From ‘poisonous weeds’ to ‘fragrant flowers’: the ambivalences of propaganda in the Chinese ‘criticism screenings’ phenomenon

This thesis explores a special phenomenon in Chinese film history, the “criticism screening,” which mainly happened from 1964 to 1969. In “criticism screenings,” audiences were asked to watch films deemed ideologically harmful and criticize them. As significant tools of propaganda during the Cultural Revolution, “criticism screenings” shaped moviegoing experience as political education rather than entertainment. While previous studies focused more on the political intentions of this phenomenon, this thesis closely explores the off-screen activities in “criticism screenings.” By analyzing historical materials related to those activities, this thesis argues that the center of “criticism screenings” was not the films on the screen but various off-screen activities, such as slides, intertitles, and lecturing, which conveyed official interpretations and guided audiences. Combining film history and propaganda studies, this research invites readers to consider film exhibitions within specific cultural and historical contexts, moving the focus from what films were screened to how films were screened. Ultimately, it reveals the ambivalent purpose of the “criticism screening” as propaganda.