The matrices of female bonding and lesbian sexuality: female homoerotic cinema in Mainland China

Abstract

ABSTRACT The mis-representation of female homoeroticism in China and misunderstanding of films in this regard leads to the question: What explanatory frameworks should we adopt to analyze Chinese female homo-erotic films in the way that respects the local historical and cultural context? After studying the local history of women’s separatism and formation of lesbian identity under Western influences, I suggest two frameworks, namely, the matrix of female bonding and the matrix of lesbian sexuality. Adopting these two frameworks, respectively, I conduct close analysis of Sweet Eighteen (甜蜜18岁, 2012) and Fish and Elephant (今年夏天, 2001), to locate the “Chinese lesbianism” in these not very lesbian films in the eyes of American audience. I will argue that the narrative of homosexual-maternal transferability in the former resonates with Chinese women’s literature, while the narrative of homosexual normality and a coming-home rather than coming-out strategy in the latter film speak to the local specificity of lesbian discourse since the 1990s.