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Performance and the politics of gender: transgender performance in contemporary Chinese films

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0966369x.2013.810595

1360-0524

Chengzhou He,

Gender Politics and Representation

AbstractThis article focuses on two different genres of gender transitivity or impersonation. First, male actors who impersonate female characters. The two examples used to examine these impersonations are Chinese films Farewell My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji 1993) and Forever Enthralled (Mei Lanfang 2009). Both films are based on the historical practice of dan in Peking Opera. Second, women who cross-dress as men for the sake of transgressing into the public sphere that had traditionally been forbidden for women. The main example of this is Hua Mulan (2009), a live action movie based on a Chinese legend of a female warrior called Hua Mulan, who disguises herself as a man to replace her father in the military service. Based on my close reading of the transgender performance in these Chinese films, the article will engage discussions of Western gender theories by Garber, Butler and Halberstam to examine the discourse and politics of gender and sexuality in contemporary China. To be more specific, a critical analysis will be carried out in the following three aspects: first, gender performativity is not necessarily subversive, but only suggests that heterosexual norms are arbitrary and unnatural. Second, rather than challenging heterosexism and gender binarism in contemporary China, the three films seem to support and consolidate the gender hierarchy. Thirdly, the category of transgender is intersected with art, identity and ideology in the specific social and historical settings. The contextualized analysis not only sheds new light on the implications of transgender in contemporary Chinese culture and politics but also questions the universalism of Western gender theories in cross-cultural contexts.La performance y la política de género: performance del transgénero en las películas contemporáneas chinasEste artículo se centra en dos géneros diferentes de transitividad o personificación de género. Primero, los actores varones que personifican a personajes mujeres. Los dos ejemplos utilizados para examinar estas personificaciones son los films chinos Adiós mi concubina (Bawang Bieiji 1993) y Cautivado para siempre (Mei Lanfang 2009). Ambas películas están basadas en la práctica histórica del dan en la Ópera de Pekín. Segundo, las mujeres que se transvisten como hombres por el hecho de transgredir la esfera pública que había estado tradicionalmente prohibida para las mujeres. El principal ejemplo de esto es Hua Mulan (2009), una película no animada basada en una leyenda china de una guerrera del mismo origen llamada Hua Mulan, que se disfraza como hombre para reemplazar a su padre en el servicio militar. Basada en mi cuidadosa lectura de la performance del transgénero en estos films chinos, el artículo involucra discusiones de teorías occidentales de género por Garber, Butler y Halbertam para examinar el discurso y la política de género y sexualidad en la China contemporánea. Para ser más específicos, se llevará a cabo un análisis crítico en los siguientes tres aspectos: primero, la performatividad de género no es necesariamente subversiva, sino que sólo sugiere que las normas heterosexuales son arbitrarias y antinaturales. Segundo, más que desafiar al heterosexismo y binarismo de género en la China contemporánea, los tres films parecen apoyar y consolidad la jerarquía de género. Tercero, la categoría de transgénero está intersectada con el arte, la identidad y la ideología en los entornos sociales e históricos específicos. El análisis contextualizado no solamente arroja nueva luz sobre las implicaciones del transgénero en la cultura y la política chinas contemporáneas sino también cuestiona el universalismo de las teorías de género occidentales en los contextos interculturales.展演与性别政治:当代中国电影中的跨性别展演本文聚焦性别过渡性或模彷的两种不同文类。首先探讨的是揣摩女性角色的男性演员,用来分析此一模彷文类的两个案例分别为霸王别姬(1993)与梅兰芳(2009)。两部电影皆是根据京剧中 "旦角" 的历史实践。再者是女扮男装以越界进入传统禁止女性参与的公共领域,主要的分析案例则为花木兰(2009)这部根据中国传奇所拍摄的真人动作片,在该传奇中,一位名为花木兰的女性军人假扮为男人以代父从军。本文根据我对这些中国电影中跨性别展演的细读,涉入盖博、巴特勒与海伯斯坦等西方性别理论的讨论,以检视当代中国有关性别与性的论述与政治。更明确而言,我将在下列三方面进行批判性的分析:第一,性别展演性并非必然是颠覆性的,而仅显示异性恋的常规是武断且非自然的。第二,这三部电影并非挑战了当代中国的异性恋与性别二元对立,反而似乎支持并巩固了性别阶层。第三,跨性别的范畴与特定社会及历史脉络中的艺术、认同和意识形态相互交错。脉络化的分析不仅对当代中国文化与政治中的跨性别意涵提供新的观点,更同时质问了西方性别理论在跨文化脉络中的普适性。Keywords:: transgenderperformanceperformativityChinese filmPeking OperaPalabras claves:: transgéneroperformanceperformatividadcine chinoÓpera de Pekín关键词:: 跨性别展演展演性中国电影京剧 AcknowledgementsThis paper was originally delivered in a plenary speech at the International Conference on 'Globalizing Gender' held at Sydney University during 26–27 February 2009. I want to thank Prof. Elspeth Probyn for inviting me to the conference and Dr Sarah Cefai for asking me to contribute to this themed issue and for her constructive advice on my paper. In December 2011, a revised version of the paper was presented at the 'China Year' of Brown University, and I am grateful to Prof. Lingzhen Wang and Prof. Elizabeth Weed for offering me their feedback. I also want to thank Prof. Lynda Johnston, the three 'blind' reviewers of the first revision, and one 'blind' reviewer of the second revision for their detailed and helpful comments and suggestions.Notes1. Based on a real life story, M. Butterfly (directed by David Cronenberg and adapted by David Henry Hwang from his play of the same name, written in 1988) concerns a love affair between a French diplomat René Gallimard and a male Peking opera dan actor Song Liling. Inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madam Butterfly, the film dramatizes the fantasy of a Western man for an 'oriental woman', who turns out to be a man.2. Another famous Chinese story of female cross-dressing is 'Liang Sanbo yü Zhu Yingtai' (Love Eternal) (cf. Altenburger Citation2005).3. Mei Lanfang was obsessed all his life with the mission of 'raising the status of the theatre-players', which was urged by his uncle at the beginning of the film.4. See Lu Xun (Citation2005b). If not otherwise stated, all translations of Lu Xun were done personally.5. In 1964, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai said,But man playing woman will have to be gradually terminated. It is the same in the case of yueju opera, woman playing man will have to be terminated. [The art of the male dan] is allowed to be demonstrated on stage for a small number of people, for the purpose of testing out artistic validity. But it is not allowed to be carried out extensively…. (qtd. in Li Citation2006, 192)During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, not only was cross-dressing completely demonized in theatre or society in general, but also there was a new, unisex design, in which both men and women were dressed alike, worked alike and were expected to think alike, too.6. Li Yugang appeared twice as a female impersonator on the Chinese Spring Festival Gala hosted by Chinese Central TV Station with a song 'Xin guifei zuijiu' (New Drunken Beauty) in January 2012 and another song 'Chang'e' (The goddess of the Moon). Li's repeated appearance at the biggest and most important festival in China is significant, not just for the actor himself, but also for the reputation of impersonation in traditional Chinese theatre.Additional informationNotes on contributorsChengzhou HeChengzhou He, PhD of University of Oslo, is a professor of English and drama at Nanjing University, China, and former President of the International Ibsen Committee (2009–2012). He is the author of Henrik Ibsen and Modern Chinese Drama (Oslo, 2004) and The Nordic Canon (Beijing, 2009). His articles appear in international journals such as Comparative Literature Studies,Modern Language Quarterly, Neohelicon, Comparative Drama, Ibsen Studies, Perspectives: Studies on Translatology, as well as other international and Chinese academic journals.