Her works have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean.
Her literary, film and TV commentary have addressed an expanding audience in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong over the last decades.
Dai is known for her early critique of the self-Orientalizing tendencies of filmmakers considered to be part of China's Fifth Generation such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.
In one of her most well-known critiques, she examines the trope of gender-crossing through the myth of Hua Mulan (a woman who disguises herself as a man to join the army as a substitute for her father) in a series of women-centered films such as New Women, and revolutionary operas such as White-Haired Girl and the Red Detachment of Women.
One of her analyses of consumerism in China traces the transformation of the word guangchang, which referred to the politicized space of the public square, but now is often used in the names of shopping centers.