The Queerness of Farewell My Concubine & Life of Leslie Cheung

Hello World! At last, part two of my Farewell My Concubine essay is here. The entirety of this project took me about 5 months. I gave my blood sweat and tears to do good research and good editing, but nobody put me through this except me and my love for production (as in to produce a video) AND productions (as in a film productions).
This section of the series feels a little more personal to me due to the topic. And we are also talking about the life of a real person, which is never easy to condense in a video. But I did my best to deliver as accurately and objectively as possible given my resources.
If this is not the kind of topic you like or agree much with, please don't be mean about it in the comments. Offensive comments will not be tolerated here for the well-being of other viewers.
I want to apologize to any Mandarin native speakers out there watching this, I do know basic Mandarin but I have not used it in a while and although I rehearsed names and words beforehand, I’m pretty sure I might have mispronounced something and my tones are probably all over the place. I am currently retaking Mandarin courses so hopefully I will do better in the future:)
I hope this essay reawakes the interest in Farewell My Concubine, which I think time has made us overlook compared to other films of its time.
A couple of editor's notes (my notes):
I’ll leave here the sources I used for my research:
Cited Sources
Chamas, Tony, director. China’s Cultural Revolution: The Full Story (Documentary). UA-cam, 2 Dec. 2023, • China's Cultural Revol... . Accessed spring 2024.
Cheshire, Godfrey. “The Long Way Home.” Film Comment, 1992, pp. 36-39.
Chiao, Peggy, and Lawrence Chua. “Chen Kaige.” BOMB Magazine, 1993, pp. 48-51.
“Farewell My Concubine Alternate Versions.” IMdb, www.imdb.com/title/tt0106332/alternateversions/.
Frater, Patrick. “China Movie Industry Oversight Shifted to Communist Propaganda Department.” Variety, Variety, 21 Mar. 2018, variety.com/2018/film/asia/china-movie-regulation-communist-propaganda-department-1202732209/
Havis, Richard James. “Changing the Face of Chinese Cinema: An Interview with Chen Kaige.” Cinéaste, winter 2003, pp. 8-11.
Kristof, Nicholas D. “China Bans One of Its Own Films; Cannes Festival Gave It Top Prize.” The New York Times, 4 Aug. 1993, p. 13.
Leatham, Tom. “When Hayao Miyazaki Sent Harvey Weinstein a Threatening Samurai Sword: ‘I Defeated Him.’” Far Out, 8 Aug. 2023, faroutmagazine.... Accessed 25 June 2024.
Lee, Lilian. Farewell to My Concubine. William Morrow And Co. Inc., 1993, C1992, 1993.
Leung, Helen Hok-Sze. Farewell, My Concubine. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010.
李明皙. "Leslie Cheung's depression cause was biological, according to his sister". Big5.china.com.cn. Archived web.archive.or...
“明報周刊生日派對星光閃耀 演藝動力大獎得主正式誕生.” 明報周刊 , 2000. www.lesliecheun...
McDonell, Stephen. “Why China Censors Banned Winnie the Pooh.” BBC, 17 July 2017.
Rose, Charlie. “Charlie Rose.” The Charlie Rose Show, season 3, PBS, 18 Oct. 1993.
Tallerico, Brian. “Farewell My Concubine.” RogerEbert.Com, 21 Sept. 2023, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/farewell-my-concubine-movie-review-2023#:~:text=Chen%20Kaige%27s%20%E2%80%9CFarewell%20My,the%20United%20States%20in%201993.
Tyler, Patrick E. “Who Makes the Rules in Chinese Movies?” The New York Times, 17 Oct. 1993, pp. 15-15, www.nytimes.co....
Wah Lau, Jenny Kwok. “‘Farewell My Concubine’: History, Melodrama, and Ideology in Contemporary Pan- Chinese Cinema.” Film Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, autumn 1995, pp. 16-27.
Resources that helped me understand Modern Chinese history:
Communists, Nationalists, and China's Revolutions: Crash Course World History #37 - Crash Course
• Communists, Nationalis...
China's Cultural Revolution: The Full Story (Documentary) - 1Dime
• China's Cultural Revol...
History of China from Mao to Xi - Jazby
• History of China from ...
China Timeline - History.com
www.history.co...
#asiancinema #filmanalysis #videoessay #farewellmyconcubine