Tianran is a PhD student in the department of Sociology at Cambridge University. Coming from a film production and film theory background, her research focuses on the Chinese “Big Heroine Drama” defined as having a core female character with the plot revolving around her growth and success. Through her analysis of the Big Heroine phenomenon, she reflects on current gender conflicts, class differences, and racial/ethnic alienation/assimilation in mainland China. Her research takes an intersectional approach in analyzing the structural tensions between gender, class, and race/ethnicity, taking the Big Heroine phenomenon in Chinese television as a superficially presenting symptom of deeper sociocultural tensions.
