Chinese Works of Diasporic Cinema - Coursework Example

Name: Institution: Professor: Course: Date of Submission: Diasporic Cinema Introduction Chinese works of diasporic cinema have taken centre stage in foreign grounds, gaining popularity in the big stages and winning awards. Thus, they depict an essence of Chinese language analysis and martial arts such as “The Red cliff”, the four hour long production, “Crouching tiger”, and “Hidden dragon”. The core to such outstanding ovations includes the likes of John Woo, who together with other refugees and immigrants scampered for safety during the political instability in China characterized by Cultural Revolution. He pitched camp in Hong Kong, a British colony during the early 1940s at a tender age of five. He was later sponsored by an American family to pursue his education within the locality. Gradually his passion for cinema escalated through his affiliation with the local catholic school. In 1969 he was endorsed as a stage assistant in Defunct studio in which he was afterwards absorbed by Shaw Brothers as an assistant to Zhang Che who was very influential in Woo’s directorship in Golden Harvest studio (Robert, P.177 pp 1-2). Several set backs accompanied him for instance box-office failures within the local market comedies. As mechanism of transitioning he moved to Taiwan directing “A Better Tomorrow” triggering his directorial career to optimism. “Once a Thief”, “Bullet in the head” and “The killer” was a landmark to his derbies in the film industry ensnaring the local and foreign audience (Hollywood executives). This earned him a contract in Hollywood, staying for more than a decade in U.S where he later on directed “The Red Cliff” in 2008 (P.177, p 3). Film production and Aesthetics In the dawn of the 21st century Ang Lee’s production that is the “Crouching Tiger” and “Hidden Dragon” made conspicuous modest budgets $15 million and returns more than ten times the expenditure outdoing all other Chinese language films specifically in Asia. Moreover the films made tremendous sales in USA earning $128 million on theaters and $112 million on DVD rentals making them the most commercial foreign language film in U.S and film that found mammoth foreign audience in America. Due to its popularity it paved way for the lucrative American market in film industries mainly in Asia and was nominated in the top ten best foreign language film (Christina, pp.18). Red Cliff document the virtual past of China and it is the most expensively produced film in Chinese mainstream language film. It is an effort to make the past acknowledged. Marketing of the film was budgeted at $80 million funded by investors of Asian descent, produced by companies based in Asia that is China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. It hence adheres to Chinese-language epics directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon). Consequently this exemplifies an epic genre with Eastern qualities inducing the national feeling in the Chinese ethnicity with its installments encasing Chinese cultural revels. In this event it creates a stage in which we view history and living through it magnifying the impacts of lack of national unity (Robert, 2010 pp. 178-179) The red cliff First installment: It entails two conflicting blocs in the turmoil ancient China. One of the opposing factions is composed of righteous persons. It features Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) as the core character and Zhunge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). On the other opposing end is a historical odium Cao with his raging thirst for power. The film restages the battle of Chi Bi, the last battle Cao indulged in with Liu Bei and Sun Quan prior to the division of into a tripartite territory, the three kingdoms. It marked the era of China’s disunity, Cao for instance with his 800,000 soldiers used his military advantage to defeat Liu in the battle of Changban. Liu with his troops later on retreated to the Southeast. Opposed to being defeated his advisory Zhunge encouraged him to join forces with Sun in order to face Cao, in which was a success. Cao’s troops belittling his associates indulging themselves in worldly pleasures impacting to the losing the battle. It hence marked the end of the first installment (Robert, 2010 pp. 178-179). Second installment: The second installment unfolds through the use of cunning tricks that are used by Zhou and Zhuge leading Cao executing two of his generals. Through counter spying using Sun’s sister Shangxiang, Xiao Qiao and Zhou’s wife they acquire vital information by creating disturbance on Cao’s side. Cao is thereafter defeated by Sun and his allies with prowess wit employed. Due to seasickness Cao ties his ships together to calm down more incidences. Eventually Cao’s army are burnt defeated and sent back to the North (Robert, 2010 pp. 178-179). Historical Aesthetics Woo uses various techniques such as use of minimal information on screens targeting the audiences’ acquaintance of his past. Apart from that he adheres to eastern ideals while making use of western techniques. To maintain Chinese ideals and culture he employs imagery. In this sense lots may get lost due to less familiarity with his history. The film hence revives the feeling of national unity and social collectivism making the film a classic romance of the three conflicting kingdoms. Woo therefore similar to other film makers use this to express his grievances towards his homeland. However due to the diversity of film makers some elements are difficult to capture for example “The Red Cliff” we observe two visual elements: restructuring of the battle scenes to depict the historical nature of Chinese origin. The village well and the eight-trigram Chinese military strategy relay the Chinese universe. Another element includes the embodiment of the director’s view of the world. The village well is seen to be a silent killer where Zhao Yun salvages Liu’s son depicting Cao’s unlawful aggression on the allies. In China ancient past it was seen as a life nourishing lessening the chances of Liu’s wife survival, about to drop the child into the well. Thus it results into disunity of the country whereby biblical Moses is used to show a humanitarian act leading the slaves from Egypt enhancing the character of Liu. On the other hand the trigrams apart from relaying the natural elements it’s also used for other purposes. For instance the transitioning universe and gives an advantage to the troops over their foes (Robert, 2010 pp. 178-179). The Crouching Tiger Apart from their popularity as a foreign film and finances it plays a pivotal role in promoting Chinese locals and globalizing culture. For instance “The Crouching tiger” relays China’s sole history, ethnicity, ethics and aesthetic customs. Thus it is based on a pre-World War II novel by Wang Du Lu in Chinese which is typically written in Chinese, not yet translated. The novel was set in the Jiang hu gangland of bandits and idols in the Qing dynasty. The tale revolves around the Taoist desire in the direction of trailing the ‘way’ and sense of compulsion to others. It is hence concerned about two martial artists that are Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh who are supposed to salvage a sword stolen by Zhang Ziyi patrician woman (Christina, 2004, pp.19). The film is dominated by tribal Chinese and several other East Asian actors. It was shot on China mainland, Gobi desert, Taklimakan plateau, northern Tibet, city of Urunqi, bamboo forest of Anji, southern China and Chengde imperial city on the Northern part. Therefore this background creates a better cinematic view by use of bureaucrat for all the discourse. This is hence exemplified by works of directors of the local diverse Chinese film industry including John Woo and Chen Kaige among others. The production of the film involved five different film companies that are United China Vision, created by Ang lee and Bill Kong of Edko Films in Hong Kong and Hsu Li Kong of Zoom Hunt Production in Taiwan. Apart from that, Asia Union Film and Entertainment, state-run China Film Co-production Corporation With soundtracks being recorded, shooting and editing of the films in different localities Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York (Christina, 2004, pp.20-21). The film has global traits through the contribution of James Schumas and Ang Lee complicating Chineseness. It is viewed by various media channels as an act of local resistance, especially the New York Times which asserts by Salman Rushdie. “Crouching tiger” has many phases essentially grounded on numerous geographic sites accompanied by several artistic associations failing to fit into one cultural setting. In comparison with “Ride with the Devil” he uses a Western perspective which depicts the encroachment of western culture. For instance in Taiwan most old people grumble concerning kids developing foreign characters eventually losing the seed culture (Christina, 2004, pp.20-30). Furthermore the film has both a global and local nature though many viewers tend to identify it as Chinese origin. James structured a financing scheme which enhanced endowment from Sony which is Tokyo based, Columbia Pictures Production Asia, Latin American and Asian rights considering the current trends of Hollywood. However, most of the investments sprouted from a bank in Paris and Los Angeles insuring the production. However, some critics such as Derek Elley condemned Ang Lee for being a “cultural chameleon”. He emphasizes that the endorsement of the western cinematic conventions is meant to appeal Western clientele and lack of real martial arts skills gaining popularity in foreign theaters. Moreover it lacks the historical accuracy of gear and locale, and indigenous mandarin orators’ grimacing at some of the characters’ pronunciation for instance “Dan Quayle-like spelling misdemeanors” in the subtitles. The critics analyze the film in terms of national singularity in that it can be comprehensible. Lee views this in different perspective enlightening civilizing interconnectedness and mobility across space (Christina, 2004, pp.25-34). Conclusion The films show the transitioning of the film industry in contrast with “world cinema”. Therefore the structuring of films are ought to take place at a multinational level rather than national level. This is in terms of outsourcing of finances, the crew and cinematic techniques. Hence diversification of such makes it have both diasporic properties while maintaining ones culture. The surfacing of such cinemas necessitates the extension of facets that read films from a changing outlook. Audiences are sensitized of the past and ponder about the future. The need to articulate ethnical identity and national background plays a very critical role in the film industry. Bibliography Christina, K. (2004). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:A Diasporic Reading. Texas: Univarsity of Texas Press. Robert, B. (2010). The Chinesse Epic and Diasporic Spectetors. The Epic Film in World Culture . Read More