Modern Chinese cinema always has been considered a window to the modern Chiense culture and mass media, yet the research on them are often discontinuous and limited. In The Urban Milieu of Shanghai Cinema, 1930-40: Some Explorations of Film Audience, Film Culture, and Narrative Conventions, Lee also points out that Western approach to Chineses cinema “have largely been concerned with textual readings of individual films,” rather than identifying the overlying consensus or similarities between the films.
To compensate that, Lee explores the historical and cultural background of 1930s’ Shanghai, providing in-depth exploration into how the Chinese cinema was received to the modern Chinese audience.
One of the most interesting features Lee introduces are the active communication between cinephiles, mainly via the print culture such as platform of movie magazines and journals. The writer also highlights how the portrayal of women in modern cinema strongly influenced the social standard of women; Lee also explains that such changes in Chinese public’s perception, however, was different from the development of femme fatale figures in Hollywood, for Chinese society focused more heavily on the significance of intelligence on women, not limited to good physicality.
Lee also addresses the emergence of modern Chinese cinema and the role of modern metropolis of Shanghai was an important figure in the early establishment of cinema in the mind of Chinese public.
-Park Junseo, 3035859929