A Complex Landscape of Fun, Queerness and Desire in China: Introducing Three Films by He Xiaopei

Abstract

This article documents He Xiaopei’s work as a film activist who contributes significantly to feminist and queer movements in contemporary China. Trained as a social scientist, He Xiaopei then went on to become the director of the civil organization Pink Space Research Center in the mid-2000s as well as an independent filmmaker. Since 2010, she has produced more than ten documentary movies. However, despite the greatness of her contribution, the range of the topics she has covered, and her position in the feminist and queer movement in China, she has yet to receive the attention she deserves in English-speaking academia. This article selects three movies by He Xiaopei, i.e., The Lucky One, Playmates, and Bad Women of China, and provides an intersectional analysis of gender, friendship, migration, sexuality and intimate relationships, as seen through the lens of an ever-changing China on the global stage. At first glance, the three movies focus on different figures and themes, but they share the same core spirit – breaking through boundaries and limits, maintaining humour and positivity even when facing predicaments, embracing desire and depicting humanity as it manifests in complicated modern life.