Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:06:43.938Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

III - Symbolic representation and symbolic violence: Chinese family melodrama of the early 1980s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Get access

Summary

Family melodrama has been one of the dominant forms of expression in Chinese cinema since its beginning in the early years of this century. The centrality of the genre in Chinese cinema derives to some extent from the position of the family in Chinese society. The family, rather than the individual or the state, was the most significant social unit in traditional China. In addition to its basic socioeconomic functions, the family constituted a unique social-security system that provided care for its needy and aging members and a religious unit where ancestor worship was performed (Eastman 1988). The Chinese family as a social institution was characterized by a hierarchical power structure, but it also represented a cultural ideal consisting of a set of norms that motivated the individual in his or her social practices.

Although the family pattern in traditional China varied, the extended family system, which was typical of the land-owning gentry class, was the culturally dominant type (Lang 1946). The hierarchical power relations within this patriarchal family system were sanctioned by Confucianism, the dominant ideology of both the state and the family. Of the five moral codes Confucianism prescribed to govern human relationships – ruler–subject, father–son, husband–wife, elder brother–younger brother, friend–friend – three concerned the family. Since the late nineteenth century, as Western capitalism has forced its way into China, this dominant social institution has been increasingly challenged by the emergence of the nuclear family as a new sociocultural norm.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×