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- Volume 30, Issue 1, 2019
Asian Cinema - Volume 30, Issue 1, 2019
Volume 30, Issue 1, 2019
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Passionate agendas: Melodrama in the work of Yoshimura Kozaburo
By Earl JacksonYoshimura Kozaburo (1911–2000) directed 44 films over nearly six decades. He entered cinema history with Danryū (Warm Current) (1939) a critically acclaimed melodrama, before making National Policy films during the Second World War. In his post-war films and writings, however, we can discern a reconceptualization of melodrama both in theory and practice in order to engage the consequences of thinking in images and the responsibility of the filmmaker after 1945.
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It’s tough being a humanist: Yōji Yamada, the cynical company man
By Kenta KatoYōji Yamada is noted for directing films in which diligent people from the working class struggle through the disquieting social situation of post-war Japan. As a longtime filmmaker for Shōchiku, Yamada has been faithful to Ōfuna-chō, Shōchiku’s filmmaking doctrine that focuses on working-class characters from a humanistic standpoint, unlike the New Wave filmmakers of the same generation who rebelled against this company doctrine. Yamada’s filmography consists of similar serialized films with characters who are complacent about their standing in the capitalistic system or who choose not to deal with the establishment. What the seemingly humanist films present is cynicism towards humanity and the ideological message of how an individual is impotent to change the social situation and must be resigned to accepting the given conditions. By analysing two films most critical of the working conditions of rural Japan as it succumbs to capitalism, Kazoku (Where Spring Comes Late) (Yamada, 1970) and Kokyō (Home from the Sea) (Yamada, 1972), this article will discuss Yamada’s belief that avoiding revolutionary activity and engaging in labour are the best ways to survive within the system of post-war Japanese society.
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Kurosawa’s Rashomon, re-viewed
More LessThis article, although it devotes some space to Akira Kurosawa’s overall career, focuses on Rashomon (1950) – a film that many consider his greatest work, and one of the great artworks of the twentieth century. Rashomon is also the film that made Kurosawa one of the first Japanese directors to become known to the West, and that even gave rise to a term – the ‘Rashomon effect’ – now used not only in cinema but also in literature, legal studies, psychology, sociology, anthropology and history.
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Resisting age-ratings in China: The ongoing prehistory of film classification
Authors: Liam Grealy, Catherine Driscoll, Bin Wang and Yongchun FuThis article investigates the ongoing absence in China of a system of age-ratings for films. We provide a history of contemporary Chinese debate about establishing age-ratings, comprehensively examining former censor regimes’ content restrictions and conceptions of youth. Drawing on archival research and interviews, this history describes the authorities responsible for film regulation, stakeholders advocating for reform, and the techniques involved in restricting content. We show that the Chinese state continues to resist an age-rating system for films, while arguing that this exceptional position masks historical and current similarities between China and elsewhere in governing acceptable content for youth.
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From affective space to performative depth: Spatial aesthetics in 3-D wuxia films Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2010) and Sword Master (2016)
By Zeng LiChinese cinema has seen a rise in 3-D productions, most of which are wuxia films, between 2010 and 2018. To explore new spatial aesthetics in 3-D wuxia films, this article compares two 3-D wuxia remakes with their 2-D originals: Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011) with New Dragon Gate Inn (1992), and Sword Master (2016) with Death Duel (1977). It asks the following questions: how do 3-D spatial aesthetics differ from the spatial configuration of 2-D wuxia films? What does the stereoscopic space add to (or take away from) traditional wuxia films? How is the relationship between the knights-errant and jianghu represented in the 3-D space? This comparative study argues that the 3-D films largely rely on exploiting the positive parallax to create a more ‘voluminous’ and performative, but less affective, jianghu world, compared to their 2-D originals. It raises questions about how to incorporate depth-oriented aesthetics with narrative engagement in wuxia films.
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Translocal female subjectivity: Notes on Ann Hui’s The Golden Era
By Zeng HongMany scholars of film studies have questioned the masculine notion of Euro- American auteurism for excluding women’s film practice. This article shows how Ann Hui, a female director from Hong Kong, explores the female subjectivity of Xiao Hong, a famous Chinese woman writer, in the film The Golden Era (2014). Based on feminist theories of authorship and narratology, the article discusses Hui’s identity as auteur by placing the production of this film in its specific political and cultural context; examines Hui’s shaping of Xiao’s translocal subjectivity by situating it within her embodied female experience; and elaborates on the narrative strategies used by Hui to provide an alternative mode of articulation that certifies her work as feminist cinema.
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Asghar Farhadi’s nuanced feminism: Gender and marriage in Farhadi’s films from Dancing in the Dust to A Separation
More LessAiming to contribute towards studies of gender in Iranian cinema, this article draws on feminist and masculinities theories to examine representations of gender in the films of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, including his first Academy Awardwinning film, A Separation. While most literature on gender in Iranian cinema equates gender with femininity and women, I show that foregrounding men and masculinities in the analysis of Farhadi’s films enhances our understanding of his films’ feminist concerns and of the underlying structures of gender in current Iranian society, as represented in these films. Furthermore, I argue that theories of masculinity can help in expanding the corpus of Iranian feminist cinematography. In current accounts of Iranian feminist cinema, scholars refer to well-known sets of films that mostly feature female leads; however, reading Farhadi’s movies in light of masculinities theories shows that even though the films focus on both men and women, a nuanced feminism has been ever present in his works.
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The first screenings of Lumière films in China: Conjectures and new findings
By Sheldon LuThis article questions the usual claim that the first screening of Lumière films in China was at Xu Garden, Shanghai, in August 1896. It discovers two events that have eluded Chinese and global film history. Maurice Charvet screened Lumière films in the French Consulate in Hankou on the French National Day in 1897. Lumière projectionist Gabriel Veyre showed Lumière films in the French Concession in Shanghai in April 1999.
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Making the most of an MOOC on Asian film: Hong Kong Cinema Through a Global Lens: A Massive Open Online Course at the University of Hong Kong
Authors: Gina Marchetti, Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park and Stacilee FordThe University of Hong Kong has developed a specific Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in the humanities, namely the HKU06.1x Hong Kong Cinema Through a Global Lens. This serves as a case study to better understand the challenges faced by Asian film teachers who decide to produce an MOOC. Apart from that, this MOOC helps us to unveil the subtext of how Asia plays an important role in the development of MOOCs by way of sharing regional research, pedagogical strategies and cultural perspectives. Since MOOCs provide a valuable tool for higher education by making course materials freely accessible to learners around the world, analysing the performance of such courses benefits global education at all levels.
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Review
More LessDialectics of the Goddess in Japanese Audiovisual Culture, Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano (ed.) (2018) Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 161 pp., ISBN 978-1-49857-014-5, h/bk, £60.00 ISBN 978-1-49857-015-2, e-book, £60.00
Dialectics of the Goddess in Japanese Audiovisual Culture presents a study of how female figures linked to the idea of Goddess have been represented by the Japanese screen industry. The originality of this work lies in proposing an analysis of the representation of renewed mythical female figures in the contemporary screen industry. Thus, contributors highlight the role of the media as a powerful machine for creating modern myths and demonstrate how Japan has produced a strong iconography of female deities and other pseudo-religious entities. The book assesses how these female figures, coming from the Japanese cultural tradition, have been transgressed, perverted and updated metaphorically or literally in media characters.
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 34 (2023)
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Volume 33 (2022)
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Volume 32 (2021)
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Volume 31 (2020)
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Volume 30 (2019)
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Volume 29 (2018)
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Volume 28 (2017)
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Volume 27 (2016)
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Volume 26 (2015)
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Volume 25 (2014)
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Volume 24 (2013)
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Volume 23 (2012)
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Volume 22 (2011)
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Volume 21 (2010)
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Volume 20 (2009)
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Volume 19 (2008)
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Volume 18 (2007)
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Volume 17 (2006)
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Volume 16 (2005)
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Volume 15 (2004)
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Volume 14 (2003)
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Volume 13 (2002)
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Volume 12 (2001)
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Volume 11 (2000)
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Volume 10 (1998 - 1999)
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Volume 9 (1997 - 1998)
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Volume 8 (1996)
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Volume 7 (1995)
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Volume 6 (1993)