Sticking with Trans: Reconsidering Chinese American Cinema through Anna May Wong

• Published in: Journal of Chinese cinemas Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 96 - 113
• Main Author: Wang, Yiman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 02.01.2024
• Subjects: diasporic Chinese American cinema; object-subject-hood; sartorial performances; The Silk Bouquet; The Toll of the Sea; Trans
• ISSN: 1750-8061; 1750-807X
• DOI: 10.1080/17508061.2024.2305766

This article asks what exactly makes the trans a key concept in our understanding of Sino-American filmic transactions. By studying two silent films of the Chinese American film pioneer, Anna May Wong (1905-1961), with special attention to her mercurial sartorial performances, I analyze her interstitial trans position between nations, communities, cultures, between audiences here-now and elsewhere-another time, and between objecthood and subjecthood. I stress the trans position as a tension-ridden field that resists easy resolution, thereby challenges American assimilationism and China's ethno-nationalism all at once. I argue that this trans position, which appears to be stuck and suspended, offers a theoretical and methodological framework for unpacking Wong's legacy, and more broadly, the complexity of diasporic Chinese and Chinese American film cultures.