Reading Pema Tseden's films as palimpsests

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden's films as palimpsests in order to draw attention to his transformation of earlier work into new constellations and additional layers of meaning. It is argued that Pema Tseden's films, read as palimpsests, constitute attempts to resist narrative closure, dissolve dichotomies and stress the unfixity of the self and the diversity of perspectives. It is also argued that a palimpsestic reading shows Pema Tseden to be both a sober realist and a visionary: even in the bleakest of hours, his films are driven by a utopian impulse springing from a compassionate view of the world that is an essential part of Buddhism. Reading Pema Tseden's films as palimpsests in the context of contemporary China, it is argued, highlights the ways in which his films challenge the cinematic representation of Tibet and articulate the problems and aspirations of Tibetans in the face of Chinese domination.

KEYWORDS:

• Palimpsests
• Pema Tseden
• Tibetan cinema
• Buddhism
• utopian

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Jessica Yeung for her support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For further discussion on the cinematic representation of Tibet, see Hansen (2001) and Lo (2013).

2. For reasons of space, Pema Tseden's features Flares Wafting in 1983 (2008) and The Sacred Arrow (2014), as well as his documentaries, will not be discussed here.

3. Born in the Tibetan ethnic region of Amdo in the province of Qinghai, China, Pema Tseden was the first Tibetan to graduate from the Beijing Film Academy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wai-Ping Yau

Wai-Ping Yau is an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Hong Kong Baptist University. His research interests include Chinese film and literature, literary translation and film adaptation. He is also a translator of Chinese poetry and fiction.