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No Longer 'Sick': Visualizing 'Victorious' Athletes in 1950s Chinese Films
Nicht mehr 'krank': Die Visualisierung 'siegreicher' Athleten im chinesischen Film der 50er Jahre
[journal article]
Abstract This essay focuses on the narratives and visuals of athletes in several popular sports films produced in 1950s Maoist China, arguing that the Chinese leadership intended such visuals to convey the strength of the new socialist state. Since the early twentieth century in China, modern sports and phys... view more
This essay focuses on the narratives and visuals of athletes in several popular sports films produced in 1950s Maoist China, arguing that the Chinese leadership intended such visuals to convey the strength of the new socialist state. Since the early twentieth century in China, modern sports and physical culture (tiyu) has been associated with an official narrative of overcoming national humiliation, in which the nation suffered from "victimization" at the hands of foreigners – often succinctly described using the phrase the "Sick Man of East Asia" (dongya bingfu). Yet more than a decade prior to the release of the popular martial arts film "Fist of Fury" (Hong Kong, 1972) in which Bruce Lee famously destroys a placard reading "Sick Man of East Asia," mainland China's sports film industry was showcasing youthful Chinese athletes who no longer suffered from this past humiliation. On the contrary, the images of jubilant, victorious athletes in Maoist-era films like Girl Basketball Player No. 5, Ice Sisters, and Two Generations of Swimmers served as visual embodiments of a nation that, under Chinese Communist Party leadership, had overcome a century of humiliation and was now no longer "sick."... view less
Keywords
sports; narration; victimization; film industry; socialism; national consciousness; visualization; film; athlete; cult of the body; China; communist party
Classification
General History
Other Media
Free Keywords
gender
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 220-250
Journal
Historical Social Research, 43 (2018) 2
Issue topic
Visualities - Sports, Bodies, and Visual Sources
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.43.2018.2.220-250
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed