Social art cinema of the 1990s: commodifying the concept of British National Cinema

This study explores the ways in which "social art cinema" has been constructed as a form of national cinema in the context of the 1990s. It discusses how particular institutional issues of the period affected signification revolving around the genre and, consequently, how that affected the concept of national cinema. This research draws upon a range of agendas relating to financial and distribution structures, promotional activities and multi-media consumption that were involved in encouraging the proliferation of social art cinema. This study contends that the success of social art cinema as a generic style was a key factor in constructing an idea of British cinema as a cultural entity. By examining how the institutional elements created this idea, I discuss how social art cinema was positioned as a national cinema in the market place through such elements. The primary objective of this study is therefore to make a contribution towards the growing body of scholarly work that considers the role played by the idea of national cinema in the very commercial environment of the contemporary film business where expressions of national specificity can often seen indistinct. The study also presents evidence for the need to consider contextual aspects when discussing the idea of national cinema. Thus, by examining the commercial aspects of national cinema, I demonstrate that national cinema should not only be defined by accounts of socio-political engagement, but should encompass institutional agendas as well

International circulation and local retaliation: East Asian television drama and its Asian connotations

This chapter argues that a drawback of recent scholarly focus on regional distinctiveness and pan-Asianism is that an incomplete picture has hitherto been presented of the role contemporary Asian television drama is playing in transnational cultural exchange. Emphasis on the Asian-ness of Asian television drama, this chapter proposes, has resulted in neglect of aspects of the dramas that are appealing to broad non-Asian audiences. Further, large audiences who ardently watch East Asian drama but who do not fit into very broad definitions of what it means to be Asian have been marginalised. In addition, the chapter asserts that an excessive concentration on the socially positive impacts of the circulation of East Asian drama have obscured many of the less socially desirable and divisive nationalistic discourses that have surrounded inter-Asian cross-border transmission

Life is beautiful: gay representation, moral panics, and South Korean television drama beyond Hallyu

Critical attention on Korean popular culture, particularly outside of Korea, has focused upon the Hallyu cultural phenomenon at the expense of sectors of the Korean creative industries that have sought to actively engage with their social and cultural environment and challenge the status quo. Politically charged, countercultural or just distinctive and/or original, non-Hallyu cultural artifacts have been and continue to be born out of a desire to be creative, to comment on or to create social change. This article focuses upon one such critically overlooked South Korean cultural artifact, the audacious and genuinely groundbreaking television drama "Life is Beautiful" (SBS 2010), which motivated an immense amount of critical and social reaction within Korea and yet has barely featured in English language analysis of Korean drama because it has not been classified as Hallyu. This is in spite of it being a finely produced and performed series and one written by the most prolific, longest serving and commercially successful of all Korean writers of Hallyu drama, Kim Soo-hyeon. In addition to its impressive production credentials, "Life is Beautiful" is also notable for being hugely controversial at the time of its broadcast due to its boldness in tackling the subject of Korean prejudice towards homosexuality

Why Does Hallyu Matter? The Significance of the Korean Wave in South Korea

Over the last few years South Korea has been responsible for a television phenomenon known as Hallyu ('the Korean Wave'). Its popularity has spread to a number of East Asian countries including Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Mongolia, China and especially Japan and has made celebrities out of its stars. Bu what exactly does Hallyu mean? What are the implications for an indigenous Korean television culture and for its international reputation as well as sense of national identity? This article focuses on television drama to analyse what the term relates to, but also what it has come to mean , particularly to Koreans

Social art cinema of the 1990s : commodifying the concept of British National Cinema

This study explores the ways in which "social art cinema" has been constructed as a form of national cinema in the context of the 1990s. It discusses how particular institutional issues of the period affected signification revolving around the genre and, consequently, how that affected the concept of national cinema. This research draws upon a range of agendas relating to financial and distribution structures, promotional activities and multi-media consumption that were involved in encouraging the proliferation of social art cinema. This study contends that the success of social art cinema as a generic style was a key factor in constructing an idea of British cinema as a cultural entity. By examining how the institutional elements created this idea, I discuss how social art cinema was positioned as a national cinema in the market place through such elements. The primary objective of this study is therefore to make a contribution towards the growing body of scholarly work that considers the role played by the idea of national cinema in the very commercial environment of the contemporary film business where expressions of national specificity can often seen indistinct. The study also presents evidence for the need to consider contextual aspects when discussing the idea of national cinema. Thus, by examining the commercial aspects of national cinema, I demonstrate that national cinema should not only be defined by accounts of socio-political engagement, but should encompass institutional agendas as well.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Reading Asian Television Drama: Crossing Borders and Breaking Boundaries

The Asian TV industry is 'unstoppable' reported Variety in 2008, yet still most people living in the West have no idea what the rest of the world is watching on TV: what makes them laugh and cry every day. East Asia, as this book demonstrates, produces drama that is watched by vast audiences. The dramas themselves are diverse in form and content, have value that is local as well as transcultural and strongly appeal, in terms of their aesthetics, storytelling, acting and cinematography to non-Asian as well as Asian audiences. Reading Asian Television Drama offers an informative overview of East Asian television drama and its cultural impact. It examines both the text and context of TV dramas from such countries as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, China and South Korea. Chapters analyse various internationally popular dramas including South Korean 'hallyu' shows like Jewel in the Palace, Winter Sonata and Wedding. Other chapters focus on Asian TV networks within Asia, as well as Asian global cultural exchange and the international consumption of East Asian television drama. They also provide full and varied coverage of the major issues relating to contemporary East Asian television and its cultural formation within Asia as well as in the West

Reading Asian Television Drama: Crossing Borders and Breaking Boundaries.

The Asian TV industry is ‘unstoppable’ reported Variety in 2008, yet still most people living in the West have no idea what the rest of the world is watching on TV: what makes them laugh and cry every day. East Asia, as this book demonstrates, produces drama that is watched by vast audiences. The dramas themselves are diverse in form and content, have value that is local as well as transcultural and strongly appeal, in terms of their aesthetics, storytelling, acting and cinematography to non-Asian as well as Asian audiences. Reading Asian Television Drama offers an informative overview of East Asian television drama and its cultural impact. It examines both the text and context of TV dramas from such countries as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, China and South Korea. Chapters analyse various internationally popular dramas including South Korean ‘hallyu’ shows like Jewel in the Palace, Winter Sonata and Wedding. Other chapters focus on Asian TV networks within Asia, as well as Asian global cultural exchange and the international consumption of East Asian television drama

'Oppa”-tunity Knocks: PSY, 'Gangnam Style” and the Press Reception of K-Pop in Britain

Based on an examination of over 500 British newspaper reports, this article contends that a range of culturally-biased interpretations have frequently been incorporated in PSY’s critical reception in Britain that have served to present him as a bizarre novelty act or central character of an internet meme as opposed to a globally famous pop star - and long established Korean pop star. Consequently, the contemporary Korean context of PSY’s phenomenally successful song and video has been largely overlooked. Rather than casting a new light on Korea, previously held negative assumptions about Korea have also often featured in these press reports. Yet despite this, the song itself has still managed to benefit Korea’s popular image overseas. Indicative of the song and video’s complex cultural representation and partisan reception, ‘Gangnam Style’ has—paradoxically—been ripe for exploitation by the Korean Tourism Association (KTO). Because of the failure to engage with the ‘Korean context’ of the song by sectors of the foreign press, the KTO has been largely free to revise the ‘Korean context’ of ‘Gangnam Style’ away from its initial criticism of the lifestyle it represents into a more profitable recommendation of it

Corpses, Spectacle, Illusion: The Body as Abject and Object in CSI

In the case of CSI audiences have come to expect a body horror extravaganza and in most episodes they get one. Yet through a series of stylistic and aesthetic strategies such grisly images are not as disturbing as perhaps they should be. CSI has managed to make extreme imagery palatable to a mainstream audience rather than just a niche horror fan audience. This chapter suggests that the program has achieved this by undercutting the violent imagery it displays by advertising its artificiality so that audiences recognize and are constantly reminded of the fictional nature of what they are watching. The gore on display in CSI illustrates that audiences are not yet fully comfortable with “unrestricted” horror, but are happy to enjoy the fantasy of horror when it is clearly presented as such