Ying Du
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1–24.
Abstract: Based on Shanghai archives, film journals, and recollections, this study examines the Maoist configuration of world cinemas via film and print from the distribution perspective. It reveals the multi-faceted Maoist world cinemas through parallel public and internal distribution infrastructures, the latter a non-commercial Maoist circuit pipelining uncensored media products non-publicly. Viewing Maoist world cinemas as institutionalized through the parallel media distribution structures and the internal films and prints mostly as ‘negative models,’ this study tries to push David Damrosch’s conceptualization of world literature as a ‘negative model,’ a little too far, by arguing that those ‘negative models,’ though being critiqued or repelled by the national, might also become national. Instead of an aberrant circuit, the paper argues, the internal distribution infrastructure provided not only alternative channels of access to foreign films and cinematic scenes but also alternative cinematic resources for inspiration and entertainment. This paper also argues that these parallel distribution infrastructures suggest a self-adjustment and self-correction mechanism inherent in the otherwise hegemonic and ossified Chinese socialist culture. Understanding the parallel media distribution institution that crossed Maoist and post-Maoist eras helps us understand China’s 1978 opening as an evolution rather than a revolution.
About the author: Ying Du was a HYI Visiting Scholar from 2024-25.