Onderzoeksartikel

De cinema van Zhang Yimou: een poging tot een cross-culturele filmanalyse

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Abstract

In this article we try to explain the problems involved in a cross-cultural analysis of the Chinese ‘fifth-generation' films. Our point of departure is the cinema of Zhang Yimou. First, we see that the reception of Zhang Yimou's films in China is totally different from the reception in Europe: while we consider the films to be beautiful and oriental, the Chinese see them as controversial and equivocal. Next, trying to find the source of this difference, we look for links in the ‘cultural intertext’ of the cinema: the symbols and images used in the Chinese culture and traditions which often remain hidden for a western audience. Zhang uses this intertext, transforms and contaminates the symbols and the images so that their meaning changes or is critically examined. In this way, he questions the traditions, the history and the customs of the Chinese people and it is in this manner that he tries to find the source of - what he calls - ‘the pathologic side of the Chinese system’.

How to Cite:

Tanghe, R., (1997) “De cinema van Zhang Yimou: een poging tot een cross-culturele filmanalyse”, Communicatie: tijdschrift voor communicatiewetenschap en mediacultuur 26(2), 48–57. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/communicatie.91372