Abstract

This essay examines the involvement of Korean-born ethnic star Kim Yŏm (Chinese name: Jin Yan) in Shanghai’s left-wing, resistance film movement during the 1930s. In addition to reading Kim’s persona as an ideal screen embodiment of “athletic, modern youth,” which was being promoted by the official screen policy during the Nanjing decade (1927–1937), the author offers a close analytical interpretation of director Sun Yu’s masterpiece The Big Road (Da Lu, 1934). In this film, Kim plays a revolutionary martyr who leads a group of construction workers building new roads for the Chinese army resisting the invasion of Japanese imperialists. Employing a transnational star studies paradigm, the author interprets The Big Road as an allegory of Sino-Korean unity, one that was founded upon a common resistance against the Japanese Empire at the time of the film’s release.

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