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Course Glossary

Arranged Marriages A common practice in traditional China and India through which the parents, usually the Father, make the decision as to whom to marry his daughter(s) and then commences the arrangement through a matchmaker. Frequently, when choosing a groom, the Father was only concerned with how to set up business and social connections through such arrangements, and was completely unconcerned about the daughters’ own feelings and thoughts. In rural families that were impoverished, peasant fathers normally make use of daughters’ marriage arrangements as bargains in exchange for marriage dowries that in turn can be used for their son(s)’ marriages. Film Reference: Ju Dou Water

-Art imitates life, life imitates art. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues Suzhou River

Buddhist Cosmology (the) As indicated in the contexts of our films, the term refers mainly to the Buddhist concept of life and death. Buddhism believes that a human’s death can be seen as a brief halt to one phase of life, which is followed by entering into death as another phase of existence. While staying in the world of the dead, the spirit or soul awaits to re-enter another phase of life as a human or animal. Thus the life- death transformation forms a circular pattern alternating between life and death. Film Reference: Rashomon

Character-revealing pose (the) A pausing but stylized pose made by the actor or actress which fittingly demonstrates his/her distinct personality. Hence the epithet “symbolic.” The pose is an adaptation from the traditional theatrical pose on stage to serve the same end. Modern Asian film directors often use such poses to introduce creative pauses and angles in shooting close-ups, medium and distant shots. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues Yojimbo

Diegetic (the) vs. the Non-diegetic

These two terms are most frequently used in the study of film and visual culture. The diegetic stands for those elements, such as characters, location, time with all their related actions, which are immediately and directly relevant to the evolving sequence of the story. These usually include words, objects and action shown in the storyline which constitutes the beginning, the middle, the climax and the ending of what happens in the film. A good example would be Tsao-wan’s mission to seize hold of a confidential document signed by the British bankers and her warlord father upon closing their secret deal, which coincides with the father-daughter reunion. The non-diegetic refers to those elements inserted into the storyline to suspend, or complicate, or embellish the main action in the storyline. The most striking instance is the backside story of Mu Guiying, the legendary Female Warrior in 12th Century, which is being staged in the opera theatre in Tianjin, and, coincidentally, creates a chance for a young female to perform instead of her male master on stage, thus breaching the century-old Chinese tradition of disallowing women to perform on stage or enter the theater. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues Suzhou River

Disappearance Coined by Ackbar Abbas, a well-known Hong Kong cultural critic, the full term that contains this rather unusual definition is “the culture of disappearance.” It does not mean a disappearing culture, but a cultural ambience in which people tend not see what is there. For an example, just as we speak about the “here and now” of Hong Kong culture, the meaning of it is already on the verge of being lost, “not by being ignored but by being represented in the good old days.” Abbas further explains: “it gives us a reality that is not so much hidden as purloined, a reality that is overlooked because it is looked at in the old familiar ways.” He also provides an illustration in terms of shot compositions---the skidding, smudged slow-motion scenes considered unique of Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express. As he states: “Slow motion is not used to romanticize or aestheticize either love or violence; it is used analytically to study, to understand. But analysis by slow motion, like analysis by blowup, leads at a certain point only to a blurring of the image, that is, to bewilderment rather than to understanding. The closer you look, the less there is to see.” (Ackbar Abbas: Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of

Disappearance, 16-47)

Film Reference: Chungking Express

Female impersonation specialist (s) A rather westernized term for those Asian male artists specialized in performing roles of the female leads in traditional operas. Though the number is fast dwindling nowadays, there still exist such male artists in traditional Asian operas such as Peking Opera in China and Geisha roles in Kabuki and Noh in Japan today. They have continued tirelessly to preserve and improve the art of female

impersonation as one most essential treasure of their theatrical heritages. In addition, it is inadequate to consider such dedication to artistic achievement as acts of “cross-dressing” or “gender-crossing” because their main motive in adopting such life-long careers has never been anywhere close to a choice made on the basis of gender preference. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues

Filial Piety The Confucian thinkers of ancient China extolled this ethical tenet as “the basis of virtue and the source of all instruction,” and compiled a classic entitled Classic of Filial Piety (circa, 79 A.D.) in which they laid down such laws as the obligation of love and care for one’s parents, to give them a proper burial, and to reprimand them gently but firmly if they misbehave. To this law were related other ethical laws that would have far more political and gender impacts. The political impact was that the frequent occurrence of young emperors whose ability to rule was seriously eclipsed or even undermined by their mothers, the empress dowagers. One way for these empress dowagers to rule back stage was to form her inner circle of confidants (always eunuchs) who were absolutely loyal to her, but would always abuse their power and interfere with the emperors’ rule. As a result, many such young emperors and those enlisted in their service ended up in prison, execution or exile to remote border regions. The impact on gender roles was primarily in the feudal practice of arranged marriage in which the parents decide whom their daughter(s) should marry in total disregard of the will of their daughter(s). Film Reference: Ju Dou

Film Noir This is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas of 1940s and 1950s, particularly those that emphasized the hedonistic, cynical attitudes to obsessive material life and sexual adventures. Film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by a mixed sentiment of disillusion, fatalism and hard-core cynicism which people are vulnerable to after great human traumas, e.g. WWI, the Great Depression, etc. Its cast of characters usually features anti- heroes, femme fatales and gangster ringleaders. Its locations frequently are poor, urban neighborhoods in large cities. Hollywood film noirs in the 1950s typically explored the darker aspects of modernity, and usually set in a criminal milieu or the consequences of a criminal act. In the words of an unknown writer, film noirs begin this way: “ …The dark night of forsaken city streets, vistas of blissful angst and unholy pilgrimage. I have been there and known their inhabitants: deadly dames, drunken losers, dangerous hoods, crooked cops, dreamers of broken dreams, and flawed heroes.” Film Reference: Suzhou River

Gentrification This is a key term in the field of cultural criticism. In its common coverage, the term aims critically at the negative impact of the so-called enterprises of urban renewal or industrial construction that have been promoted and implemented in the name of social progress and/or welfare. Take the case of housing benefits in the film Oasis, new apartments have been built by the civil authorities with taxpayers’ money to expand and improve the living conditions especially for those underprivileged or handicapped people—inherently a noble cause for the greater good. But in reality, building contractors and government officials join hands in reaping profits out of such well-meant projects for their own good. To be expected, funds are illegally diverted or paid out as bonuses for those in charge; as a result, the prices for the new properties, and their power, water and other life-support facilities have been raised while the quality of the new housing has been compromised. In consequence, it is always the case that those underprivileged or handicapped cannot afford these renewed properties in the end and will be deprived of the chance to enjoy these benefits that they most deserve. In the case of Gong-ju, what her brother and sister-in-law obtained in their new apartment in size and quality is requested on behalf of her medical conditions. But she ends up having no chance to live in their new apartment, and to make matters worse, she is left behind in the old apartment, coping with a difficult life all by herself. Thus, Gong-ju can be viewed as a victim of social “gentrification.” Film Reference: Oasis

“Hear color and see sound.” Film Reference: Video clip: “The Crossroad Inn”

Long Take (a) vs. a Long Shot Among the shot types used in shooting a film, the long take is intrinsically the most useful and the ambiguous in its implied meanings. On one hand, it has been related to the traits of the theatrical stage in most non-western dramatic traditions; on the other, it has been notably used to carry out cinematic experiments by the non-main-stream filmmakers. The long take is so named because of the temporal duration of one shooting (a take), and the camera normally stays fixed in one shot frame while it keeps rolling, as is illustrated by the long-lasting shot of Gong-ju playing with her mirror reflections on the ceiling in Oasis. Rarely does the long take allow much shifting of the camera angle, but many Asian directors have allowed finely tuning with the camera focus to insert non-diegetic elements. Again, Chang-dong Lee’s innovative use of the long take in which he shifts the camera angle during a long take to allow the viewer to observe how the broken mirror’s reflections come alive and turn into butterflies. In comparison, a long shot is a shot that takes in many depths in the scene, but it

might be brief in duration. As a rule, the disparate depths of the shot extends deep along the axial view (a.k.a the perspective) to include figures, objects and scenes that become potentially meaningful to the storyline. Film Reference: Oasis Chungking Express

Martial Arts Legends vs. Kung-fu Action Movies These are two easily distinguishable genres in Hong Kong films. Martial arts legends usually stand for historical dramas in which actors wear period costumes and fight with swords, daggers and other ancient weapons. Dragon Gate Inn by King Hu is a prime example of that. Kung-fu action movies on the other hand refer to action movies always set in modern or contemporary times in which actors combat with fists or pistols. Jackie Chan’s Police Story III: Super Cop is such a case. In terms of their geographical preference, the former is inevitably set in the rural or remote frontier regions of China, whereas the latter is invariably located in urban centers in China like Shanghai or Hong Kong. In terms of narrative components, it is noticeable that the former consists of many fantastic and supernatural elements. Dragon Inn offers us the barbarian butcher who has mastered the movements of his knife to perfection that he can carve off flesh of a human corpse without hitting the blade against any bones (Cf. the Taoist allusion). For the latter, the narratives are spiced up with combats of hard hits and precise kicks in close range, which requires the actors to undertake rigorous and formidable training and rehearsals. A case in point is Jackie Chan’s acrobatic acts of holding onto the ladder of a circling chopper over the skyline of Kuala Lumpur. His acrobatic stunt does not leave any room for fantasy or supernatural imagination.

Melodrama Obviously an umbrella term which encompasses a wide range of high and low, general and specific, positive and deprecating meanings. There are a few key elements that invariably feature themselves: it is closely adapted from stage melodrama; it nearly always has music components accompanying it; it is based on a polarized struggle of good and evil; it relies on emphatic articulation of simple truths and relationships; it evokes a high degree of emotionalism and stark ethical conflict, but is neither comic nor tragic in intent and in effect. Applied to the context of Chinese films, it tends to highlight certain elements over others: it refers for instance to a prolonged human sufferings, exaggerated expression and acting, and extreme suspense, to mention a few. In particular, the melodrama has become a mode most suited to “martial arts” and Kung-fu films.

(The) Musical Related to the urban sub-culture of sing-song girls, this refers to filmed musicals chiefly of singing and dancing. Though not a major genre in Chinese cinema, the

musical was often used in early Chinese cinema (especially when sound films first appeared) to provide sing-song interludes. These interludes were usually shot not on stage, but in movie sets and were integrated successfully into the films’ story lines (such as in Street Angel). In the 1950s and early 1960s, the musical revived again in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Cf. the modern stage musical of Romeo & Juliet in The Phantom Lover

New Wave Cinema: Hong Kong In the Hong Kong context, New Wave cinema is not strictly “new,” but indeed wave-like. Beginning with films made by Ann Hui and Tsui Hark in 1979, New Wave Cinema in HK has always focused on the social underside of crime and corruption as its favored repertoire. In terms of innovations, for instance, the New Wave directors (this includes almost all Hong Kong directors because everyone of them has made at least one film at one time or another) did not break with the past or from self-reflexivity completely. Ann Hui was a popular director of TV drama series with comical but genuine social engagements before 1979, but when she made her The Secret (Fengjie), the plot of a murder crime took on the ghost/cadaver ambience even though her characters remained in the style of social realism. One common feature of New Wave cinema is therefore the ability of the directors to make momentary forays into different genres but stay the course with his/her stylistic forte. Another shared trait is their willingness to experiment with daring sensibilities when doing genre mix. Stanley Kwan has given us a premium example in Center Stage in which scenes of shooting a shot sequence reveal how a director cajoles the actress by asking her to act out her own life experience. A third quality of New Wave films is the rapport between directors and their critics, who swiftly and tirelessly channel public attention to a new trend. “Imagined nostalgia” for instance is one such trend fanned up by critics’ outcry for “recovery of the territory’s forgotten history and promotion among the public of the capacity for …reflection on their own present situation.” One can go even further to say that this has reached audience the world over by way of art-house and cult cinema. Film Reference Chungking Express

Non-diegetic (the) vs. the diegetic These two terms, forming a pair of contrasts, refer to all elements used in telling a story in a film. The diegetic stands for those elements, such as characters, location, time with all their related actions, which are immediately and directly relevant to the development of the story. These usually include words, objects and action shown in the storyline which apparently shape the beginning, the middle, the climax and the ending of what happens in the film. A good example would be the wire-tapping by Mrs Wu on Miss Du’s voice mail to Mr. Wu. The non-diegetic refers to those elements inserted into the storyline to divert, or suspend, or embellish what The most striking instance is the fire in a nearby place caught on camera while Hou Hsiao-hsien was shooting the scene of Ah Wan in Dust in the Wind.

Film Reference: The Personal

180-degree rule in shooting In typical Western cinema, there is a standard rule of shooting human characters carrying a conversation or joint action by a method called “shot/reverse shot.” The camera would consistently shift between Characters A and B to create a sense of communicating between the two characters continuously by virtue of the fact that the two characters or objects are positioned

within the 180 degree zone. Thus, it guarantees a connection and continuity between the two characters even when the other is in not directly in sight. However, this golden rule of shot continuity is broken by some innovative Asian directors such as Yasujiro Ozu and Hou Hsiao- hsien. They intentionally broke out of the sanctified 180-degree zone by positioning two subjects facing the same direction despite the fact they are engaged in a conversation. The reason for Ozu’s creative breach is probably that he believed in a broad and higher standard for achieving unity, connection and continuity amongst human communities. Film Reference Dust in the Wind Tokyo Story

Opera film

Immensely popular in 1920s and 1930s, opera films were usually based on productions of Chinese opera classics such as those in Peking Opera and those regional operas like Huangmei opera. They were filmed stage productions and the characters were always dressed in historical costumes. The opera films provided a link between the traditional Chinese operas with the modern and Western-inspired cinema, and remained principal form of Chinese cinema until the 1950s and 1960s. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues

Operatic Stage in the film (the) Inherited from the tradition of indigenous theaters, the stage served as the source of inspiration and nurtured many innovative techniques by the masters of early modern films in Asian countries. A case in point is the heavy use of the hallway as the center of domestic activities in a traditional home. The characters

involved would habitually enter and exit from either side of the shot frame, but seldom from its back. Ozu, the Japanese master of early modern cinema exhibited a heavy dose of such techniques in his Tokyo Story, which inspired the Taiwan director Hou Hsiao-hsien in his filming of Dust in the Wind. Film Reference: Dust in the Wind

Performed Identity Performed identity is not a neologism, but is profoundly related to performance as a basic human endeavor. It may be claimed that where there is human existence, there is performance of some sort. Performance is limited to something done by performing specialists to entertain others, such as theater, cinema, television and other visual arts; performance actually depends a great deal on how we live our everyday life; it is premised on any kind of human action that is done in front of an audience, even an audience of ONE, i.e., one’s self. In other words, performing a desired identity is likely to lead oneself to realize a more exemplary role in society or to overcome odds or transgress barriers in order to be identified with an desirable identity. To further define the word, Richard Schechner, has suggested four basic functions for performance: ritualizing, healing, education, and entertainment. (1993, 20) Of the four, two are possess potentials of making moral progress and ethical improvement. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues

Shadowplay Cleverly coined by splitting the word into two parts: shadow + play, the term refers to a common understanding of how early Chinese cinema combined traditional opera (play) with western optical technology (electric shadow). Film Reference: Video clip from Tsui Hark: Once upon a Time in China: Wong Fei-hung

Shaolin Temple A Buddhist Temple that trained martial arts fighters to master all kinds of fighting skills. It was located in South China’s Wu Dang Mountains and had historically been shut down several times by Imperial Armies who saw them as a hotbed for training rebels in times of social upheavals. When the Qing Court banned Shaolin Temple in late 19th century, the masters and disciples all had to disband in the south China region for survival. In 1910s and 1920s, many of these martial arts fighters regrouped to help the new Republic armies on its Northern China expedition to overthrow the Qing Court. Nowadays, thanks to widespread media imagery, Shaolin Temple has assumed a legendary stature as an advocate of martial arts perfection and moral righteousness. In reality, Shaolin Temple is now a tourist hotspot and it still enrolls and trains a small number of aspiring martial arts disciples.

“See something that is not there; not to see something that is

there.” Film Reference Video clip from Kabuki “the Heron Maiden”

Sick Man of East Asia A term used by foreigners to refer to the Chinese men at the turn of last century. It was one of the most devastating insults on the weak and submissive character of Chinese when they were defeated by the eight Imperialist powers that launched their invasion into northern China including its capital Beijing, burning, sacking and pillaging wildly along the way. As China struggled to transition from the Imperial past into the modern era, dispelling such a curse became a powerful motivation. In one of Bruce Lee’s movies, Fists of Fury, we see Lee smash such a sign with one of his kicks to the applause of Chinese onlookers.

Simulacrum A popular critical term in cultural sociology, simulacrum is often used by visual workers to create look-alike or semblance of the original image, but the make- over image is infinitely beautified to appeal to viewers or serve a certain purpose. Simulacrum is most notoriously abused in advertising industry to help create glamor shot or airbrushed portraits—deceptively improved images of real persons by means of visual illusions. The catch is in the deceptive lure of a beautified image created out of the ordinary original; yet when the simulacrum is associated with a commercial product, and it is beamed to the targeted customer hundreds of times a day, it ineluctably seduces the average person’s mind that he or she potentially looks the same as long as he/she possessed this product. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues The Personals

Sing-song girls The term refers to the courtesans in early Shanghai’s urban culture. The local dialect word for these courtesans was Xishang, a word phonetically similar with the English word “sing-song.” Thus, the corroded word was used to refer to the sub-culture in which musically trained girls entertained their clients at brothels in the early days of modern Shanghai. The sing-song subculture itself had evolved from traditional China’s male-centered practice of keeping high-cultured concubines, many of whom were eventually sold into brothels when these families’ riches declined. Film Reference: Peking Opera Blues

Stylization (in acting)

A key principle in acting on operatic stage, stylization requires the actor or the actress to perform with rigid, disciplined limb movements, highly symbolic poses and demonstrative facial expressions. This method of screen acting is usually found in films about event and figures the historical eras or in flashbacks inserted in films with modern storylines. Film Reference: Yojimbo Video clip from Hou Hsiao-hsien: Three Times

Transience in modern urban living Originally a Buddhist concept, transience of human existence stands for the brevity of human life and therefore the futility of men’s ambition and endeavor in whatever they try to accomplish. Ironically, the overall drift of our contemporary life has grown in such an uncanny way that echoes the cautionary ring of this Buddhist teaching: there is so much to choose from that we are bound to feel frustrated that there is so limited time or money to make a good choice. In the film, Chungking Express, for instance, air travel and fast food, two typical aspects of our global era, have been made so easy and accessible, that the true substance of relishing the personal bond with a place or the savory of local specialty foods has been diluted or canceled out altogether. In addition, living in a hub of international travel such as Hong Kong has made it even more ephemeral and transient. Film Reference: Chungking Express Dust in the Wind