You are cordially invited to DEALL Speaker Series

In Search of Laughter in Maoist China: Chinese Comedy Film 1949–1966

Ying Bao

Thursday, May 17, 3:30~4:30
University Hall 47

Summary of Talk

Little is known about Chinese comedy films during the Maoist time in the West. What could be safely laughed at in Maoist China, what couldn't, and why? How would comedy be perceived, re-/defined, and re-/constructed in film, one of the most important mass media in Maoist China? What would Maoist comedy films inform us of conflicts and negotiations among official rhetoric, genre conventions, folk humor, social concerns, nationalization and local interests in the cinematic representation of a state-sanctioned popular culture? This study traces the history of comedy film produced in the early People's Republic of China, with special attention to the genre shift from the contemporary social satires in the mid-1950s to the so-called "eulogistic comedy" (gesongxing xiju) prosperous in the years between 1959 and 1964. A close reading of the varieties of Maoist comedy films would demonstrate the genre transcends the categories of pure 'entertainment' and 'propaganda' and the presence of dialect comedies further complicates the dynamics between the national and the local.

Next talk:
May 30 (Wednesday)
Prof. Yu Li, Williams College
Title: TBA

*If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Etsuyo Yuasa (yuasa.1@osu.edu) or Matthew Chudnow (chudnow.1@osu.edu).