Urban Post-1979Chinese Youth As A Lens:Defining The6^th Generation Cinema In A Coming-of-Age China

The6th Generation designates a movement of Chinese independent cinema that started in the early1990s and that is deemed to be still active today.One of its particularities is the absence of official statement by its members that it exists as one cohesive movement while some directors refuse to identify themselves as part of it.This paper tries to define the6th Generation movement using urban post-1979Chinese youth as a lens. It first reviews the definitions of the movement that are given in the already existing academic literature and then uses this specific lens to conduct the comparative analysis of four major movies of6th Generation filmmakers.The analysis confirms the already existing definition of the6th Generation as a ’post-social critical realistic’movement based on the following elements:a documentary style that brings the fictions of the6th Generation a realistic and objective touch;a strong desire of these directors to anchor their work in the present moment of Chinese history they are the witnesses of, as opposed to their predecessors of the5th Generation; a social commentary in reaction to the ideological changes and the modernisation of China in the1980s; a use of the urban landscape as a discursive element intertwined with the narratives of these movies.It also It also highlights two new elements that can be said to define the6th Generation:a use of the drifting of the characters in the urban landscape both as a cinematographic technique and a discursive element; and a comparison between a ’lost’generation of youth and a China described as’coming of age’.