tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3192894932186742086.post1243311601906547860..comments2023-11-07T22:48:26.520-08:00Comments on GoldenPigsy's Gilded Trough: Review -- Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition by Stephen TeoGoldenPigsyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00185768299619712399noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3192894932186742086.post-20861795881151912182009-06-16T12:18:25.498-07:002009-06-16T12:18:25.498-07:00Yeah, I was rather disappointed with lack of infor...Yeah, I was rather disappointed with lack of information, or even mention of so many aspects of the genre. Not only does he miss Chan Po-Chu, but Josephine Siao and Walter Tso and a great deal of important Cantonese actors and film makers whose work would very much inform the "new wuxia" films from Shaw Bros.<br /><br />The strange part of his focus on auteurs is that he doesn't write about them as if they were auteurs. Teo emphasizes the generic qualities of the wuxia genre and how they relate to self-fashioning, identity and nationalism, but he chooses to write mostly about the least generic films by the most discussed and distinguished directors.<br /><br />Still, the research he's done for the first two chapters is invaluable. Teo does hint that he might be working on a volume covering the 80's era martial arts films of Mainland China, which would be fascinating if only because nobody seems to know how many of these exist nor who was involved in their making outside of those co-produced with Hong Kong studios. I only hope that if he does so, he might write a book that's more accessible than this one.GoldenPigsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00185768299619712399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3192894932186742086.post-38456350059171052162009-06-10T23:07:42.794-07:002009-06-10T23:07:42.794-07:00"Often painfully academic". That pretty ..."Often painfully academic". That pretty much summarizes how I felt about this book. I really love Stephen Teo's first book, <i>Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions</i>, but his subsequent books have been increasingly disappointing to me. Whereas his first book was written in a clear and engaging style, accessible to a wide audience, he has since then chosen to adopt a more academic discourse.<br /><br />I found the first two chapters of his book (on the history of wuxia literature and the birth of the film genre in 1920s Shanghai) interesting and a valuable resource to which I will definitely return. However, the rest of the book was a bit of a letdown.<br /><br />Like you, I especially noticed the gaps in his history of the genre. Personally, I think the fact that he didn't even once mention Connie Chan Po Chu, one of the leading stars of Cantonese wuxia films in the 60s, is a huge omission.<br /><br />His disclaimer about the inevitable incompleteness of his study is telling: "There are areas and periods I have omitted out of necessity because either the films are lost or that <i>there is simply no critical impetus to study them due to long-held perceptions that they are too minor</i>..."<br /><br />Sadly, Teo does nothing to change these perceptions and instead takes the predictable route of elevating the genre by focusing on -- and, in my opinion, overestimating -- its auteurs, particularly King Hu.<br /><br />Teo has clearly written this book not for fans of wuxia films but for his fellow academics. There is nothing wrong with that. But unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool academic, it is best to approach this book with lowered expectations.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com