Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The Cultural Revolution ended more than three decades ago and is generally concluded to have been a disaster and trauma; however, it kept resurfacing at different points throughout the past and being interpreted from different perspectives addressing contemporary concerns. TV, one of the most important channels for political communication in China, is closely supervised by the censoring mechanism. Despite political control, TV has also become a contending arena where discourses concerning the Cultural Revolution are negotiated and shaped. This article will juxtapose a text analysis of a recent TV drama Sent Down Youth (2012) with a study of its production and reception within Mainland China so as to map out the complexity and richness in the discursive debates about the Cultural Revolution and its representation. The research intends to explore how TV and social context both limit and at the same time enable discourses around representations and memories of the Cultural Revolution.

Keywords

censorship China memory representation the Cultural Revolution TV drama

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Clark

(2008) The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dittmer

(2002) Introduction. In: Chong

(ed.) China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-Mao Counternarratives. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp.ix-1.

Foucault

(1976) The History of Sexuality, vol. 1. New York: Pantheon Books.

General Office of CCPCC and General Office of the State Council (2001) Notice about Some Suggestions on Deepening the Reform of the Press and Publishing, Broadcasting, Film and Television Industries by the Propaganda Department, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the State Press and Publication Administration (no. 17).

Kuhn

(1988) Cinema, Censorship and Sexuality, 1909–1925. New York; London: Routledge.

SARFT (2009) Notice about Some Suggestions on Separation of Production and Broadcasting in Broadcasting and Television Industries (August).

SARFT (2011a) China Radio and TV Yearbook. Beijing, China: SARFT.

SARFT (2010) Decree No. 63 of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television: Provisions on Television Drama Content (14 May).

SARFT (2011b) Interview with the Spokesperson of SARFT Wu Baoan, Summary of 2010 and Outlook for 2011 (13 January). Available at: http://www.sarft.gov.cn/articles/2011/01/13/20110113165730840340.html (accessed 21 November 2013).

10.

Staiger

(1995) Bad Women, Regulating Sexuality in Early American Cinema. Minneapolis, MN; London: University of Minnesota Press.

11.

Wang

(2009) An interview concerning modernity: a conversation with KeKaijun. In: Wang

(ed.) The End of The Revolution. London; New York: Verso, pp. 69–105.

12.

Wang

(ed.) (2011) China TV Rating Yearbook. Beijing, China: Communication University of China Press.

13.

Yin

(2002) Meaning, production and consumption: the history and reality of television drama in China. In: Donald

Keane

Yin

(eds) Media in China. Oxon: RoutledgeCurzon, pp. 28-39.

14.

Zhao

Guo

(2005) Television in China: History, Political Economy, and Ideology. In: Wasko

(ed.) A Companion to Television. Chichester: Blackwell, pp. 251-39.

15.

Zhu

(2012) Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television. New York: The New Press.

Prohibition and production of the past: Representation of the Cultural Revolution in TV dramas

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References