Main Melody Films: Hong Kong Directors in Mainland China

by Stephen Yiu-Wai Chu

Overview

Main melody films are propaganda works that pay tribute to the Chinese nation, the party and the army. Since the turn of the century, they have gradually developed into the main genre of Chinese cinema, and its "blockbusterization" is arguably the most phenomenal aspect of the 2010s Chinese film industry.
As an increasing number of Hong Kong directors are commissioned to direct main melody blockbusters, Chu examines their contributions to this genre, shedding light on the development of cross—border cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong film industries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474493871
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	02/12/2024
Series:	Edinburgh Studies in East Asian Film
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Professor Stephen Yiu—Wai Chu is Director and Professor of Hong Kong Studies Programme at Hong Kong University

Table of Contents

Introduction: "Main(land) Melody Films" and Hong Kong Directors

1: How to Take Tiger Mountain? The Tsui Hark Model

2: Will Our Time Come? Ann Hui’s Fallen City

3: Hong Kong Dreams in China: The Leap of Peter Chan

4: Founding an Army with Soft Power: Captain Andrew Lau

5: Stepping to the Fore: Dante Lam’s Operation Trilogy

6: Underneath the Shock Waves: The (Un)told Stories of Herman Yau

7: Jumping on the Bandwagon: The Ensemble of Hong Kong Film Directors

EpilogueSelect BibliographyFilmographyGlossary

Editorial Reviews

In a cultural realm where nationalist fervor　and market incentives are intertwined, Chu spotlights the imprints of a versatile Hong Kong left by some of the city’s directors on Chinese main(land) melody films. Packed with lively details and narrated with zest, this book is an impressive record of these directors’ creative ventures in a vast new entertainment network.

Rey Chow

This book, the third of the author’s trilogy on Hong Kong popular culture after 1997, is a timely intervention to delve into the mainland—Hong Kong cooperation in making main melody blockbuster films. The in—depth analysis of "north—bound" film directors such as Tsui Hark and Ann Hui brings to light their creative and at times ambiguous roles in bringing state propaganda to young audiences. This is an important book for understanding the developments of the former British colony’s film industry in the era of cross—border integration.

Po—Shek Fu

Main Melody Films is a valuable and insightful addition to the scholarly literature on cultural studies related to China and Hong Kong, and on Chinese—language cinemas. Established scholars as well as students in various arts and humanities disciplines with special research interests in the culture and cinema of China and Hong Kong will very likely include this monograph in their list of must read books.

The China Quarterly - Ruby Cheung

Chu’s work brings a major development in Chinese cinema to broader attention and is exemplary in its reference to an impressive range of sources, which testify to a near encyclopaedic knowledge of China’s and especially Hong Kong’s cinematic output, as well as the rapidly increasing scholarship on these topics.

China Perspectives - Kristof Van den Troost

This book, the third of the author’s trilogy on Hong Kong popular culture after 1997, is a timely intervention to delve into the mainland-Hong Kong cooperation in making main melody blockbuster films. The in-depth analysis of "north-bound" film directors such as Tsui Hark and Ann Hui brings to light their creative and at times ambiguous roles in bringing state propaganda to young audiences. This is an important book for understanding the developments of the former British colony’s film industry in the era of cross-border integration.

Po-Shek Fu