{"product_id":"the-art-of-useless-9780231192491","title":"The Art of Useless","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Art of Useless offers an innovative way to understand China's political-economic, social, and cultural transformations, showing how consumer culture helps anticipate, produce, and shape a new middle-class subjectivity. Calvin Hui examines changing representations of the production and consumption of fashion in documentaries and films.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA sophisticated analysis that is ambitious in its historical and textual scope. * The China Quarterly *\u003cbr\u003eFrom \u003ci\u003eNever Forget\u003c\/i\u003e, a 1964 socialist film intent on educating a factory worker who longs for a fancy suit, to the forty dazzling costume changes in 1980’s \u003ci\u003eRomance on Lu Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, to the white-collar fashion presentations in 2010’s \u003ci\u003eGo! Lala Go!\u003c\/i\u003e, the politics of how one dresses has been a crucial coordinate for navigating cultural identity in contemporary China. In \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Useless\u003c\/i\u003e, Calvin Hui takes us on a fascinating cultural tour that remaps our understanding of the relationship among fashion, politics, and visual culture during an era of unprecedented social transformation. -- Michael Berry, author of \u003ci\u003eSpeaking in Images and A History of Pain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA cutting-edge work of cultural studies, this book shines a penetrating light on the rise of a middle class in China. Examining the powers of mass media, film, and fashion industry, Calvin Hui offers us fascinating scenarios and critical insights into how consumerist fantasies raise the pretensions of a status-seeking “bourgeoisie” while opening up dream spaces for alienated labor. -- Ban Wang, author of \u003ci\u003eIlluminations from the Past: Trauma, Memory, and History in Modern China\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy closely examining a broad selection of documentaries, feature films, and other artistic works and cultural products, Hui illuminates not only the works themselves but also the sociocultural environments that have nurtured these works and in turn been shaped by them. A useful and enlightening perspective on Chinese middle-class consumer culture. -- Tze-lan D. Sang, author of \u003ci\u003eDocumenting Taiwan on Film: Issues and Methods in New Documentaries\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA superbly original study of the media construction of the middle-class sensibility in post-1949 China, Calvin Hui’s \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Useless\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates the indisputable value of Western Marxism and cultural studies in Chinese-language film studies. The ingenious tripartite structure moving from consumption to its underside affords an irresistible riveting read. -- Yiman Wang, author of \u003ci\u003e Remaking Chinese Cinema: Through the Prism of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Hollywood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Useless\u003c\/i\u003e is notable for its innovative methodologies of cultural studies [. . .] The study of social class is an important field, but in China studies, this subject is dominated by sociological methodologies. This book makes a welcome contribution by bringing in humanistic concerns and a cultural studies perspective. * Journal of Asian Studies *\u003cbr\u003eThis book will be of great use to anyone exploring consumer culture in China as well as the cultural changes that have taken place in the transition from a socialist to a post-socialist China. It is a must-read for anyone who seeks to understand fashion’s role in shaping culture or in understanding the role of consumption in shaping social class. * Situations: Cultural Studies in the Asian Context *\u003cbr\u003e[This]  book  tells  a  compelling  story    about    the    waning    of   proletarian   culture   and   the    rise    of    middle-class   consumer culture. * Chinese Literature and Thought Today *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: The Trouble with Naming: Middle-Class Culture, Petty-Bourgeois Sensibility, and \u003ci\u003eZhuang\u003c\/i\u003e (裝)\u003cbr\u003e1. Dirty Fashion: Ma Ke’s Fashion Exhibit \u003ci\u003eUseless\u003c\/i\u003e (2007), Jia Zhangke’s Documentary Film \u003ci\u003eUseless\u003c\/i\u003e (2007), and Cognitive Mapping\u003cbr\u003e2. The High-Quality Suit, Class Struggle, and Cultural Revolution: The Politics of Consumption in Xie Tieli’s Film \u003ci\u003eNever Forget\u003c\/i\u003e (1964)\u003cbr\u003e3. “Mao’s Children Are Wearing Fashion!” Romantic Love, Fashion Consumption, and Modernization Politics in Huang Zumo’s Film \u003ci\u003eRomance on Lu Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e (1980)\u003cbr\u003e4. Imag(in)ing the Chinese Middle-Class Culture: White-Collar Work, Romantic Love, and Fashion Consumption\u003cbr\u003e5. Between Production and Consumption: Chinese Migrant Factory Workers in Documentary Films and Ethnographic Works\u003cbr\u003e6. The Psychic Life of Rubbish: On Wang Jiuliang’s Documentary Film \u003ci\u003eBeijing Besieged by Waste\u003c\/i\u003e (2010)\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eWorks Cited\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400341725527,"sku":"9780231192491","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780231192491.jpg?v=1730470439","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-art-of-useless-9780231192491","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}