Queering international development: the “pleasure principle” in the participatory video The Lucky One

Hongwei Bao

doi:10.1080/14680777.2020.1754632

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the politics of representing HIV/AIDS in the 2011 documentary The Lucky One (宠儿), jointly made by Chinese filmmaker and queer activist He Xiaopei and Zhang Xi, a woman living with HIV/AIDS. The film was made using a participatory approach as Zhang took up the video camera to document her own life. By situating the film in the global development industry and focusing on the political economy of the filmmaking process, this article examines the complex power relations embedded in how people living with HIV/AIDS are represented on screen and in the context of the development industry. Informed by critical scholarship in and a queer approach to development studies, this article identifies strengths and weaknesses of the participatory approach, together with the role of media and communication technologies, in international development and health communication. This article hopes to present a nuanced understanding of empowerment and agency through studying the use of participatory videos in development projects.

Highlights

The 2011 documentary The Lucky One (宠儿) follows the life of a woman, Zhang Xi by name, in her last days of living with HIV/AIDS (Figure 1)
This article focuses on the politics of representing HIV/AIDS in the 2011 documentary The Lucky One (宠儿), jointly made by Chinese filmmaker and queer activist He Xiaopei and Zhang Xi, a woman living with HIV/AIDS
This article is structured in the following order: first, I introduce the discussions surrounding the use of participatory videos in the development industry; second, I contextualize the representation of HIV/AIDS and sexual minorities in post-2000 China

Summary

Introduction

The 2011 documentary The Lucky One (宠儿) follows the life of a woman, Zhang Xi by name, in her last days of living with HIV/AIDS (Figure 1). This article examines the politics of representing HIV/AIDS in The Lucky One, jointly made by He Xiaopei and Zhang Xi. Departing from a text-based approach popular in media and screen studies, I focus instead on the context of the film; that is, the historical and social context of its production.

Results

Conclusion