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Types, Subjects, and Practices: An Analysis of Performative Elements in Chinese Documentaries

Author(s)

Yu Liu

Affiliation(s)

Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China

Abstract

From politically oriented documentaries driven by didactic purposes, to the rise of realism and the subsequent prevalence of cultural documentaries, and more recently to the emergence of personal documentaries, performative elements have been prominently present throughout the development history of Chinese documentaries. This study employs Elizabeth Marquis’s “three-level model” as a research framework to investigate the performative elements and the practical subjects in Chinese documentaries. These elements recur across various types of Chinese documentaries, not only consciously presenting different modes of performance, but also further demonstrating that documentary filmmaking has been an artistically constructed process since its inception.

Keywords

Documentary; Performance; Realism; Cultural Documentary; Private Images

References

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