<p> This study analyzes "culture" in late colonial Korea, 1937 to 1945, with the methodology of worldly repetition. By embedding culture between quotation marks, I intend to clarify that the object of this study is not an object per se. Korean "culture" is constructed around the three names that the present researcher is barred from objectifying. The names Yi Sang, Ch'oe Chaeso&caron;, and Mun Yebong are not mere indexes of three persons with their particular intrinsic qualities. They are names that represent the Korean culture of the time. However, their representativeness does not mean that they enable the present researcher to reconstruct a general view of Korean culture of the time through them. They are representative to the extent that they allow the present researcher to reflect his own positionality in his research on a past event in history. This reflexive return is induced by the names' essential self-reflexivity; reflections on them are not to be objective if they are aiming at others through the names. The three names are representative of Korean culture of the time to the extent that they are the "origin" of the "culture" that is being formed within the present researcher's time.</p>

The film industry in Mainland China has grown rapidly in the 2010s, and in particular, local crime films have emerged over the past decade as a unique cinematic phenomenon that epitomizes China’s political and cultural system and social realities. As little is known about this phenomenon in the West, this thesis would provide a comprehensive review of the history of Chinese crime cinema, with a focus on the development and characteristics of the genre in the 2010s. The introduction defines the object and scope of the study, and briefly introduce the context of the Chinese film industry. The first chapter outlines the different forms of crime films in Mainland China before the 2010s, the strict content censorship in China, and the impact of Hong Kong and Korean films on Mainland Chinese cinema. The second and third chapter reviews selected Chinese crime films released from 2011 to 2020, and interpret in detail the influential ones. The conclusion summarizes the overall trends, commonalities and current status of Chinese crime cinema.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF KWANG WOO NOH, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mass Communication and Media Arts, presented on August 25, 2009, at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. TITLE: MEMORIES OF RAPID TRANSFORMATION: RETROSPECTION AND NOSTALGIA IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH KOREAN CINEMA MAJOR PROFESSOR: Deborah Tudor, Ph.D. The recent tendency of returning to history in Korean cinema corresponds with the conjuncture of democratization and globalization from 1992, which is an antithesis of the former conjuncture: modernization and military dictatorship from 1961 to 1992. Through the rapid economic development, Korea's economy reached its apex in the mid 1990s. However, Asian economic crisis of 1997 - 1998 accelerated the economic decline. The democratization and the economic crisis provided Korean filmmakers with a motivation to re-examine the past. The research contained herein will focus on these Korean reexaminations of the past. With regard to this re-examination, Korean cinema employed two main trends. Some films refer to historical and political moments, and suggest a relationship between such moments and Korean destiny. Other films deal with personal stories from the 1960s to 1990s. Both trends provide not only retrospection of the rapid transformation but also nostalgia for the past despite differences of subject matters and genre. Film studies pertinent to the subject include political criticism in U.S. film studies of ideology, historians' and film scholars' approaches to film representation of the history and the past, as well as New German cinema and post-Franco Spanish cinema. Methodology will incorporate textual analysis, followed by an examination of four films in retrospective trend, as well as four films in the nostalgic trend. For the purpose of analysis, eight films, released from 2000 to 2007, are examined. In terms of subject matter, all films are connected to Korea from the 1960 to the 1990s. In the first trend of films of historical reference, four films will be examined: The President's Barber(Im Chan-sang, 2004), The President's Last Bang (Im Sang-soo, 2004), Peppermint Candy (Lee Chang-dong, 2000), and Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho, 2003). The President's Barber covers the era from the last days of Rhee Syng-man regime through the Student Revolution of April 19, 1960, through the military coup on May 16, in 1961, to the assassination of Park Chung-hee on October 26, 1979, through the life of a fictional barber who served the president. The President's Last Bang (Im Sang-soo, 2004) dramatizes the assassination of Park Chung-hee. With its reverse chronological narrative progress, Peppermint Candy (Lee Chang-dong, 2000) traces how the Kwangju massacre of May 1980 influenced Korean society. Finally Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho, 2003) treats the expansion of capitalism during the 1980s within the form of mystery and thriller film. Four films that tell personal stories are chosen: The Classic (Kwak Jae-yong, 2003), My Mother the Mermaid (Park Heung-Shik, 2004), Once Upon A Time in A High school: The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (Yu Ha, 2003) and Friend (Kwak Kyung-taek, 2001). All but My Mother the Mermaid adopt the form of "high teen film" for their genre conventions. Once Upon A Time in A High School: The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (Yu ha, 2003) is a coming-of-age film set in a high school located in Kangnam, a newly developed periphery of Seoul in the late 1970s. The Classic and Friend compare adolescence and maturity by putting episodes from main characters' high school days in the middle of storyline. Whether they are set in a remote island or a high school in an urban area, these films depict not only the bitterness and poignancy of growing up but also show diverse aspects of, or responses to, the rapid socio-economic transformation of South Korea.

El cine asiático, puede tomarse como un tipo de paradigma que se ha tratado de alejar del establecido por la casi monopólica industria del cine hollywoodense. Este cine se ha etiquetado eurocéntricamente como “cine periférico”, todo esto a causa de la simplificación a la que a veces se somete a estas cinematografías, desdibujando su rica diversidad. A veces un cine cargado de sensualidad cinematográfica pero no explícita necesariamente, sino más bien sutil. Desarrollan tramas no tan complejas, o en ocasiones si, pero que emplean un ritmo cinematográfico lánguido con elementos visuales y auditivos que atraen al público a comprometerse con el encuentro en la sala de cine. Expresando la figura de la mujer alejada de la idea falocentrista y del constructo estereotipado de: la buena (la virgen y la madre) y la mala (la prostituta y la femme fatal), la virtuosa (la acompañante fiel) y la viciosa (quien aparece como presa fácil de cualquier hombre). Todo lo que en occidente ha sido tratado desde la perspectiva del hombre, en su papel de guionista, director de cine, productor o crítico. / Asian cinema can be taken as a type of paradigm that has tried to move away from the one established by the almost monopolistic Hollywood film industry. This cinema has been labeled Eurocentrically as "peripheral cinema", because of the simplification that these cinematography’s are sometimes subjected to, deleting their rich diversity. Sometimes this type of cinema is loaded with cinematographic sensuality not necessarily explicit, but rather subtle. They develop plots that are not so complex, or sometimes they are, but totally inversed in a languid cinematographic rhythm that uses visuals and sounds elements that try to make the public committed with the experience of their movies. This cinema also, show us the figure of a woman far away from the phallocentric idea and the stereotypical construct of: the good woman (the virgin and the mother) and the bad woman (the prostitute and the femme fatal), the virtuous (the faithful partner) and the vicious (who appears as easy prey to any man). Everything that in the West has been telled from the perspective of man, in his role as screenwriter, film director, producer or critic. / Trabajo de investigación

Ayant réalisé neuf longs-métrages entre 1988 et 2007, aussi que plusieurs campagnes publicitaires, vidéo-clips, courts-métrages et projets collectifs, Wong Kar-wai est un des réalisateurs contemporains les plus importants actuellement. Issu de l'industrie cinématographique fortement commerciale de Hong Kong, Wong est parvenu à attirer l'attention du circuit international des festivals de cinéma avec son style visuel unique et son récit fragmenté. Considéré par plusieurs critiques comme le poète de la recherche d’identité de Hong Kong après 1997, Wong Kar-wai défie toutes les tentatives de catégorisation. L’étude qui se poursuivit ici a donc pour objet essentiel de fournir une analyse attentive et complète de son oeuvre, tout en se concentrant sur les traits stylistiques qui donnent à ses films une unité. Ces caractéristiques correspondent à une certaine façon de raconter des histoires, de composer des personnages et des récits, de manipuler le temps et d'utiliser des ressources techniques de sorte que ses films offrent une identité cohérente. L'objectif est d'analyser les différents composants de ses images pour découvrir comment ses films communiquent les uns avec les autres afin de créer une identité unique. Pour atteindre cet objectif, je pose comme hypothèse de travail que le cinéma de Wong est marqué par une structure dualiste qui permet à ses films de présenter des qualités contradictoires simultanément. La plupart de mes arguments se concentrent sur le travail du philosophe français Gilles Deleuze, qui a proposé une théorie du cinéma divisé entre l’image-mouvement et l’image-temps. Je considère que sa théorie fournit un cadre valide sur lequel les films de Wong peuvent être projetés. Tandis que ma recherche se concentre sur l’interprétation textuelle des films, je profiterais également d’une analyse comparative. / With nine feature films released between 1988 and 2007, as well as several advertising campaigns, music videos, short films and collective projects, Wong Kar-wai is one of the most important contemporary filmmakers currently working. Hailing from Hong Kong’s highly commercial film industry, Wong has managed to attract the attention of the international film festival circuit with his visual style and fragmented narrative. Considered by many critics as the poet of Hong Kong’s quest for identity post 1997, his cinema defies every attempt of standardization. The main goal of this study is to provide an attentive and comprehensive study of his body of work, concentrating on the stylistics traits that make his films part of a coherent unity. These characteristics correspond to a certain way of telling stories, of composing situations and characters, of manipulating time and the use of technical resources so that his films offer a coherent identity. The objective is to analyze the different components of his images, to show how his films communicate with each other in order to create something unique. To achieve this objective, I put forward the hypothesis that Wong’s cinema is marked by a dualistic structure that allows his films to present opposite qualities at the same time. Most of my arguments are based on the thoughts of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, whose own dualistic theory of cinema presented in his books Cinema 1: the movement-image and Cinema 2: the time-image, provides a valid framework upon which Wong’s films can be projected. While the research concentrates on the textual analysis of films, I will also benefit from comparative analysis and additional disciplines.

Guru Dutt was one of the most important filmmakers in India, who worked for a little over a decade starting in 1951. He died prematurely in 1964. In those few years, he made some of Indian cinema?s most memorable films. Song and dance sequences are an integral part of the narrative structure of popular Indian cinema. Guru Dutt, working within that paradigm, devised innovative methods of using song sequences. In his films, the song sequences were not a distraction, but they served the purpose of carrying the narrative forward, expressing the inexpressible, and replacing scenes. He achieved this by his creative use of locations, lyrics, music, camera angles, and placement of the song within the narrative. This study critically analyzes song sequences from five of his films ? Aar Paar (Through and Through, 1954), Mr. and Mrs. 55 (1955), Pyaasa (The Thirsty One, 1957), Kaagaz ke Phool (Paper Flowers, 1959) and Saahib Biwi aur Ghulam (Master Mistress and Slave, 1962). Guru Dutt?s style of song direction focused on realistic depiction and the quality of storytelling. He used each feature of the song to his advantage never losing control of the larger narrative. This study also brings to the fore Guru Dutt?s conflicted views as an artist on the issues of tradition and modernity, and the position of women in the emerging nation.

Ayant réalisé neuf longs-métrages entre 1988 et 2007, aussi que plusieurs campagnes publicitaires, vidéo-clips, courts-métrages et projets collectifs, Wong Kar-wai est un des réalisateurs contemporains les plus importants actuellement. Issu de l'industrie cinématographique fortement commerciale de Hong Kong, Wong est parvenu à attirer l'attention du circuit international des festivals de cinéma avec son style visuel unique et son récit fragmenté. Considéré par plusieurs critiques comme le poète de la recherche d’identité de Hong Kong après 1997, Wong Kar-wai défie toutes les tentatives de catégorisation. L’étude qui se poursuivit ici a donc pour objet essentiel de fournir une analyse attentive et complète de son oeuvre, tout en se concentrant sur les traits stylistiques qui donnent à ses films une unité. Ces caractéristiques correspondent à une certaine façon de raconter des histoires, de composer des personnages et des récits, de manipuler le temps et d'utiliser des ressources techniques de sorte que ses films offrent une identité cohérente. L'objectif est d'analyser les différents composants de ses images pour découvrir comment ses films communiquent les uns avec les autres afin de créer une identité unique. Pour atteindre cet objectif, je pose comme hypothèse de travail que le cinéma de Wong est marqué par une structure dualiste qui permet à ses films de présenter des qualités contradictoires simultanément. La plupart de mes arguments se concentrent sur le travail du philosophe français Gilles Deleuze, qui a proposé une théorie du cinéma divisé entre l’image-mouvement et l’image-temps. Je considère que sa théorie fournit un cadre valide sur lequel les films de Wong peuvent être projetés. Tandis que ma recherche se concentre sur l’interprétation textuelle des films, je profiterais également d’une analyse comparative. / With nine feature films released between 1988 and 2007, as well as several advertising campaigns, music videos, short films and collective projects, Wong Kar-wai is one of the most important contemporary filmmakers currently working. Hailing from Hong Kong’s highly commercial film industry, Wong has managed to attract the attention of the international film festival circuit with his visual style and fragmented narrative. Considered by many critics as the poet of Hong Kong’s quest for identity post 1997, his cinema defies every attempt of standardization. The main goal of this study is to provide an attentive and comprehensive study of his body of work, concentrating on the stylistics traits that make his films part of a coherent unity. These characteristics correspond to a certain way of telling stories, of composing situations and characters, of manipulating time and the use of technical resources so that his films offer a coherent identity. The objective is to analyze the different components of his images, to show how his films communicate with each other in order to create something unique. To achieve this objective, I put forward the hypothesis that Wong’s cinema is marked by a dualistic structure that allows his films to present opposite qualities at the same time. Most of my arguments are based on the thoughts of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, whose own dualistic theory of cinema presented in his books Cinema 1: the movement-image and Cinema 2: the time-image, provides a valid framework upon which Wong’s films can be projected. While the research concentrates on the textual analysis of films, I will also benefit from comparative analysis and additional disciplines.

La question géopolitique, loin d’être un "mécanisme" abstrait participe à l’évolution de l’espace local, de son organisation aux manifestations qui en émanent. L’étude de cinématographies nationales telles que Hongkong, La Corée du Sud, le Japon et Taiwan est l’occasion de mettre en correspondance par parallélisme les spécificités géopolitiques de chacun de ces "pays" et certains éléments constitutifs de leurs cinémas respectifs, pouvant jouer aussi bien dans une dimension historique, qu’institutionnelle ou esthétique. L’approche géopolitique se présente comme une contre-proposition à l’uniformité culturelle proposée par la notion de "cinéma asiatique" et entend, à partir d’une reformulation de la conception lefebvrienne de la notion d’espace (concret, social, mental), exhumer les qualités spécifiques de chacun des cinémas étudiés. Existe-t-il un art asiatique ? Un cinéma asiatique ? / The geopolitical issue, far from being a "mechanism" abstract part in the evolution of the local space, organization events that flow from them. The study of national film industries such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan is an opportunity to match the specific geopolitical alignment with each of these "countries" and certain elements of their respective theaters, which may play both in a historical dimension, and institutional or aesthetic. The geopolitical approach is presented as a proposal to cons-cultural uniformity proposed by the notion of "Asian cinema" and hears from a reformulation of the design Lefebvrian the notion of space (concrete, social, mental), exhume the specific qualities of each of the movies studied. Is there an Asian art? An Asian cinema?

The family has always been a central narrative theme in cinema. Korean cinema has been no exception, where the family has proved to be a popular subject since its earliest days. Yet Western scholarship on Korean cinema has given little attention to this dominant theme, preferring to concentrate on the film industry's recent revival and its blockbusters. Scholarship in Korea and in the Korean language, on the hand, has continuously discussed some of the major cinematic works on the family. However, such literature has tended to be in the form of articles discussing one or two particular works. A comprehensive study of the family in contemporary Korean cinema therefore remains absent both in Korean and in English. This thesis is an attempt to provide such a work, bringing together films on the family and writings on them in both Western and Korean scholarships, as well as filling the gaps where certain trends and patterns have gone undetected. How are the changes in the understanding of the family or in the roles of individual family members reworked, imagined, or desired in films? Taking this question as the starting point of the research, each chapter explores a separate theme: transformations in the structure of the family; faltering patriarchy and fatherhood; motherhood and the extremity of maternal love; and certain children's experiences of the family. The first chapter detects a general move away from the traditional patriarchal nuclear family and an interest in depicting alternative families, exploring shifting family forms in contemporary society and the public discourses surrounding them. The second chapter highlights the contradictory ways that the father has been illustrated in films during and after the IMF crisis. The third chapter explores a branch of recent thrillers that depicts mothers as dark and dangerous characters, offering an interesting cultural framing to the multiple perceptions of the mother figure in contemporary society. Finally, the last chapter aims to extend representations of the 'Korean family' to include films by/about those currently living outside of Korea, namely Korean emigrants and adoptees.