A ‘narrow world, strewn with prohibitions’: Chang Cheh’s The Assassin and the 1967 Hong Kong riots
Article
White, L. 2015. A ‘narrow world, strewn with prohibitions’: Chang Cheh’s The Assassin and the 1967 Hong Kong riots. Asian Cinema. 26 (1), pp. 79-98. https://doi.org/10.1386/ac.26.1.79_1
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | A ‘narrow world, strewn with prohibitions’: Chang Cheh’s The Assassin and the 1967 Hong Kong riots |
Authors | White, L. |
Abstract | Chang Cheh is one of the most influential directors in Hong Kong martial-arts cinema, and his film Da cike/The Assassin is a significant work produced at a key moment both in Chang’s early career and in the development of the increasingly violent 1960s swordplay (wuxia) genre that led ultimately to the appearance of the kungfu film in the 1970s. The Assassin was made during the Leftist Riots of 1967, a ‘watershed’ in Hong Kong’s modern history. In order to understand the changing fantasies of violence in Chang’s wuxia cinema during this period, this article makes a close reading of The Assassin in relation to the 1967 riots through Frantz Fanon’s account of the effects of violence on the colonial subject. It argues for a close relationship between Chang’s cinematic violence and the real-world political violence which was erupting at the moment of its production and first reception. |
Keywords | Chang Cheh; violence; wuxia; colonialism; Leftist Riots; martial arts |
Research Group | Diasporas |
Visual Culture and Curating cluster | |
Publisher | Intellect |
Journal | Asian Cinema |
ISSN | 1059-440X |
Electronic | 2049-6710 |
Publication dates | |
01 Apr 2015 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 02 Sep 2015 |
Accepted | 13 Apr 2015 |
Output status | Published |
Accepted author manuscript | |
Copyright Statement | © Luke White, 2015. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Asian Cinema, Volume 26, Number 1, April 2015, pp. 79-98, https://doi.org/10.1386/ac.26.1.79_1 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1386/ac.26.1.79_1 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000363693700006 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/85vy2
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