Transitions of (dis)appearance: Aesthetics and Political Practices in Chinese Ecocinema

This dissertation will investigate Chinese ecocinema within the post-socialist context. It will examine how eco-filmmakers' aesthetic choices and political practices are shaped by government attitudes and polices towards environmentalism within Mainland China. By performing close textual analysis of ecocinema texts, it will question whether aesthetic rupture provides a subversive method to navigate the liminal state of socio-political transition and perceptual challenges of climate change, thus establishing an eco-conscious space for reimagining political possibility. By conducting audience reception studies and case studies exploring ecocinema's relationship to environmentalist movements, it will evaluate Chinese ecocinema's ability to translate critical commentary into social intervention.