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Codename Cougar: Politics or Entertainment?

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Globalization and Contemporary Chinese Cinema

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Abstract

This chapter interrogates Zhang Yimou’s early, often overlooked, action thriller Codename Cougar (1987). It situates a textual analysis of the film within the industrial context of the late 1980s, an era that called for the development of “entertainment films” for Chinese audiences. Zhang and many of his Fifth-Generation peers re-orient their approach from making art to achieving commercial success. This reflects the rising power of the market, as well as the growing influence of imported popular culture. The chapter suggests that Zhang’s pioneering though posturing early action film anticipates the director’s later turn to the making of martial arts blockbusters.

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  1. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Xuelin Zhou

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  1. Xuelin Zhou
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Zhou, X. (2017). Codename Cougar: Politics or Entertainment?. In: Globalization and Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4328-4_2

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