Chinese Chick Flicks (2009-2018): Postfeminism, Confucianism, Socialism and the Construction of Chinese ‘Good Womanhood’

This thesis explores the construction of womanhood in Chinese chick flicks released between 2009 and 2018, focusing on the representation of twenty-to-thirty-something urban, middle-class, well-educated women in contemporary Chinese society. Through close analysis of a selection of the most influential films of this genre, it examines how the films define and establish ‘good womanhood’ within the Chinese cultural context. It argues that while Western-derived ideas, such as postfeminism, have been influential in the Chinese context, they are also regarded with ambivalence, and blended, in different ways and degrees, with Confucian and socialist ideologies about the role of women in society. The emergence and popularity of chick flicks in the late 2000s and 2010s coincides with the dramatic rise and subsequent stagnation of Chinese economy in these years. This was also the time when Western, and specifically American, films and ideas circulated more widely in the country. As China transitioned to a modern market-driven society, urban Chinese women gained significant economic power, leading to the adoption of a (predominantly American) film genre specifically to this demographic. I call this genre ‘Chinese chick flicks’. To highlight the distinctiveness of Chinese chick flicks, I propose five different categories, based on recurring patterns in their representation of women, and I compare a number of films in each category with relevant Hollywood examples. Despite the variations, some overall patterns also emerge. While in American chick flicks, ‘good womanhood’ consists of a carefully balanced and closely self-monitored blend of intelligence, independence, and hypersexuality mirroring a postfeminist, neoliberal ideology, ‘good womanhood’ in Chinese chick flicks refers to women who are financially independent, competent in career, faithful to true love, (comparatively) reserved in sex, supportive to friends, and at the same time immune to consumerist influences. Instead of embracing a postfeminist womanhood as their Hollywood counterparts do, Chinese chick flicks adopt an ambiguous, contradictory stance towards postfeminism, as well as towards neoliberalism and consumerism. On one hand, they appear to promote a consumption-driven, postfeminist lifestyle; on the other, they frequently convey traditional Confucian values, many of which can be read as anti-feminist. This paradox, as the thesis argues, stems largely from ideological tensions in contemporary China, which arise from two key conflicts—between postfeminism and a Confucian, patriarchal ideology, and between consumerism and socialist principles. In this regard, Chinese chick flicks can be viewed as vessels of moral suasion in the service of a dominant conformity to social norms that, despite their postfeminist surface, maintain a core of traditional and socialist traits.