AUUUUDITORIUM MAY | Conversation on Female Stars in Early Shanghai Film

Under the aegis of Rockbund Art Museum’s multi-year research initiative, Complex Geographies, the May screening series of AUUUUDITORIUM, The R.A.S. auditorium historically played a key role in cultural representation through its film screenings.
The "Female Stars" series highlights two seminal films: An Amorous History of the Silver Screen (1931) and Phony Phoenix (1947). An Amorous History, serving both as a "meta-film" and an "archive of cinema," ingeniously inaugurates the May screening series. The film provides an insightful exploration of Shanghai's transformation following its opening to international trade and the concurrent evolution of its film industry, all framed through the romantic escapades of a female star. Phony Phoenix offers a satirical narrative on marital deception, where Li Lihua and Shi Hui vividly illustrate the constructed nature of gender roles within the modern urban marriage marketplace. Echoing the Hollywood romantic comedies of its era, particularly those by Liu Bieqian, the film showcases the progressive representations of gender and the innovative film genres emerging in Shanghai at that time.
依托上海外滩美术馆发起的“复杂地理”长期研究计划，“讲---堂”五月的系列活动“奇女列传：早期上海银幕上的本土现代主义”呈现了二十世纪初上海早期电影文化错综复杂的景观。
“女星”专场将围绕《银幕艳史》（后集）（1931）与《假凤虚凰》（1947）两部作品展开。《银幕艳史》作为一部某种意义上的“元电影”或一部“关于电影的档案”，提纲挈领地开启了整个五月的讲堂主题活动，它通过一个女演员的婚恋故事向我们展现了开埠后上海的大都市景观以及其电影工业的革新盛况；《假凤虚凰》是一出啼笑皆非的骗婚记，李丽华和石挥将现代都市婚恋市场中社会性别角色的“扮演性”表现得淋漓尽致，这类电影可谓比肩同时期刘别谦式的好莱坞爱情喜剧，当时上海电影创作类型与女性形象的超前性可窥见一斑。