Wounded Bodies: Grim Beauty and Environmental Injustice in Zhao Liang's Behemoth

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

This article examines Zhao Liang's stylistic approach to representing the intersections between Inner Mongolia's landscapes and migrant workers in his unconventional documentary Beixi moshuo (Behemoth, 2015). It argues that the blending of artificiality with realism and the juxtaposition of the wounded land and wounded human bodies are the ways in which Zhao calls on viewers to explore an affective, contemplative, and biocentric understanding of ecology. In an artistic manner, Behemoth powerfully exposes the surreal magnitude of China's environmental ruin, the environmental injustices state policies have caused for marginalized regions and populations, and the absurdity of China's post-socialist development.

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