Lucilla You Min, who acted in Japanese and Hong Kong coproduced films in the early 1960s, is a valuable case study for postwar East Asian border-crossing star studies. This article conceptualizes the body of the star as a site of constructed meaning, and argues that You Min's embodiment of cosmopolitan fantasy as constructed by the studios she worked for was fraught with corporate and cultural competition in the Cold War era. The first part examines how Japanese cinema's discourses of publicity constructed You Min's embodiment of the imaginary of tōyō—an expression of Japan's desire for a leadership role in mediating between Asia and the West. The second part analyzes how Hong Kong cinema constructed the imaginary of the cosmopolitan, embodied by You Min's seemingly natural adaptability in world travel.
Lucilla You Min and Her Embodiment of a Cosmopolitan Fantasy
Erica Ka-yan Poon is a PhD candidate in film studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. She holds a master's degree in cinema and media studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is currently working on a dissertation titled “Co-producing a Cold War Cosmopolitan Fantasy: Collaboration and Competition between Hong Kong and Japanese Cinema in the 1950s and 1960s.” Her writings have appeared in Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema and Media Asia. Her research interests include East Asian cinemas, transnational cinema, and the media industries.
Erica Ka-yan Poon; Lucilla You Min and Her Embodiment of a Cosmopolitan Fantasy. Feminist Media Histories 1 January 2019; 5 (1): 113–140. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2019.5.1.113
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