Portable Images: Digital Video Activism and Queer Marxism in Cui Zi’en’s Withered in a Blooming Season

Abstract

This article analyzes Cui Zi’en’s 2005 film Withered in a Blooming Season as a case study of queer cinematic activism in China. I argue that Cui’s distinctive combination of digital video activism, Marxist critique, and queer theory presents a radical departure from both state-controlled representations and Western-dominated LGBTQ discourses. Drawing on traditional Chinese literary history, Cui reimagines same-sex intimacy and family kinship as spaces of both resistance and renewal. By examining narrative structure, visual language, and socio-political context, this article shows how Cui’s film challenges conventional ethics, redefines queer identity within a Chinese framework, and contributes to a global queer Marxist imaginary. Cui’s film not only critiques censorship and heteronormativity in China, but also advances queer theory toward a more localized, diverse, and politically impactful direction.