoted
in
Meng,
1993:79)
The
overall
current
we
see
in
painting,
theatre,
and
literature
is
a
strong
artistic
concern
rather
than
a
political
one.
The
pursuit
of
free
artistic
expression
is
shared
by
79
artists
in
these
fields
as
well
as
the
Fifth
Generation
film
makers.
All
of
them
express,
to
varying
degrees,
an
antipathy
to
being
used
as
a
medium
for
political
propaganda,
combined
with
a
wish
to
communicate
personal
views
and
emotions.
An
artist’s
goal
is
no
longer
to
educate
people
or
uplift
the
spirit
of
society
but
to
share
experiences
and
observations
of
individuals.
Western
influence
is
ever
strong,
and
artistic
experimentation
was
beginning
to
increase.
An
emphasis
on
form
over
content
is
noticeable.
These
charactenstics
of
the
larger
artistic-literary-dramatic
context
are
congruent
with
those
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
5.4
Social
control:
government
policy
and
market
conditions
In
a
September
1986
interview
in
China's
most
widely
read
film
magazine,
Popular
Cinema,
the
Fifth
Generation
director
Tian
Zhuangzhuang
made
a
comment
regarding
the
poor
sales
of
his
films,
which
instantly
upset
many
among
Chinese
audiences,
critics
and
government
officials
(
quoted
in
Berry,
1995).
Unconcerned
about
his
lack
of
fans,
Tian
declared
that
he
was
making
films
for
audiences
of
the
next
century.
Why
? One
has
to
ask
why
Chinese
audience
of
this
century,
at
this
time,
are not
ready
for
his
films.
The
answer
is
that
the
Chinese
audiences’
taste
is
not
yet
developed
to
appreciate
art
cinema.
The
Chinese
government’s
strict
control
over
public
access
to
films
limited
people’s
appreciative
capacity.
Most
people
have
not
had
the
opportunities
to
become
accustomed
to
and
further
develop
an
appreciation
for
art
films.
“I
do
not
consider
the
80
Chinese
audience
as
primitive,
but
habit
has
attached
them
to
those
dramas
and
films
that
were
furthest
removed
from
the
surprises
and
changes
of
the
real.
The
immutability
of
a
beloved
screen
figure
has
been
more
important
in
China
than
elsewhere,”
says
film
researcher
Jay
Leyda
(1972:
200).
The
Fifth
Generation’s
innovation
of
film
language
including
cinematography
are
not
well-appreciated
by
most
audiences.
The
reason
is
that
for
years
the
audience
have
been
“trained”
to
like
melodramas.
Story
is
the
only
criterion
for
judging
a
film.
As
the
medium
that
could
most
effectively
connect
the
political
leadership
with
the
greatest
number
and
range
of
people,
film
has
been
a
battleground
for
the
educated
elite
seeking
access
to
the
rest
of
society
(Clark,
1987).
Of
course
the
government
is
not
going
to
allow
ordinary
people
to
have
free
access
to
this
powerful
medium.
Almost
none
of
the
world
cinema
classics
are
seen
in
China
by
ordinary
film
goers,
whether
in
theatres,
on
video-tapes,
or
on
broadcast
TV.
Some
of
them
are
available
on
videotape
as
educational
"reference
materials."
Students
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
often get
to
see
the
best
of
international
cinema
this
way,
but
almost
none
of
their
audience
have.
There
are
almost
no
university
level
film
classes,
except
for
the
professional
training
offered
to
a
very
limited
number
of
students
at
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
There
are
no
museums
or
audio-visual
centres
open
to
the
public,
at
minimal
expense,
where
people
can
see
films
they
have
heard
about
or read
about.
Even
active
film
makers
are
often
unable
to
see
the
productions
of
their
colleagues
(Berry,
1988).
81
The
China
Film
Export
and
Import
Corporation
has
a
complete
monopoly
on
all
imports.
For
various
reasons,
whether
it
be
commercial or
political,
it
imports a
very
limited
number
of
films.
Film
fans
can
read
about
Eisenstein,
Vertov,
Godard,
Ray,
Ozu
and
others,
but
they
have
a
very
slim
chance
of
seeing
their
work.
The
China
Film
Distribution
and
Exhibition
Corporation
is
a
sister
body
to
the
China
Export
and
Import
Corporation.
It
has
a
complete
monopoly
on
distribution
and
exhibition
in
China.
No
other
corporation
or
individual
has
legal
rights
to
show‘or
distribute
films,
except
for
privately
organized,
non-commercial
screening.
The
China
Film
Distribution
and
Exhibition
Corporation
once
attempted
to
set
up
theatres
specializing
in
more
"artistic"
films
in
certain
places.
Several
art
theatres
opened
up
in
Shanghai
in
1984,
but
this
experiment
did
not
last
very
long.
It
came
to
an
end
in
1986
due
to
“lack
of
suitable
product”-
there
weren't
enough
art
films
available,
local
or
imported,
to
run
an
art
house
cinema
effectively
(Berry,
1988).
The
reason
behind
this
is
very
simple:
most
art
films
are
banned.
The
Fifth
Generation
are
at
the
forefront
of
producing
art
films.
Most
of
their
films
have
been
banned
for
various
reasons,
the
main
one
being
their films
have
touched
“sensitive
themes,”
or
have
criticized
the
government,
even
in
an
indirect
way.
Films
such
as
Farewell
My
Concubine
and
Yellow
Earth
fell
into
the
banned
category.
Farewell
My
Concubine
touched
upon
homosexual
issues,
and
Yellow
Earth
exposed
audiences
to
the
“ugly
and
backward”
side
of
China,
which
is
interpreted
by
the
government
as
criticism
82
against
it.
It
is
as
difficult
to
do
certain
kinds
of
research
as
it
is
to
view
films
publicly.
Chinese
films
are
just
as
inaccessible
as
foreign
films.
It
is
impossible
to
access
any
film
even
in
places
like
the
National
Film
Archives
in
Beijing,
allegedly
the
most
extensive
archive
in
the
country.
The
administrative
systems
in
public
libraries
and
archive
centres
are
ambivalent;
networking
and
bribes
are
key
to
accessing
film
research
materials.
Very
few
formal
procedures
are
effective,
or followed
at
all.
Most
researchers,
who
do
not
have
extensive
connections
with
top
officials,
can't
see
anything
in
the
archives
without
negotiating
complicated
permissions
from
all
sorts
of
levels
within the
Chinese
bureaucracy.
Even
then,
the
archives
are
so
under-funded
and
understaffed
that
one
may
see
nothing
in
the
end.
After
endless
efforts,
one
most
likely
ends
up
watching
a
videotape
and
not
the
film
itself,
and
then
only
once
(Berry,
1988).
Film
critic
Chris
Berry
(1988:
4)
has
these
comments
about
the
inaccessibility:
I
do
not
see
how
a
film
salon
can
be
effectively
run,
or
a
film
class
held,
or
film
research
done,
until
films
are
available
for
viewing
and
analysis.
Not
just
a
few
current
films,
but
a
wide
range
of
classics,
experimental
films,
avant-
garde
films
and
so
forth.
It
is
tragic
that
1000
enthusiastic
film
buffs
in
Beijing
meet
regularly,
but
have
no
hope
of
ever
seeing,
say,
a
D.
W.
Griffith
movie.
And
it
is
equally
appalling
that
film
makers
often
have
to
wait
to
see
their
peers'
films
when
they
finally
come
on
TV
year
or
two
after
they
have
been
made.
Until
the
basic
problem
is
solved,
I
worry
that
film
enthusiasts
may
not
be
able
to
build
up
the audiences
needed
to
support
a
cinema
of
truly
international
stature
over
the
long
term,
even
in
a
country
of
one
billion.
Making
matters
of
reaching
audiences
worse
for
the
Fifth
Generation
is
the
frequent
banning
of
their
films.
The
vast
majority
of
their
films
have
been
banned
in
the
domestic
market
at
one
time
or
another.
The
Chinese
government,
which
has a
strong
preference
for
happy
endings
and
family
values,
deemed
the
Fifth
Generation
films
too
dark
and
tragic.
The
Fifth
Generation
films
usually
do
poorly
at
the
box
office
as
it is;
banning
prevents
them
from
reaching
an
audience
at
all.
This
can
be
a
problem
for
the
Fifth
Generation
in
the
long
run.
Even
though
their
films
have
been
critically
acclaimed
abroad,
China
still
constitutes
their
roots.
The
Chinese
domestic
audience
is
the
audience
that
potentially
has
the
best
understanding
of
the
culture
and
values
embodied
in
their
films.
The
curiosity
of
the
international
audience
could
fade
eventually,
and
the
Fifth
Generation
might
end
up
being
a
group
of
film
makers
without
an
audience.
Even
for
the
films
that
did
manage
to
reach
the
Chinese
cinemas
did
not
do
too
well
at
the
box
office.
Market
forces
are
taking
their
toll
and
have
a
substantial
influence
on
the
art
cinema
route
the
Fifth
Generation
have
chosen.
The
average
Chinese
film
sells
about
100
prints,
but
only
a
few
of
the
Fifth
Generation
have
reached
this
level.
Yellow
Earth
only
sold
30
prints
within
China,
and
many
others
have
sold
even
fewer.
Particularly
notorious
in
this
regard
have
been
the
largely
non-narrative, ethnic
minority
films
of
Tian
Zhuangzhuang.
On
the
Hunting
Ground,
Tian’s
account
of
traditional
Mongolian
life,
sold
only
two
prints,
both
to
the
head
offices
of
the
China
Film
Corporation
for
reference
purposes,
not
for
distribution.
His
next
feature
on
Tibet,
Horse
84
Thief,
sold
only
seven
prints
(Berry,
1988-89)'°,
After
some
policy
adjustment
in
the
mid-1980s,
studios
have
been
responsible
for
balancing
their
own
budgets,
and
the
China
Film
Distribution
and
Exhibition
Corporation
no
longer
buys
films
from
studios
indiscriminately.
They
used
to
pay
a
flat
fee for
each
film.
While
film
admissions
and
revenues
have
been
dropping,
the
cost
of
production
has
skyrocketed.
Fewer
and
fewer
studios
are
willing
to
fund
Fifth
Generation
films
which
pull
in
very
little
cash
at
the
box
office.
Under
box
office
pressure,
some
Fifth
Generation
directors
have
had
to
switch
to
profitable
entertainment
films
to
continue
their
film
making
careers,
since
most
studio
heads
are
hesitant
to
give
projects
to
money-losing
directors.
The
director
of
One and
Eight,
Zhang
Junzhao,
is
among
the
directors
who
had
to
make
this
change.
In
an
interview
he
expressed
how
he
felt:
My
first
concern
has
to
be
surviving,
right?
If
survival
is
threatened,
talking
about
goals
and
ambitions
is
a
waste
of
breath.
To
tell
the
truth,
if
I'd
shot
another
film
like
One
and
Eight,
I
may
have
been
unable
to
continue
as
a
director.
(Gao
Jun,
1988-89:
125)
In
the
mean
time,
Esther
Yau
(1993:1)
notes
the
sources
of
international
interest
in
the
work
of
the
Fifth
Generation
films
makers:
Internationally,
the
phenomenon
known
as
“Chinese
cinema
of
the
1980s”
is
the
result
of
various
projections
cast
onto
the
screens
of
international
film
festivals.
The
superimposition
can
be
traced
back
to
at
least
three
image-
making
processes:
the
rewriting
of
China’s
political
and
cultural
complexities
by
young
film
makers;
the
diplomatic
exhibition
of
artistic
talent
in
support
of
an
open-door
policy
by
the
government
of
the
People’s
Republic
of
China;
'*
Data
could
not
be
found
concerning
the
sale
of
prints
of
Fifth
Generation
films
for
the
most
recent
time
period
(1989
-1997).
85
and
the
search
for
new
varieties
of
art
cinema
by
(mostly
western)
film
critics.
This
most
recent
manifestation
of
Chinese
cinema
is
getting
the
similar
kind
of
international
attention
that
the
Czechoslovak
cinema
did
in
the
1960s,
and
the
Japanese
and
Polish
cinema
did
earlier
in
the
1950s
(Hames,
1985).
However,
to
the
western
critics,
the
novelty
value
of
these
three
earlier
cinemas
declined
after
a
period
of
time,
and
it
is
a
question
also
as
to
how
long
western
critical
enthusiasm
for
the
Chinese
cinema
is
going
to
last.
5.5
Conclusion
The
four
structural
determinants
of
a
film
movement
became
available
in
the
aftermath
of
the
Cultural
Revolution
in
the
early
1980s:
in
1982,
the
graduation
of
the
first
class
of
students
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy
following
the
Cultural
Revolution
provided
the
Chinese
film
industry
with a
good
collection
of
trained
directors,
editors,
and
cinematographers;
the
government’s
preference
for
film
as
a
medium
of
mass
motivation
benefitted
the
film
industry
with
funding
for
many
studios
and
a
steady
supply
of
film
equipment
and
stock;
the
more
open
and
relaxed
cultural policies
following
the
Cultural
Revolution
and
the
growth
of
many
regional
studios
created
a
conducive
environment,
tolerant
of
the
ideology
of
the
new
film
wave.
Thus
the
availability
of
these
four
structural
determinants
made
the
appearance
of
the
Fifth
Generation
possible.
86
The
trend
in
the
other
areas
of
arts
within
the
same
time
frame
appeared
to
be
congruent
with
the
Fifth
Generation’s
style,
which
was
experimental
in
form,
and
advocated
individualism
and
creative
freedom.
Artists
from
other
areas
of
the
arts,
such
as
painting,
literature
and
theatre,
shared
the
Fifth
Generation’s
rebellion
against
the
government’s
over-emphasis
on
ideological
righteousness.
They
embodied
personal
experiences
into
their
work,
which
was
rare
for
artists
in
the
past
.
The
Chinese
government’s
policies
related
to
the
film
industry
have
direct
effects
on
the
existence
and
future
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
By
restricting
public
access
to
films
and
related
education
and
research
material,
the
Chinese
audience’s
appreciative
capacity
is
limited.
Consequently,
the
majority
of
them
have
trouble
in
understanding
and
appreciating
the
Fifth
Generation
films,
which
are
nontraditional
in
many
ways.
Frequent
banning
of
the
Fifth
Generation
films
resulted
in
an
even
smaller
audience.
Market
pressure
intensifed
as
their
films
performed
poorly
at
the
box
office.
Under
that
pressure,
some
directors
had
to
withdraw
from
their
innovative
art
films
and
undertake
more
commercial
projects
in
order
to
continue
their
film
making
careers.
The
generalized
belief
of
revolutionizing
the
Chinese
cinema,
shared
among
the
Fifth
Generation
members,
is
under
threat,
and
questions
also
arise
as
to
how
long
the
enthusiasm
of
western
critics
is
going
to
last.
The
Cultural
Revolution’s
precipitating
effect
on
the
Chinese
new
cinema
is
similar
to
that
of
the
1917
Bolshevik
revolution
on
the
Soviet
cinema
of
the
1920s
and
the
87
Second
World
War
on
Italian
Neo-realism.
These
major
social
traumas
created
the
necessary
structural
determinants
in
their
countries, especially
the
change
to
a
tolerant
political
atmosphere
toward
the
future
film
wave.
In
the
Soviet
Union,
the
November
1917
revolution
established
the
Bolshevik
government which
was
tolerant
toward
the
ideology
of
the
antinaturalistic
and
experimental
expressive
realism
of
the
films
and
highly
supportive
of
their
Bolshevik
themes.
In
Italy,
most of
the
conditions
for
the
rise
of
Neo-
realism
were
established
during
the
fascist
era,
and
the
film
wave
began
shortly
after
the
collapse
of
the
Italian
fascist
regime
in
1945.
A
slight
difference
in
the
Chinese
case
is
that
it
was
not
exactly
the
Cultural
Revolution
itself, but the
changes
after
the
Cultural
Revolution
in
reaction
to
it
that
generated
the
more
open,
relaxed
political
atmosphere,
which
was
conducive
to
the
appearance
of
the
new
Chinese
cinema.
88
Chapter
Six:
Conclusion
6.1
The
Fifth
Generation
as
a
film
movement
In
the
early
1980s,
Chinese
government
policies
started
to
relax,
following
the
Cultural
Revolution.
The
open-door
policy
gave
the
Fifth
Generation
opportunities
to
be
exposed
to
many
world
film
masterpieces.
Their
formal
education
and
global
vision
prepared
the
Chinese
film
industry
with
capable
personnel.
The
development
of
regional
studios
gave
them
chances
to
produce
feature-length
films
after
their
graduation
from
the
Beijing
Film
Academy.
This
favourable
mode
of
organization
in
the
film
industry,
and
more
relaxed
political
atmosphere,
made
it
possible
for
the
Fifth
Generation
to
produce
experimental
films
that
were
formerly
considered
unacceptable:
films
that
were
innovative
in
techniques,
and
expressive
in
themes.
The
same
experimental
trend
prevailed
in
the
fine
arts,
literature
and
theatre
during
the
same
time
frame.
Artists
from
these
areas
became
inspirational
sources
for
each
other.
Time
was
right
for
the
Fifth
Generation
to
surface.
Their
first
film,
One
and
Eight,
was
an
immediate
success.
It
was
quickly
identified
as
remarkable
by
Chinese
film
critics
and
sent
to
the
Hongkong
International
Film
Festival,
and
from
then,
exceptional
films
were
produced
one
after
another.
Audiences
around
the
world
started
to
watch
and
discuss
their
films.
A
movement
was
born.
The
Fifth
Generation
marks
its
aesthetics
distinctively
from
the
traditional
cinema.
They
certainly
have
brought
far-reaching
influences
to
the
Chinese
cinema.
Sharing
the
89
same
motivations
to
create
a
new
Chinese
cinema,
they
challenged
the
Chinese
people’s
traditional
perception
of
cinema’s
role
in
society,
and
their
approach
to
film
as
an
art.
In
their
hands,
film
is
no
longer
approached
as
a
tool
for
uplifting
the
spirit
of
society,
or
for
educating
the
masses.
It
does
not
have
to
convey
the
ideology
of
the
Party
or
represent
that
for
which
it
stands.
Instead,
film
becomes
the
medium
for
their
strong
personal
statements,
which
communicate
their
views
and
emotions
freely
to
the
audience.
Artistically,
the
Fifth
Generation
brought
to
the
Chinese
screen
innovations
like
never
before.
They
revolutionized
the
fundamental
concept
of
Chinese
film.
In
their
aesthetics,
film
is
finally
being
treated
as
a
medium
on
its
own
terms,
bearing
unique
characteristics
unlike
any
other,
instead
of
being
looked
upon
as
no
different
from
drama.
Compared
to
the
earlier
Chinese
cinematic
generations,
the
Fifth
Generation
enriched
film
language
with
sound,
visuals,
and
editing.
Dramatic
conflict
is
no
longer
the
only
and
primary
means
of
expression.
The
Fifth
Generation
brought
the
Chinese
film
industry
fresh
blood
and
long-needed
changes
and
innovations.
People
think
of
them
as
a
generation
of
artistically
revolutionary,
talented
artists.
The
Fifth
Generation
have
met
all
the
major
criteria
of
film
movement
theory:
They
emerged
when
the
necessary
structural
determinants
of
a
movement
were
established
in
the
aftermath
of
a
traumatic
socio-political
occurrence,
namely
the
Cultural
Revolution.
They
came
from
similar
social
backgrounds
and
life
experiences,
and
had
common
interests
in
the
visual
media.
Moreover,
they
expressed
a
conscious
desire
to
revolutionize
90
Chinese
cinema,
and
their
film
making
endeavours,
so
motivated,
resulted
in
a
fundamental
break
from
the
aesthetic
practices
of
traditional
Chinese
cinema.
In
a
theoretical
as
well
as
a
descriptive
sense,
then,
the
Fifth
Generation
Chinese
film
makers
constitute
a
full-
fledged
film
movement
.
6.2
The
Possible
future
and/or
decline
of
the
Fifth
Generation
The
future
of
the
Fifth
Generation
is
uncertain.
As
George
Huaco
suggested,
if
any
of
the
four
structural
components
of
a
film
movement
disappears,
a
film
movement
will
come
to
an
end.
For
the
Fifth
Generation,
the
four
components
(personnel,
equipment,
organization
of
the
film
industry
and
national
political
atmosphere)
are
not
necessarily
stable.
The
fact
that
the
Fifth
Generation
lack
a
solid
domestic
audience
could
diminish
their
flourishing
growth
and
possibly
become
a
threat
to
their
very
existence.
As
market
forces
continue
to
take
their
toll
on
the
film
industry,
the
Fifth
Generation
are
under
increasing
financial
pressure
from
studios
due
to
insufficient
domestic
box
office
sales.
Film
studios
are
more
reluctant
to
fund
the
Fifth
Generation
art
films
that
return
very
little
revenue
for
them.
It
is
worth
noting
in
this
regard
that
lack
of
audience
support
(combined
with
government
indifference)
eventually
led
to
the
demise
of
Italian
Neo-
realism.
Right
now,
the
Fifth
Generation
are
managing
relatively
well
by
drawing
international
investment,
thanks
to
the
international
critical
acclaim
they
are
receiving.
91
But
what
if
in
the
near
future
international
critics
don’t
give
them
the
kind
of
recognition
they
are
getting
now
?
This
may
not
mean
their
films
are
not
as
good,
but
aesthetic
interests
can
and
do
change
over
time.
Will
the
overseas
money
still
be
there
for
them?
That
is
a
question
the
Fifth
Generation
must
consider.
We
can
already
see
that
when
their
films
start
to
tackle
more
culturally
specific,
less
universal
themes,
it
becomes
difficult
for
international
film
critics
to
comprehend
and
appreciate
the
meaning
of
the
films.
We
also
hear
comments
such
as
the
Fifth
Generation
films
just
look
good,
and
looking
good
is
not
enough
(a
comment
Siskel
and
Ebert
made
when
they
were
reviewing
Chen
Kaige’s
Temptress
Moon
on
their
TV
program
in
the
summer
of
1997).
In
China,
the
Fifth
Generation
films
continue
to
be
banned,
no
matter
what
kind
of
artistic
achievement
they
have
accomplished.
The
domestic
audience
has
persistent
difficulties
understanding
and
appreciating
their
films,
further
narrowing
their
audience.
If
the
Fifth
Generation
loses
the
support
of
the
film
industry
due
to
financial
reasons,
the
film
makers
will
no
longer
be
able
to
produce
films,
and
the
film
movement
will
end
as
a
result
of
that.
Unfortunately,
the
scenario
is
not
entirely
impossible.
Some
of
the
Fifth
Generation
have
already
begun
producing
more
commercialized
films
in
the
hopes
of
sustaining
funding
for
more
of
their
personal
film
projects
in
the
future.
At
present,
the
Chinese
government
is
adopting
a
series
of
policies
encouraging
films
that
embellish
the
achievements
of
the
government
and
the
Party.
Complementary
to
that,
the
government
is
trying
to
prevent
films
that
don’t
fit
into
their
ideology
from
being
92
distributed,
according
to
director
Xie
Fei
(1997),
who
is
also
the
vice-president
of
the
Being
Film
Academy.
Zemptress
Moon
(Chen
Kaige,
dir.)
was
denied
distribution
rights
in
China
because
it
is
considered
a
foreign
film
(it
was
funded
by
overseas
money);
therefore,
the
government
had
an
excuse
not
to
distribute
it
simply
by
saying
the
number
of
films
imported
each
year
is
very
limited.
When
asked
if
Temptress
Moon
happened
to
be
about
the
achievements
of
the
Chinese
government,
wouldn’t
it
rush
to
import
the
film,
Xie
Fei
(1997)
shook
his
head
and
laughed.
He
said
the
Fifth
Generation
would
never
incorporate
that
kind
of
theme
into
their
films;
it
was
a
scenario
that
was
never
going
to
happen.
Xie
Fei’s
own
film,
Opium
War,
was
very
attractive
to
the
government.
It
allegedly
fit
very
well
with
the
handover
of
Hong
Kong
in
1997,
as
it
depicted
the
terrible
crimes
that
western
countries
had
committed
against
China,
such
as
burning
the
Summer
Palace,
killing
many
people,
and
seizing
Hong
Kong.
The
film
serves
as
a
good
reminder
of
how
great
the
Communist
Party
has
been
in
saving
the
Chinese
people
from
such
miseries.
Workers
from
factories,
students
from
secondary
schools
and
universities,
and
government
personnel
were
organized
by
the
Party
to
watch
the
film.
As
a
result
of
this
inflation
of
the
audience,
Opium
War
attained
a
very
high
box
office
gross,
even
higher
than
the
Chinese
gross
for
the
very
popular
Hollywood
blockbuster
7rue
Lies.
Xie
Fei
(1997)
also
said that
the
government
even
bestows
large
cash
awards
(almost
a
million
Chinese
Yuan
)
on
films
that
serve
their
purposes
as
described
above.
93
Other
conditions,
such
as
film
personnel
and
general
political
atmosphere,
have
the
potential
to
change
as
well.
Film
personnel
are
paid
little
money
in
China,
just
like
employes
in
any
other
state-owned
induct’.
Offers
of
higher
pay
from
other
countries
might
entice
the
backbone
of
the
Fifth
Generétion
away
from
their
native
country,
similar
to
the
way
the
exodus
of
German
film
makers
led
to
the
disappearance
of
German
Expressionism
in
the
1920s.
Within
China,
the
profitable
entertainment
section
of
the
film
industry
is
pulling
film
makers
away
from
their
commitment
to
art
films.
For
economic
reasons,
more
and
more
film
personnel
have
had
to
switch
to
making
TV
shows,
mini-
series
and
entertainment
films.
Though
there
is
nothing
necessarily
wrong
in
principle
in
making
entertainment
films,
without
the
generalized
belief
about
revolutionizing
the
Chinese
traditional
cinema
and
the
stylistic
homogeneity
they
once
shared,
the
Fifth
Generation
would
merely
be
a
collection
of
very
capable
film
professionals.
They
would
no
longer
exist
as
a
film
movement.
The
Fifth
Generation
would
not
have
made
their
artistic
explorations
had
there
not
been
the
nation-wide
political
and
economic
reforms
following
the
Cultural
Revolution.
Personally,
I
do
not
think
the
open-to-the-outside-world,
more
relaxed
policy
will
change
in
the
near
future,
which
would
certainly
be
good
for
the
Fifth
Generation.
But
the
policies
the
government
is
enforcing
now
to
discourage
the
Fifth
Generation-style
art
films
would
certainly
have
an
impact
on
the
enthusiasm
of
film
makers
and
on
the
marketability
of
their
films.
Overall,
the
current
political
atmosphere
is
tolerant
of,
but
not
encouraging
to
the
ideology
of
the
Fifth
Generation
movement.
If
the
political
atmosphere
changes
94
back
to
the
closed
borders
that
existed
previously,
the
future
of
the
Fifth
Generation
would
be
completely
jeopardized.
The
immediate
problem
the
Fifth
Generation
have
to
solve
is
working
out
a
balance
between
their
films
and
the
audience,
and
a
Salance
between
artistic
exploration
and
film’s
ultimate function
as
a
form
of
entertainment, so
they
will
continue
to
receive
funding
and
continue
to
make
their
own
films,
as
a
result.
Aside
from
these
various
conditions,
the
Fifth
Generation
movement
should
continue,
at
least
in
the
near
future.
6.3
Possible
modifications
to
film
movement
theory
In
the
process
of
writing
this
thesis,
I
observed
a
few
points
in
film
movement
theory
that
are
not
adequately
developed
and
need
further
elaboration.
First
of
all,
no
one
single
theorist
is
completely
comprehensive.
To
explain
the
dynamics
between
a
major
social
trauma
and
its
effect
on
a
film
movement
through
a
sociological
analysis,
I
find
it
insufficient
to
draw
just
from
one
theorist,
be
it
George
Huaco,
Andrew
Tudor
or
Terry
Lovell.
A
holistic
analysis
of
the
Fifth
Generation
called
for
the
combination
of
the
three
complementary
film
movement
theories,
each
of
which
has
a
somewhat
different
emphasis.
Critical
components
of
my
theoretical
framework,
such
as
the
aesthetic
break
between
the
"old"
and
"new"
cinema,
the
intentionality
of
the
film
makers
involved
in
the
film
movement,
and
the
four
structural
determinants
of
a
film
95
movement,
each
comes
from
different
theorist:
Tudor,
Lovell
and
Huaco
respectively.
I
find
my
combination
of
the
three
theorists
makes
the
film
movement
theories
more
coherent
and
effectively
explanatory
than
any
theory
used
in
isolation.
Secondly,
audience
is
a
neglected
factor
in
the
present
film
movement
theories.
Theonsts
fail
to
account
for
the
effect
of
audience
on
the
prosperity
or
decline
of
a
film
movement.
Lack
of
domestic audience
is
a
problem
that
is
serious
enough
to
create
a
threat to
the
Fifth
Generation’s
very
existence.
As
such,
it
deserves
to
be
discussed,
or
at
least
mentioned
in
film
movement
theory.
The
audience’s
level
of
education
and
their
ideology
bear
influence
on
the
acceptance
of
a
film
movement
as
we
have
seen
in
the
example
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
Given
such
potentially
important
influence
on
any
film
movement,
the
audience’s
role
should
be
acknowledged
explicitly.
Thirdly,
with
regard
to
what
determines
the
decline
of
a
film
movement,
the
present
theories
fail
to
take
into
account
the
“natural
evolution”
of
human
beings:
the
potential
changes
in
interests
and
priorities
as
individuals
age and
their
personal
circumstances
and
experiences
alter.
Huaco
limited
the
cause
of
a
film
movement’s
decline
to
the
gradual
elimination
of any
of
the
four
structural
determinants.
He
made
no
mention
of
the
dynamics
of
the
film
makers’
lives
and
careers.
Those
who
are
involved
in
a
film
movement
are
humans;
they
are
subject
to
potential
changes
at
various
phases
in
their
lives,
just
like
any
other
human
beings.
Marriage,
parenthood,
death
of
one’s
parents
are
some
of
the
life
occurrences
that
could
potentially
alter
one’s
outlook
on
and
approach
96
to
the
world
in
all its
various
facets,
including
career
goals,
aesthetic
principles
and
political
orientations.
If
there
are
variations
in
this
regard
among
the
members
of
the
film
movement,
the
requirement
of
commonality/intentionality
could
be
lost
and
the
movement
would
be
a
victim
of
fragmentation.
On
a
more
mundane
level,
it
may
be
the
case
that
the
film
makers
could
simply
run
out
of
energy
and/or
inspiration;
like
T.S.
Eliot’s
description
of
the
fate
of
the
world,
the
film
movement
would
“end
not
with
a
bang,
but
with
a
whimper.”
Film
movement
theory
needs
to
incorporate
this
more
personal
element
into
its
sociological
framework
of
analysis.
Fourthly,
the
continued
existence
of
the
Fifth
Generation
cannot
not
be
adequately
explained
by
the
present
film
movement
theories.
In
Huaco’s
terms,
the
political
norms
have
to
be
supportive
or
at
least
tolerant
of
the
ideology
of
a
film
wave
before
it
could
develop.
This
notion
is
congruent
with,
but
does
not
explain
sufficiently,
the
Chinese
government’s
current
state
of
reluctant
tolerance
of
the
Fifth
Generation.
This
tolerance
is
the
result
of
the
interplay
among
multiple
factors,
both
political
and
economic,
and
domestic
and
international.
On
the
one
hand,
since
the
economic
reform
in
the
late
1970s
and
early
1980s,
China
has
been
more
open
than
any
other
period
in
the
history
of
the
People’s
Republic;
however,
it
still
prohibits
any
negative
portrayal
of
the
government
and
its
policies,
regardless
of
whether
it
is
truthful
or
not.
To
the
government’s
dismay,
most
of
the
Fifth
Generation’s
work
tackles
sensitive
issues,
including
the
Cultural
Revolution,
and
the
repression
of
natural
human
desires
to
love
and
to
be
intimate,
under
the
yoke
of
traditional
Chinese
culture,
to
name
just
a
couple.
97
On
the
other
hand,
in
spite
of
accolades
from
international
film
critics
and
art
film
goers,
the
Fifth
Generation
enjoys
limited
acceptance
by
the
mass
domestic
audience.
As
noted
earlier,
the
main
domestic
audience
for
the
Fifth
Generation
films
are
urban
intellectuals,
such
as
university
students.
Therefore,
in
the
government’s
eyes,
the
Fifth
Generation’s
film
making
activities
create
little
threat
of
political
upheaval
for
the
regime.
Tolerance
of
its
existence
becomes
a
great
diplomatic
tool
to
present
China
to
the
world
as
an
open
country,
where
its
citizens
have
freedom
to
express
their
views.
This
complexity
of
interplay
between
political
interest
and
international
positioning
in
a
modern
context
should
be
expressed
more
elaborately
in
the
film
movement
theories
than
simply
stating
that
the
political
atmosphere
has
to
be
tolerant
of
the
ideology
of
a
film
wave.
More
has
to
be
said
of
the
context
of
a
tolerant
atmosphere
and
the
factors
contributing
to
it.
6.4
Possible
areas
for
future
research
First,
in
this
thesis,
the
inaccessibility
of
background
information
on
the
film
makers
limited
the
thoroughness
of
the
analysis
of
the
Fifth
Generation’s
motivations,
intentions
and
commonalities
based
on
their
family
background
and
upbringing,
experience
during
the
Cultural
Revolution,
profession
before
they
became
film
makers,
and
explicit
statements
about
underlying
philosophies
of
and
approaches
to
the
film
making
process.
This
could
be
a
potentially
rewarding
area
in
future
research
endeavours,
allowing
for
a
more
detailed
and
refined
assessment
of
the
collective
and
intentional
aspects
of
the
Fifth
98
Generation
as
a
film
movement.
Secondly,
the
weaknesses
of
the
film
movement
theories
discussed
earlier
could
be
instructive
for
future
research:
Could
Huaco,
Tudor
and
Lovell’s
film
movement
theories
be
integrated
more
fully,
offering
an
even
more
holistic
perspective
on
the
examination
of
film
movements?
What
is
the
potential
effect
of
changes
in
filmmakers’
personal
life
circumstances
on
the
continuing
existence
or
eventual
decline
of
a
film
movement?
What
is
the
role
of
the
audience
in
a
film
movement
and
does
the
extent
of
and
variations
in
its
suppport
influence
the
movement’s
fate?
What
is
the
mix
of
factors
that
contribute
to
a
favourable
or
tolerant
political
atmosphere?
Thirdly,
one
promising
potential
project
identified
by
this
thesis
relates
to
China’s
left
wing
film
“movement”
in
the
1930s.
This
movement
highly
reflects
the
revolution-
movement
relationship,
as
its
emergence
occurred
immediately
after
the
Japanese
invasion
of
China
during
the
1930s.
The
analysis
of
this
film
movement
has
the
potential
to
further
our
understanding
about
film
movements
and
their
preconditions.
Moreover,
a
comparison
between
the
left-wing
movement
in
the
1930s
and
the
Fifth
Generation
will
be
enlightening
about
the
commonalties
and
differences
between
the
two
movements
in
the
Chinese
context.
Hopefully
this
thesis
will
create
more
research
interest
in this
fascinating
and
exciting
area.
99
