Shanghai gangster films and the politics of change

a study of Lord of the East China Sea (1993) and The Last Tycoon (2012)

Authors

  • Tatu-Ilari Laukkanen University of Tampere. Faculty of Communication Sciences.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-7714.no.2020.172000

Keywords:

Gangster film, Hong Kong Film Industry, Globalization, Shanghai, Du Yuesheng

Abstract

In this paper through a very close textual reading I will show the ideological differences between two films based on the life of Shanghai gangster Du Yuesheng (1888, Pudong – 1951, Hong Kong)  through close formal and narrative analysis. Du was already a celebrity in his day in the Republican era and is still a con-troversial figure in Greater China. However, there are only two films based on the life of the French Con-cession opium kingpin, the recent Hong Kong/PRC co-production The Last Tycoon (Da Shang Hai, Wong Jing, 2012) and the epic two part Lord of the East China Sea I & II (Shang Hai huang di zhi: Sui yue feng yun & Shang Hai huang di zhi: Xiong ba tia xia, Hong Kong, Poon Man-kit 1993). I show how these films reflect HK's and China's politico-economic changes focusing on the representation of social class and the subject, depiction of internal migration and immigration, and nationalism. The films will be discussed in their relation to changes in the Hong Kong film industry, Chinese and world cinema and the transnational gangster genre, showing how local and global cinemas have affected these films.

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Author Biography

  • Tatu-Ilari Laukkanen, University of Tampere. Faculty of Communication Sciences.

    Received his PhD in 2017 from the Department of Comparative Literature at University of Hong Kong. A film scholar and industry professional, he is affiliated with the Department of Communications at the University of Tampere. He is a specialist on the BRICS as a cultural bloc and is a member of the University of Tampere network of BRICS Media Research and also a member of TaRC (Tampere Research Centre for Russian and Chinese Media).

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Novos Olhares Vol. 9 N. 1

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Published

2020-07-10

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2020)

Section

DOSSIÊ

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How to Cite

Laukkanen, T.-I. (2020). Shanghai gangster films and the politics of change: a study of Lord of the East China Sea (1993) and The Last Tycoon (2012). Novos Olhares, 9(1), 81-97. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-7714.no.2020.172000