Skildringar av kvinnliga migrantarbetare i kinesisk film : Id-kortet, oskuldsfullheten och temaparken i The world och Angels wear white

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines how themes about migrant workers, especially women migrant workers are depicted in the two films The world, Shijie 世界 (2004), directed by Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯 and Angels wear white, Jianianhua 嘉年华 (2017), directed by Vivian Qu, also called Wen Yan 文言. In the background of the thesis the subjects hukou 户口, the system of household registration; the floating population, liudong renkou 流动人口, the people who are not living at the place where they are registered at, according to the hukou system and black hukou, heihu 黑户, the people who lack hukou altogether are discussed. The methods used in the thesis are a qualitative thematic analysis and semiotics. The theories that are the basis of the analysis are Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, Emirbayer and Mische’s concept of agency and Steven Lukes’s concept of power.    The themes that are explored in this thesis are work, accommodation, the ID card and the passport, the commodification of the female body and women who are sex workers, the female virginity, violence as well as symbols and role models. Both films show that a person’s status as a migrant worker who is lacking an ID card or as a migrant worker who has their hukou elsewhere determines the living conditions of the person in China. Angels Wear White depicts how being in possession of an ID card or not affects whether you get access to healthcare, work opportunities and your housing situation. In The World poor living conditions for the migrant workers are depicted. Both films show differences between the sexes, where women are treated as object of male desire and the female body becomes an object that can be bought by means of money or services. The female’s virginity before marriage is valued greatly, which affects the young women migrants’ experiences in the film.    Some symbols that appear in the film are the white dress, that symbolizes a female ideal, the ID card and the passport that are symbols of social as well as physical mobility in Chinese society, lastly the theme park is a symbol of the dreams and desires that are being shaped in contemporary China.   Keywords: “the floating population”, “hukou”, “female migrant workers”, “The World”, “Angels Wear White”