Inroduction

First elaborated by Charles Baudelaire and later receiving broader academic attention through Walter Benjamin's writings in the early 20th century, the flâneur has long been an archetypal figure of modern life in literary discussion. As female empowerment advances and modernity globalizes towards the 21st century, scholars study flâneurie with feminist perspetives, pointing out the limited presence of women in the discourse of flâneurie since the concept's inception, as well as beyond the geographical periphery, examining how flâneurie has both continued and transformed in the urbanizing metropolitan outside of the West, including those in East Asia. This study intends to extend this academic discussion to the contexts of women in 21st-century China through cultural analysis of Lou Ye's cinematic works with a focus on the female characters by applying the conceptual framework of flâneurie.

The analyzed female characters' social roles within the patriarchal family codes as daughter, wife, and mother undermine their experience of flânerie by limiting their mobility in public or reducing their free excursion to purposeful expedition.

Yi Feifei: Posted on Facebook and IG on Jan 3, 2022

Highlights

• This project studies the develpment of flâneuse representation in four selected films by Lou Ye since the turn of the 21st century. In recognizing the influence of consumerit capitalism and patriarchal order on the flâneuse embodiment ofthe female characters, this research reflects on the progress and limitations of women's lived urban experiences in contemporary China undergoing drastic social changes associated with urbanization and marketization.

Highlights

• For some of the heroines, their implied association with the classic flâneuse image of the prostitute reflects how this non-respectible commodified object of male desire has continuously impacted the imagination of the flâneuse even in the context of the 21st-century China.
• Meanwhile, the female characters' access to education and financial capabilities anticipated alternative forms of flâneuse embodiment by deviating from women's inferior connections with objectification in male desire and capitalistic consumption.

Highlights

• Echoing what Gleber has ponted out for the women in the western metropolises in the 18th and 20th century, women in thier culturally constructed roles are unable to "indulge in their full fascination with the metropolis" because they are restricted to the home, limited to the functional forays into the public, forced to forego the lure of aimless strolling" (176-177).

Experience at MALCS

The MALCS programme was an enlightening and inspiring journey beyond my expectation. During the two years I was allowed to immerse in my honest passion and curiosity about the world and myself through dialogues with scholars in the field as well as selected readings by the by the great thinkers of the past. The capstone experience in particular was challenging yet fulfilling. Under the guidance of my supervisor and mentor, I was provided with the sufficient skills, resources and conficdence to shape the directionof my research and complete the dissertation.