From Ideal Women to Women's Ideal: Evolution of the Female Image in Chinese Feature Films, 1949–2000

Abstract

This study constructs the historical contours of China's social transformation and the evolution of the female image in films between 1949 and 2000. The period 1949–1966 was the period of ‘The Song of Revolution,’ featuring ideal women; 1966–1976: the period of ‘Cultural Revolution’; 1977–1982: ‘The Recovery Period,’ with the initial awakening of women's consciousness presented in films; 1983–1986: ‘The Revival Period,’ when the female image became richer in Chinese films, with women searching for their own ideals; 1987-early 1990s: ‘The Period of Rebellion,’ when women's image strayed away from mainstream discourse; and mid-1990s to 2000: ‘The Period of Reconstruction’ of the essential women in search of their ideals. Overall, as Chinese cinema witnessed China's social changes, the image of woman in Chinese feature films underwent a subtle shift from one of ‘ideal woman’ to a ‘pursuer of woman's ideal’ during the half century covered in this study.