LONG LIVE REVOLUTION! AS SEEN IN LET THE BULLETS FLY

For the past century, the spectre of revolution has insistently haunted China and its people. From the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 to Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement in 2014, China has certainly had its share of mass movements and revolutionary change.

With the country’s current leaders apparently living in constant fear of the next major protest and increasing censorship of free speech on the web and in classrooms, we take the chance to reflect on Jiang Wen’s Let the Bullets Fly, a 2010 Chinese blockbuster that was perceived by some as a veiled criticism of the Communist Party under a layer of populist entertainment.

This talk will revisit Let the Bullets Fly, focusing on its similarities to the American Western as well as the meaning of the historical references peppered throughout the film. Join us for a discussion on the relevance of “revolution” in China today, seen through the eyes of one of the country’s most important living directors.

This talk will be delivered in English.

《讓子彈飛》 對革命的反思

從 1911年的辛亥革命、1949年的共產革命、持續十年的文化大革命、1989年民運以至2014年的雨傘革命，中國百年來爆發過無數的群眾運動，一直離 不開革命的陰影。當代的國家領導人彷彿無時無刻都在恐懼下一場大型示威的來臨，近兩年來也逐漸加強了網絡上及課室內的言論監控。

Kristof Van Den Troost 教授將會帶我們重溫2010年在國內上映的一套歷史電影：《讓子彈飛》。《讓子彈飛》是一部有中國特色的美國西部片，以大眾化的角度反思從古至今的革命運 動，它甚至被解讀為對執政黨頗有微言。Kristof 將會分析這部電影作品，思考它引用歷史情節的目的，並嘗試解讀在導演姜文的眼中，「革命」一詞對當代中國的意義。

此講座會以英語進行。

Speaker:

Kristof van den Troost completed an MA in Sinology at the Catholic University of Leuven, and a PhD in Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he is now a Lecturer and MA Deputy Programme Director for the Centre for China Studies. His main research interests are Chinese film history, genre studies, and the representation of crime in Hong Kong cinema. He was recently published in Always in the Dark: A Study of Hong Kong Gangster Films, a collection of essays assembled by the Hong Kong Film Archive.

教授簡介

Kristof van den Troost 分別在比利時天主教魯汶大學及香港中文大學獲得漢學碩士及博士學位，現為中大中國研究中心的講師和碩士課程副總監。他的主要研究與趣為中國電影史、類型電影研究以及港產電影對犯罪的描述。他撰寫有關黑社會電影的評論文章最近發表於香港電影資料館出版的文集 Always in the Dark: A Study of Hong Kong Gangster Films。

More info at: http://rtbevent.com/hongkong/.

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