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.
Original Publication Citation
Wang, Yanjie. “Wounded Bodies: Grim Beauty and Environmental Injustice in Zhao Liang’s Behemoth.” JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 63, no. 1 (2023): 124–49. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2023.a910941.
Digital Commons @ LMU & LLS Citation
Wang, Yanjie, "Wounded Bodies: Grim Beauty and Environmental Injustice in Zhao Liang's Behemoth" (2023). Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works. 61.
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/aaas_fac/61
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