Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia
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CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 Purdue University Press ©Purdue University Volume 15 (2013) Issue 2 Article 22 Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia I-Chun Wang National Sun Yat-sen University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb Part of the American Studies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Education Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Television Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press selects, develops, and distributes quality resources in several key subject areas for which its parent university is famous, including business, technology, health, veterinary medicine, and other selected disciplines in the humanities and sciences. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: <[email protected]> Recommended Citation Wang, I-Chun. "Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): <https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2234> This text has been double-blind peer reviewed by 2+1 experts in the field. The above text, published by Purdue University Press ©Purdue University, has been downloaded 1071 times as of 11/ 07/19. This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. This is an Open Access journal. This means that it uses a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access. Readers may freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles. This journal is covered under the CC BY-NC-ND license. UNIVERSITY PRESS <http://www.thepress.purdue.edu > CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 < http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb > Purdue University Press ©Purdue University CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture , the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." In addition to the publication of articles, the journal publishes review articles of scholarly books and publishes research material in its Library Series. Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Langua- ge Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monog- raph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: < [email protected] > Volume 15 Issue 2 (June 2013) Article 22 I-Chun Wang, "Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia" <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss2/22> Contents of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013) Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss2/ > Abstract : In her article "Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia" I-Chun Wang discusses how performance is an integral part of cultural discourse: in industrially advanced Asian nations governments started to examine the relationship between cultural discourse and popular culture, cultural identity and tourist attractions and artists have become prominent participants in this development in particular with regard to theater performance, an activity with old traditions in Asian cultures. With the uptake of technology and in some cases Western innovation, Asian theater performance not only became an important part of social and cultural discourse, it rejuvenated itself. Wang posits that Asian theater performance shaped cultural trends, reinterpreted theatrical arts, and provided a platform for innovation and communication with audiences from different cultural backgrounds and thus became a factor of globalization within Asia and between the West and Asia including the tourist industry, a worldwide phenomenon. I-Chun Wang, "Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia" page 2 of 8 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss2/22> Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization . Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo I-Chun WANG Globalization and Theater Spectacles in Asia Globalization has originally been referred to the phenomenon of the increasing mobility of financial capital and growing investments across national boundaries (Fiss and Hirsch 32), but during the past three decades globalization reflects economical interdependence and cultural heterogeneity in many parts of world resulting in not just the shifts of economic power, but also blurred national identities. Current aspects of globalization include (im)migration, labor, cultural integration, and cultural and social activities. Although efforts of anti-globalization in the 1990s tended to stress negative aspects, the discourse of globalization has gradually become ubiquitous. In Pacific Asia one interesting facet of globalization is urban development and expansion along with the promotion of local cultural heritage. In other words, to deal with increasingly Western-dominated international culture, governments employ performance to represent local cultural legacy and embrace globalization. For example, in Mumbai, Beijing, or Kyoto represent the dynamism of performing traditional cultures while constructing an interface between globalization and traditional cultural heritage. Mumbai, the fourth most populous city in the world, has developed one of the largest film industries with an emphasis on the revival of the US-American musical and the representation of classical Indian dance styles and costumes. Hangzhou has been widely known for its scenic West Lake and legendary stories, but now it has become one of the sites for live scenic shows in China. As for Tokyo, a city acknowledged as a leading world metropolis, celebrates itself with Shakespeare Tokyo Globe, a reconstruction of Shakespeare's theater. In the article at hand, I explore theatrical performances in Hangzhou's Impression Series, the Tokyo Globe, Taiwan's local operatic theater, and Bali's traditional theatre and analyze how contested identities in these Asian cities become ritualized in performances and how performances integrate with the trend of globalization through intermedial practices. The story of Madame White Snake, one of the best known stories in China, originated in the Song Dynasty and was adapted to theater and fiction during the Ming and Ching dynasties. The most acclaimed dramas developed from this folk tale and the most interesting episode includes 水漫金山寺 (Flooding the Golden Mountain Temple , or Flooding Jinshan Temple) which narrates how the Serpent Lady exerts her supernatural power transforming water creatures into powerful armies, fighting against Fa-Hai who has imprisoned her lover, and the events surrounding the Feng Lei Pagoda which relate the aftermath of her imprisonment beneath the pagoda and her son's attempt to rescue her fairy mother when he achieves a high degree of scholarship in a nationwide examination. No matter whether the script is in Kunqu, Beijing, Cantonese, or traditional Taiwan opera, White Snake's gentle temperament and pursuit of love, as well as her husband's shaky character are part of the story and this is the case also in Long Zhou's opera Madame White Snake performed in 2010 in Boston and that received the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. Performed in Hangzhou in 2007 Yimou Zhang's show Impressions of the West Lake is a prominent example of representing the city and its embedded culture through intermediality-based performance. This operatic performance is a collaborative effort by cinematographer Zhang, stage director Chaoge Wang, and techno-musician Kitarô (Takahashi Masanori). Zhang chose the scenic West Lake as the site of the modern version for the legendary story of Madame White Snake. Madame White Snake (Bai She Zhuan) was originally an orally transmitted legend about the love affair between Suzhen Bai — a woman in the form of a serpent — and a young scholar named Xian Xiu. The serpent lady in this Chinese folk tale is an enchantress and her love affair with Xiu is interrupted by a righteous sorcerer monk, Fa-Hai, who captures the serpent lady