{"title":"“为祖国做一个真正的男人”:中国朝鲜战争电影中的男子气概与国家安全","authors":"Xiang Gao","doi":"10.1386/ffc_00043_1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"There has been increasing societal discussion and criticism on the ‘lack of masculinity’ among Chinese young men. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2021 advised schools to ‘foster the students’ masculinity’. The Chinese National Radio and Television Administration also set strict rules for casting and choosing performing styles, custom and makeup in order to eliminate the ‘abnormal aesthetic’ and the ‘male feminization’ in Chinese television, film and advertisement. At the same time, various war films and television shows present characters and circumstances that highlight an ‘ideal’ masculine archetypes as well as the quality of a Chinese male character – patriotism, heroism, selflessness, strength, loyalty and intelligence. This article examines and compares the male images in two Chinese Korean War films, Shangganling and Changjinhu. It analyses the changing portrayal of male war characters based on three levels of analysis, namely nationhood, leadership and individuals. This study argues that the ‘masculinity crisis’ has led to the securitization of Chinese masculinity, a process and outcome driven by the Chinese government’s continued efforts to control and channel the broad social and cultural changes which have impacted popular culture, sexuality, gender and women’s rights and roles across Chinese society over the past several decades.","PeriodicalId":41071,"journal":{"name":"Film Fashion & Consumption","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"‘Be a real man for our motherland’: Masculinity and national security in Chinese Korean War films\",\"authors\":\"Xiang Gao\",\"doi\":\"10.1386/ffc_00043_1\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"There has been increasing societal discussion and criticism on the ‘lack of masculinity’ among Chinese young men. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2021 advised schools to ‘foster the students’ masculinity’. The Chinese National Radio and Television Administration also set strict rules for casting and choosing performing styles, custom and makeup in order to eliminate the ‘abnormal aesthetic’ and the ‘male feminization’ in Chinese television, film and advertisement. At the same time, various war films and television shows present characters and circumstances that highlight an ‘ideal’ masculine archetypes as well as the quality of a Chinese male character – patriotism, heroism, selflessness, strength, loyalty and intelligence. This article examines and compares the male images in two Chinese Korean War films, Shangganling and Changjinhu. It analyses the changing portrayal of male war characters based on three levels of analysis, namely nationhood, leadership and individuals. This study argues that the ‘masculinity crisis’ has led to the securitization of Chinese masculinity, a process and outcome driven by the Chinese government’s continued efforts to control and channel the broad social and cultural changes which have impacted popular culture, sexuality, gender and women’s rights and roles across Chinese society over the past several decades.\",\"PeriodicalId\":41071,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Film Fashion & Consumption\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.3000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-11-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Film Fashion & Consumption\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1386/ffc_00043_1\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Film Fashion & Consumption","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ffc_00043_1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
‘Be a real man for our motherland’: Masculinity and national security in Chinese Korean War films
There has been increasing societal discussion and criticism on the ‘lack of masculinity’ among Chinese young men. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2021 advised schools to ‘foster the students’ masculinity’. The Chinese National Radio and Television Administration also set strict rules for casting and choosing performing styles, custom and makeup in order to eliminate the ‘abnormal aesthetic’ and the ‘male feminization’ in Chinese television, film and advertisement. At the same time, various war films and television shows present characters and circumstances that highlight an ‘ideal’ masculine archetypes as well as the quality of a Chinese male character – patriotism, heroism, selflessness, strength, loyalty and intelligence. This article examines and compares the male images in two Chinese Korean War films, Shangganling and Changjinhu. It analyses the changing portrayal of male war characters based on three levels of analysis, namely nationhood, leadership and individuals. This study argues that the ‘masculinity crisis’ has led to the securitization of Chinese masculinity, a process and outcome driven by the Chinese government’s continued efforts to control and channel the broad social and cultural changes which have impacted popular culture, sexuality, gender and women’s rights and roles across Chinese society over the past several decades.