When it comes to Asian films, the audience can seldom avoid mentioning pure love films, one of the most outstanding film genres in East Asia, featured by delicate sentiment, touching plot and unique aestheticism. In these tear gases the viewers can easily find that pain-recovery complex does exist: unrealistic romance beyond time and space can heal the audience’s pain to some extent. The paper argues pure love in East Asian romance films in crisscross of time and space plays a significant role in relieving historical, national or individual pain through parallel narrative styles, taking Japanese pure love film Love Letter (1995), South Korean romantic film The Classic (2003) and Hong Kong nostalgia film The City of Glass (1998) for example. So the following paragraphs will analyze these films from three aspects: socio-cultural characteristics in each region and parallel narrative styles, as well as the thematic trait of pain-recovery.
Socio-cultural characteristics
History and society exert a major effect on cultural products, including films. Despite different social, political and geographical influences the three movies share similar creation background: turbulent society results in domestic trauma.
Japan has experienced great economy recovery after World War II, thanks to America’s financial assistance and the rapid development of heavy industry. It became the first Asian country that hosted Tokyo Olympics Games in 1964 and Osaka World Expo in 1970, reaching an average annual economic growth of more than 10 percent, becoming the world's second largest economy in 1970s and achieving 30 years of economic growth until the 1980s. Implicated by the appreciation of the Yen and low interest rate policy, however, Japan has underg...
... middle of paper ...
...purpose of giving audience criss-cross pure love experience that is more shinning, warmer, brighter and full of hope, these films have successfully provided a psychological healer to the target audience in the special era, encouraging them to keep moving on.
Work Cited
Chu, Shuangyue. Hong Kong Nostalgia Movies: Pursuing and Constructing Identity. Beijing: China Film Press, 2011. Print.
Iwai, Shunji, Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Miki Sakai, and Takashi Kashiwabara. Love Letter. Hong Kong: Panorama Entertainment, 2006.
Kwak Chae-yon, Son, Ye-jin, Cho, Sŭng-u, Cho, In-sŏng. The Classic. Hong Kong: Edko Video Ltd, 2003.
Qiu, Shuting. Zhong Ri Han Dian Ying: Li Shi, She Hui, Wen Hua. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010. Print.
Zhang, Wanting, Lai, Leon, Shu, Qi, Wu, Yanzu, Zhang, Shenyue. City of Glass. Hong Kong: Golden Harvest, 1999.
Grainge, P., Jancovich, M., & Monteith, S. (2012). Film Histories; An introduction and reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
While watching Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right and High Art, I realized how these films had similar themes. Of course the movie The Kids Are All Right is a comedy about a family and how they come together to overcome mistakes and difficulties; on the other hand, High Art is about photographers and editors of magazines living in New York and finding of love inter...
Through these, the portrayal of the complex nature of happiness is shown to contribute to the enduring value of the film through the realistic style of the film and by showing different perspectives on the same person showing the audience that different people view actions in different
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
Mimura, Glen M. "What Is Asian American Cinema." Introduction. Ghostlife of Third Cinema: Asian American Film and Video. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2009. N. pag. Pdf.
Being one of the world’s most popular art forms, it was inevitable that these archetypes would find their way into film as well. In this essay I will argue that the films Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Watership Down, and Trainspotting are all versions of The Hero’s Journey, consequently demonstrating just how prevalent these archetypes have become in modern cinema. And that mythology and storytelling are important parts of each culture because they prevent the darkness in our hearts from spreading.
Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.
Meng Long Guo Jiang. Dir. Bruce Lee, Concord Productions Inc., Golden Harvest Company 1972, Film
McDougall, Bonnie. "Problems and Possibilities in Translating Contemporary Chinese Literature." The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs (1991): 37-67.
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
In this paper I will offer a structural analysis of the films of Simpson and Bruckheimer. In addition to their spectacle and typically well-crafted action sequences, Simpson/Bruckheimer pictures seem to possess an unconscious understanding of the zeitgeist and other cultural trends. It is this almost innate ability to select scripts that tap into some traditional American values (patriotism, individualism, and the obsession with the “new”) that helps to make their movies blockbusters.
Young, Ed. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China. New York: Philomel Books. 1989.
2. Journey from the Fall. Dir. Ham Tran. Perf. Kieu Chinh and Long Nguyen and Diem
Love is a word that’s been both miss-used and over-used all at once. Romantic movies change our definition of and have a big impact on this definition greatly. There have been many movies and novels made over love, but never like this. “The Notebook” is a love story about unconditional love that two people have for each other. This emotionally, heart touching story will have your eyes blood-shot and burning from you not wanting to blink your eyes. This tremendously wonderful love story will have you not wanting to even miss a millisecond of this heart throbbing film. With many plot twists and many scenes that will have you falling off of your seat and you not having any nails by the end of the movie, this is the movie for you. This emotionally rich film is full of action, laughter, and romance, which is the perfect trio combination. This movie shows us how love can bind us together forever. This film went above and
Romance movies have this weird love that goes on in them. Some characteristics include; sex scenes, lovey dovey affection, hate (sometimes) that ends up in love, marriages, divorces, new found love, and really anything that can happen between a man and female, female and female, man and man, whichever someone prefers. Romance movies are often seen as “chick flicks” while some may agree, others disagree. The ONLY reason they are considered “chick flicks” is because it’s a romance and theirs sappy love. There is no real evidence of it being labeled as a “chicks only flick”, men actually prefer to watch some of those movies. It doesn’t make them weak, homosexual acting, a pansy, or anything else men might call other men. Romance movies and novels are highly bought in stores. Who knows? It may be bought by your future husband or wife. And, since this paper is describing the differences, parents might look at this and decide whether or not to show the kids these types of