Counterattack:(Re)contextualizing propaganda

Abstract

This article uses Fanji/Counterattack (Li Wenhua, Beijing Film Studio, 1976) as a case study to consider the importance of contextualization to the ‘propaganda process’. The film is intimately linked with elite politics of the closing years of the Cultural Revolution and was produced under the auspices of the Gang of Four. Although it was not released prior to the Gang of Four's arrest on 6 October 1976, it was used in the campaigns attacking them in the ensuing years. The film's reincarnation as a weapon against its instigators points to the importance of contextualization in articulating the ‘correct’ reading of a propaganda work as well as propaganda's ability to sustain multiple readings.

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