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East Asian Studies Speaker Series

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Socialist Hot Noise:

Loudspeakers and Open-Air Cinema in Mao鈥檚 China

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Jie Li

John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities

Harvard University

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Drawing on current book projects on Chinese broadcasting and film exhibition, this talk excavates a media history of loudspeakers and open-air cinema through the conceptual framework of 鈥渟ocialist hot noise鈥�: a participatory sociothermic affect and a synergy between body and electricity that soldered scattered populations into the revolutionary masses. The first half examines the growth of loudspeaker networks and grassroots sonic practices, from broadcast rallies to sparrow warfare, from labor competitions to quasi-karaoke, from enhancing the Mao cult to engendering violence and terror. The second half discusses open-air cinema as a hot noise of attractions that generated revolutionary energy through cinematic liturgies led by mobile projectionists before, during, and after screenings. Maoist audiovisual propaganda, I propose, was at once a physical and spirit medium, whose improvised and impoverished infrastructure contributed to the Mao cult, converted skeptics of communist miracles, and exorcized class enemies. The conclusion addresses the revival of loudspeakers and open-air cinema in a postsocialist media ecology.

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Wednesday, November 10^th, 2021

3:30-5:00 p.m. ET

The lecture will be hosted on Zoom: