Voicing Concerns over Women's Destiny in the Market Society: Lunar Eclipse (1999) as an 'Art Film'. Issue 3 (3rd July 2016) - Wang, Xiaoping
Abstract: The present conflict between Marxism and a certain strand of feminism centers on the role of class in the oppression of women. This debate can be examined in a recent Chinese 'women's film'. Lunar Eclipse (Yùe shí月蚀, 1999), written and directed by the renowned Chinese director Wang Quan'an (b 1965) which is acclaimed as one of the earliest leading art film in China by the Chinese sixth-generation auteur. This article aims to explore the cultural-political import and social significance of the film through analysing its narrative structures and cinematic methodology. It contends that through layers of love stories and the notion of searching for the 'other half', it represents the rampant class division and restructuring in Chinese society after the 1990s. Ultimately, in terms of aesthetics, it depicts the harsh social reality through its deployment of a realist approach. However, the lack of a class perspective prevents the film from going deeper into an exploration of the social contradictions and consequences of class restructuring.