Juan Monroy — History of Film: East-Asian Cinema

The Age of Three Worlds
- First World
- Second World
- Third World
- China is a mix of…
  - Second World State-Run Economy
  - Third World Underdevelopment
1949 Chinese Revolution
- Formation of People’s Republic of China
  - October 1, 1949
  - led by Mao Zedong
  - organized vast mainland into a centralized nation
- Soviet style
  - government
  - economy
- Land Reform
  - transfer ownership from private to public hands
  - equalize the wealth gap between peasants and landlords
Fourth Generation of Chinese Cinema
- Leadership of PRC
  - Chairman Liu Shaoqui
  - Party Secretary General Deng Xiaoping
- Chinese cinema was like Socialist Realism
  - narrow
  - dogmatic
- Like Soviet Cinema, policies governing cinema
  - strict government censorship
  - phases of liberalization
Cultural Revolution
- Decade of Cultural Repression, 1966–1976
  - resulted in stunted economic growth
  - film industry also suffered
- Mao Zedong instituted “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”
  - aided by the People’s Liberation Army
  - purged Mao’s enemies
  - seized newspapers
  - called on students to form a youth army, the Red Guard
- Mao soon controlled Beijing and attacked…
  - intellectuals
  - artists
  - bureaucrats
  - any semblance of western thinking
Teachings of the Cultural Revolution
- Little Red Book
  - quotations from Chairman Mao
  - carried everywhere in China
  - billions of copies distributed
- Peasant Reeducation
  - uneducated peasants were considered ideal revolutionary citizens
  - city dwellers were sent to farms
  - citizens were supposed to return to cities to reeducate their urban peers
Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four
- closed down the film industry
- all foreign films and pre–1966 films were banned
- movies at theaters were mostly newsreels
“Revolutionary Model Performance”
- film versions of fictional stage plays
  - Peking Opera
  - Traditional Ballet
  - Revolutionary Military Subjects
- films were screened incessantly
- only ideological acceptable fiction form
- compare with Socialist Realism
End of the Mao Era
- Deng Xiaoping instituted polices of mild reform
  - Free Enterprise Programs
    - sale of agricultural produce
    - joint ventures with international companies
End of the Cultural Revolution
- Beijing Film Academy reopened 1978
- Pre–1966 Chinese films were re-released
- Foreign films once again imported
- Film production climbed from 19 (1977) to 125 (1986) films
Fifth Generation of Filmmakers
- First class of graduates from Beijing Film Academy
- trained in Mao’s writing but autonomous in thinking
- exposed to many foreign films
- assigned to work in film studios in the Chinese provinces
Films of the Fifth Generation
- Similar to European art cinema
  - psychologically deep
  - complex narratives
  - heavy symbolism
  - vivid imagery
- Films were inaccessible to peasant audiences
  - 80% of the population could not understand Fifth Generation films
  - films did not do well financially
  - officials in 1986–87 demanded more accessible, profitable films
Timeline of the Fifth Generation
- 1978
  - Beijing Film Academy reopens
- 1982
  - Filmmakers from reopened Beijing Film Academy graduate
- 1983
  - One and Eight
  - The Candidate
- 1984
  - Yellow Earth
  - Secret Decree
  - The Big Parade
- 1985
  - In the Wild Mountains
  - Army Nurse
  - Swan Song
  - The Black Cannon Incident
  - On the Hunting Ground
  - The Dove Tree
- 1986
  - Old Well
  - The Stand-In
  - The Horse Thief
  - The Last Day of Winter
- 1987
  - Far From War
  - The Drum Singers
  - Red Sorghum
  - King of the Children
  - The Sun and the Rain
- 1988
  - Evening Bell
- 1989
  - June: Tiananmen Square Massacre
End of the Fifth Generation
- Government’s 1989 violent repression of pro-democracy movement
  - Tiananmen Square massacre (1989)
  - put an end to liberalized Fifth Generation filmmaking
  - most Fifth Generation Filmmakers left for other countries
- After 1989, Chinese cinema would exist in an international Asian scene
  - Hong Kong
  - Taiwan
Formation of Taiwan in 1949
- island nation
- long occupied by Japan
- 2 million mainlanders left in 1949 to flee Mao’s revolution
  - Jian Jie-shi
  - formed an authoritarian state
Taiwanese Film Industry
- Central Motion Picture Company
- anti-communist documentaries
- light commercial fare
  - costume operas
  - comedies
  - love stories
Health Realism melodrama
- Influenced from Hong Kong films (1960s)
- fiction films
  - Beautiful Duckling (1965)
- didactic messages
  - promoted strong moral values
  - in light of rapid social changes/modernization
- production reached over 200 films per year
Taiwan’s changing demographics
- manufacturing and modern technology
- Jiang’s promise to recapture the mainland was dead
- Taiwan’s youth sought distinct cultural identity
- college educated and urban white-collar workers disdained action pictures and romances
Taiwanese Film Culture
- Taiwan National Film archive (1979)
- annual film festival (1982)
- film magazines
- European films screened in universities and small theaters
- an educated affluent audience was ready for a new national art cinema
Taiwanese First New Wave (1982–1990)
- home video became a popular way to watch films
- low-budget films could attract audiences and win film festivals
  - In Our Time (1982)
    - anthology film made by four filmmakers
      - Edward Yang
      - Te-Chen Tao
      - I-Chen Ko
      - Yi Chang
  - Sandwich Man (1983)
Taiwanese New Wave: Neorealism and Nouvelle Vague
- on-location camera work
- episodic narration
  - lack of climaxes
  - pace would resemble real life
- non-professional actors
- autobiographical stories
- elliptical editing
- Topics
  - urbanization
  - poverty
  - conflict with political authority
- Edward Yang
- Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwanese Second New Wave (1990-Present)
- popularity of video entertainment
  - videocassette piracy
  - imports from Hong Kong
- marital law was lifted
  - censorship was relaxed
  - films addressing Taiwanese history and identity
- content
  - less serious
  - more populist
- Tsai Ming
  - Vive L’Amour (1994)
- Stan Lai
  - The Peach Blossom Land (1992)
- Ang Lee
  - Pushing Hands (1991)
  - Wedding Banquet (1993)
  - Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
  - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
- challenges
  - directly competing with Hollywood
  - less than 20 films annually
  - piracy continues to threaten industry
Hong Kong Cinema
- leader in film production since 1949
  - exporting to Southeast Asian countries
  - Chinatowns in Western countries
- Vertical Integration
  - Shaw Brothers
  - Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest Company
  - low production costs
  - steady supply of films
- Relaxed censorship
  - Hollywood-like films
  - lower costs enabling quicker profits
Bilingual Film Production
- Mandarin
  - higher budgets
  - higher production values
  - larger export markets
  - influx of filmmakers from Shanghai
- Cantonese
  - sometimes more numerous
  - second-tier status
  - Cantonese operas
  - low budget martial arts film (kung fu)
Hong Kong Film Culture
- Hong Kong Film Festival 1977
- serious film magazines
- college courses
- strong domestic production
HKG films after 1980s
- genres
  - martial arts
  - political thrillers
  - contemporary comedies
  - underworld action films
- modern urban culture
  - Cantonese
  - linguistic autonomy from Mainland
Hong Kong New Wave
- social commentary
- psychological nuance
- filmmakers
  - Ann Hui
    - The Secret (1979)
      murder mystery
    - Spooky Beach (1980)
      ghost story
    - Story of Viet Woo (1981)
      foreshadows the rise of the “hero” crime film
    - Boat People (1982)
      explains the poltical oppression that drives Vietnamese to Hong Kong
  - Shi Kei
    - Sealed with a Kiss (1981)
      love affair between two handicapped adolescents
  - Allen Fong
    - Father and Son (1981)
      an homage to 400 Blows
Hong Kong Action Films
- rapid fire pace
- revamping of popular genres
- ended the New Wave
- filmmakers
  - Tsui Hark
    - Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain (1982)
      supernatural kung fu
    - Shanghai Blues (1984)
    - Peking Opera Blues (1986)
      mixtures of martial arts, comedy and sentimental romance borrows from New Hollywood
  - John Woo
    - A Better Tomorrow (1986)
      - foundation for the hero action films
      - sensitive, romanticized gangsters
    - The Killer (1991)
  - moved to USA to produce Hollywood films
Hong Kong after the New Waves
- Shaw Brothers ceased production
- Golden Harvest established headquarters in the West
- Hong Kong film audiences were fiercely loyal
- Western audiences saw Hong Kong in the 1990s as a cult object
  - flamboyant style
  - gangster hero cycle of films
Wong Kar-Wai