| This dissertation is envisioned as a contribution to the subdiscipline of star theory in the field of cinema and media studies. The dissertation proffers an account of Hong Kong action cinema aesthetics, thematics, and techniques operating in Hong Kong cinema proper and in Hong Kong action cinema as mode common to the global action film marketplace. This study approaches the generic innovations of Hong Kong action style through the lens of the star labor and addresses the effect that such techniques have on the bodies of the performers, termed "star-laborers", involved in the creation of the genre's most dynamic effects, referred to in this dissertation as "body spectacles". Contrary to earlier models of action star analysis, this study is not a simple reading of "star image". Rather, this dissertation incorporates a variety of methodological frameworks in its study of performers participating in Hong Kong style action spectacles: textual analysis, reception studies, production studies, cultural policy analysis, and star theory. The stars examined in this dissertation display modes of corporeal manipulation that stun knowing spectators into a state of awe though their production of martial arts body spectacles: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Tony Jaa and Zoe Bell. The production context and the euphoric mode of reception are referred to as the "virtuoso." This dissertation hopes to intervene in contemporary scholarship on stardom, genre, national cinema, and labor. |
