Department of Comparative Literature

Conceptualizing Queer TV China in the Post-2020 Years

Speaker:
Dr. Jamie J. Zhao, Assistant Professor in Media and Cultural Studies, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong

Moderator:
Dr. Alvin K. Wong, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU

Date: Monday, April 17, 2023
Time: 4:30 pm (Hong Kong Time)
Venue: On Zoom and Face-to-Face
All are welcome. Registration is required.

https://bit.ly/CSGC17April2023

The 2010s have seen an explosion in popularity of Chinese television featuring same-sex intimacies, LGBTQ-identified celebrities, and explicitly homoerotic storylines even as state regulations on “vulgar” and “immoral” content grow more prominent. Taking “queer” as a verb, an adjective, and a noun, the speaker explores the power of various TV genres and narratives, censorial practices, and fandoms in queer desire-voicing and subject formation within a largely heteropatriarchal society. This talk situates the studies of post-2020 TV China within the sociopolitical contexts and transformations that have contributed to the rise of nonnormative representations on Chinese TV in the twenty-first century. Drawing on a number of recent cases, she highlights the importance of unsettling the dichotomous, categorical logics often employed to understand meanings and official policies associated with today’s Chinese televisual imaginings of gender and sexuality.

Jamie J. Zhao is a global queer media scholar and currently Assistant Professor in Media and Cultural Studies in the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong. She holds a PhD in Gender Studies from Chinese University of Hong Kong and another PhD in Film and TV Studies from the University of Warwick. Her research explores East Asian media and public discourses on female gender and sexuality in a globalist age. She is the editor of the forthcoming anthology, “Queer TV China” (HKUP, 2023) and coedited “Boys’ Love, Cosplay, and Androgynous Idols: Queer Fan Cultures in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan” (HKUP, 2017).

For registrants who select Zoom, we will send you the link prior to the event. For registrants who select Face-to-Face (F2F), we will write to you prior to the event with the venue location. There is a limited quota for F2F and we apologise if we are unable to accommodate all requests.

Enquiries: Georgina Challen – gchallen@hku.hk