%0 Journal Article
%T From Thunderstorm to Golden Flower: Politico-Economic Conditions of Adaptive Appropriation
%A Feng Lan
%J Comparative Literature: East & West
%D 2019
%R https://doi.org/10.1080/25723618.2019.1586082
%X ABSTRACT Zhang Yimou¡¯s Curse of the Golden Flower is a product of his adaptive appropriation of Cao Yu¡¯s Thunderstorm. While Zhang persistently asserts the relationship of his work with Cao¡¯s play, in the film he unhesitatingly erases the primary theme of class conflict that sustains the play¡¯s ideological articulation, thus drastically restructuring the social relations of the characters and reconfiguring the temporal¨Cspatial settings of the narrative. Such a seemingly self-contradictory performance of adaptation on Zhang¡¯s part is in fact dictated by the politico-economic conditions of post-socialist cinema in China. By reversing the ideological pursuit of the source work, Zhang has transformed a play resisting the newly emerging capitalist system in the China of the 1920s¨C1930s into a commercial movie courting the capitalist system that has been revitalized in post-Mao China. Moreover, the differences in terms of content between Cao¡¯s play and Zhang¡¯s film reflect profound changes in time regarding each age¡¯s understanding of not only the nature and function of artistic works but also the social obligations of the creative artist
%U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25723618.2019.1586082