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- Volume 23, Issue 1, 2012
Asian Cinema - Volume 23, Issue 1, 2012
Volume 23, Issue 1, 2012
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'The Chinese Who Never Die': Spectral Chinese and contemporary European cinema
More LessAs China becomes a major player in the global economy, Europeans also have begun to encounter Chinese transnationals as a new, relatively unknown urban population and to incorporate them into expressive discourses such as cinema and mass media. Representation of/response to this new social reality, in turn, has raised questions in contemporary European cinema as we see in three recent films - Gomorra(h) (Matteo Garrone, 2008, Italy), Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2010, Spain, Mexico), and Mauvais Joueurs/Gamblers (Frédéric Balekdjian, 2006, France) that situate these Chinese within changing European discourses. These films do not focus on Chinese per se, but the Chinese in these movies constitute critical elements of a multi-ethnic transnational Europe; such off-centred presentations of Chinese thus articulate emergent European ideas about both China and Chinese within local, national, continental (European) and global frames. These Chinese do not occupy major roles; in the end, they haunt these films rather than drive them. Their spectral quality includes death, mystery, disappearance, and the ethical transformation of the protagonist although they themselves evaporate from the narrative.
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No Country for Young Men: Chinese modernity, displacement, and initiatory ritual in Chinese Sixth Generation cinema
More LessThis article examines youth initiation in two Chinese Sixth Generation films, Wang Xiaoshuai's Shiqui sui de dan che/Beijing Bicycle (2001) and Li Yang's Mang jing/Blind Shaft (2003). It addresses the broader issue of the 'floating population' in China and the impact that rapid modernization has on the social fabric of Chinese society. It also suggests that in light of such social injustices and cinematic representation in the post-socialist China of today, under the guise of modernity and economic progress, there exists a dislocated and disconnected transition into adulthood for youth populations. This article argues that Wang and Yi directly investigate one of the consequences of Chinese modernity: disrupted youth initiatory ritual. Beijing Bicycle and Blind Shaft depict in a narrative documentary form an entire generation of Chinese youth who have been geographically and psychologically displaced as they lose their family connections and education opportunities, move from job to job, and fail to experience appropriate initiation into adulthood, all of which have contributed to a fractured social system.
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Cheap laughs: The mass-production of low-budget Chinese comedies from Feng kuang de shi tou/Crazy Stone (Ning Hao, 2006) to Gao Xing (Agan, 2009)
Authors: John Berra and Liu YangThis article will focus on the burgeoning production of low-budget feature film comedies in Mainland China. A number of these productions have achieved considerable success at the local box office since 2006. The popularity of these swiftly-produced features is the result of rapid industrialization and the increasing emphasis on genre in the Mainland China market. It also suggests a worrying trend in terms of the mass-production of films for local audiences; these films are manufactured in a rough manner with little regard for aesthetic quality or tonal consistency, leading to concerns about malformed genre product. This article outlines the definition, origins and variations of the low-budget comedies produced in China. Based on data gathered through several large-scale industry studies of the local audience, it will show that a relationship exists between the cultural mind-set of young cinemagoers and the styles of low-budget comedy films. To chart the success of this genre, and its evolution from low-budget production to mid-budget production due to consistent box office returns, the article will examine two industrially significant examples: Crazy Stone and Gao Xing. The former arguably started the genre, leading to a host of imitators, of which the latter has been particularly well-attended, despite evidencing a decline in quality as satirical humour is replaced by vulgarity. In this respect, it will be argued that the Mainland China production cycle of the low-budget comedy is an example of 'ShanZhai' culture as this is a form of commercial film-making that is largely based on imitation.
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Representations of a colonial past in contemporary Korean cinema
More LessThis article discusses the possibility for film to do history, the ways in which films might do history differently than written history, and how a film depicting history might be speaking of the present - as these issues apply to three contemporary Korean films set in the early twentieth-century Korean colonial period and which represent a recent radical shift in the portrayal of this particular era. Of particular interest is how modernity and colonization are depicted in the three films.
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Wang Yu – the Taiwan years
More LessJimmy Wang Yu has suffered neglect in the past few decades due to attention given to other martial arts stars such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. This article seeks to remedy this by concentrating on the Taiwan films that Wang Yu made after breaking his contract with Shaw Brothers in 1970 after his pioneering actor-director performance in Longhu Dou/The Chinese Boxer (Wang Yu 1970). These involve not just the continuation of his role as director but also appearances in a number of Taiwanese cinematic genres not exclusively confined to martial arts as well as his failed international breakthrough Australian co-production The Man From Hong Kong. The article concludes with his return to the screen after seventeen years in Wu Xia and Let's Go! where he portrays a much older character.
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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)