This paper is a theoretical and aesthetic exploration of my MFA thesis film- an autobiographical documentary. This documentary was entirely shot in China, with both high-definition footage and Super 8 film; it takes a journey in my hometown to discuss the contemporary housing problem across generations in modern China. By focusing on ordinary family life, the film attempts to reveal the tension and conflicts arising between Chinese people's need for roots and the shifting socioeconomic system. The first part of the paper addresses the highly contrasted filmic textures that establish various temporal dimensions in the film. Taking an autobiographical approach, the first person perspective is employed to connect these times and spaces. The second part of the paper will examine the subjectivity in the film and discuss how the self functions as a storyteller, an outsider and a family member at the same time. The following chapter will visit the physical familiar space. The lens searches for marks and signs left by everyday practices, in order to trace the change of the concept of home in Chinese culture after the invasion of industrialization and consumerism. Such an enormous socioeconomic transformation has eventually given birth to a wave of nostalgia in contemporary China. This nostalgia answers a cultural need that counters the irresistible process of modernization, urbanization and commercialization in the transitional China.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:23:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4691.pdf: 2672221 bytes, checksum: 5c15554d9ac45df13043164fc0e2e67e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-02 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / This work aims to discuss processes of self-representation in animated documentaries, from the analysis of the film Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008). With this analysis, it seeks to understand modes of articulation between the field of documentary and animation, using elements of both as a possibility of self-representation in films that are related to the shared historic world. For this purpose, it develops a reflection on the establishment of different perspectives in the field of documentary studies and the ways available for animation to create representations. In addition, it dialogues with the various historical and conceptual approaches about the animated documentary, developed significantly over the past fifteen years. Finally, it develops a critical analysis of what Bill Nichols (1994) calls performative documentary and the considerations of Michael Renov (2004) about documentaries that deal with the autobiographical, to understand the animation as a way to put the director in history and establish a continuity with the past, weaving relationships between elements of documentary and animated images that provide other senses to the reported. / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo discutir processos de autorrepresentação em documentários animados, a partir da análise do filme Valsa com Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008). Com a análise deste longa-metragem, busca-se compreender modos de articulação entre o campo do documentário e o da animação, aproveitando elementos de ambos enquanto possibilidade de autorrepresentação em filmes que se remetem ao mundo histórico compartilhado. Para tanto, desenvolveu-se uma reflexão acerca do estabelecimento de diferentes perspectivas do campo do documentário nos estudos teóricos e as maneiras disponíveis à animação para criar representações. Além disso, dialoga-se com as várias abordagens históricas e conceituais acerca do documentário animado, que ganham corpo mais expressivo nos últimos quinze anos. Por fim, desenvolve-se uma leitura crítica das análises de Bill Nichols (1994) sobre os documentários performáticos e das considerações de Michael Renov (2004) acerca de documentários que lidam com o autobiográfico, para compreender a animação como uma forma do realizador se colocar na história e estabelecer uma continuidade com o passado, tecendo relações entre imagens animadas e elementos documentais que proporcionam outros sentidos aos relatos.