Framing Mao's Last dancer as a musical biopic

Penny Spirou

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper frames Mao's Last Dancer as a musical biopic (biographical film), conforming to the narrative structures of the musical genre film. Mao's Last Dancer is one of the few Australian films considered to be a musical biopic (the others include Shine, Doing Time for Patsy Cline and The Sapphires), however the film is not set in nor refers to Australia. Instead, the film follows the life of ballet dancer, Li Cunxin, and his transition from communist China to the USA. As demonstrated in this paper, the soundtrack of Mao's Last Dancer reflects the geographical movement of the protagonist as well as Cunxin's emotional journey.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)56-69
    Number of pages14
    JournalStudies in Australasian Cinema
    Volume8
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Framing Mao's Last dancer as a musical biopic'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this