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Ecological And Environmental Turns: (Re)mapping China’s Sociocultural Landscape through Ecocinema Shuqin Cui

Ecological And Environmental Turns: (Re)mapping China’s Sociocultural Landscape through Ecocinema by Shuqin Cui

"Professor Shuqin Cui demonstrates a deep familiarity with the history of Western ecocriticism, Chinese ecocinematic theories, and recent scholarship such as material ecocriticism...This diverse selection ensures that scholars and students familiar with Chinese ecofilms will either discover new valuable films or gain fresh interpretations of those already widely discussed...This is a very impressive book, and I highly recommend it." —Chia-ju Chang, Brooklyn College

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Price $ 119.99
About Standard Hardcover Edition
  • construction Book block enclosed inside case.
  • Case bound to hardcover.
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Paperback edition not available.
  • Formats Hardcover
  • Hardcover ISBN 9781638573296
  • Pages 360
  • Date TBA
  • Size 6 x 9 in or 229 x 152 mm

This book is in the Cambria Sinophone World Series, headed by Victor H. Mair (University of Pennsylvania).

As the world faces unprecedented challenges from war, disease, and environmental disasters in the post-COVID-19 period, the need to reconsider human-nonhuman relations has become all the more critical. By remapping China's socio-environmental landscape through ecocinema and ecocriticism, this book delves into how we might redefine the relationship between nature and culture beyond anthropocentric perspectives. Focusing on four turns—to the historical, spatial, material, and animal—this book examines twelve films, from Hollywood blockbusters to Chinese documentaries. It demonstrates how shifting from an anthropocentric to an eco-environmental perspective transforms our view of the world. This interdisciplinary approach integrates humanities and sciences, fostering environmental awareness and offering practical insights.

*Includes black-and-white images

"Professor Shuqin Cui demonstrates a deep familiarity with the history of Western ecocriticism, Chinese ecocinematic theories, and recent scholarship such as material ecocriticism. These theories are thoughtfully woven into her arguments. This diverse selection ensures that scholars and students familiar with Chinese ecofilms will either discover new valuable films or gain fresh interpretations of those already widely discussed. This study is very accessible to both general readers and college-level students. A distinct contribution is that this could be used as a practical textbook for teaching Chinese ecocinema—this book answers the question: 'To what extent can our research and teaching in the humanities help to provide our students with the means to better understand the alarming changes in the world around us?' This is a very impressive book, and I highly recommend it." —Chia-ju Chang, Brooklyn College

Shuqin Cui (Shu-chin Tsui) is the Bowdoin Professor of Asian Studies and Cinema Studies at Bowdoin College. In addition to journal articles, Professor Cui's publications include Gendered Bodies: Toward A Women's Visual Art in Contemporary China and Women Through the Lens: Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Back to 1942: Forgotten History and Lost Memory in the Making of a Famine Narrative

Chapter 2. Aftershock: Ecological and Psychological Trauma through the Mode of Family Melodrama

Chapter 3. Waking the Green Tiger: Environmental Activism through Social Media

Chapter 4. Still Life: Bodies in Ruins and Landscape in Disappearance

Chapter 5. Manufactured Landscapes: A Mediation and Meditation between Film and Photography

Chapter 6. Behemoth: A Poetic Vision of Ravaged Landscape

Chapter 7. Chai Jing’s Under the Dome: A Multimedia Documentary in the Digital Age

Chapter 8. Plastic China: Transnational Trash Flow - Construction of Trash Discourse and Documentary Exploration

Chapter 9. The Lockdown Narrative and Post-documentary Filmmaking in the Age of Pandemic

Chapter 10. Kekexili-Mountain Patrol: Tibetan Antelopes and Wilderness through the Lens of a Man with a Camera

Chapter 11. Wolf Totem: A Romantic Elegy to Exterminated Animals and Endangered Ethnicities

Chapter 12. Kung Fu Panda: Anthropomorphic Animated Animals and Computer-Generated Kung Fu Masters

Epilogue. Where We Are, and Where We are Going

Bibliography

Index

  • 2024 Cambria Press

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