General Notes

Course Description
Both the media and popular culture [in general] in Asia [in particular] have had an ambivalent, if not elusive, function that is difficult to define. Both can be instruments of social control as well as agencies of liberation. Moreover, both are expressions of interaction with as well as sources of appropriation (and misappropriation) to and from global western power. It is in these cultural spaces that local identities are played out, invented (or re-invented), and revitalized. Therefore, this course is designed to provide an understanding of key contemporary social and cultural issues as expressed in popular culture (mainly film and television) in the Asia Pacific Region. We will also consider representations of Asia, Asian Culture, and Asian Americans in mainstream Asian and Hollywood films. The course explores different approaches to questions such as: What do we mean when we talk about media power and media effects? How do we make sense and understand the connotations inherent in the ways current events and history are presented? In which sense are cultures shaped by unconscious desires, fantasies and identifications? What is the relationship between media representations of gender, ethnicity, identity and reality? Theoretical readings and films (documentaries and lectures) on the concepts of popular and mass culture are introduced early in the course, with specific topics introduced thereafter.
Objectives
By the end of the course, students will acquire: (1) critical faculties in the domain of media literacy, (2) a basic knowledge of the relevant theoretical works on popular culture, and (3) an appreciation of the relationship between popular culture and society in the Asia Pacific. These larger questions will be addressed with reference to the relationship between modern and postmodern cultures with particular reference to the visual realm: film and animation.
Format
Seminar - Students are expected to complete all assigned readings before class sessions and to participate fully in all discussions. Film and video clips drawn from a wide variety of sources will punctuate weekly meetings. In this seminar we will be looking at films through a variety of theoretical lenses in order to analyze their implied arguments, assumptions, and cultural perspectives. The course is designed to encourage discussion, collaboration, and advance your growth as a scholar and/or critical thinker. I feel that this is what an effective seminar should do. My expectation is that each of you finds and develops your own interests as you engage with film from a critical/cultural angle. Your experience of popular culture is an important resource and will be valued in discussions.
Requirements
This seminar is designed for upper division undergraduates and graduate students. Preparation and completion of assigned readings are essential prerequisites. Your grade in this course will be based on your performance in three areas and class time will be given over to: (a) viewing and discussing films; (b) discussions based upon the assigned readings*; and (c) regular one page country reports**.
*Participation: your level of engagement in class will be the measure of your performance including your involvement in class and group discussions.
**Weekly Reports: 3 points each.
Weekly Reports
One page reaction paper on the films, readings, etc. These weekly summary reports, along with class participation account for 45% of the final grade. You might consider linking these reports with the final paper. Each week, you are expected to read between 30 to 50 pages. It is extremely important that you read and comprehend all of the material each week for our seminar to work for all of us. Some of the articles you will be reading are quite intense, others less intense. Nonetheless, engage in the reading as well as the movies and allow for time to read and take in the content.
Paper 1
Students are required to submit a 4 [content] - 6 [with references] page [maximum] critical essay based upon at least one of the films presented at the San Diego Asian Film Festival [SDAFF]. Your essay should be based upon questions related to the representation of Asia, Asians, or Asian Americans in the film or films viewed. The SDAFF provides students with a unique opportunity to meet with and question many of the directors and actors in the films associated with the festival. The midterm paper accounts for 15% of the final grade.
Paper 2
This takes the form of a research essay (6 [content] - 8 [with references] pages [maximum]) addressing one aspect of popular culture (e.g. film, anime, music, sports, television, journals, tabloids) and its role within society. As examples you might select as a topic; Representations of ethnicity and gender in Chinese critique, Japanese anime, Korean soap operas, or the Filipino family. The final examination accounts for 40% of the final grade.
I strongly encourage you to get familiar with BLACKBOARD...
Material also provided at the Docutek ERes or Electronic Reserves & Reserves Pages...
Note: All required readings on the syllabus will be available ONLINE via Blackboard and ECR or HARDCOPY at the SDSU Reserve Book Room.

Readings:
Curran and Gurevitch (Chapter 5,9, and 14) The Global and the Local in International Communications by Annabelle Sreberny (93-119), Entertainment by Simon Firth (201-217) and National Prisms of a Global 'Media Event' by Chin-Chuan Lee, Joseph Man Chan, Zhongdang Pan and Clement Y. K. So (295-328)
Book Description: Over the past 15 years, Mass Media and Society has established itself as a leading international textbook on the media. Written by distinguished academics from around the world, the text provides an invaluable guided tour through three key areas of debate: theories of media and society; the study of media organizations; and debates about culture, media, ideology, and democracy.
<http://www.amazon.com/Media-Society-Hodder-Arnold-Publication/dp/0340884991/sr=8-4/qid=1168962957/ref=sr_1_4/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>

Movies:

Links: Representation and the Media - YouTube Race the Floating Signifier - YouTube Race the Floating Signfier - Google Video

Readings:
Kasdan (Chapter 1) The Visual Media (1-12)
Morley and Chen (Chapter 19 and 25) Cultural studies and the politics of internationalization - An interview with Stuart Hall by Kuan-Hsing Chen (392-408) and The formation of a diasporic intellectual - An interview with Stuart Hall by Kuan-Hsing Chen (484-503)
1. Book Description: In this revised printing of the 1998 edition, Kasdan (San Francisco State U.) helps students become more media literate in an increasingly visual world in which films serve as communication through film stills, analyses of how techniques shape meaning, notes on influences on the American film industry, and a glossary.
<http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780787290764&z=y#SYN>
2. Book Description: Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, an invaluable collection of writings by and about Hall, provides a representative selection of his enormously influential writings on cultural studies and its concerns: the relationship with Marxism; postmodernism in cultural and political thought; the development of cultural studies as an international and postcolonial phenomenon; and Hall's engagement with questions of race, ethnicity and identity.
<http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780415088046&itm=1>

Movies:

A little history:
One of the most important films in the history of Chinese Cinema is Wu Fei's "Spring in a Small Town" (1948). It was remade in 2002 by Tian Zhuangzhuang (Lan feng zheng (1993) [Blue Kite]) as Xiao cheng zhi chun (2002) [Springtime in a Small Town]. Here is a trailer.

Beijing Film Academy (Beijing Diànyìng Xuéyuàn) and the Golden Rooster Award

In The Order of Things, Foucault discuses Velasquez’s Las Meninas. The painting has been subject to considerable debate, and as Foucault uses it, raises broader questions about the nature of representation and of the subject. The most widely held interpretation of this painting (below) is that Velasquez is working on a portrait of the King and Queen, who are reflected in the mirror on the back wall of the scene. The other people in the painting, including the artist and the young princess in the center, are looking at the royal couple as they sit for their portrait. Yet the painting is unusual in that “we are looking at a painting in which in turn the painter is looking out at us.” (Foucault, 1970). Further, the young princess and her entourage are the center of the painting yet cannot truly be labeled the ‘subject’ of the painting. Perhaps more interestingly, Las Meninas focuses on figures at whom everyone is looking, yet we cannot see. This is both because their portrait on the canvas is obscured from our gaze and because they are in fact seated in the position from which we are looking! In his comments on this painting, Foucault makes some broader arguments about the nature of representation. Notably he argues that while the painting shows us a scene in which a portrait is being painted, it is also a painting that tells us something about how representation and the subject work. In this way it produces its own kind of knowledge.

It is crucial to Foucault that the painting does not have any completed meaning. In this line of reasoning, Las Meninas has two subjects and two centers: one constantly alternates between the young princess in the scene and the king and queen reflected in the mirror, never finally settling on one.

Foucault is also interested in how this process exemplifies two different kinds of ‘looking’ or ‘reading.’ On the one hand, the spectator is looking from the position in front of (outside) the painting, focusing on the princess. At the same time, the spectator is identifying with the gazes inside the painting, looking out of the scene. By projecting ourselves into the subjects of the painting helps us as spectators to ‘see’ or to make sense of it. Thus we take up positions indicated by the discourse, identify with them, subject ourselves to its meaning, and become its ‘subjects.’ (Hall, 1997). Source: <http://www.smith.edu/kahninstitute/hadden/reading.html>

Consider this when watching "Big Shot's Funeral.

Links: <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0271815/news> <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287934/> <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0271815/> <http://www.heroic-cinema.com/films/big_shots_funeral.htm> <http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=trailer&id=1808403170&intl=us> <http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/big_shots_funeral.htm> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0SSztafk3U> <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_28/b3891428.htm> Interveiw with Feng Xiaogang The Banquet (2006) Trailer Chinese Director Feng Xiaogang Makes Commercials for Olympics Tian Zhuangzhuang's Springtime in a Small Town Chen Kaige's The Promise Wu Tian-min's The King of Masks

Readings:
Richie (Chapter 1) Beginnings and the Benshi (17 - 42)
Martinez (Introduction) Introduction (1-18)
1. Book Description: Widely considered the leading Western authority on Japan, Richie has a particular affinity for the nation's films, as is evident on every page of this authoritative survey. He emphasizes the collaborative nature of film, which is particularly appropriate since in Japanese culture the collective usually trumps the individual, and shows how Japanese cinema largely eschewed realism and narrative until it fell under Western influence. The section on the silent era, when live narrators, benshi, described films' stories to audiences, is particularly revelatory, since 90 percent of pre-1945 Japanese films haven't survived. Richie comments insightfully on the acknowledged masters-- Mizoguchi, Ozu, and Kurosawa--and also on other notable directors who are virtually unknown to even the most avid American cineasts. He finds less to praise about contemporary filmmakers, whose flashier, Westernized approach seems less to his liking. The impressive amount of information on films renowned and obscure and Richie's enthusiasm and critical acumen make this essential for film studies collections. Brief reviews of about 200 films, with notations on video availability, top things off nicely. Gordon Flagg
<http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Years-Japanese-Film-Selective/dp/4770029950/sr=8-1/qid=1168963729/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
2. Book Description: This is a lively discussion of Japanese popular culture from an anthropological perspective. An international team of authors considers a broad range of topics, including sumo, karaoke, manga, women's magazines, soccer, and morning television. Through these topics -- many of which have never previously been addressed by scholars -- the contributors also explore several deeper themes: the construction of gender in Japan; the impact of globalization and modern consumerism; and the rapidly shifting boundaries of Japanese culture and identity.
<http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Popular-Culture-Contemporary-Society/dp/0521637295/sr=1-1/qid=1168963883/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>

Movies:

Tasogare Seibei (2002) Also Known As: The Twilight Samurai (UK)
Madadayo (1993) Also Known As: Not Yet
2. Plot Summary: Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in the mid-XIX century Japan. A widower, he has charge of two daughters (whom he adores) and a senile mother; he must therefore work in the fields and accept piecework to make ends meet. New prospects seem to open up when Tomoe, his long-time love, divorces a brutal husband. However, even as the Japanese feudal system is unraveling, Seibei remains bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. The consequences are cruel.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351817/plotsummary>

All things are subject to interpretation; whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Consider this when watching "Rashomon."

Interview with Kurosawa Akira Another Kurosawa Documentary Zhang Yimou on Akira Kurosawa [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon_(film)] Video on the work of Kurosawa Akira and him on Rashomon Akira Kurosawa Tribute Akira Kurosawa Documentary Reflections on Japan Rashomon

Readings:
Zha (Chapter 4) Shadows on the Screen (79-104)
Book Description: As one who fundamentally believes that culture, not economics, will "save" China, Zha (a Chinese journalist who now lives in Chicago and works for the Center for Transcultural Studies) writes about how popular culture has developed in Beijing, China's cultural capital. She discusses the major individuals involved in the production of the nation's most popular soap opera, Yearning; the development of contemporary Chinese architecture; the production of such award-winning movies as Farewell My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern; the transformation of the Ministry of Culture's China Culture Gazette; pervasive corruption in the journalistic world; the wholesale promotion of the novel The Abandoned Capital; and, from Hong Kong, the proliferation of the avante-garde via the CIM investment company. Much of what Zha discusses is supported in other recent accounts (e.g., Frank Viviano's Dispatches from the Pacific Century, LJ 4/1/93; Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's China Wakes, LJ 7/94; and Orville Schell's Mandate of Heaven, LJ 8/94).
<http://www.amazon.com/China-Pop-Tabloids-Bestsellers-Transforming/dp/1565842502/sr=1-5/qid=1168967113/ref=sr_1_5/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>

Homage to China's Fifth Generation Directors

Movies:
Qiu Ju da guan si (1992) Also Known As: Qiu Ju Goes to Court, The Story of Qiu Ju
Plot Summary: In "To Live," Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry. Addicted to gambling, Fugui loses everything. In the years that follow he is pressed into both the nationalist and communist armies, while Jiazhen is forced into menial work. They raise a family and survive, managing "to live" from the 40's to the 70's in this epic, but personal, story of life through an amazing period.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110081/plotsummary>
"Farewell, My Concubine" is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. It is the story of two performers in the Beijing Opera, stage brothers, and the woman who comes between them. At the same time, it attempts to do no less than squeeze the entire political history of China in the twentieth century into a three-hour time frame.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106332/plotsummary>

Tian Zhuangzhuang...
Spring in a Small Town (Xiaochéng zhi chun) - Fei Mu
Tian Zhuangzhuang's Springtime in a Small Town
Lovers Meet Again
Sudden Grief
Hurt
Drunk
First Night
Regret
Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Horse Thief
The Horse Thief aka Dao ma zei (1986) #1
The Horse Thief aka Dao ma zei (1986) #2

Focus on 5th Generation Critique

1993/1994
To Live/Blue Kite/Farewell My Concubine

In Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu's Chapter "National Cinema, Cultural Critique, Transnational Capital The Films of Zhang Yimou, the author writes: "The blending of intimate and the social, the lyricaland the epic, the familial and the historical in this film [To Live] is also evident in two other Fifth-Generation films produced in the same year, if the term "Fifth Generation" is still appropriate: Blue Kite (Lan fengzheng) by Tian Zhuangzhuang and Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige. All three films share a similar fate: they have been circulated and screened in the international market but are either banned or have had limited release in China due to the hostility of the government (120).

Links: Interveiw [1] with Chen Kaige Interview [2] with Chen Kaige Interview [3] with Chen Kaige A Get-Together with Chen Kaige

Readings:
Marchetti (Chapter 6, and 7) White Knights in Hong Kong: Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and The World of Suzie Wong (109-124) and Tragic and Transcendent Love: Sayonara and The Crimson Kimono (125-143)
Prasso (Part Two - Chapter 2) Hollywood, Burbank, and the Resulting Imaginings (62-102)
The Real Memoirs of a Geisha (201-222)
1. Book Description: Hollywood films about Asians and interracial sexuality are the focus of Gina Marchetti's provocative new work. While miscegenation might seem an unlikely theme for Hollywood, Marchetti shows how fantasy-dramas of interracial rape, lynching, tragic love, and model marriage are powerfully evident in American cinema. The author begins with a discussion of D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms, and then considers later films such as Shanghai Express, Madame Butterfly, and the recurring geisha movies. She also includes some fascinating "forgotten" films that have been overlooked by critics until now. Marchetti brings the theoretical perspective of recent writing on race, ethnicity, and gender to her analyses of film and television and argues persuasively that these media help to perpetuate social and racial inequality in America. Noting how social norms and taboos have been simultaneously set and broken by Hollywood filmmakers, she discusses the "orientalist" tensions underlying the construction of American cultural identity. Her book will be certain to interest readers in film, Asian, women's, and cultural studies.
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520084950/ref=dp_proddesc_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&n=283155>
2. Book Description: Prasso, a former Business Week Asia editor, asks if Westerners can look objectively at the Eastern region, blinded as they are by "issues of race and sex, fantasy and power." It's this worldview-one the author admits succumbing to and feeling a "sense of loss" in giving up-that clouds cross-cultural relations. Prasso's ambitious agenda focuses on both Asian women and our perceptions of them, exploring the historical and pop cultural roots of the "Asian Mystique" and ending with a "reality tour of Asia." Her stories about the lives of Asian women from diverse cultures and socio-economic backgrounds are compelling. The Japanese woman who inspired Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha shares her distaste for the novel's "misinterpretation" of her "flower and willow world." A Chinese investment banker struggles with modern demands and traditional expectations. With the author in tow, a Filipina prostitute navigates a seedy red-light district. Prasso has an almost voyeuristic fascination with sexual mores, and the result is a frank, at times graphic, exploration of how some Asian women cope with stereotyping-and with Western males looking for one-night stands. But when the author moves from reportage to social anthropological analysis, the book loses focus. Self-conscious ruminations, such as the incongruity of dancing with Filipina prostitutes to Madonna's "Like a Virgin," sometimes intrude and distract. In addition, Prasso never really gets a grip on the Asian Mystique's effects on foreign policy, concluding, not surprisingly, that it is "much harder to measure and more difficult to prove." Nevertheless, Prasso's work and travels have opened her eyes, and this book might do the same for others.
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586482149/ref=dp_proddesc_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&n=283155>

Movies:

	Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (1955) Plots Summary: Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is a 1955 film which tells the story of an American reporter, in the 1940s, who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor, only to encounter prejudice from both of their families. It stars William Holden and Jennifer Jones, who is not Eurasian, but who dressed in oriental clothes during the film. Source: Wikipedia
	Sayonara (1957) Plot Summary: American servicemen stationed in Japan during the Korean War fall in love and marry Japanese nationals despite harsh paperwork impediments and orders to the contrary. Source: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050933/plotsummary>
	The World of Suzie Wong (1960) Plot Summary: Robert Lomax tired of working in an office wants to try his hand as an artist. So he moves to Hong Kong to try his hand at painting. Finding a cheap hotel he checks in, only to find it is used by prostitutes and their 'dates' that meet in the bar downstairs. Since he never picks up any of ladies, they all want to know more about him. Eventually he does hire one to model form him, but soon falls in love. But, since he's on a limited budget, he can't afford her exclusively, and doesn't want to 'share' her. Source: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054483/plotsummary>
	Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) Plot Summary: Memoirs of a Geisha is an Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning movie adaptation of the novel of the same name, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and directed by Rob Marshall. It was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks and Spyglass Entertainment. It stars Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, and Suzuka Ohgo. Ohgo plays the younger Sayuri in the movie, which was filmed in southern and northern California and in several locations in Kyoto, including the Kiyomizu temple and the Fushimi Inari shrine. Source: Wikipedia
	Slaying the Dragon (1988) A highly critical documentary about the history of Asian-American actresses in Hollywood. Features interviews with pioneering Asian-American actresses and clips from classic films such as "The Thief of Bagdad", "The Good Earth", and "The World of Suzie Wong", interspersed with Asian/feminist sociological commentary. Written by Anonymous
	The Slanted Screen (2006) From silent film star Sessue Hayakawa to Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle, the Slanted Screen examines the portrayal Asian men in film and television, and how new filmmakers are now re-defining age-old stereotypes. Includes interviews with actors Mako, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, James Shigeta, Dustin Nguyen, Will Yun Lee, Phillip Rhee, Tzi Ma, comedian Bobby Lee, producer Terence Chang, casting director Heidi Levitt and directors Gene Cajayon and Eric Byler. The film contains over 50 film clips of depictions of Asian American male characters from Hollywood films spanning almost a century. It asks why and how stereotypic portrayals continue to persist, and why the roles for Asian American men are diminishing while the Asian American population is increasing. Written by Jeff Adachi

Asian America in Film Interrogating the Image

Readings:
Napier (Chapter 1, and 2) Why Anime? (3-14), Anime and Local/Global Identity (15-34)
McCarthy (Chapter 1) Hayao Miyazaki - Life and Work (25-48)
Ruh (Chapter 6) Ghost in the Shell (119 - 140)
1. Book Description: This new edition of the groundbreaking popular book is a must-have for both seasoned and new fans of anime. Japanese animation is more popular than ever following the 2002 Academy Award given to Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. It confirmed that anime is more than just children's cartoons, often portraying important social and cultural themes. With new chapters on Spirited Away and other recent releases, including Howl's Moving Castle-Miyazaki's latest hit film, already breaking records in Japan--this edition will be the authoritative source on anime for an exploding market of viewers who want to know more.
<http://www.amazon.com/Anime-Akira-Moving-Castle-Updated/dp/1403970513/sr=1-1/qid=1168967962/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
2. Book Description: Director Hayao Miyazaki ranks among the most interesting and original figures currently working in world animation. His charming children's films My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service enjoy a rapidly growing audience in the U.S., and his brilliant Princess Mononoke, which broke box-office records in Japan, was released theatrically in the U.S. in November of 1999. Although storybook adaptations and a few Japanese volumes about individual films have appeared in the U.S., a major study of his work in English is long overdue. Miyazaki's many fans will enjoy Helen McCarthy's Hayao Miyazaki and Mark Schilling's Princess Mononoke: The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time, but neither is fully satisfactory. McCarthy, who has written extensively about anime, offers an overview of the artist's career in animation and manga. She discusses each film in detail, with character descriptions and plot synopses. The extensive, but by no means complete, bibliography is a useful resource. -- Charles Solomon
<http://www.amazon.com/Hayao-Miyazaki-Master-Japanese-Animation/dp/1880656418/sr=1-1/qid=1168968176/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
3. Book Description: Upon its US release in the mid-1990s Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamoru Oshii, quickly became one of the most popular Japanese animation films, or anime, in the country. Despite these accolades, Oshii is known as a contrarian within anime, a self-proclaimed "stray dog", with a unique cinematic vision. Working in both live-action film and animation, directing everything from absurdist comedy to thrillers to meditations on the nature of reality, Oshii defies the confines of genre and form. Stray Dog of Anime is the first book to take an in-depth look at his major films, from the early days working on Urusei Yatsura to Avalon, his most recent feature. Ruh details Oshii's evolution as a director, paying special attention to his personal style and symbolism, resulting in a unique guide that will appeal to anime fans and cineastes of all kinds.
<http://www.amazon.com/Stray-Dog-Anime-Films-Mamoru/dp/1403963347/sr=1-1/qid=1168968056/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>

Movies:

Metoroporisu (2001) Also Known As: Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (Australia) (USA) (DVD title), Metropolis (USA), Osamu Tezuka's Metoroporisu (Japan) (complete title), Robotic Angel (International: English title)
Plot Summary: Metropolis is a story of how important emotions are and how they separate humans from everything else. The movie follows a young boy and his uncle (a private investigator). The story is set in the far future where humans and robots live together, unfortunately not in harmony. Many robots are forced underground and are terminated for entering unauthorized areas. They are more or less servants to humankind. The plot starts to unfold when the boy meets a robot named Tima and they get in all kinds of trouble. Never a dull moment when you've got a robot by your side.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293416/plotsummary>

Japanese Anime and Manga The Betrayal of the Real:The Matrix - Riff or Rip-Off A Matrix and Ghost in the Shell Comparison AKIRA

Readings:
Teo (Chapter 1 and 8) Introduction (1-14) and Betrayed by Maggie Cheung: In the Mood for Love (114-133)
Kwok (Chapter 11) Of Executioners and Courtesans: the Performance of Gender in Hong Kong Cinema of the 1990s (203-221)
1. Book Description: This, the first book-length study of Hong Kong cult director Wong Kar-wai, provides an overview of his career and in-depth analyses of his seven feature films to date. The study also takes an intriguing look at Wong's commercials for the likes of Motorola, BMW, and Lacoste and at his music video for DJ Shadow. Stephen Teo probes Wong's cinematic and literary influences--from Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock to Manuel Puig and Haruki Murakami--yet shows how Wong transcends them all. This comprehensive and thoroughly accessible study confirms Wong's position as the star of the Hong Kong-global nexus and as a postmodern exemplar of world cinema.
<http://www.amazon.com/Wong-Kar-wai-Auteur-World-Directors/dp/1844570290/sr=1-2/qid=1168968377/ref=sr_1_2/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
2. Book Description: Multiple Modernities explores the cultural terrain of East Asia. Arguing that becoming modern happens differently in different places, the contributors examines popular culture-most notable cinema and television-to see how modernization, as both a response to the West and as a process that is unique in its own right in the region, operates on a mass level. Included in this collection are significant explorations of popular culture in East Asia, including Chinese new cinema and rock music, Korean cinema, Taiwanese television, as well as discussions of alternative arts in general. While each essay focuses on specific nations or cinemas, the collected effect of reading them is to offer a comprehensive, in-depth picture of how popular culture in East Asia operates to both generate and reflect the immense change this significant region of the world is undergoing.

Movies:

Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps)
Music and Lyrics by: Osvaldo Farrés, Cuba 1947.
English lyrics by Joe Davis.
Made famous in 1947 by Nat King Cole, who later recorded it on his Cole en Español album in 1958.
Also recorded by Doris Day, Xavier Cugat, Mantovani, The Stargazers, Pepe Jaramillo & others.
Featured in the 2000 Wong Kar Wai film, In The Mood For Love (starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung).

Links: Reflections on China/Taiwan/Hong Kong [TRIBUTE] Wong Kar-wai My Blueberry Nights trailer iW VIDEO: Cannes '07 - Wong Kar Wai In The Mood For Love [Trailer] In The Mood For Love Music Video Documentaries! Making Of "2046" Documentary Part 1 of 4 Making Of "2046" Documentary Part 2 of 4 Making Of "2046" Documentary Part 3 of 4 Making Of "2046" Documentary Part 4 of 4 Interviews! Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 1 of 6 Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 2 of 6 Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 3 of 6 [Here he talks about "In The Mood For Love"] Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 4 of 6 [Here he talks about camera angles & compares ITMFL w/ 2046] Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 5 of 6 [Who is Su Li-zhen and Lulu?] Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 6 of 6 UK interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 1 of 2 UK interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 2 of 2 Tony Leung... Tony Leung English Interview in 2001 "In The Mood For Love" Press Conference: Tony & Maggie 1/5 "In The Mood For Love" Press Conference: Tony & Maggie 2/5 "In The Mood For Love" Press Conference: Tony & Maggie 3/5 "In The Mood For Love" Press Conference: Tony & Maggie 4/5 "In The Mood For Love" Press Conference: Tony & Maggie 5/5 Maggie Cheung... Maggie Cheung Interview at Cinema China 07 [Just Maggie] Christopher Doyle... BBC Cutlure Show w/ Christopher Doyle [Talks about In The Mood For Love] For more on Wong Kar-wai, please see Reflections on China/Taiwan/Hong Kong

Readings:
Drazen (Chapter 8, and 15) War Is Stupid: War and anti-War Themes in Anime (Part One - 15: 192-207)
Evangelion (Part Two - 8: 298-309)
Book Description: Suddenly anime is . . . exploding. But where did Japanese animation come from, and what does it all mean? Written for fans, culture watchers, and perplexed outsiders, this is an engaging tour of the anime megaverse, from older arts and manga traditions to the works of modern directors like Miyazaki and Otomo. Read about anime standbys like giant robots, samurai, furry beasts, high school heroines, and gay/girl/fanboy love-even war and reincarnation, plus all of anime's major themes, styles, and conventions. At the end of the book are essays on 15 of fandom's favorite anime, including Evangelion, Escaflowne, Sailor Moon, and Patlabor. "A good resource and guide to the foundation, historical development and overall themes in Japanese animation and serves as an excellent reference source whether you are an established fan or a person who wants to learn about the cultural aspects of this specific and increasingly popular genre. It is an easy yet thorough read on the myriad of societal aspects and cultural references Japanese animation holds." -- Active Anime
<http://www.amazon.com/Anime-Explosion-What-Japanese-Animation/dp/1880656728/sr=1-2/qid=1168968778/ref=sr_1_2/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
Movies:

Shin seiki Evangelion (1995) Also Known As: Neon Genesis Evangelion (USA) (video title), New Century Evangelion (literal English title) Shin seiki evangerion (Japan) (alternative transliteration)
"Hagane no renkinjutsushi" (2003) [TV-Series 2003] Also Known As: Fullmetal Alchemist (International: English title) (USA), Hagaren (Japan)
"Chobits" (2002) [TV-Series]
1. Plot summary: When the Angels start attacking the planet Earth in the year 2015, only a handful of 14-year-old EVA pilots are able to stop them. The weak-minded Shinji Ikari suddenly finds himself forced to pilot EVA-01, a giant organic mecha, designed and constructed by NERV, that is the only thing that can stop the Angels. In 2015, 15 years after the enormous catastrophe that killed half of the world population, another crisis has come - the unidentified invaders called "Angels" begin to attack humankind. Any of their weapons are useless against the so-called "Absolute Terror Field". But now humankind had created an exception; the ultimate all-purpose humanoid weapon "Evangelion". To operate this exception needs the minds of "Children", 14-year-old juveniles. Shinji Ikari, the only son of the commander-in-chief of the team that administered Evangelion, is selected as the third of the "Children"
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112159/plotsummary>
2. Plot Summary: Imagine a world in which Alchemy is not only possible, but also used frequently. Alchemy, though, is a science, and with all sciences there are laws that must be followed. Welcome to the anime, Full Metal Alchemist. The story begins about two brothers, Alphonse and Edward Elric. Ever since they were young they had practiced the science of alchemy. You follow their journey of being alchemists and their quest to regain that which they have lost. Their father was a well-recognized alchemist, which is probably where their knack for it comes from. However, when they were young their father left, and they remained in the care of their mother. One day their mother died, and in their innocence and ignorance, they attempted what was forbidden, human alchemy. What happened next, they were obviously not prepared for, and in the aftermath the brothers lost more than just their mother. In the freak accident Alphonse loses his body, and in a moment of panic Edward ties his brother's soul to a piece of armor. Edward himself loses an arm and a leg, a costly reminder of what has happened. The story begins and details the brother's journey to find a alchemy amplifier so that they may return to their normal bodies.
<http://www.fullmetal-alchemist.com/synopsis.php>
3. Plot Summary: Hideki's just like every other guy in the 22nd century. He just wants a good job, a good car, and a sexy robot girlfriend to call his own. Until he lands a job, he'll never be able to afford his own 'Persocon' companion. Hideki's luck changes when he discovers Chii, an adorable but dysfunctional personcon (robot), tied up in a pile of trash. His first robot companion turns out to be a lot more responsibility than he expected, and she gets him into quite a few embarrassing situations. It's 'boy-meets-girl' for the cyber age.
<http://www.animechobits.com/>

No matter what, the movie was difficult to follow. In the end, it did not matter because the visuals where so stunning one just had to allow for subliminal influence to take over. This review of Casshern will explore 4 independent yet interrelated topics. The movie is difficult to follow because what seems like plot complexity on the surface might just be a result of trying to do too much. What saves the movie from its own complexity is its visual display - it is a pretty movie. But "just" a pretty movie it is not. My take on the movie is that Azuma (Akira Terao) - despite all the attention placed on Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya) and Brai (Toshiaki Karawa) is really about - at least on one level - about a new Dr. Frankenstein.

Arguably the plot of this is movie both unbelievable and incomprehensible. I have to admit to being confused a lot and I thought I needed special training and research on anime plot analysis or just an ability to suspend belief and not worry about plot leaps. One has to allow for the tortuous twists and turns and try not to dwell too much on the motivations of the extensive cast of characters. My argument rest on the viewers ability to balance not getting too stuck on a character that you lose out on the rest of the movie - I say just go with it. Why, and this might seem shallow but Kazuaki Kiriya's good use of CGI.

Once in a rare while you get a movie that promises that all the latest and greatest will enhance rather than detract form a movie. Chen Kaige's The Promise - fell far short of that "promise.&" Now, with the release of Casshern, we get to see the results of creative genius. We could argue until we are blue in the face about how much was shot with in what format but a movie looks this consistent, it hardly seems to matter. Kiriya Kazuaki's first (and hopefully not last) feature film is consistent - yes, it looks like a long music video - but if you hold on I will explain why and how he succeeds on those other levels.

One of those levels that Kiriya succeeds is making us forget that Azuma is really the the new Dr. Frankenstein. Set in a war-torn futuristic earth, Casshern brings to the screen the stock sci-fi dangers replete with a images of a dystopic, post-apocalyptic backdrop. A short synopsis can be forgiven me here. After 50 years of war between the "Great Eastern Federation" and "Eurasia" Earth is awash with all sorts of genetic consequences. We get visions of mice with eyes in odd places. Let us not forget the wonders of Imamura Shohei's 1989 classic Kuroi ame (Black Rain) and the dangers of war - not just any war - nuclear war. So, it is fitting that mankind suffer the consequences of his own folly in the cornucopia of artificially-produced postwar sicknesses and genetic deformities. This obviously foreshadows that man is not in conjunction with nature. This brings me back to Miyazaki Hayao's 1997 classic Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) calling to question the duality of either/or but placing man squarely at the center of both man and nature. The remedy, as both Kiriya and Miyazaki warn us is not more technology, particularly the notion of the "neo cell" project. Enter Professor Azuma, the neo-Dr. Frankenstein. As much as we cannot blame the Frankenstein monster we cannot blame the "Neo Sapiens" and Testuya for all the rage. Mind you, the source of all the rage is in the movie and I won't give that away - that you as a viewer need to figure out for yourselves. However, like the Frankenstein monster, the creature fights its creator. Ironically, one of the main issues of the movie is that fact that Tetsuya gets to live again. Our reluctant hero, cum nationalistic warrior is brought back from the dead and in effect we are not really sure what he is fighting for - which brings us back to plot complexity. I say never mind… focus on the metal suit and battle armor and his recently provided for superhuman abilities - which we are not really sure, how he gets… Tetsuya is now Casshern! And that is all that will matter for 2.5 hours. On many levels, Casshern is just a movie - or is it?

It would be good though to leave you with these final musings, the movie does depend on emotions and the kind of reactions from its cast so be ready for it and forgive the director this one excess - one of many. The message is unambiguous war is hell and coupled with technological advances without soul - that hell is made even worse. On that level alone I think the movie is worth watching. That we are presented with this lesson though the creative use of CGI and a not really complicated script is a real treat - but that is my opinion. For the length of the film - and it is 2.5 hours in the original cut - so the new DVD at 2 hours is no "Director's Cut - but edited down. No matter what, as far as I am concerned, Casshern has something for everyone on several levels - particularly the superficial ones - but those with a more sublime and deeper appreciation - don't fret - you won't be let down.

Miguel Llora

Links: Japanese Anime and Manga Casshern Casshern Movie Trailer Casshern by Don Brown on Midnight Eye Casshern.com Casshern [English Site I Japanese Site]

Readings:
Min (Chapter 7) Contemporary Korean Cinema: A Boom or a Renaissance? (167-184)
Book Description: Despite its rise in the global market, recent political progress, and a surging interest worldwide, Korean films are relatively unknown and rarely studied. This new work begins by investigating the history, industry structure, and trends of filmmaking in Korea, going on to examine how Hollywood films have affected both Korean mainstream and nonmainstream film industries in terms of both means of production and narrative. Moreover, the authors analyze the ways in which Korean films of recent years have represented the modernization process in Korea itself, as well as the ideological implications that arise from the cinematic constructions of Korean imagination. More than a mere chronological account of Korean cinematic history, Korean Film attempts to consider the films as a popular cultural form that have a life beyond their theatrical runs: stars, genres, and key movies become part of any culture's identity, and in their narratives and meanings can be located evidence of the ways in which a culture makes sense of itself. Korea has never before been given such an extensive treatment of this central idea, and here for the first time, the nation's culture and cinema are merged into one discussion that both reflects and shapes our understanding of it.
<http://www.amazon.com/Korean-Film-Resistance-Democratic-Imagination/dp/0275958116/sr=1-1/qid=1168968926/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
Movies:
Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA (2000) Also Known As: J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (UK) (USA), Joint Security Area (International: English title)
Oldboy (2003)
Boksuneun naui geot (2002) Also Known As: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (International: English title)
Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005) Also Known As: Kind-Hearted Ms. Geum-Ja (literal English title), Lady Vengeance (USA), My Lady Vengeance (Hong Kong: English title) (DVD box title), Shed Tears for Lady Vengeance (Philippines: English title) (DVD title), Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (UK) (DVD box title)
1. Plot summary: In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining bullets in the assassin's magazine clip, amount to 16 bullets for a gun that should normally hold 15 bullets. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ suspects that another, unknown party was involved - all of which points to some sort of cover up. The truth is much simpler and much more tragic. After a shootout at the common security area at the border of the two Koreas, when two soldiers were murdered, Maj. Sophie E. Jean is assigned by the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission to investigate the incident. The smart Major finds lack of consistency in the statements of the survivors, and in spite of being pressed by her superior, she interviews South Koreans Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok and private Nam Sung-shik, and the North Korean Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil, disclosing a tragic story of friendship.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260991/plotsummary>
2. Plot Summary: An average man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, he soon finds out that not only his kidnapper has still plans for him, but that those plans will serve as the even worse finale to 15 years of imprisonment.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/plotsummary>
3. Plot Summary: This is the story of Ryu, a deaf man, and his sister, who requires a kidney transplant. Ryu's boss, Park, has just laid him off, and in order to afford the transplant, Ryu and his girlfriend develop a plan to kidnap Park's daughter. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310775/plotsummary>
4. Plot Summary: After a 13-year imprisonment for the kidnap and murder of a 6-year-old boy, beautiful Lee Guem-ja starts seeking revenge on the man that was really responsible for the boy's death. With the help of fellow inmates and reunited with her daughter, she gets closer and closer to her goal. But will her actions lead to the relief she seeks?
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451094/plotsummary>

Link: " Renaissance of Korean National Cinema' as a Terrain of Negotiation and Contention between the Global and the Local: Analysing two Korean Blockbusters, Shiri (1999) and JSA (2000)" Korean Cinema Resources http://www.cinekorea.com/ http://weblearn.sheffcol.ac.uk/links//Film/Showroom/New_films_from_Korea/ http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/skorea-culture.html http://www.koreanfilm.org/links.html http://koreanfilm.org/hyangjinlee.html http://koreancinema.com/ http://www.anime.com/Korean_Cinema/ Bibliography of Korean Cinema Korean Films and Box Office Top Draws 1996 - Two Cops 2 1997 - The Letter 1998 - A Promise 1999 - Shiri In 1999, Shiri drew an estimated 6.2 million admissions nationwide. Also, first year that a local film outsold an import "The Mummy" and outsold the 1998 blockbuster Titanic. 2000 - Joint Security Area In 2000, Joint Security Area drew an estimated 5.8 million admissions nationwide. 2001 - Friend Comedies dominated the summer and early fall of 2001, with a trio of smash hits that have easily outgrossed every Hollywood film to get a release. Among these, is My Sassy Girl (more on this in another section below), a movie based on a series of real-life incidents published on the internet in serial form. 2002 Marrying the Mafia In 2002, after the smashing success of his breakthrough film Joint Security Area (2000), director Park Chan-wook had the opportunity to make just about any kind of movie he wanted. His ultimate decision was to go back to a scenario he had written in the mid-1990s: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a grim, violent tale about the kidnapping of a young girl and the father who sets out for revenge. Back in 1995, Park didn't have a chance of finding someone to fund such a film... after JSA, however, he was practically handed a blank check. The end result is wondrous and horrible, a movie that will give you nightmares but leave you in awe of its power. 2003 - Silmido 2003 was a watershed year. Along with Silmido, movies such as the horror classic A Tale of Two Sisters, the sci-fi classic Natural City, the dramatic recreation of Korea's Gyeonggi Province's bout with a serial killer in Memories of Murder competed for box office viewership. 2003 also saw the release of the anime feature Oseam. Oseam is based on a popular story by novelist Jeong Chae-bong. It generated a disappointing box office figure in May 2003, despite the high anticipation in some circles. Commercially speaking, it suffered from the bad fortune of having debuted only one week after the highly anticipated Korean release of Miyazaki Hayao's Princess Mononoke. 2003 also saw the theatrical run of Kim Ki-duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring and certainly no less significant is the same year of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy. The talented writer-director of Joint Security Area (2000) and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Pak Chan-wook, determined not to repeat the commercial failure of Sympathy, has carefully plotted his counterattack, recruiting Choi Min-shik (Chihwaseon, Failan, Shiri) and Yu Ji-tae (One Fine Spring Day, Ditto, Nightmare), organizing the movie around their star personalities, and devising a mystery plot that revolves not around the question of "whodunit" but that of "whydunit." Lastly, 2003 also saw the release of one of my favorite Korean period pieces (alongside such greats as Painted Fire, The King and The Clown, and Chunhyang) is the enigmatic remake based French novelist Choderlos de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses in Untold Scandal. Eighteenth-century epistolary novels don't generally form the basis for record-breaking opening weekends at the box-office. This rule is no less true in Korea than in other countries, but 2003 has been a year of surprises - a watershed year. After a resounding flop with his second film Asako in Ruby Shoes in 2001, director E J-yong took Les Liaisons Dangereuses and situated in Korea's Chosun Dynasty. This unconventional fusion of 18th century French and Korean cultures has resulted in a stimulating and convincing adaptation - I know I love it. 2004 - Taegukgi Being the director of a watershed hit like Shiri (1999) can give you some strong advantages when making your next film. It gives you the ability to attract top-name actors and crew. It becomes much easier to raise large sums of money from investors. Park Chan-wook (JSA) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Friend) chose to shoot smaller, more personal works after their record-breaking hits, but Kang Je-gyu took full advantage of his position and aimed for the stars. Taegukgi, which premiered close to five years after Shiri, ranks as the most expensive Korean film ever at $12.8 million.   2005 - King and the Clown 2005 also saw the release of Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and Hur Jin-ho's ambivalent April Snow.   2006 - The Host 2006 was the year Park Chan-wook departed in style and release I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK. Source: http://www.koreanfilm.org/ Reflections on Korea Swiri (1999) Shiri (1999) Joint Security Area Part 1 of 12 (2000) Letter of a Private - Kim Kwang Seok - JSA Video Park Chak Wook's movie fan trailer Chingoo (Friend) (Korean Movie) Different Trailer [2001] Boksuneun naui geot (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) [2002] Oldboy [2003] Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo (Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War) [2004] Chinjeolhan geumjassi (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) [2005] Saibogujiman kwenchana (I'm a cyborg but it's ok) - Park Chan-Wook - Teaser Trailer [2006]

Readings:
Tsutsui and Ito (Chapter 8) Teaching Godzilla: Classroom Encounters with a Cultural Icon (111-125)
Tsutsui (Chapter 4) The Making of an American Icon (113-140)
Kalat (Introduction, Chapter 2, and 3) Introduction (1-5), Gojira (13-17), Gojira (Godzilla) (18-23)
1. Book Description: These essays consider the Godzilla films and how they were shaped (by and in turn shaped) postwar Japanese culture, as well as the globalization of Japanese pop culture icons in the wake of the Godzilla phenomenon. They fall within a wide range of disciplines: film studies, anthropology, history, literature, theater, and cultural studies. Contributors include Susan Napier, Anne Allison, Christine Yano, and others.
<http://www.amazon.com/Godzillas-Footsteps-Japanese-Culture-Global/dp/1403964610/sr=1-2/qid=1168969253/ref=sr_1_2/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
2. Book Description: This year, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his first appearance on the screen, the original, uncut version of Godzilla was released in American theaters to the delight of Sci-Fi and B-Movie fans everywhere. Ever since Godzilla (or, Gojira, as he is known in Japan) crawled out of his radioactive birthplace to cut a swath of destruction through Tokyo, he has claimed a place alongside King Kong and others in the movie monster pantheon. He is the third most recognizable Japanese celebrity in the United States, and his fan base continues to grow as children today prove his enduring appeal. Now, Bill Tsutsui, a life-long fan and historian, takes a light-hearted look at the big, green, radioactive lizard, revealing how he was born and how he became a megastar. With humorous anecdotes, Godzilla on My Mind explores his lasting cultural impact on the world. This book is sure to be welcomed by pop culture enthusiasts, fans, and historians alike.
<http://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-My-Mind-Fifty-Monsters/dp/1403964742/sr=1-3/qid=1168969340/ref=sr_1_3/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
Movies:
Gojira (1954) Also Known As: Godzilla (International: English title) (USA), Kaihatsu keikaku G (Japan) (working title), Kaitei ni-man mairu kara kita daikaijû (Japan) (working title)
Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) Also Known As: Godzilla (USA) (video title), Godzilla the Sea Beast (USA) (working title), Kaijû-ô Gojira (Japan)
1. Plot Summary: A 164-foot monster reptile with radioactive breath is revived, thanks to nuclear testing. It goes on a mad rampage, destroying Tokyo - how will they kill it?
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047034/plotsummary>
2. Plot Summary: When American reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) investigates a series of mysterious disasters off the coast of Japan, he comes face to face with an ancient creature so powerful and so terrifying, it can reduce Tokyo to a smoldering graveyard. Nuclear weapon testing resurrected this relic from the Jurassic age, and now it's rampaging across Japan. At night, Godzilla wades through Tokyo leaving death and destruction in his wake, disappearing into Tokyo Bay when his rage subsides. Conventional weapons are useless against him; but renowned scientist Dr. Serizawa has discovered a weapon that could destroy all life in the bay -- including Godzilla. But which disaster is worse, Godzilla's fury, or the death of Tokyo Bay?
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197521/plotsummary>

	"The Theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind." - Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
	"Mr. Tsuburaya said it would take seven years to make Godzilla by using the same stop-motion method as King Kong, and I'm hiring you because I need to finish the movie in three months." - Godzilla stunt actor Haruo Nakajima
	"George, here in Tokyo time has been turned back two million years. This is my report as it happens." - Raymond Burr in Godzilla, King of the Monsters
	The idea for Gojira (aka Godzilla) was spawned after producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was forced to cancel a planned Japan-Indonesia co-production called Eiko kage-ni (Behind the Glory). The story was inspired by a real-life nuclear accident in which a Japanese fishing boat ventured too close to an American nuclear test and was contaminated. The Lucky Dragon No. 5, a tuna trawler that strayed dangerously close to an H-bomb test near the Marshal Islands on March 1, 1954 and ignited an international controversy when its crew returned to Japan, sick with radiation poisoning. Godzilla was born in the mushroon clouds of World War II but the tragedy of The Lucky Dragon, an incident now reduced to a footnote in most history books if it is included at all, stirred his anger.
	The name Gojira is a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira). The monster was so named because his original design was that of a gorilla-whale monster, which is recounted by people who worked on the film. After producer Tanaka saw the American monster film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), he got the idea to turn Godzilla into a dinosaur monster. Despite the physical change the name of the monster was kept. There has always been a legend that Godzilla was named after a hulking man nicknamed Gorilla-Whale who worked at Tôhô, but this is untrue. Not only is there no evidence of this man even existing, but the various stories about him kept changing through the years (he worked as a stagehand, he worked as a PR man, etc.). According to Kimi Honda, wife of Ishirô Honda, the Gorilla-Whale man was just an inside joke between her husband and various others on the Tôhô lot--specifically producer Tanaka.
	The film received a Japanese Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, but lost to Shichinin no samurai (1954). However, the film did win the award for Best Visual Effects. It is the only Godzilla movie to receive a nomination for Best Picture. Honda was a lifelong friend of fellow Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and Honda worked on several of Kurosawa's landmark films including Nora inu (1949) (aka "Stray Dog"), Kagemusha (1980) (aka "Kagemusha the Shadow Warrior"), and Ran (1985). Honda passed away aged 81 on February 28th, 1993, with Akira Kurosawa delivering the eulogy at his funeral.
Tomoyuki Tanaka :Tomoyuki Tanaka (Tanaka Tomoyuki) was a Japanese film producer, most famous for creating the Godzilla movies. He was born in Osaka, Japan on April 26, 1910, and died in Tokyo on April 2, 1997. Soon after graduating from Kansai University in 1940, Tanaka joined Toho Studios. After four years with the company, he began producing his own films. In his 60-year career with Toho, Tanaka produced more than 200 films. He is best known as the creator, with director Ishiro Honda and special-effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya, of Godzilla, the towering embodiment of post-World War II anxiety. Tanaka created Godzilla in 1954 in an effort to illlustrate the terror Japanese felt after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The classic Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1954; released in the U.S. in 1956) would spawn a series of sequels, adding up to 28 films by 2004. In addition to other sci-fi thrillers (often with the other three members of the Godzilla team: Honda and Tsuburaya, and composer Akira Ifukube) such as The Mysterians (1957) and Matango (1963), Tanaka produced films directed by the acclaimed Akira Kurosawa. Their film Kagemusha (1980) was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar and took the Palme d'Or at Cannes.He has a dedication to his death in the remake of Godzilla.
	Ishiro Honda :Influential Japanese film director born May 7th, 1911, often credited as being the father of Godzilla. His name is a combination of "I" (or Ino), meaning "boar" and "shirô," meaning fourth boy in the family. Originally, the young Honda had aspirations of becoming an artist. However, as he moved into his teens, it was cinema that became his number-one interest. He attended Nippon University studying art, but was drafted by the Japanese military and spent nearly eight years in uniform. After a period of imprisonment in China as a POW, he returned to Japan to join Tôhô Studios, where, soon afterward, he became acquainted with SFX wizard Eiji Tsuburaya. The two worked on a handful of films before collaborating on the groundbreaking monster epic Gojira (1954) (aka "Godzilla"). Honda was also at the director's helm for Sora no daikaijû Radon (1956) (aka "Rodan"), Uchu daisenso (1959) (aka "Battle in Outer Space"), Mosura (1961) (aka "Mothra"), Matango (1963), and Kaijû sôshingeki (1968) (aka "Destroy All Monsters"). Although the Japanese monster films had been derided by some critics, Honda was especially proud of his contribution to this rather unique aspect of the fantasy and science-fiction genres.Honda was a lifelong friend of fellow Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and Honda worked on several of Kurosawa's landmark films including Nora inu (1949) (aka "Stray Dog"), Kagemusha (1980) (aka "Kagemusha the Shadow Warrior"), and Ran (1985).
Takashi Shimura (Dr. Yamane) :Japanese character actor, one of the finest film actors of the Twentieth Century and a leading member of the "stock company" of master director Akira Kurosawa. A native of southern Japan, Shimura was a descendant of the warrior samurai class. Following university training, he founded a theatre company, Shichigatsu-za ("July Theatre"). In 1930, he joined a professional company, Kindai-za ("Modern Theatre). Four years later he signed with the Kinema Shinko film studio. He found a niche playing samurai roles for various studios, then signed a long-term contract with Toho Studios in 1943. He appeared in an average of more than six films a year for Toho over the next four decades. His greatest critical acclaim came in more than twenty roles for director Kurosawa, though he is almost as well recognized outside Japan for his kindly doctor role in the original 'Godzilla' ('Gojira (1954)'). Shimura's finest triumph was his unforgettable performance as a dying bureacrat in Kurosawa's 'Ikiru (1952)'. He continued to act steadily in good films and bad, almost until his death, culminating with Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha (1980)'. He is often described as filling the spot for Kurosawa that Ward Bond filled for 'John Ford (I)', that of an ever-present and reliable character player who consistently supplied a solidity and strength to whatever film he appeared in. Shimura was, to be sure, even a finer actor than Bond, and his range was enormous, from Ikiru's diffident clerk to the leader of the Seven Samurai in Kurosawa's 'Shichinin no samurai (1954)'. He died in 1982, a reluctant icon of Japanese cinema.
	Momoko Kochi (Emiko) :Discovered, along with actors Akira Takarada and Yu Fujiki, in Toho's sixth annual New Face Contest in 1953, Momoko Kochi was immediately cast in her first film, A WOMAN'S HEART RELEASED. Two pictures with Toho's veteran director Kajiro Yamamoto followed the next year. It was probably in his mentor Yamamoto's films that younger director Ishiro Honda saw her and chose her to play the female lead in his classic GOJIRA (1954). Kochi's excellence in GOJIRA led to typecasting in several more such roles, both in monster movies and in other genres. By 1959. Kochi decided the only thing keeping her from better roles was her lack of formal training, which she immediately commenced. A turn in a Shakespeare play on stage soon followed, and Kochi began to pursue a stage career, her income fortified by work in TV commercials. Her appearances in films were minimal from then on, but fans of GOJIRA never forgot her, and director Takao Okawara wisely tapped her to reprise her role of Emiko Yamane, among the sole survivors of the original GOJIRA, in 1995's GOJIRA VS. DESTROYER. Used to working with younger actors, Okawara was highly impressed by Kochi's intensive training and powers of concentration: all her scenes were able to be wrapped in a single day. and Akira Takarada (Hideto Ogata) :Born on April 29, 1934 in Japanese occupied Korea, Akira Takarada rose from the Toho "New Face" program (with Yu Fujiki and Momoko Kochi) to become one of the most recognizable men associated with the original Godzilla (Gojira) series, even though he appeared in only four installments. He began in 1949 with a small role in "When the Liberty Bell Rang" and after several small roles came his big break as navy diver Hideto Ogata in the original Gojira (1954). He soon became recognizable for his persona as the cocky, slightly cynical urban male and that made him a very successful actor. Today he is still a celebrity in Japan through his appearances in TV dramas, quiz shows and commercials.
Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Serizawa) :He had an unusual background for an actor: his formal education began in a kindergarten founded by the wartime-era Japanese Imperial Army, and continued in a military academy which was Tokyo's answer to West Point. Upon graduating from Tokyo University (Japan's most prestigious), Hirata confounded many family expectations of him by pursuing a career in acting. His first roles, in EVEN THE MIGHTY SHED TEARS and EMBRACE (1953), brought him to the attention of director Ishiro Honda, who promptly cast Hirata first in his WW2 romance FAREWELL RABAUL (1954) and then, later that year, in the role that would come to define Hirata's career: the tormented, one-eyed scientist Daisuke Serizawa, who alone has figured out a way to destroy the monster GOJIRA. That movie made stars out of all of the younger actors who were fortunate enough to star in it, though Hirata tended more towards second leads and character parts. He was often called the best-known of all actors to appear in Gojira movies (he would turn up in six of the sequels), but this was due as much to his popularity with directors as with his exposure through the monster movies. He was a favorite of directors Ishiro Honda, Jun Fukuda, Hiroshi Inagaki, and much beloved by virtually all the actors who knew him: honest and humorous, highly intellectual but never pretentious. He appeared in literally every kind of movie Toho Studios made, from the monster pictures to samurai dramas (including his one movie for Kurosawa, SANJURO) to war dramas to comedies. Still, he remained identified most directly in the public's mind with the original GOJIRA; his character Serizawa is among the best remembered and most admired in all Japanese films, both inside Japan and out. Hirata was chosen by Toho to announce the monster's return in GOJIRA (1984), and was tapped for a major role; but he died tragically of lung cancer before he could begin shooting.
	The Inspirations and The Aftermath
	Hiroshima :The Japanese city of Hiroshima (Hiroshima-shi) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chugoku region of western Honshu, the largest of Japan's islands. It is most known throughout the world as the first city in history subjected to nuclear warfare with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II by the United States of America.
	The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) :As a result of an arctic nuclear test, a carnivorous dinosaur thaws out and starts making its way down the east coast of North America. Professor Tom Nesbitt, only witness to the beast's existence, is not believed, even when he identifies it as a "rhedosaurus" to paleontologist Thurgood Elson. All doubts disappear, however, when Elson is swallowed whole during an oceanic bathysphere excursion to search for the creature. Soon thereafter the rhedosaurus emerges from the sea and lays waste to Manhattan Island until Nesbitt comes up with a plan to try to stop the seemingly indestructible beast.
	Akira :Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo's supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira's secrets were buried 30 years ago.
	Kuroi ame / Black Rain :At first glance Imamura's adaptation of the novel of the same name by Masuji Ibuse appears one of his least typical films, especially after the grandiose productions of Eijanaika and Zegen. An intimate home drama set mostly at the beginning of the 50s, its carefully composed monochrome photography reminds us that Imamura began his career as an assistant to Yasujiro Ozu at Shochiku. With its story centred around the attempts of Shigematsu (Kitamura) and Shigeko (Ichihara) to marry off their niece Yasuko (Tanaka), her blood tainted after the atomic blast that destroyed most of Hiroshima, Black Rain sometimes feels like a hibakusha take on such films as Early Spring.

In the original Japanese version, there were several references not only to the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also to the firebombing of Tokyo. These were deleted in the American version of the film. However, it is claimed that English language Godzilla, King of the Monsters! placed Gojira and Toho in the world stage. Prior to 1956 and the showing of Rashomon in 1950 there was little interest - at least iin the international arena for both Jidai-geki and Kaiju-ega leading to the opening up of Japanese movies to the rest of the worldworld. What does this say about re-makes?

The Host and D-War...

Links: Godzilla on DVD Rialto Pictures [Godzilla] Bambi Meets Godzilla

Readings:
From Periphery to Center: The Rise of the Korean Film Industry Since the Late 1990s and Ironies of Its Success
My Sassy Girl (Yeopgijeogin geunyeo) - 2001
Movies:
Yeopgijeogin geunyeo (2001) Also Known As: Bizarre Girl (South Korea) (literal English title), My Sassy Girl (International: English title), Yupgi Girl (Hong Kong: English title)
"Gyeoul yeonga" (2002) [TV-Series] Also Known As: Endless Love: Winter Sonata (Philippines: English title), Winter Sonata (International: English title) (literal title)
1. Plot Summary: Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her that enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girl's abuses.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293715/plotsummary>
2. Plot Summary: Jun-Sang moves to a small town in the country and meets Yoo-Jin in the local high school. They fall in love, but Jun-Sang faces a terrible tragedy and gets killed in a car accident. Ten years later, Yoo-Jin meets a guy who looks just like her Jun-Sang. Yoo-Jin has to choose between her current boyfriend and a person who reminds her of her dead sweetheart.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395057/plotsummary>

	My Sassy Girl is a 2001 South Korean romantic comedy film. It is partially based on the true story told in a series of love letters written by Kim Ho-sik, a man who posted them online.The film is directed by Kwak Jae-yong. The film was extremely successful in South Korea. When My Sassy Girl was released throughout East Asia, it became a mega blockbuster hit in the entire region, from Japan, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, to the point where it was drawing comparisons to Titanic. Through positive word-of-mouth, the movie eventually became one of the most popular South Korean films among Asian Americans in the United States. WARNING! An American remake, starring Jesse Bradford and Elisha Cuthbert, and directed by Yann Samuell is scheduled to be released in 2008.
Kim Ho-sik Born in Seoul in 1975; He is majoring in Planning of Instrument. In August 1999, he just had a chance to put his comic stories on a web site, many web users love his wrings and then, his ID 'Gyeon Woo 74' became popular among the web users. Due to his fame, he is now a regular author of 'Newsboy', 'CAFEI Story Place', 'HUMOR Authors'.	My Sassy Girl As serialized on the web site, this novel could have been loved a lot from web users and finally cinematized in Korea. When the novel was made, those web words and expressions were just put on the book as they are. In this book, the sassy girl shows us the conversion of generation in the 21st century and makes our imagination extended by conversely thinking. Also, she represents the sound deviation. The sassy girl is really unique character. After dead drunk, she threw up all in the subway and fell into a faint. In addition, at the first time to meet Gyeon Woo, she talked roughly to him and forced him to just drink coffee at a cafe. Moreover, she scolded young guys throwing garbage on the street or sitting at the seats for elderly people in the public transportations. How could this pure guy, Gyeon Woo, attract and make her his girl?
	Kwak Jae-Yong Born May 22, 1959... is a South Korean director and screenwriter. He studied physics at the Kyunghee University. He knew a good success with his debut film Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day in 1989, but the failure of two next movies led him to eight years of unemployment before the comeback with a smash-hit film My Sassy Girl in 2001. He is known for his limitless fondness of love stories with the mix of different genres.
Jeon Ji-hyeon Jun was born in Seoul, and studied in the Department of Theater and Film at Dongguk University. She began her career as a model in 1997, and after appearing in a number of TV sitcoms, her movie debut came in White Valentine (1999). This was followed by a role in Il Mare (2000), which proved to be a success. An American remake of Il Mare, The Lake House, was released June 14, 2006. Her biggest breakthrough was in My Sassy Girl (2001), a romantic comedy that won her the Best Actress award at the Daejong Film Festival in 2002. In 2004, Jun starred in Windstruck, a 2004 South Korean fantasy-romantic comedy directed by Kwak Jae-yong. The film was a major success, ranking as the 8th-highest grossing Korean film of 2004. In 2006, she starred in Daisy. Since her debut as a model for Echo, Jun has modeled for many fashion companies and more recently, in advertisements for mobile phones and cosmetics. Some of her more popular product endorsements include Giordano, Laneige, and Samsung Anycall. In 2005, she became the first Korean artist to feature on the cover for the famous fashion magazine ELLE. Jun will play the lead role of Saya Otonashi in the live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire, which is to start filming in China and Argentina in March 2007. It is slated for a Spring 2008 release.
	Cha Tae-hyeon Cha Tae-Hyun (born 25 March 1976, Seoul) is a South Korean actor, TV personality, and singer. He made his acting debut in a 1995 television drama. He appeared in his first film, Hallelujah, in 1997, and made his singing debut in 2001. Internationally he is perhaps best known for his leading role in the 2001 romantic comedy My Sassy Girl opposite Jun Ji-hyun. Other roles include Papa (1996).
	Why is Winter Sonata a Big Hit in Asia?
Bae Yong Joon After graduating from the FTM (Film, TV & Multimedia) department in the school of arts in the Sungkyunkwan University, Bae later went onto his film debut in PpilKu in 1994. He later went on to star in dramas like "Salut D'Amour" and "Six Steps to Separation" in late 1994 and 1995 respectively. He first garnered critical acclaim after appearing in a supporting role on Sunny Place of the Young, where he played the role of the heir to a cosmetics company and best friend of the leading actor, played by Lee Jong Won. Through this role, Bae first gained his now-famous 'regal' image. His next acclaimed role was in First Love, where he played the role of Chan-woo, a smart, young man with checkered past, who drops out of law school to join a gang to seek revenge for his family's misfortunes. After 1999, Bae decided to step away from acting to focus on his education at Sung Kyun Kwan University, where he majored in film studies. In 2001, he returned to the small screen, appearing in Hotelier. At this time, Bae decided to let his hair grow long, as evidenced from photographs posted in fan sites. Bae became world-famous as his next dramatic role, "Winter Sonata," despite the fact that it was a TV drama and not a movie, razed all of Japan with as much as 20% of the country watching it. This popularity gave both Bae and his co-star Choi Ji-woo a chance to shift their main stage from Korea to Japan. Other Korean movies and dramas also became quite popular following the Winter Sonata craze. Bae's role as Kang Jun-sang in Winter Sonata made him the main spotlight of the Korean Wave. Bae also managed to get a deeper foothold into the Japanese and Southeast Asian market after he starred in the movie Untold Scandal as Jo Won Cho. However, because of several strong sexual scenes in the movie, it did not appeal to the public nearly as much as "Winter Sonata".
	Choi Ji Woo Choi graduated from Pusan Sooyoung Elementary, Sooyoung Girl's Jr. High, and Dukmoon Girl's High School, and majored in aerobics at Pusan Woman's Professional College's Dance Department. She was first discovered when she won a talent audition organized by MBC in 1994, and made her debut in the 1995 drama series War and Love, after which she adopted the stage name Choi Ji Woo. She also appeared in the popular drama First Love, where she was the first paired with actor Bae Yong Joon. In 2001, Choi gained popularity with her role as an orphaned girl suffering from leukemia in the series Beautiful Days, in which she starred alongside Lee Byung-Hun. That same year, she enrolled in Hanyang University's Department of Theater/Film Studies. Although Choi completed her first year, she had to withdraw from college studies due to her hectic work schedule. In 2002 Choi co-starred again with Bae Yong Joon in the popular drama series Winter Sonata, produced by KBS and directed by Yoon Suk-ho. The second installment of Yoon's seasonal dramas (collectively referred to as "Endless Love"), Winter Sonata has been credited as one of the initiators of the Korean Wave in Japan. As a result, Choi has gained a wide Japanese following, and her Japanese fans sometimes refer to her as "Princess Ji Woo". She continued her success by appearing in the 2003 drama Stairway to Heaven with Kwon Sang Woo. Choi's most recent work is the MBC weekend drama "Air City", her first series in three years. In the series, she plays Han Do-Kyung, Chief Operating Officer of an airline company, a role that requires her to be multi-lingual. Her co-stars include Lee Jung-jae and Lee Jin-wook, and the trio completed their photo shoot for the series poster in February 2007. The 20-episode drama made its debut on MBC on May 12 and will conclude on July 15.
Park Yong Ha Park Yong-ha is a Korean actor and singer. He was born on August 12, 1977. At seventeen, Park was noted for his acting and musical skills, as well as his good looks which earned him popularity among fans. Park has also co-starred in Winter Sonata with Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji-woo as Sang-hyuk.As a singer, Park is the "mysterious" voice behind Just For Yesterday, the hit theme song of this year's K-drama "All In", which starred Lee Byung Hun and Song Hye Kyo.
	Park Sol Mi Park Sol-mi (born January 3, 1978) is a South Korean actress. Park had a minor role in the 1996 series Papa, but her breakthrough came in 2002 when she starred in several dramas, including Bad Girls and the popular Winter Sonata. In 2004 she made her film debut in Park Jeong-woo's Dance with the Wind, which required her to learn ballroom dancing over a four month period of intensive training. Her latest film, Paradise Murdered, was released in April 2007. In addition to being an actress, Park is also an amateur pianist. After attending a concert by Japanese pop group Jaja in 2005, she expressed a desire to perform with the band, and was later invited to play on their second album, I Love You. Park played piano on the album's title track, and also appeared in the promotional video. The album was released in February 2006. Park was known to be dating her All In co-star Ji Sung prior to his conscription in June 2005.
	Dae Jang Geum Dae Jang Geum, sometimes known as The Great Jang Geum, or Jewel In The Palace, is a 2003 TV series produced by South Korean TV channel MBC. Based loosely on the historical figure depicted in the Annals of Joseon Dynasty, the show focuses on Jang-geum (played by Lee Young Ae), the first female royal physician of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. The main theme is her perseverance, as well as the portrayal of traditional Korean culture, including Korean royal court cuisine and medicine.
Dae Jang Geum has experienced massive success across Asia, in places such as Iran, mainland China,Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, further continuing the “Korean wave” cultural fever that gripped Asia in the early 2000s. It has also been shown in Australia, the United States, and Canada. Dae Jang Geum was first shown in South Korea from 15 September 2003 to 23 March 2004 on MBC where it was the top program at the time with an average viewer rate of 47% and a one-time high of 58%. It is the highest rated drama in South Korean history. The drama was next shown on GTV in Taiwan in May 2004 where it was dubbed into Mandarin Chinese and known as Da Changjin (Dà Chángjin). It was also the number one program in Taiwan at the time and the theme song was sung by Angela Chang. In September 2005, it was shown on Hong Kong’s TVB (as Dai Cheung Kam) where it became the top program in Hong Kong history. The theme song was sung by Kelly Chen. Beginning in June 2005, the program was shown variously titled in the United States on AZN Television and on mostly on ethnic Korean stations such as KBFD in Hawaii and WOCH-CA in Chicago. In July 2005, Dae Jang Geum was shown on Canada’s Cantonese-language Fairchild TV and in September 2005 on Australia’s Cantonese-language TVB Jade. Also in September, Dae Jang Geum was first shown in China on Hunan TV where it was known as Da Changjin (Dà Chángjin). Also shown on other channels, the program is known for the many variations of the Chinese version of the theme song were sung by various artists. Examples are the CETV version, the Hunan TV version, and the version sung by five winners of the Super Girl singing contest. In Japan, the drama was shown beginning in October 2005 on the country's biggest TV station, NHK, under the title of The Vow of the Palace Court Lady Jang Geum. (Kyutei Nyokan Changumu no Chikai).	Dae Jang Geum was also shown in Thailand in October 2005 on Channel 3. In Indonesia, Dae Jang Geum was shown in December 2005 by an Indonesia's TV station, Indosiar. Dae Jang Geum was shown by GMA Network in the Philippines under the title Jewel in The Palace and is rated as the highest rating Korean novela in primetime from November 2005 to March 2006, only beaten by My Name is Kim Sam Soon, which also aired on GMA. During April, the show bounced back to the leading spot as the latter show ends. Due to its massive popularity, the show was re-run and enjoyed high ratings. Faith Cuneta sang a Tagalog version of the theme song titled “Pangarap na Bituin” for the Philippines release. In Iran, Dae Jang Geum is shown by Channel 2 under the title Jewel in The Palace in 2006 and 2007 and remind Oshin, a Japanese popular series which was shown 20 years ago.On the basis of the survey of IRIB, this series has been at the first rank of the most popular series of IRIB in Ordibehesht(March-April) 2007 with 57 percent audience and 92 percent satisefaction. Dae Jang Geum will be dubbed into Russian and shown daily at 8pm on Russia's DVTRK from March 2007. On Saturday 24th September, Korean drama Dae Jang Geum began airing in India during prime time on the country’s state-owned DDTV. It will be shown over the next two years. Dae Jang Geum has also aired in Jordan and Egypt. There is also an online campaign to show Dae Jang Geum on the UK's most well-known channel, BBC. The link to the campaign's website: http://showdjgonbbc.blogspot.com/ Dae Jang Geum was also shown in Brunei in April 2007 on RTB2 under the title Jewel in The Palace. Dae Jang Geum is currently being shown in India after being dubbed in National language(Hindi) as 'Ghar ka Chirag'. The Arabic Dub which has also started airing on Dubai TV on October 14th, 2007 carries the title Jawharatu Alqasr. It is the Arabic translation for Jewel in the Palace.

Links: My Sassy Girl- MV Dae Jang Gum MV Winter Sonata piano (Korean Drama OST) full theme song Winter Sonata - episode 1 part 1 / 6 Winter Sonata - The moment (korean version)

Readings:
Desjardin (Chapter 1) Fukasaku (5-31)
Book Description: This book offers an extraordinary close-up of the golden age of Japanese cult cinema from the 1950s through the 1970s. Having unique access to top maverick filmmakers and icons of the genre, Chris Desjardins brings together interviews with and original writings on such directors as Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill) and Koji Wakamatsu (Ecstasy of the Angels), as well as performers like Shinichi Sonny Chiba (The Streetfighter, Kill Bill Vol. 1) and Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood). Desjardins brings us up to date with a look at Japanese enfants terribles Takashi Miike (Audition) and Kiyoshi Kurasawa (Cure). Illustrated with stills and posters from some of Japans finest cult and action films, the book also provides detailed extras including filmographies and related bibliographies. This is a veritable bible for fans and newcomers alike.
<http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Masters-Japanese-Chris-Desjardins/dp/1845110862/sr=1-1/qid=1168969147/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
Movies:
Batoru rowaiaru (2000) Also Known As: Battle Royale (International: English title)
Ringu (1998) Also Known As: Ring (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
1. Plot Summary: Ninth grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food and various arms. They have to fight each other three days long until the last one remains and are forced to wear a special collar, which will explode when they break a rule.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/plotsummary>
2. Plot Summary: After the death of her cousin Tomoko, reporter Reiko hears stories of a videotape that kills everyone who sees it exactly one week after viewing. At first she discounts the rumors, but when she learns that Tomoko's friend (who watched the video with her) died at exactly the same time, she begins to investigate. After viewing the tape herself, strange things start happening, and so she teams up with her ex-husband to try to stop the death clock that has once again begun ticking.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/plotsummary>

All in the Name: Tartan Asia Extreme Films Dr Chi-Yun Shin Sheffield Hallam University	UK based exhibitor and distributor Tartan Films' flagship label 'Asia Extreme has played a pivotal role in promoting and disseminating East Asian films in recent years. As the first distribution label that came out specifically dealing with East Asian films in the UK, Tartan Asia Extreme has successfully released a number of titles that include Audition (1999), Battle Royale (2000), The Isle (2000), Infernal Affairs (2002), Old Boy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005). With an extensive (and ever growing) DVD catalogue, Tartan has emerged as the most high-profile label amongst the East Asian film providers in the UK, initially through their highly successful, annual nationwide tour of Asia Extreme Roadshow (2003-2005) and other marketing strategies specifically targeting young audiences. In 2004, Tartan also launched its US branch, employing the same marketing campaigns: stand alone theatrical releases for stronger titles and a roadshow/cinema tie-in across several major cities in the US. The output of the Asia Extreme label, however, tends to 'lump together' different types of films from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong as well as Thailand. Questions are also raised as to the name of the label itself, Asia Extreme, which invokes and in part relies on the Western audiences' perception of the East as weird and wonderful. In addition, somewhat problematically, the label aspires to be a genre (perhaps meta-genre is a more appropriate term) as the owner of Tartan Films Hamish McAlpine has referred the label to be a "brand - a genre in itself". Indeed, the wways in which Tartan registers and navigates the vagaries of distinct national cultures and different genres (horror, action, thriller, etc.) gathered under the Asia Extreme banner provide a fascinating site to explore how the West consumes East Asian cinema.
	Battle Royale (2000) Director:Kinji Fukasaku [Tartan UK] 42 delinquent students. 3 days. One deserted Island. Welcome to Battle Royale. A group of delinquent students from a Japanese high school have been forced by a legislation to compete in a new forum of reality television.The students are given a bag with a randomly selected weapon and a few rations of food and water and sent off to kill each other in a no bars hold (with a few minor rules) game to the death. This means that the students have 3 days to kill each other until 1 survives or they all die. The movie focus on a few of the students and how they cope. Some decide to play the game like the psychotic Kiriyama or the Sexual Mistuko whilst others like the heroes of the movie Shuya, Noriko and Kawada are trying to find a way to get off the Island without violence. However as the numbers dwell down lower and lower on an hourly basis is there anyway for Shuuya and classmates to survive?
	Battle Royale II (2003) Directors:Kenta Fukasaku Kinji Fukasaku [Tartan UK] Three years after the events in "Battle Royale," Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara)is a well-known terrorist bent on bringing down the government. In response, they order the creation of the "Battle Royale 2" program, and send a class of junior-high students to catch and kill him.
	Audition (1999) [Tartan UK]: When maverick director Miike Takashi unleashed this stylish slice of extreme cinema upon his unsuspecting audience, few were ready for what they were about to see. Since then, this twisted vision of a hell on earth has become a notorious, critically acclaimed classic.Following his son's advice, widower Shigeharu Aoyama decides that it's time to look for a new wife. By devising a plan to audition for the part of a female lead in a non-existent production, he uses his professional position to track her down. Among the many applicants, he is struck by the mysterious charms of Asami, a quiet, 24-year-old woman.It transpires that Asami is responsive to his attentions, and Aoyama becomes convinced that she is the woman for him. But when he asks her to accompany him on a romantic holiday things take a dark and disturbing turn. Soon Aoyama will discover that there is a side to Asami that he could never have imagined, even in his most depraved nightmares.
	A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) [Tartan] Director:Ji-woon Kim 3 Extremes II "Memories" and A Bittersweet Life Su-mi and Su-yeon return home after an extended hospital stay. Things have not been the same since their mother passed away. Their return is welcomed by their stepmother Eun-joo. Su-mi, the older and stronger of the two, isn’t afraid to speak her mind, Su-yeon is more timid and wary of their stepmother and looks to Su-mi for help. Continually picked on and harassed by their stepmother, the two have no choice but to endure the relationship for their father’s sake. Su-mi promises Su-yeon that she will never let their stepmother beat them again.
	Suicide Club (2002) Director:Sion Sono In Tokyo, when fifty-four high-school students commit a collective suicide, jumping from a platform in Shinjuku Station, the police force leaded by Detective Kuroda has no clue to follow. Then he receives an e-mail from a young woman, The Bat, advising that there is a site where red dots mean the number of persons that died. Kuroda and his team investigate the deaths going nowhere.
	The Victim (2006) [Tartan USA] Ting, an actress for murder illustration is hired to simulate a real-life murder case of Min, a former Miss Thailand who was brutally killed. Afterwards, Ting can feel a strange supernatural connection to Min. Soon, she decides to try and solve the mystery of Min's murder.
	Perth (2004) Director:Djinn [Tartan USA] Perth is the journey into the heart of Harry Lee, a 51-year-old part-time security guard and taxi driver. He belongs to a redundant generation, eclipsed by a fast-paced, elitist society that is mesmerized with education and status. Harry desires to leave the antiseptic streets of Singapore for his paradise on earth in Western Australia. His attempt to migrate is complicated when he takes on a job ferrying prostitutes. This evokes painful memories from his past. When he takes an unhealthy interest in a Vietnamese prostitute, it awakens a dark and dangerous attempt at personal redemption. The film tackles an extremely topical issue of emigration in Singapore. It is peppered by denizens of the underbelly of Singapore society, reflecting the multicultural idiosyncrasies of a seemingly pristine city. More importantly, it is a personal journey of a flawed man in a society that does not tolerate failure. As such, Harry s rant and anger - directed at anyone and anything, but himself - is merely a distraction from his own feelings of impotency within society, and his inability to find redemption from his past.
	Ringu (1998) Director:Hideo Nakata [Toho] Reiko Asakawa is researching into a 'Cursed Video' interviewing kids about it. When her niece Tomoko dies of 'sudden heart failure' with a face of terror on her, Reiko investigates. Shes finds out that some of Tomoko's friends who had been on a holiday with Tomoko the week before had died on exactly the same night at the exact same time in the exact same way. Reiko goes to the cabin where the teens had stayed and finds an 'unlabled' video tape. Reiko watched the tape to discover its the 'cursed videotape'. Ex Husband Ryuji helps Reiko solve the mystery, Reiko makes a copy for him. Things become more tense when her son Yoichi watches the tape saying Tomoko had told him too. They discovery takes them to a volcanic island where they discover that the video has a connection to a Pyscic who died 30 years ago, and her child Sadako
	The Ring (2002) Director:Gore Verbinski [DreamWorks Distribution] Rachel Keller is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers (including her niece). There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. If the legend is correct, Rachel will have to run against time to save her son's and her own life.
	Ju-on (2000) Director:Takashi Shimizu [Toei] Jealous of his wifes love for another man, a teacher from her high school, a man brutally kills his wife and young son. Searching for the son who has missed a lot of school, the teacher enters their house, only to find the dead ghost of his mother, and consequently has a heart attack and becomes a ghost himself. The story goes on to tell of the new tenants of the house and what they experience, and an investigation by two police officers into why so many people are dissapearing.
	The Grudge Director:Takashi Shimizu [Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (2004) (USA) (all media) ;Senator International (2004) (non-USA) (all media) (sales); Columbia Pictures (2004) (USA) (theatrical)] The normal façade of a modest house in Tokyo belies the hidden terror within. It is possessed by a violent plague that destroys the lives of everyone who enters. Known as The Grudge, this curse causes its victims to die in the grip of a powerful rage. Those who are fatally afflicted by the curse die and a new curse is born--passed like a virus to all those who enter the house in an endless, growing chain of horror. Karen is an exchange student studying social work in Japan who innocently agrees to cover for a nurse who didn't show up for work. When she enters the assigned home, she discovers an elderly American woman, Emma, who is lost in a catatonic state while the rest of the house appears deserted and disheveled. As she is tending to the stricken old woman, Karen hears scratching sounds from upstairs. When she investigates, she is faced with a supernatural horror more frightening than she could ever imagine. Within this house, a chain of terror has been set in motion resulting from a terrifying evil that was born years before. As more people die, Karen is pulled into the cycle of horror and learns the secret of the vengeful curse that has taken root in this house. Now she must stop it before it's too late.

Links: Battle Royale Trailer Battle Royale Trailer [Better] Batoru rowaiaru (2000) battleroyalefilm.net battleroyalefilm.net/movie Battle Royale [Book] Battle Royale [Movie] Takeshi Kitano Battle Royale 2000.12.16

Readings:
TBA

Movies: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Flags of our Fathers Letters from Iwo Jima Tora, Tora, Tora Grave of the Fireflies Barefoot Gen

Questions: Gie is a 2005 biographical film directed by Riri Riza. The film tells the story of Soe Hok Gie, a graduate from University of Indonesia who is known as an activist and nature lover. The film is based on a diary Catatan Seorang Demonstran written by Soe himself. The plot of this film is an interpretation of the filmmakers, and scenes portraying Soe's private life may be partly fictionalised for dramatisation. What are the implications of fictionalized historical narrative?

Readings:
Ciecko (Chapter 2) Philippines: Cinema and its Hybridity (32-44)
Lent (Chapter 8) Indonesia, Thailand, and Burma (201-225).
1. Book Description: This book presents the most authoritative assessment of contemporary Asian cinema available. Each chapter describes the cultural aspects of popular film production, analyzing key films in the context of the national, the regional and the global. Topics covered include: film theory and Asian cinema, popular film genres, major industry figures, the "art film", connections between the state and commercial interests, cultural policies, representations of national identity, trends in international co-production, and more.
<http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Asian-Cinema-Popular-Culture/dp/1845202376/sr=1-1/qid=1168979150/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
2. Book Description: Several short essays precede the directory, which lists some 350 institutions (investment and commercial banks; securities, insurance, and asset management firms). The entries identify key contacts and give general information about divisions and activities. Indexed by company name, country of owner/affiliate, state, and type of business. The design and type are space consuming. Lent, a pioneer in the study of Asian mass communications traces the often-elusive history and the complex contemporary status of film production and distribution in twenty Asian countries, assisted by contributions from George S. Semsel, Keiko McDonald, and Manjunath Pendakur.
<http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780292704220&itm=1>
Movies:
India - Water, Asoka, Lagaan; Mongolia - The Story of the Weeping Camel; Tibet - Samsara, Phorpa (the Cup), and Kundun; Vietnam - Journey from the Fall, The Scent of Green Papaya, The Vertical Ray of the Sun, and Cyclo; Cambodia - The Killing Fields; Burma - Beyond Rangoon; Thailand - Suriyothai, and Ong Bak; Indonesia - Gie, The Year of Living Dangerously; Malaysia - Gol & Gincu; Philippines - Can This Be Love, Dekada '70 and Cavite. Links: Gie - A Film by Riri Riza

Readings:
Dissanayake (Chapter 8) Dilemmas of Representation in Thailand (141-161)
Sarker (Chapter 5) Gender, Paradoxical Space, and Critical Spectatorship in Vietnamese Film: The Works of Dhang Nhat Minh (108-125)

1. Book Description: A Thai food-seller on the streets of Bangkok, a cyclo driver in a Vietnamese village, a Pahari migrant laborer in the Himalayas, a Parsi-Christian professional social worker shuttling back and forth between London and Calcutta. Trans-Status Subjects examines how these and other South and Southeast Asians affect and are affected by globalization. While much work has focused on the changes wrought by globalization-describing how people maintain foundations or are permanently destabilized-this collection theorizes the complex ways individuals negotiate their identities and create alliances in the midst of both stability and instability, as what the editors call trans-status subjects. Using gender paradigms, historical time, and geographic space as their driving analytic concerns, the essays gathered here engage with the various ways South and Southeast Asians both perpetuate and resist various hierarchies despite unequal mobilities within economic, social, cultural, and political contexts. The contributors-including literary and film theorists, geographers, historians, sociologists, and anthropologists-show how the dominant colonial powers prefigured the ideologies of gender and sexuality that neocolonial nation-states have later refigured; investigate economic and artistic production; and explore labor, capital, and social change. The essays cover a range of locales-including Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Borneo, Indonesia, and the United States. In investigating issues of power, mobility, memory, and solidarity in recent eras of globalization, the contributors-scholars and activists from South Asia, Southeast Asia, England, Australia, Canada, and the United States-illuminate various facets of the new concept of trans-status subjects. Trans-Status Subjects carves out a new area of inquiry at the intersection of feminism and critical geography, as well as globalization, postcolonial, and cultural studies. Contributors. Anannya Bhattacharjee, Esha Niyogi De, Karen Gaul, Ketu Katrak, Karen Leonard, Philippa Levine, Kathryn McMahon, Andrew McRae, Susan Morgan, Nihal Perera, Sonita Sarker, Jael Silliman, Sylvia Tiwon, Gisele Yasmeen.
<http://www.amazon.com/Trans-Status-Subjects-Gender-Globalization-Southeast/dp/0822329921/sr=1-1/qid=1168979000/ref=sr_1_1/103-0388382-1413438?ie=UTF8&s=books>
Movies:
India - Water, Asoka, Lagaan; Mongolia - The Story of the Weeping Camel; Tibet - Samsara, Phorpa (the Cup), and Kundun;; Vietnam - Journey from the Fall, The Scent of Green Papaya, The Vertical Ray of the Sun, and Cyclo; Cambodia - The Killing Fields; Burma - Beyond Rangoon; Thailand - Suriyothai, and Ong Bak; Indonesia - Gie, The Year of Living Dangerously; MMalaysia - Gol & Gincu; Philippines - Can This Be Love, Dekada '70 and Cavitte

Highly Recommended:

Links: TUMULTUOUS WATER! DEEPA MEHTA FLOWS WITH HER FINAL TRILOGY BY PREETI THANDI Deepa Mehta "Sanvean" Deepa Mehta Interview Deepa Mehta Pop-Up Video 1 Deepa Mehta Pop-Up Video 2

Books:

Ciecko, Anne Tereska. Ed. Contemporary Asian Cinema: Popular Culture in a Global Frame. New York: Berg, 2006.
Craig, Timothy. Ed. Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture. New York: New York and London: M.E. Sharpe, 2000.
Curran, James, and Gurevitch, Michael. Eds. Mass Media and Society. New York: Arnold Publishing, 2000.
Desjardins, Chris. Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2005.
Dissanayake, Wimal. Ed. Colonialism and Nationalism in Asian Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.
Drazen, Patrick. Anime Explosion! The What? Why? And Wow! of Japanese Animation. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2003.
Gateward, Frances. Ed. Zhang Yimou Interviews. Jackson: University press of Mississippi, 2001.
Hall, Kenneth E. John Woo: The Films. London: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999.
Kalat, David. A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series. London: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1997.
Kasdan, Margo, and Saxton, Christine. The Critical Eye - An Introduction to Looking at the Movies. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1988.
Kwok, Jenny Wah Lau. Multiple Modernities: Cinema and Popular Media in Transnational Asia. Temple: Temple University Press, 2003.
Lent, John A. The Asian Film Industry. London: Christopher Helm, 1990.
Marchetti, Gina. Romance and the "Yellow Peril": Race, Sex and Discursive strategies in Hollywood Fiction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
Martinez, Dolores. Ed. The World of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures. Boston: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
McCarthy, Helen. Hayao Miyazaki - The Master of Japanese Animation: Films, Themes, Artistry. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2002.
Min, Eungjun, Joo, Jinsook, Kwak Han Ju. Korean Film - History, Resistance, and Democratic Imagination. London: Praeger, 2003.
Morley, David, and Chen, Kuan-Hsing. Eds. Stuart Hall - Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
Napier, Susan J. Anime: From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Prasso, Sheridan. The Asian Mystique - Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient. New York: Public Affairs, 2005.
Richie, Donald. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film - A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos. New York: Kodansha America, 2005. (17 - 77)
Ruh, Brian. Stray Dog of Anime. The Films of Mamuro Oshii. New York: Palgrave, 2004. (119 - 140)
Sarker, Sonita, and De Esha Niyogi. Eds. Gender in the Globalization of South and Southeast Asia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002.
Teo, Stephen. Wong Kar-wai. London: British Film Institute, 2005.
Tsutsui, William, and Ito, Michiko. Eds. In Godzilla's Footsteps: Japanese Pop Culture Icons on the Global Stage. New York: Palgrave, 2006.
Tsutsui, William. Godzilla On My Mind: Fifty years of the King of Monsters. New York: Palgrave, 2004.
Zha, Jianying. China Pop - How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Bestsellers Are Transforming a Culture. New York: The New Press, 1995.

Periodicals:

Anisfield, Nancy. "Godzilla/Gojiro: Evolution of the Nuclear Metaphor." Journal of Popular Culture. 29.3 (Winter 1995): 53-62. [Gojira]
Arai, Andrea G. "Killing Kids: Recession and Survival in Twenty-First-Century Japan." Postcolonial Studies. 6.3 (2003): 367-379. [Battle Royale]
Bailey, Andy. "Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung: Lead us into temptation with Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love." IFC Rant. 5 (Jan/Feb 2001): 20-21.
Canemaker, John. "Un Disney: Pokemon to the contrary, Japanese animated films are more adult-oriented and artistically varied than their American counterparts." Print. 54.3 (May/Jun 2000): 95-99. [Anime]
Chen Xiaoming. "The Mysterious Other: Postpolitics in Chinese Film." Boundary 2. 24.3 (Fall 1997): 123-141. [Zhang and Chen]
Chow, Rey. "Toward an Ethics of Postvisuality: Some Thoughts on the Recent Work of Zhang Yimou." Poetics Today. 25.4 (Winter 2004): 673-688. [Zhang and Chen]
Cunneen, Joseph. "Moral Visions on Film." National Catholic Reporter. 40.27 (5/7/2004): 16. [Korean Cinema]
Cunneen, Joseph. "Two Foreign Films Worth Seeking Out." National Catholic Reporter. 31.8 (12/16/1994): 13. [Zhang and Chen]
Hui, Wang. "PRC Cultural Studies and Cultural Criticism in the 1990." Positions. 6.1 (Spring 1998): 239-251. [Zhang and Chen]
Kendall, Timothy. "Yellow Earth and Ethnographic Knowledge: the interpretation of culture/the culture of interpretation." Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. 14.2 (July 2000): 215-230. [Zhang and Chen]
Klawans, Stuart. "Chronicle of Disappearance." Nation. 278.16 (4/26/2004): 35-37. [Korean Cinema]
Martin, Pete. "Backstage with Nancy Kwan: The sensational star of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song is a demure product of two exclusive worlds." Saturday Evening Post. 235.6 (2/10/1962): 40-45. [Asian American]
McFarlane, Brian. "Women Beware Women: 'Raise The Red Lantern.'" Screen Education. 42 (2006): 111-115. [Zhang and Chen]
Napier, Susan J. "Confronting Master Narratives: History As Vision in Miyazaki Hayao's Cinema of De-assurance." Positions. 9.2 (Fall 2002): 467-493. [Anime]
Nochimson, Martha P. "Lies and Loneliness: An Interview with Tony Leung Chiu Wai." Cineaste. Fall 2005: 16-17. [Wong Kar-wai]
Paquet, Darcy. "Seoul Mates - Korea's Romantic Comedies Take A Sassy Turn." Film Comment. 40.6 (Nov/Dec 2004): 48-49. [My Sassy Girl]
Quinn, Judy. "No Ennui for Japanese Anime." Publishers Weekly. 256.50 (12/13/99): 23. [Anime]
Russell, Catherine. "Men with Swords and Men with Suits: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa." Cineaste. Winter 2002: 4-13. [Kurosawa]
Sakata, Shuji. "Favorite Anime in Japan." Nipponia. 27 (2003): 8-11. [Anime]
Shepard, Lucius. "Curse of the Deadly Sequel." Fantasy and Science Fiction. 109.2 (August 2005): 94-99. [Ringu]
Sherman, Betsy. "An Interview with Tony Leung." Asian Cult Cinema. 49 (Date?): 52-61. [Wong Kar-wai]
Shimizu, Isao. "Discovering the Origins of Anime in Ancient Japanese Art." Nipponia. 27 (2003): 12-13. [Anime]
Yonezawa, Yoshihiro. "The Worldwide Phenomenon of Anime: Past and Present." Nipponia. 27 (2003): 4-7. [Anime]
Zhang, Benzi. "Figures of Violence and Tropes of Homophobia: Reading Farewell My Concubine between East and West." Journal of Popular Culture. 33.2 (Fall 1999): 101-109. [Zhang and Chen]
Zhang, Xudong. "National Trauma, Global allegory: Reconstruction of Collective Memory in Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Blue Kite." Journal of Contemporary China. 12.37 (Nov 2003): 623-638. [Zhang and Chen]

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