Description
Book SynopsisJean Ma shows how the rise and domination of singing actresses—or songstresses—in Chinese cinema attests to the changing roles of women in urban modernity, the complex symbiosis between the film and music industries, and the distinctive gendering of lyrical expression.
Trade Review“It is not that often that in a single volume, an author completely revolutionizes the way one looks at a subject. But that is what Ma (art and art history, Stanford) does in this volume, which is one of the most significant feminist historiographies of the past decade…. Required reading for anyone interested in film or Chinese culture in general.” -- G. A. Foster * Choice *
"All in all,
Sounding the Modern Woman is well worth close attention. It advances our understanding of the connections between the Shanghai and Hong Kong film industries as well as enriches the historical discourse as it indicates many points of continuity over not only the transition to sound cinema but also the tumultuous war years and the Cold War situation that followed." -- Andrew Stuckey * H-Asia, H-Net Reviews *
"Ma’s masterly revelation of the fates of very real people and events that led to the making of these mythic icons of vitality, eros, and death, and the ambivalence with which she underscores their eventual fading from contemporary cinematic attention, makes this tome worthy of a place on the curious reader’s shelf." -- Shzr Ee Tan * Music, Sound, and the Moving Image *
"
Sounding the Modern Woman is an important examination of the songstress in pre-war Shanghai and post-war Hong Kong film and signals the importance of listening for the gendered meanings of history and popular culture – not just looking for them." -- Catherine Horne * Media International Australia *
"Jean Ma’s book is more than a scholarly exploration of sound and music in Chinese cinema. . . . [W]ith attention to the timbre, expression, and on-and-off screen collaboration of female voices, this book breaks through the practice of textual analysis and spectatorship studies. In this respect, I regard Ma’s book as a significant feminist historical intervention." -- S. Louisa Wei * Pacific Affairs *
"As the title suggests,
Sounding the Modern Woman gives the songstress (including her silent ancestors and rebellious successors) a voice in the history of Chinese cinema. It is most certainly a thoughtfully researched, intellectually inspiring, and analytically eye-opening study of the songstress as a medium." -- Victor Fan * MCLC Resource Center *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1. A Songstress Is Born 31
2. From Shanghai to Hong Kong 71
3. The Little Wildcat 103
4. The Mambo Girl 139
5. Carmen, Camille, and the Undoing of Women 185
Coda 213
Notes 219
Chinese Films Cited 247
Bibliography 253
Index 267
