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Chinese Looks

Fashion, Performance, Race

Sean Metzger author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Indiana University Press

Published:25th Apr '14

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Chinese Looks cover

Fashion, film, and changing US-China relations

From yellow-face performance in the 19th century to Jackie Chan in the 21st, this book examines articles of clothing and modes of adornment as a window on how American views of China have changed in the past 150 years. It provides a cultural history of three iconic objects in theatrical and cinematic performance.

From yellow-face performance in the 19th century to Jackie Chan in the 21st, Chinese Looks examines articles of clothing and modes of adornment as a window on how American views of China have changed in the past 150 years. Sean Metzger provides a cultural history of three iconic objects in theatrical and cinematic performance: the queue, or man's hair braid; the woman's suit known as the qipao; and the Mao suit. Each object emerges at a pivotal moment in US-China relations, indexing shifts in the balance of power between the two nations. Metzger shows how aesthetics, gender, politics, economics, and race are interwoven and argues that close examination of particular forms of dress can help us think anew about gender and modernity.

Professor Metzger offers a rich and detailed study of Chinese fashion, calling it the 'Sino/American interface' that marks political and cultural investments in America's views of China and Chinese Americans.

* New Books in Asian American Studies *

Chinese Looks is a sophisticated and well-researched publication that sheds light on how our appearances are tools for expressing identity, culture, politics, and issues that cross these complex boundaries.

* Costume *

Cultivating both a careful examination of cinematic technique and a broad theoretical understanding of global cultural exchange, Metzger does an especially good job of putting the cultural industries of China and North America into conversation.

* The Drama Review *

This is an important work that should be of interest to scholars in the fields of theatre, performance, cinema, queer studies, art history, costume design, and visual culture.

* Modern Drama *

A welcome addition to theatre and performance studies, film studies, Asian American studies, fashion theory, and gender and sexuality studies, Chinese Looks is poised to provide entree into future conversations about China's continued rise in geopolitics, the next chapter in the Sino/American interface.

* Journal of American Drama and Theat

ISBN: 9780253012562

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

308 pages