Viva Tonal: Engendering a Golden Age with the Bodies of Divas Aside from focusing on minority groups like homosexual subjects, Taiwanese documentary filmmakers have also been actively engaging themselves in the renewal of historical narration since the 1987 lifting of the martial law. Viva Tonal: The Dance Age (2003) by Jian Weisi and Guo Zhendi is by all means a quintessential example among this kind of “revisionist” rewriting. It betrays the simplistic official story, the confrontation between the colonizers and the colonized during Japanese occupation in Taiwan, thus reinterpreting the colonial period as a golden age that is imbued with the splendor of modernization in order to visualize the nearly forgotten Taiwanese cultural legacy …show more content…
In such context, the images of the pop divas’ bodies contribute to the shaping of a shared utopia that is intertwined with the collective euphoria originated from the progressiveness of modernization. When discussing Mainland Chinese cinema, female film stars and imagination of the modernity in the 1920s and 1930s, Katherine Hui-ling Chou argues that since modern lifestyles of female actresses were believed as the best incarnation of the film that was an emerging kind of media culture then, female film stars as “modern maidens” (modeng nülang 摩登女郎) thus became an important “logo” of the so-called “film industry.” In a word, female actresses had to represent the public image of “film” or modern urban culture in addition to their primary jobs: completing dramatic performance on screen. In the same way, pop divas in Viva Tonal also bear social functions through their body performance. The entertaining utopia they share with the masses is both a reservoir for the public desires and a mirror for the collective fantasies. Take Chunchun, a Taiwanese popular singer whose stories exists in the recollections of the interviewees (including the coeval singer Ai’ai and a couple of employees recruited by Columbia Records Company), as an example, pop divas are not only “artistic actors” in musical representation, but also “social actors” in social practice and cultural
This essay argues that the film Bridesmaids transcends traditional representations of feminine desire that exhibits women as spectacles of erotic pleasure, through the symbolic reversal of gender identity in cinematic spaces. By discussing feminist perspectives on cinema, along with psychoanalytic theory and ideological narratives of female image, this essay will prove Bridesmaids embodies a new form of feminine desire coded in the space of the comedic film industry.
Today’s culture sees a gap between the male and female gender. This is evident in everything from the films we watch, music we listen to, and even in our everyday lives. Historically, this issue has seen an even larger gap, and can be observed in the films that were made during that time. Vertigo and Citizen Kane both show the objectification of women by controlling them, writing them in supportive roles, and placing their value in the way that they look.
Imagine it – all the rules you were raised to follow, all the beliefs and norms, everything conventional, shattered. Now imagine It – Clara Bow, the It Girl. The epitome of the avant-garde woman, the archetype of the flapper, was America’s new, young movie actress of the 1920’s. Modern women of the day took heed to Bow’s fresh style and, in turn, yielded danger to the conventional America. Yet Bow’s contagious and popular attitude came with its weaknesses - dealing with fame and the motion picture industry in the 1920’s. Despite this ultimate downfall, Clara’s flair reformed the youth and motion pictures of her time.
While still acting within a male paradigm, given the film’s director is a man, Departures still manages to give its female characters the space and time necessary to create depth and a strong, essential narrative. While the film does the work of deconstructing the bias against women in film, the view is left to absorb these characters and appreciate them as the strong figures they are without reducing them to or denying them of their womanhood. This turn towards modern feminism represents a trend of post-war Japanese film towards globalization and anticipating the role of international film festivals in the films demographic. While Takita sets up the film against the universally accessible themes of death, honor and questions of womanhood, he also teases the specifics out with predominantly Japanese cultural references. The end product is a film that resonates with everyone, but rings particularly true to Japanese culture, while nodding its head to the changing nature of Japanese womanhood and all that
Film making has gone through quite the substantial change since it’s initial coining just before the turn of the 19th century, and one would tend argue that the largest amount of this change has come quite recently or more so in the latter part of film’s history as a whole. One of the more prominent changes having taken place being the role of women in film. Once upon a time having a very set role in the industry, such as editing for example. To mention briefly the likes of Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker and so forth. Our female counterparts now occupy virtually every aspect of the film making industry that males do; and in many instances excel past us. Quite clearly this change has taken place behind the lens, but has it taken
American pop culture recently received flak for cultural appropriation. Artists such as Katy Perry and Selena Gomez were criticized for superficially incorporating Asian images into their music. However, cultural appropriation and cultural tourism – and its consequences – are commonly seen in relation to traditional culture; this lack of attention towards visual representation of modern Asian subcultures – in relation to Asian Americans – dismisses the potential impact of these images. A visual analysis of Avril Lavinge’s “Hello Kitty” and Gwen Stefani’s appearances with the Harajuku Girls reveals that the use of Japan’s Harajuku subculture in American pop culture perpetuates Asian American stereotypes. Specifically, these acts contain characteristics of the submissive “lotus blossom” stereotype and the invisibility that comes from this stereotype. These characteristics result in an insidious formation of race; Avril Lavinge and Gwen Stefani’s cultural tourism constructs the concept of an American that excludes the Asian body through contrasts between themselves and the background Asian body. This racial formation relies on the idea that the two artists have become part of the Harajuku culture, yet they are clearly distinguishable from the homogenized Asian body.
All About Eve is an American drama from the 1950’s about a woman named Eve Harrington who manipulates her way into the life of Margo Channing, a Broadway star. The implicit meaning of the movie is the plot of Eve working her way into the light of fame. The explicit meaning of the movie, however, is exposing people’s obsession of fame, ambition, and stopping at nothing to get there. My viewer expectation is that I would not be interested in the movie because older movies are tiresome to me, especially if they are in black and white. However, I was surprised that I really enjoyed watching this movie and I was very impressed with it. Part of analyzing the film is being able to understand and figure out the intentions of the movie. This movie could be misinterpreted because people may believe it is trying to expose the truth of life in theater. However, the film All About Eve is really about is the obsession and want for fame – at any and all costs. This theme gives significant insight into the human condition, and is cultivated through the genre, brilliant screenplay, casting, costumes, director’s style and mise-en-scene, cinematography, camera angles, and sound effects.
The Asian women interviewed in this film spoke candidly about their experiences in the entertainment industry. This film shows a comprehensive look at media stereotypes of Asia and Asian American women since the silent era. One point that the film brought up was that many white women played Asian women in early Hollywood films. One actress who frequently played an Asian woman was Katherine Hepburn. I can’t imagine how insulted I would be if I was an Asian actress who was losing roles to an American woman.
Asai, Susan Miyo. Nōmai Dance Drama: A Surviving Spirit of Medieval Japan. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
At the point when a lady is depicted in films, she is either pursuing adoration, sexualized or delineated as a housewife. Contrary to popular belief, today’s society has developed the media to become a source of great influence in our everyday lives.
Women’s roles in movies have changed dramatically throughout the years. As a result of the changing societal norms, women have experienced more transition in their roles than any other class. During the period of classical Hollywood cinema, both society and the film industry preached that women should be dependent on men and remain in home in order to guarantee stability in the community and the family. Women did not have predominated roles in movies such as being the heroin. The 1940’s film Gilda wasn’t an exception. In Gilda, the female character mainly had two different stereotypes. The female character was first stereotyped as a sex object and the second stereotyped as a scorned woman who has to be punished.
This essay will explore the connections that can be drawn between classical music -such as baroque, and romantic eras- and the genre of heavy metal. The essay will hopefully show why heavy metal is more technically similar to works by classical composers than any other genre of music. It will also discuss three main aspects about heavy metal's relationship with social and political events, such as how classical music enjoys the recognition of high art status, where as heavy metal does not, yet a significant connection can be made; how heavy metal is regarded as musically illiterate, but studies suggest otherwise; and how both genres of music punctuate intense emotions through dramatic instrumentation.
The beginning of Lady Gaga’s career, unbenowst to the majority, dedicated itself soley for fame culture commentary. When Lady Gaga released her widely acclaimed album “The Fame” in August 2008, she sold 12 million copies of an album based off of the whole concept of being in a culture obsessed with becoming the celebrity as the ultimate validation of living. The media, obsessed with Lady Gaga’s whole concept, absorbed her presence in the spotlight and made her into a massive worldwide star. She once told Rolling Stone, “I want people to walk around delusional about how great they can be — and then to fight so hard for it every day that the lie becomes the truth” (Lady Gaga). Her manipulation of the public is possible from the culture revolving around celebrities. Celebration of celebrity culture is perpetuated throughout media outlets and consumed by public masses. In the Empire of Illusion, Chris Hedges discusses celebrity culture and its underlying connections to pseudo-events, which are a form of mass media manipulation through a carefully crafted event. Celebrity culture and pseudo-events are often forces for economic gains through the deception of the public.
Released in 2000, and called the "…love story of the new millennium" (Time Out New York), In the Mood for Love (2000) is one of the best and most underrated foreign film. From its nostalgic depiction of the 1960s to its artistically appealing cinematography, this film has become a staple in the ever evolving, fast-paced film industry. Consequently, after having watched it I was in a daze for days, day dreaming about the characters, reimaging their fates, this movie could not leave me. I wouldn’t let it. Furthermore, I was more inclined to analyze In the Mood for Love after having watched another Wong Kar Wai masterpiece, Chung King Express (1994), because the resonating power both these films have had on me are immensely powerful. It is extremely rare when a filmmaker has the ability to really leave a mark on your life, twice. The film, In the Mood for Love is produced under the shroud of the Hong Kong New Wave movement (1978-2000), in particularly the Second Wave. This film movement analyzes major social issues grappling Hong Kong such as decolonization, social class, and the importance of women in a rising global economy. As a result the following analysis will chronicle the details of the Hong Kong Second Wave film movement, along with a detailed description of Wong Kar Wai’s film aesthetics, and a deep evaluation of the acclaimed movie, In the Mood for Love.