The Transnational Asian Studio System: Cinema, Nation-State, and Globalization In
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The Transnational Asian Studio System: Cinema, Nation-State, and Globalization in Cold War Asia by Sangjoon Lee A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Cinema Studies New York University May, 2011 _______________________ Zhang Zhen UMI Number: 3464660 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3464660 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 ⓒ Sangjoon Lee All Right Reserved, 2011 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my father, Lee Eui-choon, and my mother, Kim Sung-ki, for their love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous support and encouragement of my committee members and fellow colleagues at NYU. My deepest debts are to my dissertation advisor; Professor Zhang Zhen has provided me through intellectual inspirations and guidance, a debt that can never be repaid. Professor Zhang is the best advisor anyone could ask for and her influence on me and this project cannot be measured. This dissertation owes the most to her. I have been extremely fortunate to have the support of another distinguished film scholar, Professor Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro, who has influenced my graduate studies since the first seminar I took at NYU. With a mix of wry humor and keen critical insight, Professor Yoshimoto opened the door to a new world. I also wish to sincerely thank Professor Dana Polan who has been enthusiastic about my project from the very beginning when he arrived at NYU in 2006. I am tremendously grateful to him for carefully and thoroughly reading my drafts and for continuously encouraging my projects. I am also indebted to Professor Namhee Lee. She has always been my supporter and I have learnt from her how to think and write as a scholar and how to live in academia. Professor Chris Berry taught me, not in his office in London but at tables of coffee shops and restaurants in Beijing and Hong Kong, how to navigate and survive in the intricate web of cinema and the transnational. Professor Jungbong Choi made my graduate life much more meaningful and relaxed. His enthusiasm for teaching and down to earth personality helped me picture myself as an educator and a mentor. I also iv benefited from the great film scholarship of other NYU faculty: the mentorship and scholarship of Professor Robert Stam, Bill Simon, Ed Guerrero, Antonia Lant, Richard Allen, and Robert Sklar have been invaluable for building the theoretical frames of this dissertation. I have learned from many teachers. Professor Peter Wollen, Nick Browne, Steve Mamber, and the late Teshome Gabriel and Lisa Kernan at UCLA showed me the spirit of film studies and intellectual responsibility. I will never forget the moment when Professor Wollen shared memories of his eccentric adventures during his twenties and thirties. His genuine affection for cinema deeply influenced me. The Late Lisa Kernan was the first person who read my academic paper, written in English. Her encouragement and patience made my first year in America meaningful. Lisa, you were the person who made me think of pursuing Ph.D. Many people and institutions helped bring this dissertation to fruition. Foremost among them are Cho Jun Hyung, Chung Jong Hwa, Kim Hieyoon, Mo Eun Young, Oh Sung-ji, and Park Hye Young at the Korean Film Archive. They have been especially wonderful and welcoming during my repeated research visits to the archive. Wong Ain-ling and Angel Shing at the Hong Kong Film Archive were extremely helpful in finding rare materials as well as introducing me to many important figures of Hong Kong cinema. Law Kar read a chapter on coproduction thoroughly and critically by providing acute and inspirational comments. Kinnia Yau Shuk-ting at Chinese University of Hong Kong guided me in mapping out the regional collaborations. Lawrence Wong Ka Hee at Shaw Brothers welcomed me, despite his incredibly busy schedule, and shared his memories of the seventies, and, v most importantly, allowed me to photocopy some of the most important documents that were tremendously helpful to this project. I remain indebted to those who read all or parts of the manuscript and offered me advice, comments, and feedback, which tremendously helped me improve and augment my dissertation: Miyao Daisuke, Abe Markus Nornes, Michael Raine, Anne McKnight, Stanley Rosen, Alexander Zahlten, Nate Brennan, Benjamin Min Han, Robyn Citizen, Park Hyun Hee, and Soyoung Kim. Steven Chung, Amy Nayoung Kwon, Hye Seung Chung, Su Yun Kim, Hyung-Sook Lee, David Scott Diffrient, and Jinsoo An whom I have known for many years taught me the true meaning of academic collaboration as well as unfailing friendship. I have also benefited immensely from the collegiality and friendship of my friends and colleagues at UCLA and NYU. Andrey Gordienko, Hye Jean Chung, Sachiko Mizuno, Wang Qi, Brian Hu, Chinghsin Wu, Han Kyungjoon, Kim Hyung Shin, Jeon Young Chan, and Lindy Leung made the early years of my UCLA graduate life not only possible but enjoyable through their personal inspiration and intellectual support. At NYU, a number of friends helped me to get through the seemingly never ending tunnel of PhD life: Ying Xiao, Cindy Chen, Jinying Li, Rufus de Rham, Chi-Yan Chao, Youn Jong Lee, Sueyoung Park-Primiano, Jihoon Kim, Sooyi Lee, Wyatt Phillip, Anuja Jain, Lisa Broad, Priyadarshini Shanker, Zeynep Dadak, Intan Paramaditha, Aya Matsushima, Dan Gao, Ban Young-rok, Chang Han-il, Yuni Cho, Seung-hoon Jeong, Ami Kim, and two of my precious friends in the city, Kim Young-A and Lee Jung A. vi Lastly but most importantly, my deep gratitude goes to my fiancé, Oh Jung Yun who has supported my study with patience, understanding and love. My family has always been there for me: My parents Lee Eui-Choon and Kim Sung-Ki, and two sisters Eun-Sook and Eun-Kyung have never stopped believing in me. I dedicate this dissertation to them. Thank you, Bumonim geurigo nunimdeul gansahamnida. This project has been supported by fellowship and research grants. New York University‘s Corrigan Fellowship made my first four years at NYU easier. Korea Foundation‘s Graduate Studies Fellowship helped me focus on completing this project during my fifth year. NEAC‘s Korean Studies research grant of AAS and NYU‘s summer research grant both supported my multiple trips to Hong Kong and Korea. vii ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the ways in which postwar East Asian cinema was shaped by the practice of transnational collaborations and competitions between newly independent and still existing colonial states at the height of Cold War cultural politics. More specifically, my aim is to elucidate the extent to which postwar film studios aspired to rationalize and industrialize the system of mass-production by way of co-producing, expanding the market, and co-hosting film festivals. I argue that the emergence of these motion picture studios was the offspring of the Cold War and American hegemony. While providing financial aids to film industries and supporting the cultural elite, U.S. agencies helped to initiate the first postwar inter- Asian film studio network. It is a new attempt to reconstruct East Asian film history. By unveiling these cinematic links, the previously unquestioned history of quintessential national cinema is reassessed. I claim that the concept of national cinema is a fictional construct precariously built upon the denial of the regional cinematic sphere. After a brief introduction, the first chapter, which is split into two sections, holds two endeavors: to historicize the disciplinary trajectories of the national cinema historiography and to theorize the methodology for the dissertation. The subject of the second chapter is the transnational Asian studio system which is a de facto conceptual framework for the whole project. In this rather striving manifesto, I claim that the unforeseen materialization of motion picture studios in postwar/cold war Asia should be comprehended from the perspective of the viii transnational Asian studio system that had a shared, collective objective toward definitive ―modernization‖ of the film industry that was instigated in 1954 and eventually disappeared in 1976. Chapter three traces the early history of the Asian Film Festival (AFF) and argues that AFF took part in a decisive task to rejuvenate the region‘s cinematic network. Chapter four investigates one of the most representative film studios of the era, Shin Films in Korea, and examines the studio‘s business and management constitution, aesthetic styles, mode of production, political relations, and transnational networks all through the two decades of its operation. Chapter five extensively engages with the now elapsed history of the international cinematic coproduction between Korea and Hong Kong, and chapter six, a coda, expands the temporal and spatial boundaries into the global entity, beyond Asia. Finally, the epilogue leaps to the new millennium, and discusses contemporary coproduction films that have appeared in the region recently to decipher the intricate