@article{ART003369491},
author={Lee Boram},
title={A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow},
journal={Journal of Chinese Language and Literature},
issn={1225-083X},
year={2026},
number={102},
pages={271-303},
doi={10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271}
TY - JOUR
AU - Lee Boram
TI - A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow
JO - Journal of Chinese Language and Literature
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 102
PB - Chinese Literary Society Of Yeong Nam
SP - 271
EP - 303
SN - 1225-083X
AB - This article examines how Black Snow (本命年, 1989) exposes a fracture in the “language of recovery” that articulates Xie Fei’s 1980s idealism. Idealism denotes a post–Cultural Revolution commitment to restoring humanity, pursuing spiritual reconstruction, and affirming social responsibility; “language of recovery” refers to narrative and audiovisual forms connecting values found in damaged lives to characters’ choices and endings. Our Farmland (1983) gives damaged youth renewed meaning through ideals and devotion; A Girl from Hunan (1986) affirms Xiaoxiao’s desire and survival yet returns her to communal order. Despite their limits, both preserve the possibility of meaning within suffering. In Black Snow, however, Li Huiquan’s work, goodwill, and relationships do not cohere into a durable basis for ordinary life.
Set amid an expanding commodity economy and destabilized values in late-1980s Beijing, the article analyzes urban space, shot duration, camera movement, dissolves, framing, and onscreen and offscreen sound. Readings of culpability, victimization and loss, social reintegration, or spiritual reconstruction illuminate aspects of Li’s life but cannot integrate his new start and death into a coherent recovery process. This mismatch is termed “non-subsumability,” a relational condition arising between Li’s life and the language of recovery rather than an inherent trait.
“Méi jìnr” (沒勁兒) does not diagnose innate lethargy; it marks how Li’s efforts fail to support one another or sustain a future. In the final sequence, he remains visible, yet no one recognizes his need for urgent aid. His death is neither communally mourned nor transformed into moral instruction or redemption. Rather than reject Xie’s idealism, Black Snow tests the reach of the language of recovery. Its realist achievement lies in preserving the tension between the ethical impulse to restore meaning to damaged lives and Li’s life, which this language cannot fully organize.
KW - 셰페이(Xie Fei);중국 4세대 영화(Fourth Generation Chinese cinema);<자기 띠의 해>(Black Snow);이상주의(cinematic idealism);회복 언어(language of recovery);비포섭성(interpretive irreducibility)
DO - 10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
ER -
Lee Boram. (2026). A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow. Journal of Chinese Language and Literature, 102, 271-303.
Lee Boram. 2026, "A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow", Journal of Chinese Language and Literature, no.102, pp.271-303. Available from: doi:10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
Lee Boram "A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow" Journal of Chinese Language and Literature 102 pp.271-303 (2026) : 271.
Lee Boram. A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow. 2026; 102 : 271-303. Available from: doi:10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
Lee Boram. "A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow" Journal of Chinese Language and Literature no.102(2026) : 271-303.doi: 10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
Lee Boram. A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow. Journal of Chinese Language and Literature, 102, 271-303. doi: 10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
Lee Boram. A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow. Journal of Chinese Language and Literature. 2026; 102 271-303. doi: 10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
Lee Boram. A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow. 2026; 102 : 271-303. Available from: doi:10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
Lee Boram. "A Fracture in the Language of Recovery: Xie Fei’s 1980s Cinematic Idealism in Black Snow" Journal of Chinese Language and Literature no.102(2026) : 271-303.doi: 10.15792/clsyn..102.202608.271
