Title: Allegorical and Realistic Portrayals of the Cultural Revolution
Abstract:Tian Zhuangzhuang's two consecutive minority films, On the Hunting Ground (Liechang zasa, 1984) and Horse Thief (Daoma zei, 1985), are two of the most visually striking experimental works created by t...Tian Zhuangzhuang's two consecutive minority films, On the Hunting Ground (Liechang zasa, 1984) and Horse Thief (Daoma zei, 1985), are two of the most visually striking experimental works created by the Fifth Generation filmmakers. An important quality of these two films is their visual accuracy. Melvyn Goldstein, a prominent anthropologist studying Tibetan culture, told me in a phone conversation that, as a close observer of this culture, he was deeply impressed by the verisimilitude of Tian's portrayal in Horse Thief of Tibetan nomad life at the beginning of the century. However, he also added that despite the film's visual accuracy, the selection of its images conveys a misleading impression of Tibetan culture overall – a negative impression. The same claim can be made concerning Tian's other minority film, On the Hunting Ground, made one year before Horse Thief. The Mongolian life-style is portrayed in such a realistic fashion that the film looks even more like an ethnographic documentary. At the same time, the main activity, hunting, is fictional in contemporary inner Mongolia. As a result, the filmmaker had to stage this activity completely. As in Horse Thief, the staged hunting also conveys a negative image of the community it purports to represent. Mongolian hunters are shown shooting at smallish animals, such as ducks and rabbits, with disproportionately powerful rifles. The frequent use of slow motion in these scenes emphasizes further the agony of these innocent animals.Read More
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-08-06
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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