The evolution of Chinese chick flicks: urban women, feminist discourse, and popular gender ideology

Abstract

In the early twenty-first century, Chinese chick flicks entered the film market, initially shaped by imitation of their Western counterparts and grounded in similar postfeminist ideologies. As social discourse and gender issues in China evolved, however, the genre gradually localised its narratives. Increasingly, these films engage with shifting gender dynamics and present diverse forms in response to changing social ideologies. This thesis argues that Chinese chick flicks serve as valuable texts for examining gender issues in contemporary China, while the broader sociocultural landscape simultaneously provides the framework for the genre’s transformation. The interplay between the two reveals the evolving trajectories of feminist consciousness and social change in China. By integrating social context with genre development, this study addresses a significant gap in existing scholarship and highlights both the gender issues at different stages of the genre and the persistent class problem that runs throughout.
The thesis analyses four representative chick flicks in chronological order, situating their evolution alongside key gender-related events and ideological shifts in Chinese society since the early 2000s. Chapter One explores how consumerism has shaped women’s lifestyles against the backdrop of rising female economic capacity. Chapter Two examines the dilemmas surrounding women’s pursuit of economic independence, exemplified by the phenomenon of mistresses. Chapter Three investigates the multiple forms of discrimination – related to age, gendered dispositions, and identity construction – encountered within the ‘leftover women’ discourse. Finally, Chapter Four considers how, following certain feminist achievements, these issues have been alleviated and transformed. Crucially, this study contends that Chinese chick flicks, although revealing varying degrees of patriarchal persistence and new constraints across different periods, chart an ongoing process of gender progress in contemporary China.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Jiaoyang Guo: orcid.org/0009-0008-3234-9385

ORCID for Shelley Cobb: orcid.org/0000-0003-1153-8482

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