Working the System

<p class=MsoNormal><span>In <i>Working
the System: Motion Picture Filmmakers and Subjectivities in Mao-Era China
1949-1966</i> Qiliang He inquires into the making of the new citizenry in
Mao-era China (1949–1976) by studying five preeminent Shanghai-based
filmmakers. These case studies shed light on how individuals' subjectivities
took shape in the cinematic arena under a new sociopolitical system after 1949.
He suggests that a filmmaker’s subjectivity was not fixed or stable but
constantly in flux requiring a host of subjectivizing practices to (re)shape
and consolidate it. These filmmakers endeavored to reap maximal benefits from
Mao’s sociopolitical system and minimize the disadvantages that would make them
victims under the system. In short Qiliang He argues that the filmmakers not
only worked under the socialist system imposed upon them but also worked the
system in their best interests.</span></p>