'My' Self on Camera by Yu, Kiki Tianqi;

Short description:

This book problematises how the sense of self and subjectivities are understood in contemporary China, and provides illuminating new insights on the changing notion of the individual through cinema.

Long description:

‘My’ Self on Camera is the first book to explore first person narrative documentary in China’s post-Mao era. Since the emergence of the individual as an ever more important social figure in China, this mode of independent filmmaking and cultural practice has become increasingly significant. Combining the approach of cultural ethnography, interviews, and textual analysis of selected films, this study examines the motivations, key aesthetic features and ethical tensions of presenting the self on camera, as well as the socio-political, cultural and technical conditions surrounding its practice. This book problematises how the sense of self and subjectivities are understood in contemporary China, and provides illuminating new insights on the changing notion of the individual through cinema.

Table of Contents:

List of Figures List of Main Terms with Chinese Translations List of Names with Chinese Character Translations Acknowledgements

Introduction: Action, Amateurness and the Changing Sense of the Individual Self 1. Female First Person Documentary Practice: Negotiating Gendered Expectations 2. Amateurness and an Inward Gaze at Home 3. Nostalgia toward Laojia: Old Home as an Imagined Past 4. First Person Action Documentary Practice: Longing for a More Politicised Space 5. The Problematic Public Self: Ethics, Camera and Language in Contestable Minjian Public Spaces 6. Camera Activism: Provocative Documentation, First Person Confrontation and Collective Force 7. Whose Self on Camera? Motives, Mistrust, Disputed Authenticities 8. From Fragile First Person Documentary Practice to Popular Online First Person Live Streaming Broadcast – Zhibo: Changing Intentions, Changing Individual Selves

Filmography Bibliography Index