- Home
- A-Z Publications
- Asian Cinema
- Previous Issues
- Volume 15, Issue 2, 2004
Asian Cinema - Volume 15, Issue 2, 2004
Volume 15, Issue 2, 2004
-
-
Into the Sc(re)enery: Bollywood Locations and Docu-diaspora
By Anne CieckoIn this essay, I draw connections between the cinematic experience and travel discourses, exploring the ways contemporary popular Hindi films acknowledge a global audience through Bollywood’s locations and dislocations. In my examination of representations of tourism, pilgrimage, and immigration, I focus on key examples from contemporary Bollywood-related tourist industry initiatives; diasporic narrative trajectories and location use in recent hit films; and documentations of Bollywood fantasy-fueled “passages” to India.
-
-
-
Lurking in the Shadows: Toshia Mori and Lotus Long, Exploring Their Enigmatic Careers (Part I)
More LessToshia Mori and Lotus Long barely register with today’s cinéphiles, unless they happen to be aficionados of some the more obscure films of the 1930s. These two Asian-American actors worked mainly in low-budget productions, often consigned to sundry China doll and native-girl parts. Given the ideological milieu and casting constraints of a predominately Euro-American system, hopes for better parts and the possibility of achieving stardom were repeatedly frustrated and denied. Their experiences in Hollywood reflected the paradox between representing Asian sexual stereotypes on the screen and economic survival in a competitive industry notorious for its chronic unemployment. Despite their appearances in a couple of milestone classics, film historians have unfairly neglected the achievements of these two early Asian players. This two-installment discussion on Toshia Mori and Lotus Long will separately chronicle and critique their respective careers in the Hollywood studio system. In addition to examining their films and roles, a perusal of their neglected peers/male co-stars, B-filmmaking culture, and the system’s representational-casting practices will attempt to reconstruct and contextualize some of the fragments of their careers.
-
-
-
Lurking in the Shadows: Toshia Mori and Lotus Long, Exploring Their Enigmatic Careers (Part II)
More LessToshia Mori and Lotus Long barely register with today’s cinéphiles, unless they happen to be aficionados of some the more obscure films of the 1930s. These two Asian-American actors worked mainly in low-budget productions, often consigned to sundry China doll and native-girl parts. Given the ideological milieu and casting constraints of a predominately Euro-American system, hopes for better parts and the possibility of achieving stardom were repeatedly frustrated and denied. Their experiences in Hollywood reflected the paradox between representing Asian sexual stereotypes on the screen and economic survival in a competitive industry notorious for its chronic unemployment. Despite their appearances in a couple of milestone classics, film historians have unfairly neglected the achievements of these two early Asian players. This two-installment discussion on Toshia Mori and Lotus Long will separately chronicle and critique their respective careers in the Hollywood studio system. In addition to examining their films and roles, a perusal of their neglected peers/male co-stars, B-filmmaking culture, and the system’s representational-casting practices will attempt to reconstruct and contextualize some of the fragments of their careers.
-
-
-
Mimicry as Failure: Jackie Chan in Hollywood
By Kenneth ChanThis article examines the life and career of Jackie Chan, and his position as a transnational cinematic superstar. Part of Chan's success lies in his ability to morph, sometimes in subtle ways, to keep pace with audiences’ changing demands and their shifting demographics, while maintaining his highly appealing star persona that he has cultivated through the years. This formula has not only enabled Chan to remain one of Asia’s top action superstars, but has also allowed him to build a substantial fan base in the United States, since the success of Rush Hour (1998). The following article will examine Chan's place in the capitalist machinery of the Hong Kong film industry, arguing that Chan's films invoke issues of cultural, national, and racial identities that resonate with his viewers’ concerns, exemplifying what globalization theorists have characterized as the capitalist deployment of the local in the global.
-
-
-
Three Seasons and the Aroma of Self-Realization
More LessFollowing its status as a triple award winner at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Three Seasons immediately gained a theatrical release before further distribution on video and DVD formats. Directed by Vietnam exile Tony Bui from a screenplay written by himself and brother Timothy Linh Bui, the film gained the honor of being the first American-produced film shot in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the official end of the Vietnam War and the relaxation of the economic embargo waged by the losing side for about 20 years later. The film is visually beautiful and lyrical in many ways, so much so that it has often received criticism for its superficial depiction of a post-war society lacking any mention of the Vietnam War itself. Although Tony Bui’s intentions were to move away from the usual cinematic representations of Vietnam, the very nature of his film is far from being a clichéd, escapist, Hallmark or Masterpiece Theatre, art house production. Many literary and cinematic depictions of Vietnam have recognized the centrality of the country’s essence involving a particular experential dimension in which aroma plays a key part. Such a representation is neither exotic nor non-materialistic but instead involves a particular narrative trope in which the sensory experience of a national culture represents a crucial aspect of this film.
-
-
-
Shadow Archetypes in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Hulk: A Jungian Perspective
More LessAng Lee’s two most recent films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and The Hulk (2003) explore a common motif: the internal confrontation of the central characters with the unconscious shadows embedded in their psyches. In the earlier film, the young heroine Yu Jen, with the aid of her two warrior spiritual guides, struggles to free herself from Jade Fox, the personification of her dark shadow. In the more recent film, the brilliant young scientist, Bruce Banner, has to contend with The Incredible Hulk, the green monster that emerges from the young hero’s unconscious self whenever he becomes angry. Both characters have to confront shadow archetypes shaped by evil, manipulative parent figures. The following article examines the manifestation of the evil, second persona that features in these two films
-
-
-
On the Father Figures in Zhang Yimou’s Films: From Red Sorghum to Hero
By Chen XiheSince Zhang Yimou’s film Hero was released at the end of 2003, it has stirred up very strong controversy among audience and critics in China. The theme the film presents touches the core issue of the cultural identity of contemporary China; how to posit and treat a father figure. This issue is an important index for the ideology and value system of contemporary China. The presentation of the father figure and its change reveals the general trend and transition of contemporary culture and the value system in China. From Red Sorghum (1987), the first film ever directed by Zhang, to Hero, the father image has always been central and critical. Of course, the father is not only a father in terms of biology, but also in terms of authority. Regardless of whether they physically show up in a film, how the director views the father figure deeply affects the tone and narrative logic of a film. From Red Sorghum to Hero, Zhang Yimou’s position and judgement on the father figure changed dramatically. This article e amines this change in more detail.
-
-
-
The Mission of Popular Film: The Use of Tradition and Its Implication in a Tamil Movie
By Osamu NoteThriving in the vicinity of normative social spheres, the slum in India constitutes a form of “intimate other” with a distinct place in her political culture. According to Ashish Nandy (1998) it is a source of idioms for the construction of popular imagery. It provides movie goers with a shared reference to a lower-middle class view of society, and offers a narrative metaphor for popular cinema which, when looked at through the lens of this domain, comes to reveal some of the definitive tructural shifts in political power in the last two decades. Discussing the generative aspect of the slum-like world of cinema where global culture is invariably incorporated into uniquely Indian forms of hybridity, Nandy holds that this blend of heterogeneous elements results in a stylized mannerism which resonates the pervasive aesthetics of contemporary political culture. As such, it exemplifies a way in which seemingly innocuous popular entertainment takes on a potent instrumentality for construction of a hegemonic order.In this article an attempt is made to situate Nandy’s argument in a linguistically and politically different context and examine how his metaphor applies to cinema in that region.
-
Volumes & issues
-
Volume 34 (2023)
-
Volume 33 (2022)
-
Volume 32 (2021)
-
Volume 31 (2020)
-
Volume 30 (2019)
-
Volume 29 (2018)
-
Volume 28 (2017)
-
Volume 27 (2016)
-
Volume 26 (2015)
-
Volume 25 (2014)
-
Volume 24 (2013)
-
Volume 23 (2012)
-
Volume 22 (2011)
-
Volume 21 (2010)
-
Volume 20 (2009)
-
Volume 19 (2008)
-
Volume 18 (2007)
-
Volume 17 (2006)
-
Volume 16 (2005)
-
Volume 15 (2004)
-
Volume 14 (2003)
-
Volume 13 (2002)
-
Volume 12 (2001)
-
Volume 11 (2000)
-
Volume 10 (1998 - 1999)
-
Volume 9 (1997 - 1998)
-
Volume 8 (1996)
-
Volume 7 (1995)
-
Volume 6 (1993)