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Chinese Martial Arts Cinema : The Wuxia Tradition by Stephen Teo is available at Amazon.co.uk  |
Author: Teo, Stephen
ISBN: 978 0 7486 3285 5
Format: Hardback
Pages: 288
List price(s): 60.00 GBP
Publication date: 14 March 2009
Short description
A study of the Chinese martial arts film, a genre known as wuxia (literal translation: martial chivalry), from its beginnings in the Shanghai cinema of the late 1920s to its development in the new millennium with such 'crossover' successes as Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).
Full description
This is the first comprehensive, fully-researched account of the historical and contemporary development of the traditional martial arts genre in the Chinese cinema known as wuxia (literal translation: martial chivalry) - a genre which audiences around the world became familiar with through the phenomenal 'crossover' hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The book unveils rich layers of the wuxia tradition as it developed in the early Shanghai cinema in the late 1920s, and from the 1950s onwards, in the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industries. Key attractions of the book are analyses of: *The history of the tradition as it began in the Shanghai cinema, its rise and popularity as a serialized form in the silent cinema of the late 1920s, and its eventual prohibition by the government in 1931. *The fantastic characteristics of the genre, their relationship with folklore, myth and religion, and their similarities and differences with the kung fu sub-genre of martial arts cinema. *The protagonists and heroes of the genre, in particular the figure of the female knight-errant.* The chief personalities and masterpieces of the genre - directors such as King Hu, Chu Yuan, Zhang Che, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and films such as Come Drink With Me (1966), The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), A Touch of Zen (1970-71), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006).
Table of Contents
Part I: History and Development; 1. Introduction; 2. Wuxia from Literature to Cinema; 3. Reactions against the Wuxia Genre; 4. The Wuxia Genre Shifts Ground; 5. The Rise of Kung Fu, from Wong Fei-hung to Bruce Lee; Part II: The New School and Beyond; 6. The Rise of New School Wuxia; 7. The Wuxia Films of King Hu; 8. A Touch of Zen and the Moral Dilemma of the Female Knight-Errant; 9. Wuxia after A Touch of Zen; 10. Wuxia between Nationalism and Transnationalism; Glossary; Filmography; Works Cited.
Author's Biography
Stephen Teo is currently associate professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a senior research associate of the RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions (British Film Institute, 1997), Wong Kar-wai (BFI, 2005), King Hu's A Touch of Zen (Hong Kong University Press, 2006), and Director in Action: Johnnie To and the Hong Kong Action Film (Hong Kong University Press, 2007).
Edinburgh University Press
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HongKong Cinemagic Forum -> English Board -> General
Chinese Martial Arts Cinema By Stephen Teo, Edinburgh University Press
