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Once Upon a Time in Chinese Film:Meta Narratives of Authenticity
Kimberly De VriesMassachusetts Institute of Technologykdevries@mit.edu
 
China Captures the Global Screen
Early in 2001, global awareness of Chinese cinema surged followingthe release of 
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (CTHD).
This filmbroke new ground in its enormous popularity with both audiencesand critics, while also spurring heated controversy over questions of originality and authenticity.In the wake of both the popularity of and controversy around
CTHD
, critics have made claims about the film's authentic Chineseness,or lack thereof, in ways that bear questioning.Finally, in the last four years, several other Chinese films haveentered, or tried to enter the global market whose reception revealsan ongoing meta-narrative of Chineseness shaping their reception.
 
Reactions to CTHD (Wo hu cang long)
Though most reactions werepositive, this film was reviledby some fans of martial artsfilms, and officially disdained inMainland China.This dislike was arguably basedin the entrenched dogma thatEast and West are irreconcilablydifferent, so that any filmpopular in the West could notbe truly Chinese.In contrast, the government of Taiwan sponsors a websitehonoring Ang Lee and this film.
Ang Lee responded at the time:“It's a Western privilege to justdeal with anything you want....becareful here, because what you'resaying is: you good Asians, yougood little Chinese and HongKong Artists, you do yourauthentic real stuff. You stay inyour genre.” (James Schamus)“What do they want me to be? Apanda in a zoo?”
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