Description: Vulgar Beauty by Mila Zuo Mila Zuo offers a new theorization of cinematic feminine beauty by showing how mediated encounters with Chinese film and popular culture stars produce feelings of Chinese-ness. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description In Vulgar Beauty Mila Zuo offers a new theorization of cinematic feminine beauty by showing how mediated encounters with Chinese film and popular culture stars produce feelings of Chineseness. To illustrate this, Zuo uses the vulgar as an analytic to trace how racial, gendered, and cultural identity is imagined and produced through affect. She frames the vulgar as a characteristic that is experienced through the Chinese concept of weidao, or flavor, in which bitter, salty, pungent, sweet, and sour performances of beauty produce non-Western forms of sexualized and racialized femininity. Analyzing contemporary film and media ranging from actress Gong Lis post-Mao movies of the late 1980s and 1990s to Joan Chens performance in Twin Peaks to Ali Wongs stand-up comedy specials, Zuo shows how vulgar beauty disrupts Western and colonial notions of beauty. Vulgar beauty, then, becomes the taste of difference. By demonstrating how Chinese feminine beauty becomes a cinematic invention invested in forms of affective racialization, Zuo makes a critical reconsideration of aesthetic theory. Author Biography Mila Zuo is Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of British Columbia. Table of Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: Tasting Vulgar Beauty 1 1. Bitter Medicine, Racial Flavor: Gong Li 39 2. Salty-Cool: Maggie Cheung and Joan Chen 73 3. Pungent Atmospheres: Bai Ling and Tang Wei 113 4. Sweet and Soft Coupling: Vivian Hsu and Shu Qi 152 5. Sour Laughter: Charlyne Yi and Ali Wong 193 Conclusion: Aftertaste 234 Notes 241 Bibliography 267 Index 289 Review "In this gorgeously written book, Mila Zuo captures how Chinese female film stars perform beauty in ways that reflect their negotiation with the racial sexualization of their femininity. With a rigorous and lucid ferocity, Zuo boldly brings together critical theory, philosophy, aesthetics, women of color feminism, feminist film theory, and performance theory to help us understand Chinese womens presences on screen. Fearless and powerful, Vulgar Beauty is a pleasure to read." -- Celine Parreñas Shimizu, author of * The Proximity of Other Skins: Ethical Intimacy in Global Cinema *"[Zuos] metaphoric language, mostly revolving around food, offers the reader not only an intellectual exploration of the power of vulgar beauty to destabilize racial and patriarchal power structures but also a flavorful and aesthetic journey in and of itself." -- E. Nastacia Schmoll * Lateral *"Anyone interested in performance, in gender and sexuality, in race on an international stage, in Chinese politics and history in this century of suffering, needs to read this book. Anyone hungry, voracious perhaps, for interdisciplinary diasporic and transnational critique that engages not only with cultural but also intellectual traditions from China and Korea had better prepare to feast." -- Vivian L. Huang * Film-Philosophy *"What distinguishes Vulgar Beauty is the way it constructs a fresh critical framework for understanding feminine beauty. With Zuos theoretical perspective and erudite analysis, Vulgar Beauty is a necessary addition to aesthetic theory and critical theories of gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity." -- Fengyun Zhang * Film Quarterly *"Vulgar Beauty is an exciting intervention in Cinema and Media Studies." -- Chris Berry * Pacific Affairs * Review Quote "In this gorgeously written book, Mila Zuo captures how Chinese female film stars perform beauty in ways that reflect their negotiation with the racial sexualization of their femininity. With a rigorous and lucid ferocity, Zuo boldly brings together critical theory, philosophy, aesthetics, women of color feminism, feminist film theory, and performance theory to help us understand Chinese womens presences on screen. Fearless and powerful, Vulgar Beauty is a pleasure to read." Details ISBN1478015470 Author Mila Zuo Short Title Vulgar Beauty Publisher Duke University Press Language English Year 2022 ISBN-10 1478015470 ISBN-13 9781478015475 Format Hardcover Subtitle Acting Chinese in the Global Sensorium Imprint Duke University Press Place of Publication North Carolina Country of Publication United States Illustrations 26 illustrations Pages 312 Publication Date 2022-03-11 AU Release Date 2022-03-11 NZ Release Date 2022-03-11 US Release Date 2022-03-11 UK Release Date 2022-03-11 Edited by Christopher E. Swide Birth 1974 Affiliation European University Viadrina, Germany Position journalist Qualifications Ph.D. Alternative 9781478018117 DEWEY 791.436522089951 Audience Professional & Vocational We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:159524525;
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Format: Hardcover
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Author: Mila Zuo
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Book Title: Vulgar Beauty
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