Film
Peking opera and its stylistic devices have appeared in many Chinese films. It often was used to signify a unique "Chineseness" in contrast to sense of culture being presented in Japanese films. Fei Mu, a director of the pre-Communist era, utilized Peking opera in a number of plays, sometimes within "Westernized", realistic plots. King Hu, a later Chinese film director, utilized many of the formal norms of Peking opera in his films, such as the parallelism between music, voice, and gesture. In the 1993 film Farewell My Concubine, by Chen Kaige, Peking opera serves as the object of pursuit for the protagonists and a backdrop for their romance. However, the film's portrayal of Peking opera has been criticized as one-dimensional. Chen returned to the subject again in 2008 with the Mei Lanfang biopic Forever Enthralled. Peking opera is also featured in Peking Opera Blues by Tsui Hark.
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“The motion picture is like a picture of a lady in a half- piece bathing suit. If she wore a few more clothes, you might be intrigued. If she wore no clothes at all, you might be shocked. But the way it is, you are occupied with noticing that her knees are too bony and that her toenails are too large. The modern film tries too hard to be real. Its techniques of illusion are so perfect that it requires no contribution from the audience but a mouthful of popcorn.”
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