The Films of Jia Zhangke: Class Figures, Their Representation, and Their Affect

What is it about?

Analyzes the class figures of the worker, peasant, soldier, intellectual and entrepreneur in the films of the Chinese director Jia Zhangke. It examines how Jia's cinematography engages the audience's emotional responses through representation, symbolism, and the affective experience of certain cinematic tropes.

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Why is it important?

This book makes an important contribution to scholarship about contemporary China, especially in regards how the past 40 years of the Reform Era has been experienced emotionally, thus opening up new areas in the larger fields of Chinese visual culture, cultural studies, and film phenomenology.