Leo Ou-Fan Lee’s article depicts the development period of Shanghai Cinema, its unique characteristics and its corresponding influence on the general public.
The growth of Shanghai Cinema was inevitably intertwined with the Hollywood films. The penetrative influence by Hollywood movie stars was shown on movie magazines: Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, Claudette Colbert in It All Happened One Night and Katherine Hepburn in Morning Glory, were all classical representations. Regarding film production of Shanghai Cinema, mimicry on shot angle and ensemble management of Hollywood could be evidently seen.
The uniqueness of Shanghai Cinema was traceable to spectatorship, traditional literary narrative mode and politics in that epoch. As the viewing habits of audiences were shaped by print culture like popular fiction, cultural predisposition on legends and epics determined Chinese directors’ foremost priority on plot structure. This could be verified by Cai Chusheng’s later reflection ‘to intrigue audience’ on filmmaking. Politics was also crucial when viewing the distinctiveness of Shanghai Cinema. The diversion of Wenren dianying (core expression subject to the patriotic feelings) from Xiren dianying (aesthetics influenced by popular drama) was influenced by May Fourth literature, Japanese invasion in Manchuria; and ‘civilised plays’ respectively, which demonstrated two divergent paths of filmic pursuit.
ZHAO LANYAN UID: 3035977202
Extensive use of real-life examples (e.g. the Hollywood movie stars) to support your arguments. Great use of the complex cultural concepts of the ‘dianying’ in your latter part of the writing to explain how critical historical events affected the development of Chinese filmmaking and markets. Well done!