Red and Identities

The Symbolic Uses of Reds in 1980's Era Chinese Cinema

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This book examines color aesthetics and the symbolic uses of reds in 1980’s era Chinese cinema. Adopting a semiotic approach, the research combines the aesthetic and content analysis with a broader investigation using social-historical perspectives. It first explores cinematographic color aesthetics by considering the transplantation of styles from painting to cinema, then analyzes various symbolic uses of reds in cinematic signifying practices. Three parallel, intersecting, thematic fields in Chinese modernization are used as departure points: 1. rural-urban relationship; and, 2. Individualization; and, 3. gender identities. It investigates the following questions: How color contributes to meaning construction and signifies cultural identities and social ideologies? How are underlying ideologies translated into the mise-en-sc `ne? Finally, it discusses the role of cinema in constituting a trans-cultural phenomenon which uses red as a predominant color to represent China and the `Chinese-ness‘.