Mao's Last Dancer

Mao’s Last Dancer

Mao’s Last Dancer is a film about the journey of Li Cunxin, a Chinese dancer that went from rural poverty to the top of ballet and then defected from his country. Li’s journey from rural poverty in the Shangdong province of China to success in Houston ballet is presented through the use of film conventions, techniques and narrative elements. These codes present and contrast the differences of Eastern and Western culture and of Capitalism and Communism. Appreciation of the film depends on the use of these codes. In the case of Mao’s Last Dancer, the codes are presented in a way that creates an appreciation of the film for the audience regardless of their knowledge of the context in the film. The film mainly utilises the codes …show more content…
In the film, the narrative convention of plot is used to provide an overview of the historical and sociocultural knowledge of China at the time. For example, the film’s plot is constructed in a non-linear timeline through which Li travels back and forwards via flashbacks. A prominent example of this is one of the film’s establishing scenes. In this scene, Li flashes back to a classroom in his home province. Here, an inspection is occurring, Li’s classroom is asked to sing a song honouring Chinese dictator, Mao Zedong. This eludes that the government in the country may be forcing their communist propaganda on the people. Do we sing songs honouring Malcolm Turnbull in Australia? However, it can be argued that this scene along with other scenes require knowledge of the context to be properly appreciated. One of the main underlying themes of the film is the difference between Eastern culture and Western culture. This is presented through flashbacks and the film’s plot. Because of this contrast of themes, some might say that knowledge of Eastern culture needs to be known for the film to be properly appreciated. Despite this, it is irrefutable that the film, through the construction of its plot delivers the knowledge required for the film to be appreciated. Therefore, the film Mao’s Last Dancer can be appreciated regardless of the viewers’ knowledge of historical and sociocultural context because this knowledge is presented in the

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