Female Images in Female-Directed Chinese Films

Abstract

This essay takes the representation of females in major Chinese female-directed films since the new period as the research subject. Until the development of Western feminist theory, female images in Chinese films were not studied critically. With the coming of a new period, accompanied by reform and women’s liberation movement, the Chinese film industry has created a great number of new female images. These films highlight its charm as a visual media due to the handling of the female image on the screen; in the way filmmakers re-presented with greater awareness the importance of correctly introducing and handling female images on the screen.