1 - Introduction: #MeToo and the Visual Politics of Transnational Chinese Cinema

Summary

Abstract: The #MeToo movement in Asia provides a window onto the visual politics of gender and sexuality in the transnational Chinese film industry. Women filmmakers do more than chronicle and critique the ways in which men look at women on screen. They also create ways of seeing in direct opposition to the male gaze. Taking up their cameras as activists, women filmmakers offer a gendered perspective on the political movements and events of the second decade of the twenty-first century. If #MeToo opens the door wider, these films by women may have a greater chance of being produced, distributed, programmed, reviewed, and even actually seen by viewers eager for relief from the constricting blindness of the male gaze.

Keywords: Sexual harassment; state surveillance; oppositional gaze; intersectional gaze; male gaze; feminist activism

In 2017, allegations against Harvey Weinstein opened up the depth and breadth of sexual harassment in Hollywood; Weinstein’s associates in Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) came under scrutiny as well. One of the first responses from mainland China came in the form of an opinion piece published in the English-language edition of the government-run newspaper China Daily. Sava Hassan, an expat Egyptian-Canadian residing in the PRC, wrote “Weinstein Case Demonstrates Cultural Differences” (2017), in which he argued that sexual harassment does not pose a problem in China because of the timidity of Chinese men and the prevailing conservative values of the society. Although claiming the article only reflected his observations as a teacher in China, Hassan’s ignorance of the actual situation did not belie the fact that China Daily published a perspective that thoroughly disregarded the facts (see Feng 2017). Internet response was immediate and China Daily expeditiously withdrew the piece; however, the Chinese press inadvertently added fuel to the growing transnational conflagration around the smoldering issue of sexual harassment and violence against women in China.

In fact, Weinstein’s sexual misconduct points to a pervasive transnational culture of gender inequality that extends beyond Hollywood and connects industrial networks ranging from Europe through Northeast as well as South and Southeast Asia to other parts of the world (Roxborough 2017).