Starting from reviews about previous literature (Burch), the author pointed out that the earliest period of Chinese cinema has been recognized as “chaotic” and thus academically valueless by most relevant studies. However, through evaluating the main themes and filming techniques of films around that period, early Chinese films show great complexity (Bhabha) – filming techniques borrowed from the west and spirit from locals.
It is a hybrid, a result of historical necessity (colonialism), but also a practical approach to reproduce the essence of traditions (theatrical adaptations), indicating the existing social problems such as regulating marriage (Labourer’s Love), propagating political opinions, and satisfying the increasing requirement of entertainment from all social classes, like the place where the first “foreign shadowplay” was presented- the teahouse- a significant spatial trope in Chinese urban mass culture where multiple entertainment establishments met. This article taught me that early Chinese cinema was a mixture/hybrid of abundant elements, not out of tension/conflicts, but of intercommunication/assimilation.
3036100686 ZHOU Yimeng
You did well in explaining Chinese films and their relations towards the historical, social and cultural contexts of that time period. The first ‘chaotic’ film context later did find it own way to gradually evolve into a hybrid reacting to Chinese social parameters, to the people and trends of the time.