Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Monographic journal issue | Supplemento 59 | 2023
Research Article | Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White: Vulnerable Young Girls and Resistance in Contemporary China
Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White: Vulnerable Young Girls and Resistance in Contemporary China
Abstract
Focusing on Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White (2017), this paper uses Judith Butler’s discussion of vulnerability, resistance, and performativity as a theoretical framework to analyse the film’s narrative and directing choices when addressing issues of sexual assault on minors and genders norms in contemporary China. The film’s depiction of social inequalities, economic precariousness, corruption, and the construction and performance of femininity demonstrates the way Chinese women are vulnerable to violence – sexual or not – and to gender norms they are expected to conform to, without falling into the trap of paternalism and victimisation.
Submitted: Nov. 24, 2022 | Accepted: March 1, 2023 | Published Dec. 1, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Feminism • Chinese art-house cinema • Sexual assault • Resistance • Vulnerability
Copyright © 2023 Bérénice M. Reynaud. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2023/02/004
