Controversies of British Film Quotas in Post-war South-East Asia
Nga Li Lam (Independent)
Inspired by a renewed interest in ‘imperial history’, this paper takes a look at the colonial connections in post-war South-East Asia via the successful as well as unsuccessful implementations of British film quotas. In particular, with the aids of archival documents, the author looks into Hong Kong and Singapore, where film industries became closely knotted and British film quota was almost simultaneously introduced in the aftermath of WWII.
In Singapore, the concept of ‘British films in any language’ was brought forth among controversies over implementing a quota bill aiming to extend to ‘vernacular’ (non-English) theatres; while in Hong Kong, British film quota remained applicable to only English theatres, and consequently, faced little challenge, until it was removed altogether in 1971.
This study hopes not only to supplement existing studies of British film quota, but also to bring about a more nuanced understanding of the colonial role in the ‘cinematic cold war’ of the region—in that more than being an ally of the American, the British was also a contester against Hollywood hegemony and a blueprinter of Commonwealth.
The Forgotten Global Influence of the Zatoichi Franchise
Jonathan Wroot (University of Greenwich)
Zatoichi is one of the longest running chanbara (sword action) media franchises. It began as a film franchise in 1962, became a TV series from 1974 to 1979, and then carried on as a film franchise until 2010. The premise of the story is constant – a blind master swordsman wanders the roads of medieval Japan. The series charts an illustrative view of the history of the chanbara genre, and the Japanese film industry in general. The later history of the franchise signifies developments in the genre’s traits, and the impact the films were having outside of Japan.
The franchise got bloodier as it went along, with the 1989 film having the highest body count in the series. 1989 would also see similar violence and iconography within Hollywood productions, such as the Zatoichi remake, Blind Fury (1989); The Punisher (1989); and Robocop 3 (1993). This imagery would go on to be influential in future Hollywood productions, but would also characterise later Japanese chanbara films.
What is often forgotten is the impact the Zatoichi films had outside of Hollywood and Japan. Taiwan, Indonesia, a minor appearance in Cuba, and indirect homages in South Korea, all help to signify the global reach that this famous Japanese character has had. Recent homages in productions funded by Netflix and Lucasfilm may be well-known amongst fans and critics, but the paths that Zatoichi took to achieve this recognition are not necessarily common knowledge.
This paper will illustrate the lesser known points of history, concerning the Zatoichi film and TV franchise. This follows on from my first monograph published in 2021, which is also the first study, in the English language, concerning the history of Zatoichi the blind swordsman.
The Visibility of Local Short Film During Covid 19 Pandemic
Dyna Herlina Suwarto (University of Nottingham)
The covid-19 pandemic disrupted the short film distribution as many film festivals, micro and open-air cinemas were forbidden, however Youtube provided another spotlight for the medium. TILIK, a Javanese language short film, gained virality among Indonesian in the September 2020 and several months after. This research explores the impact of Youtube popularity for the local film company and filmmakers under the framework of attention economy and media industries studies. Interview and observation were conducted to analyze how was the semi professional filmmakers translated the audience attention and symbolic capital into larger economic opportunity for their carrier. The study revealed that the virality of the short film provided film company and filmmaker reputation that attracted some collaborators for different kind projects such as advertisement, social campaign, product placement and feature films. The audience attention and industrial recognition significantly contributed leveling up the filmmaker carrier from semi professional to professional mode of production.
The Ways for South Korean Cinema to Cross the Border
Hyo-Jeong Lee (Southern Illinois University)
As observing the viral success of Squid Game (2021), and the critical success of Parasite (2020), I see dramatic changes in the ways in which Westerners have appreciated South Korean media. Lately, Western critics and audiences seem to find their own realities in the descriptions of increased polarization of wealth in a country of Asia. The South Korean reality is highly relevant to now, here, and them.
However, just going back about a decade, the situations were very different. One of major trends of Korean films that caught Westerners’ eye was extreme cinema displaying violence, horror and shocking plots: Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, Kim Ki-duk’s works, and independent films such as The Journal of Musan (2010), and Bedevilled (2010). These films depict Korean reality as being encroached by excessive violence through extreme rage of men or brutal sexuality against women. As seen in major critics’ reviews on the films, “transcendent vision of the passions and desire,” “exploring human nature and transcendence, moving from the bitterness and sadism”, they embraced the reality on the films not as one of contemporary societies but as abstract/imaginary/primal frame.
These interpretations are line with orientalism, that westerners’ traditional belief that there is still something pristine and original in exotic Asia, which is more clearly revealed in the fame and popularity of Im Kwon-taek’s self-orientalizing films in the 1980s and 90s.
In this paper, as connecting textual analysis of the films and film criticisms, I will historically approach how Western perspectives on South Korean cinema have been transformed, and what the changes mean in the cultural relationship.