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Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 1 HAQ CONTENTS

HAQ Editorial Staff

Editor in Chief Jongsoo Lee Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 4 Patriotism and the Muslim Citizen in Hindi Films Executive Editor Loretta Kim Amit Rai Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Numerous Bollywood films address the trauma of communal violence that has Managing Editor plagued India’s recent history. According to Rai, these films construct the Muslim Holly Gayley terrorist as a monstrous “other” to be exorcised from a Hinduized national family. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Rai, who analyzes the “cinepatriotism” evident in these films, offers telling insights Production Editor into the rhetoric of counter-terrorism, also applicable to the US media. Damon Clark Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Web Editor Giro Cavallo Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Area Editors Jongsoo Lee, Central Asia 16 South Korean Cinema: The Take-Off to Globalization Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Jinhee Kim Melody Chu, China An impressive growth of the domestic film industry in recent years has transformed Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Danny Ooi, Korea South Korea into a significant player on the international film market. In an engag- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences ing survey, Kim discusses the economic and other factors fueling this growth and Leif-Eric Easley, Japan offers hints regarding its pitfalls as well as potential future directions. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Holly Gayley, South Asia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Karen Teoh, Southeast Asia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Associate Editors Harvard Law School Jennifer Chien 21 Interview with Professor Zhang Hui-jun, Kyle Hollingsworth President of the Beijing Film Academy Haifeng Huang HAQ Staff Yen Nguyen Matthew Peckosh The leader of China’s premier film academy shares with HAQ a wide range of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences information about the academy, including its history, curriculum, graduates, and Thomas Tso impact on Chinese and world cinema. The picture that emerges is the BFA as a Jean-Francois Rene Graduate School of Design thriving institution poised to play an increasingly important role in defining the future Michelle Lee of Chinese and Asian cinema.

24 Three Oral Poetries from Southern China Mark Bender China’s ancient traditions are still vibrant and relevant in the contemporary world of literary and performing arts. Bender examines three styles of oral poetry, their transmission, and significance to both performers and audiences. As he explores the rich cultural markers embedded in these artistic forms, Bender highlights the use of regional dialects and ethnic minority languages.

Harvard Asia Quarterly 2 Summer 2003 Volume VII, No. 3 Summer 2003

HARVARD ASIA QUARTERLY is a publication affiliated with the Harvard Asia Center. HAQ was established in 1997 by members of the Harvard Asia Law Society in conjunction with students from other graduate and professional programs at Harvard University as an inter- disciplinary journal of contemporary Asian af- fairs.

31 Graffiti Photos: LETTERS HAQ welcomes readers’ letters and com- Expressive Art in Japanese Girls' Culture ments. HAQ reserves the right to edit corre- Laura Miller spondence for length or format, and the right Graffiti photos, photographs supplemented with written words, are a widely to decline publication. Letters should be ad- dressed to the editor and submitted to the popular "art form" in Japan mainly among teenage and college-age girls. In a address below, or sent to: [email protected] perceptive essay, Miller argues that these photos provide a creative and powerful forum for girls engaged in a struggle over their autonomy and self-identity to SUBMISSIONS forge social bonds and influence the trajectory of Japanese aesthetic HAQ invites the submission of articles and essays to be considered for publication. Sub- sensibilities, language and technology. missions should address matters of contem- porary concern in Asia. Submissions should be delivered in electronic form via email. All submitted materials become the property of HAQ. HAQ reserves the right to reject sub- missions and to edit materials for length, for- mat and content. To receive HAQ Editorial 43 Dancing the National Drama: Guidelines, submissions schedules, or addi- The Muslim South in Filipino Dance tional information, please contact HAQ at the William Peterson address below, or visit our website at www.haqonline.org. Electronic submissions or In discussing the history of the pangalay dance tradition in the Philippines and its inquiries should be sent to: [email protected] rise as a national symbol, especially in relation to the country's Muslim south, Peterson argues that the dance tradition has created a fictional image of the SUBSCRIPTIONS country's precolonial past, both at home and abroad. As he relates several Annual subscriptions to HAQ are available at a rate of $28.00 (individual subscribers) and contemporary popular performances of the dance to the Philippines' current $35.00 (institutional subscribers) for four is- social context, Peterson proposes that the dance may be able to bridge religious sues delivered in the United States and $45.00 and cultural differences within the country. for deliveries elsewhere. For more informa- tion, please contact HAQ or your academic periodical subscription service. Subscriptions are available online at our website: www.haqonline.org

Please address all correspondence to: Harvard Asia Quarterly c/o Harvard Asia Center 1737 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Fax: (617) 495-9976 www.haqonline.org email: [email protected]

Credits: Cover Design: http://www.sanjay-dutt.com Photo credits: Mark Bender (pp. XX), Laura Miller (pp. XX), Integrated Performing Arts Guild (pp. XX), FINISH THIS UP!

No material appearing in this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in this pub- lication are those of the contributors and are not necessarily shared by the editors or pub- lishers. All statements of fact and opinion represent the work of the author, who remains solely responsible for the content. All edito- rial rights reserved.

Copyright © 2003 by the President and Fel- lows of Harvard College. (ISSN 1522-4147).

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 3 PATRIOTISM AND THE MUSLIM CITIZEN IN HINDI FILMS

BY AMIT RAI n Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir (2000), we are witness to a scene beyond the borders of the nation, where a play of shadows mimes the secret negotiation of political-economic interests and reli- Amit Rai is a faculty member in Literature and I gious sentiment. Hilal Kohistani (Jackie Shroff), an Afghan militant famed Cultural Studies at the New School in New York City. He has written on diverse topics includ- for his resistance to Russian colonialism, accepts a new mission from his ing South Asian popular culture, the internet Pakistani and Saudi backers; withdrawn in the shadows is the immobile and identity, the actor Shammi Kapoor, the US silhouette of a turbaned man who commits $20 million for the entire opera- War on Terrorism, and Gandhi and sexuality. In tion. addition to numerous journal articles, Rai re- cently published his first book, Rule of Sym- pathy: Sentiment, Race and Power (St. Martin's Militant: They say that in Afghanistan the Russians used to flee their Press-Palgrave, 2002). He is currently working tanks at hearing your name. on a study of Hindi cinema tentatively titled Kohistani: Leave names. Talk of work. New Empire Cinema: Bollywood and the Cin- ematic Assemblage. M: Mission Kashmir. This work . . . K: Will be done. Price? M: Don’t worry about money. Complete the mission and we’ll pay you any price you want. Since 1947, all the attacks on India have been government-organized. We owe allegiance to no government. We are a free group, and we are soldiers for freedom. There are more Muslims in India than Pakistan. After our mission they too will join our jihad. And our unknown group will become the most illustrious. We will have the most illustrious name among all the world’s mujahideen. In 1971, India changed the map of Asia. Now, we will change the shape of India. For every great goal, a great sacrifice is necessary. And the reward is also very great, God willing. K: Ten million. Dollar. Turbaned figure in shadows: Twenty million. To give money for jihad is as virtuous as giving alms. But even the name of this mission can’t go beyond these walls. K: Secrets buried in a Pathan’s heart don’t emerge even on Judgment Day. You take care of your own people. M: We have organized the arms and ammunition aspect. TV camera, tapes and technical support will be provided as needed. If you need anything else . . . K: A man who isn’t afraid of death. Who so despises his own existence that I can fire him like a missile to destroy the target and himself. M: A man like that . . . ? K: I have such a man… Altaaf. M: Where is your Altaaf now? K: Crossing into Hindustan.

The film cuts to a scene of dense forests and picturesque mountains, across which moves inexorably a lone figure, Altaaf, making his way into Hindustan, like an infection moving through the body politic. The meta- phor of an infection attacking the otherwise secure social body is of course quite common in the discourse on terrorism.1 In India, these metaphors translate into concrete practices of purifying the nation of all anomalies or inconsistencies: the Indian citizen and the Muslim subject are locked in a violent embrace of normalization that seeks to suture the other (the Mus- lim) to the project of Indian nationalism. In Mission Kashmir, Altaaf is that element of infection; his character poses a challenge to fantasies of immu- nity, which animate contemporary discourses of Indian nationalism.

Harvard Asia Quarterly 4 Summer 2003 My paper traces the representation of the Islamic terror- to access the visual styles of popular religiosity (e.g., ver- ist in three popular Hindi films: Sarfarosh (“Self-Sacrifice,” nacular Hinduism and calendar art) while constructing an 1999; dir. John Mathew Matthan), Fiza (“Air,” 2000; dir. Khalid inclusive nationalist mode of address seeking to bridge reli- Mohamed), and Mission Kashmir (2000, Vidhu Vinod Chopra). gious, regional, linguistic, caste and class differences. The These films are part of what one critic has recently called the recent spate of cinepatriotism rearticulates, expands, and shifts renewed “cinepatriotism”2 of Bollywood: a set of films, in- this historical legacy. deed a genre now, that seeks to represent, visualize, and Contemporary representations of Muslims in Hindi films narrativize the sovereignty of the supposedly secular, but in position specific cultural and religious identities as both nec- practice upper-caste, Hindu Indian essary and intolerable to the secu- nation. As such, they have both cri- rity of the Indian nation. The figures tiqued and fueled the ongoing ten- of the radically alienated Muslim, jux- sions between Hindus and Muslims taposed with the patriotic Muslim that mark India’s postcoloniality. and Christian citizen, and the domi- These tensions have been marked nant, often unmarked Hindu show by an increasing regularity of mur- how difference is crucial to the sta- derous clashes between Hindu na- bility of the Indian nation – but not tionalist forces and Muslim commu- excessive difference: the militant nities,3 which accompany the some- Muslim is the figure of an intolerable times low-intensity, sometimes gue- difference. rilla war between India and Pakistan Tying the question of commu- over the northern state of Kashmir. nity identity to broader economic pro- Set against this social and po- cesses, Arvind Rajgopal has recently litical backdrop, the new wave of argued that negotiating the tensions cinepatriotism emerging from between national allegiance and Bollywood is especially important other, more local forms of identity be- because its narratives intervene in Poster for Chopra’s Mission Kashmir (2000). comes increasingly important with the debates around Muslim identity (Credits?) the progress of globalization.5 These and Indian nationalism by tensions stem from the resiliency of rearticulating a kind of secular national subject. In this essay, community as a locus of affiliation, one that resists the ho- I draw together a group of recent Hindi films that both acti- mogenizing impetus of capital by acting as a site of historic vate and refuse Hindu nationalism in particular ways. First, I memory and a resource for alternative futures. As Rajgopal link the melodramatic form of Hindi cinema to the romance of states, “The kinds of rights asserted here are distinct from the (Hinduized) national family. I then tie the representation the chiefly individual character of the rights sought [after] of the Muslim terrorist to the construction of the abnormal and contested in western society. Classical liberal theory is monster in contemporary discourses of counter-terrorism both unable to recognize communities as political actors . . . ren- in the West and in India. This monstrous figure serves to dering it incapable of coming to terms with the kinds of de- legitimate strategies of normalization through the performance velopments witnessed in the contemporary world.”6 It is in of the proper minority subject, and through the figuration of this at once communalized and globalizing context7 that I “nationalized” women. These films show the many strategies would situate the construction of Muslim militant identity in – complex and contradictory – at work in contemporary Hindi Hindi films – an identity simultaneously inside and outside films aimed to manage that infection known today in Hindu the Indian nation. India as the Muslim “other.” In Hindi films, hindutva takes the form of a post-secular nationalism, one that produces irreducible differences through MELODRAMA AND THE NATIONAL FAMILY melodramatic narratives of authentic belonging to the na- tional family. As we shall see, the patriarchal family is still Hindu nationalism is a communal discourse that seeks quite literally the model for the nation.8 Moreover, the family to integrate an historical memory of trauma into a purified provides a template for citizenship as well, through which space of the Hindu-ized nation. Its hegemonic project seeks minority subjectivity, once differentiated, normalized and to narrow the field of cultural representations of difference to marked off from the Muslim terrorist, is repatriated into the a battleground where all non-Hindu communities must re- national family.9 The heterosexual, usually extended Hindu peatedly perform their allegiance to the nation. As Neera family is the norm and telos of these narratives, in which a Chandhoke notes, the current debate around secularism in reconstituted family structure sutures the trauma of mon- India has been sparked off by two explosive political trends: strosity, the trauma, that is, of a certain history. The suture first, the recurrence of communal riots between the Hindu here works in two ways. First, the traumatic history of parti- majority and the Muslim minority; and second, the rise and tion is imaginarily resolved through a romanticized notion of consolidation of what has been referred to as majority funda- the national family. And second, the anxiety caused by the mentalism or hindutva.4 Historically, Hindi cinema has had a political demands of India’s heterogeneous minorities (not complex relationship with these Hindu images and themes. only Muslims but also non-upper caste Hindus) is managed From the very first Hindu “mythological” Rajah by this image of an organic national community. Harishchandra (1913), the project of Hindi cinema has been Not surprisingly, this sense of belonging to a national

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 5 family is also an occasion to position women as both supple- melodrama. We should keep in mind some recent work that mentary to the violent struggle between opposed masculine has sought to tie melodrama to an analysis of trauma and forces, and central to their eventual normalization in domes- history. For instance, E. Ann Kaplan in Screen has argued ticity. As Geeta Kapur suggests, national narratives have to that as a Western genre “occupying the space between his- engage with the anxious problematic of identity “wherein tory and the unconscious, melodrama offers an imaginary what is insecure is mapped on to the female body: the body focused on the private sphere of the family – where traumas posed for unabashed viewing outside the margins of history are secret, hidden – yet an arena structured by male power in but inside a national pictorial schema.”10 Extending and trans- the public sphere.”12 This necessary bridging of the private/ forming an older nationalist imaginary around the figure of public divide through melodrama can also usefully be thought woman – for instance, in the classic film Mother India (1957) of as a symptom of what Kaplan calls “cultural trauma.” In – these films position femininity ambiguously between the the Hindi films that I consider here, the “impact of an over- sacred space of the home and the contamination of the world, whelming event” (both psychic and historical), which can- while heterosexualizing this zone of ambiguity through a fe- not be absorbed and is therefore split off, becomes repeated tishistic male gaze.11 This space of ambiguity forms a kind of and resolved through narratives that ensure “closure and stage where Muslim women enact their cure at the film’s end.”13 Sometimes patriotic duty: as “good” domesti- this trauma takes the form of a specific cated citizens, they are agents of nor- The filmic and aesthetic forms of violence in the film, but always there malization who draw the wayward cinepatriotic films are somewhere is an oblique reference to the found- Muslim male back into the national between a Bollywood melodrama ing trauma of the Indian nation: the fold. and an older social realist art partition of 1947, where millions of Moreover, the strategic combina- cinema. people died in communal rioting. tion of filmic and aesthetic forms that It is in repetition that trauma is characterizes cinepatriotic films – specifically activated and managed. somewhere between the commercial Bollywood melodrama According to Kaplan, “The repetition of certain stories may and an older social realist art cinema – enables a peculiarly betray a traumatic cultural symptom, while the mode’s adher- apt cultural form to chart such traumas of history. On the one ence to realism, and thus to closure, seals over the traumatic hand, the melodramatic form of these films speaks to the ruptures and breaks that the culture endured. The style reas- violence of trauma, helping to minimize or redirect the force sures the viewer, who leaves the cinema believing she is safe of that trauma. On the other hand, by engaging with the and that all is well in her world.”14 Of course, the “certain social realist tradition of Hindi films, these films lay claim to a story” that gets repeated in these Hindi films is a repetition in pedagogical project of transforming history. The Hindi film multiple forms of the partition narrative – a sudden loss, an aesthetic, as numerous critics have noted, is a strategic mix- end to speech, a death, a murder. In the three films that I ture of several factors: Hollywood continuity narrative, nine- consider here, a historical trauma tears apart a family. In Fiza, teenth-century gothic and sentimental fiction, Hindu darsan the loss of a son during the 1993 riots provokes his sister’s or the worshipful act of seeing the divine in an image, Parsi search for the truth of those events. In Mission Kashmir, the theater which often includes song and dance, and nineteenth- death of a Hindu child and the murder of a Muslim family are century tableau painting. As I argue below, this aesthetic is unequally balanced on a scale of justice that is questioned constructed through a set of ideologies that mediate between again and again. In Sarfarosh, the murder of a brother and the home and the world, the sacred and the profane, and the the maiming of the father by terrorists give force to the na- sensual and the spiritual. tional sacrifice of the main character. The force of these trau- This particular combination has been transformed in the mas is then dispersed throughout the narrative in specific past ten years with the advent of economic liberalization and ways and with specific effects. Moreover, the specific events cultural globalization. More and more Hindi films attempt to in the filmic narrative make oblique reference to and hence present a spectacle that will sell in the diasporic markets of keep alive the memory of partition. America and Europe. The hallmarks of this influence include At the same time, this repetition disrupts the linear pro- shooting in foreign (i.e., Western or Western-looking) loca- gression of these stories, problematizing the narrative struc- tions, the commodification of women’s bodies, a defense of a ture. The experience of trauma is organized through paraly- narrow ideological nationalism, the spectacle of Western sis, repetition, and circularity. As such, the “struggle to fig- brand names on the screen, lavish lifestyles, and of course ure trauma’s effects cinematically leads to means other than unimpeded mobility. By presenting viewers with an unabash- linearity or story: fragments, hallucinations, flashbacks are edly cosmopolitan (no longer merely nationalist metropoli- the modes trauma cinema characteristically adopts.”15 There tan) subject and lifestyle – one that is as at home in New York are, however, examples that test the limits of this theory of as in Bhopal – the worshipful act of darsan, for instance, has trauma and melodrama. Certainly all three films utilize memory, found a new god in globalization. This loosening of national flashback and narration. They repeat again and again the ties reorients the traditionally and avowedly national aes- loss that animates both the central characters and the story thetics of Hindi cinema through the anxieties of not-belong- itself. Indeed, in keeping with the fragmentary nature of Hindi ing to the nation, and these anxieties, I would argue, are film aesthetics, this trauma serves to interrupt repeatedly the legible especially in the genre of cinepatriotism. narrative flow. However, unlike the typical Bollywood use of In the films I discuss below, this ideologically constructed flashbacks, the cinepatriotic film reactivates the trauma in aesthetic is manipulated in specific ways through the use of order to forge a link with a socially real history that must be

Harvard Asia Quarterly 6 Summer 2003 reimagined so that the future can be transformed. orders his men to kill Amaan. Instead, Amaam kills them. In the last scene of the film, with the police chasing him, Fiza CINEMATIC DEPICTIONS OF TRAUMA confronts her brother.

Through flashbacks, dreams, and spliced images,16 an Fiza: Throw the rifle away, Amaan. individualized memory – and by extension the fragmented Amaan: What will happen then? Another will pick it up. narrative itself – becomes a negotiation between the subject, F: So much hatred, Amaan? Forget all this. There is still the Muslim other, and the trauma of history. The pain of time. communal, militant or state violence is worked through, reit- A: This is not hatred. It is a voice raised against hatred. erating and shifting the meaning of the trauma through each They call those who die fighting in jihad martyrs repetition, moving finally toward possible narrative closures. [shaheed].21 In Fiza,17 the closely connected lives of a lower-middle class F: Jihad means a fight for truth, and the truth is that we are Muslim family are torn apart by the communal riots that dev- of this country and will remain part of it. Where is it written astated Mumbai (Bombay) in 1993.18 Widow Nishatbi in the Koran that to win your point you must spill blood? Ikramullah (Jaya Bachchan) and her What kind of warrior [mujahid] are daughter Fiza (Karishma Kapoor) wit- you that you can’t accept this fact? ness a Hindu mob attack the son Right yourself, Amaan. Accept it. Amaan (Hrithik Roshan) and murder The meaning of the trauma of Look, only what is right will prevail. his friends. In the narrative, the communal, militant or state A: What is right, sis? What happened memory of the communal riots returns violence is reiterated and shifted, to me six years ago, was that right? explicitly at least three times: in Fiza’s moving toward possible Are these Singh and Syed people initial narration, in Inspector Shingle’s narrative closures. right? If they wanted to, they could recounting, and then in Amaan’s final explanation. It is fix all this. But they don’t do that, sis. They have power, but through Amaan’s narrative that we learn how he survived with that power they pit us against each other. Separate us the riots by killing three men, and how he found what Saskia from each other so they can retain their own seats of power. Sassen has called an “alternative circuit of survival”19 by If such people are right then I have done no wrong. I am joining an Islamic jihad. Amaan is recruited by Murad Khan pure [pak]. I didn’t take up this rifle as a hobby. It just came (Manoj Bajpayee), the leader of the militant group struggling to me through a line of fate in my hand. against, he claims, both Hindu and Muslim “tyranny, injus- tice and hatred.” Khan teaches Amaan that far from a life of As the police take their position against Amaan, he begs dignity, a dignified death is not even possible under the cur- his sister to shoot him, saying, “I died a long time ago on the rent system. The last retelling, filling in the little mysteries of streets of Mumbai. Let me die with honor.” Fiza pulls the Amaan’s flight and Fiza’s search, does not serve to suture trigger. In this complex and heartrending climax, Fiza stands the narrative, but opens the story to the new traumas that will for the assimilated Muslim and Amaan for that trajectory be visited on the Ikramullah family as Amaan turns more and beyond the pale of normality. In their dialogue, honor can be more to terrorist activities. taken ironically to mean both living by the duties of the proper About the Mumbai riots, Amaan says to Fiza, “Every- minority citizen and dying with the cry of those who will one knew what was happening in that city, which everyone never be allowed into the nation. calls the most modern. How people were being massacred, Similarly, in Mission Kashmir, the drama centers on the how in the name of TADA [Terrorist and Disruptive Activi- possibility of Muslims being included in the nation. Inspec- ties (Prevention) Act]20 women and old people were being tor of Police Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) seeks vengeance for molested and harassed.” It is as if the horror of the event the death of his son, who died due to circumstances arising expands each time, until finally we understand that although from a fatwa issued by Islamic militants. Marshalling his po- still living, Amaan is in some fundamental way already dead. lice force, he dons the black mask of the militants and lets As he says in his final speech, just before he asks his sister loose a hail of bullets that not only kills the militants, but an to shoot him, “I died a long time ago on the streets of Mumbai.” innocent Muslim family as well. This killing, reminiscent of Amaan is a subject haunted by his own ghost. so much police repression and outright assassination of in- Trauma sets up the central problem that will be resolved nocent Muslim peoples, forms the trauma that will return and through narrative, a resolution that reconstitutes the nation expand through the narrative. The only survivor of Khan’s in the figure of the individualized and domesticated protago- killing spree is a twelve-year-old boy, Altaaf, who before faint- nist. In the climax of Fiza, we can see this resolution and ing from terror glimpses Khan’s eyes behind the mask. reconstitution taking shape through the charged dialogue Altaaf’s nightmares keep the past present, as if Khan’s eyes between brother and sister, Amaan and Fiza. Murad Khan, were keeping watch over a memory that can only be pre- the leader of the jihad, decides that two Hindu and Muslim sented through fragments and repetition. political leaders (Singh and Syed) who try to suppress en- Trauma gives birth to a character who conflates the quiry into the riots must be killed in order to prevent a Mus- present with the past. In one nightmare, Altaaf (now the lim-supported, Hindu-dominated coalition government. Khan grown up Hrithik Roshan) blurs the object of his desire, his chooses Amaan for the mission. Amaan trains his body and childhood sweetheart Sufi (Preety Zinta), with the memory of then kills the two leaders. But Murad Khan never intended his foster mother, Neelima. In this scene, a dream sequence of that he survive: as chaos once again engulfs Mumbai, Khan the adult Altaaf, a certain struggle over Islam is at stake.

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 7 the younger son, witnesses it all. The father is tortured and Altaaf: Why did you hang up on me, Sufi? then returned to the family, incapacitated for life. The com- Sufi: I don’t want to speak with you. plex narrative follows Ajay as he joins the Indian Police Ser- A: And so you put a picture of me on TV to get me killed? vice bureaucracy and goes on to become a feared officer who S: What of all the people you’ve killed? tortures suspected criminals. Finally, we see Ajay avenge the A: Sufi, why don’t you understand? I’m doing all this for my death of his brother and the maiming of his father by displac- religion. ing the trauma onto the doomed terrorist Gulfam Hasan, a S: I’m a Muslim, too. Islam doesn’t permit the murder of Pakistani agent posing as an entertainer, who smuggles arms innocent people. You’re only taking revenge for your par- into India trying to foment insurrection. The movie ends with ents’ death, Altaaf. Ajay promising his college sweetheart, Seema, that he’ll be [As she walks away, he screams her name, demanding she home for dinner as soon as he apprehends another insurgent stop; finally, he shoots her. When he turns her body over, he criminal with his Muslim subaltern sidekick, Salim. I suggest finds it is Neelima Khan.] that all these narratives resolve the individualized memory of collective trauma in terms of the success (Ajay and Salim in In this dream sequence, the loss Sarfarosh, and Inspector Khan and of Altaaf’s childhood love Sufi not Altaaf in Mission Kashmir) or failure only blurs with a subliminal desire for The figure of the monster renders (Amaan in Fiza) of reintegrating the limi- his foster-mother, but also foreshad- transparent the relations of nal subject in the national family (where ows the moment when Altaaf acciden- power between dominant groups the family stands in for the nation). tally kills Neelima. In a plot to avenge and minorities. the murder of his family, Altaaf plants MONSTROSITY AND TERRORISM a bomb to destroy Inspector Khan, but it kills Neelima in- stead. Here, as in other cinepatriotic films, the memory of As if a breach or gap had opened in the national imagi- trauma functions to link the subject beyond the law of the nary, trauma allows for the emergence of a monster, fully nation to the sentimentalized ties of kinship, and then to formed and “incorrigible,” one whose implacable cruelty will rupture those very ties through the fragmentation of narra- be pitted against all the forces of humanity and justice that tive. the state represents. I should immediately state that mon- Inspector Khan and his police force track down the Af- strosity is not a category through which viewers I have talked ghan mujahid, Hilal Kohistani, just in time to discover the real with in India or in the diaspora experience Hindi films. The meaning of Mission Kashmir. The militants plan to blow up interviews I have conducted with viewers both in India and Hazratbul masjid22 and the Shankaracharya temple,23 and a in America on the question of filmic representations of reli- pre-produced video tape will fix the blame on Hindu soldiers gious difference in Hindi films focused mostly on how spe- with the ultimate aim of inciting communal riots throughout cific films enabled the stars to showcase their talents, or how India. In the climactic fight scene, Inspector Khan, the man these narratives positioned difference and its relation to who killed Altaaf’s family, convinces Altaaf of the sinister broader constructions of Indian citizenship. So I make no plan. Altaaf remembers his foster mother’s words of love. claim to any ethnographic verity. Rather, my interest in the She had said, “In reality, this war is not between you and question of monstrosity focuses on the experience of an event Khan-saab. On one side is love [mohabbat], on the other as a reversal or displacement of power relations. By this I side hatred [nafrat]. On one side is compassion [insaniyat] mean two things. First, the appearance of the monster re- on the other side brutality. Between innocence and guilt, aligns all the relations of power in a given narrative such that good and evil, and humanity [insaniyat] and bestiality inhumanity and brutality become his essential characteris- [haivaniat]. What will remain of Kashmir – this is what you, tics. Second, the figure of the monster renders transparent only you have to decide. So think very carefully before firing the relations of power between dominant (in this case Hindu that gun, Alaaf.” As if suddenly humanized, Altaaf shoots and nationalist) groups and minorities (Muslims). In this sec- Kohistani and foils the terrorist plot. tion, I draw certain connections between monstrosity and The movie ends with Altaaf, Inspector Khan (who now the modern construction of the terrorist as an enemy of the serves as his re-claimed foster parent) and Sufi reunited and state. This will allow me to show in the next section how the at home. Thus, the trauma that haunted Altaaf is displaced filmic text is bound up in certain strategies of normalizing and resolved through the elimination of Kohistani and the power through narrative space and narrative fragmentation. integration of a chastened, repatriated Altaaf into a new fam- Specifically here, I wish to understand monstrosity as a way ily structure. We must note the specific role of women, do- in which historical trauma is remembered, repressed or even mesticity and humanization through memory and flashback quarantined. that marks this genre of Hindi film. In a crucial sense, without In what way has monstrosity come to organize the present the figure of Sufi and the memory of Neelima, Altaaf would be discourse on terrorism? To answer this, we can merely glance lost to the forces of evil. at the language used by the dominant media in its depictions In our third film, Sarfarosh, we find a similar problem and of Islamic militancy. As an article in the New York Times points an analogous resolution. The narrative is launched through out, “Osama bin Laden, according to Fox News Channel an- a trauma of familial violence. The patriarch of an extended chors, analysts and correspondents, is ‘a dirtbag,’ ‘a mon- Hindu family, on his way to give evidence against atankvadis ster’ overseeing a ‘web of hate.’ His followers in Al Qaeda or “terrorists” is abducted, and the older son is killed. Ajay, are ‘terror goons.’ Taliban fighters are ‘diabolical’ and ‘hench-

Harvard Asia Quarterly 8 Summer 2003 men.’”24 In these invocations of the terrorist as monster, an apparatuses, and the norm toward which all subjects will be absolute morality separates good from a “shadowy evil.” As made to conform. Today, in India, the figure of the terrorist is if caught up in its own shadow dance with the anti-Western being constructed in a way that demands a certain identifica- rhetoric of radical Islam, this discourse marks off a figure like tion by all citizens with a Hinduized nation. What I am sug- Osama bin Laden, or a government like the Taliban, as the gesting is that the construction of the Islamic terrorist as opposite of all that is just, human, and good. The terrorist monstrous “other” in fact enables the elaboration of a nor- monster is pure evil, and must be destroyed, according to mative Hindu identity. In specific ways, the cinepatriotism of this view. contemporary Hindi films portrays the terrorist monster Here we can begin to chart a complex genealogy of the through a normalizing narrative aesthetic involving the re- modern terrorist in Indian and Western media. The figure of peated spectacles of familial trauma. With varying degrees of the abnormal25 terrorist ties together the American psychological complexity, Hilal Kohistani in Mission Kash- government’s ongoing War against Terrorism and the Indian mir, Murad Khan in Fiza, and Gulfam Hasan in Sarfarosh28 government’s attempts to neutralize Islamic fundamentalism. emerge as figures of violence, betrayal, inhumanity, bestial- Indeed, as I have argued elsewhere,26 in the wake of the 9/11 ity, irrationality, deracination and irresponsibility. attacks on the World Trade Center, na- However, what is also important tional strategy planning in India and the about these Hindi films is that they show US has converged on the dominant the forces of justice and humanity al- theme of “homeland security.” In India’s These films show the forces of ready blurring into the violence of injus- scramble to take up its “frontline role” in justice and humanity blurring tice and inhumanity. Indeed, both Inayat the war against terrorism, in its frank am- into the violence of injustice Khan, the Muslim Inspector General of bition to become a “global power,” much and inhumanity. Police in Mission Kashmir, and Ajay more is at stake than righteous postur- Rathod, the Assistant Commissioner of ing against Pakistan. The somehow always failed ambition of Police in Sarfarosh, resort directly to tactics that would oth- securing the nation from both internal and external threats erwise be called terrorist, while Inspector Shingle in Fiza has led to some signal innovations in India and the US. With could rightly be said to embody the stereotype of the corrupt a newly shared rhetoric constellated around such bogeys as and communal cop. The state thus matches its terrorist double “jihadi terrorism,” the internal Muslim “threat,” and cross- in terms of brutal violence. In that sense we can see that border infiltration, there has been an increasing cooperation violence is not what separates the state from its other: the of counter-insurgency military and intelligence resources. means are the same, but the ends (national unity vs. funda- To illustrate this rhetoric, consider the government re- mentalist fragmentation) differ. For instance, in Sarfarosh, sponse to the December 2001 attacks on the Indian Parlia- we see the routine brutality and corruption that mark Ajay’s ment. According to opinions ranging from the right to the ascent into police stardom. Moreover, in Mission Kashmir, left, “Revenge is the only compensation for this attack” (the two sequences show an enraged Inspector Khan who re- title of a Web-based forum with leading Indian politicians sorts to outright assassination after the loss of family mem- regarding the attacks). 27 From the hindutva right, Shiv Sena’s bers – first his son and then his wife. Bal Thakeray declared, “Does the government have the abil- In Fiza, however, the critique of the state and the cri- ity to take revenge? Whether it is Pakistan, Taliban or the ISI tique of Islamic militancy are tied together in far more explicit [Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence]: they shouldn’t have ways. Thus, the opportunistic betrayals of elite leaders such the guts to attack us again.” Or, from the center, Congress as Singh and Syed only mirror the tactics of Murad Khan, the MLA, Salman Khursheed argued for simply more restraint: militant leader who draws Amaan into terrorism. Meanwhile “We have to tell the US that Afghanistan is no longer a corruption, communalism or simple incompetence implicates priority. Now they’ve to tell us what they intend to do about Inspector Shingle and the Mumbai police in a kind of self- cross-border terrorism… This is not like the US where an interested passivity. In this example, we can see how even as exclusively external threat affected their interests. Here, an the monster is severely marginalized, Shingle and Khan external threat is trying to ride on the discontent of our own present equally moribund options for both Amaan and Fiza. young people.” Or, from the right-centrist BJP Party, Arun Jaitley remarked, “It’s clear that we need to dramatically PERFORMING IDENTITY strengthen our intelligence network. The time has also come for our security forces to send a chilling message to the ter- Through the process of isolating and eliminating the rorists and those who harbour them.” In these responses, terrorist monster from the national imaginary, the normalized the “terrorist” functions (1) to position India geo-politically Muslim citizen performs her identity-in-difference as her duty with the West and the ongoing War on Terrorism; (2) to co- to the national family. In all three films, we see the emergence here India by isolating internal enemies (disaffected Mus- of something like the normalized minority subject who speaks lims, especially youth) who are allegedly supported by exter- her belonging to the nation. Historical trauma, then, not only nal enemies (Pakistan); (3) to re-situate tactical knowledge or gives birth to the monstrous terrorist, it also enables the “intelligence” as key intellectual capital that must be accu- narrative to repeatedly question who can legitimately repre- mulated and exploited; (4) to call for a “chilling” military re- sent the nation and the community. What is at stake for these sponse. narratives is to wrest the language of jihad (struggle, or war), Implied in all these responses is a normative Hindu citi- shaheed (martyr, one who sacrifices life for community or zen, a subject that is at once the reason for the new security nation), kaum (community), muhajid (soldier for Islam) away

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 9 from militant Islam, thereby contesting the militant’s claim of Never again. standing for the community. This strategy is coupled with the insistence that the Indian nation is a plural, necessarily They embrace amidst a crescendo of sentimental music. heterogeneous space. By insisting on the pluralistic compo- Salim is reintegrated into the national family through this sition of India, contemporary cinema is in keeping with a long sequence, such that when the criminals try to get him on their history of Muslim representation in Hindi films. However, the side by appealing to his Muslim identity, he questions the sign of a historical shift is precisely in the fraught and con- genuineness of their faith and labels them traitors to the na- tested discourse around jihad. tion. We see here the complicity, if not paradox, that marks The ideological work of cinepatriotic films is not merely this representational strategy: a protest against discrimina- to assert Muslims and Hindus are one family like the Con- tion translates into an assertion of inclusion in the national gress party’s tired claim of Hindu-Muslim bhai-bhai (brother- family. brother). These films also present pedagogical norms of Similarly, in a scene from Mission Kashmir, the Commis- citizenships that involve the performance of Muslim-ness sioner of Police, worried over the impending official visit of with implications beyond religious identity. In Mission Kash- the Prime Minister of India to Kashmir, asks Inspector Khan mir, Inspector Khan is shown during to step down from his post because he namaaz or Islamic prayer ritual; the is Muslim. Khan refuses. same is true for Salim, the Muslim side- kick to the hero in Sarfarosh. In Fiza, The struggle for equality and Commissioner: Look, Khan-saab, one the heroine goes to Haji Ali Masjid to representation paradoxically Indian PM [Prime Minister] was killed give thanks on her graduation. Simul- produces normalized subjects, by her own security guards in the name taneously, all three of these charac- narrowing the space of dissent of religion. Under the circumstances, I ters forcefully resist religious discrimi- that minority subjects occupy. don’t consider it appropriate to entrust nation by claiming and performing the security of the PM to you. their belonging to the nation. In fact, all three give patriotic Khan: Mr. Deshpande, this is not only the misfortune of speeches asserting their devotion to the Indian Union – after Muslims, but rather of the whole country, that an officer Fiza’s speech we are even treated to the 1930s patriotic song who has dodged bullets for 21 years must repeatedly give “Sare jahan se acha” (India is the best place in the world).29 proof of his loyalty [vafadari] because his name is not Specifically in Sarfarosh, we find an example of the Mus- Deshpande but Inayat Khan. Look, Mr. Deshpande, my blood lim subject who must convince his peers of his allegiance to is in the Kashmiri soil. My nine-year old son is buried in it. the nation. Salim is the Muslim officer who once trained Ajay My love for this country needs no IAS [Indian Civil Service] Rathod at the Academy, but is now made to serve under him. certificate. I am this state’s IG [Inspector General of Police], Through an extensive information network, Salim is able to and until you dismiss me, the responsibility for the PM’s get tactical information that no one else on the force can. security will be mine. And yet the Police Commissioner takes Salim off a crucial case, claiming, “The whole department is saying that he let [a We see through these scenes the construction of a mixed Muslim criminal] go because he himself is a Muslim.” In the discourse where the struggle for equality and representation confrontations that follow, Ajay and Salim together probe in the nation paradoxically produces normalized subjects, the nature of belonging to the nation. Repeatedly layering and narrows the space of dissent that such minority subjects the questions of religious difference and class (Salim is poor can occupy.30 In that sense, the liberalism of this filmic dis- and resents Ajay’s middle-class wealth) and social inequal- course belies a deeper monologic structure that is tied to the ity (as an Indian Police Services officer, Ajay is a member of figuration of the essentially Hindu nation in hindutva dis- India’s bureaucratic elite), the narrative exposes the com- courses. This connection is oblique but, as I have been argu- plexities of social antagonisms. There are a series of confron- ing, one can chart the relays between hindutva discourses tations between Salim and Ajay in which the very possibility and these films in both the structure of the narrative and the of Muslim Indian citizenship and subjectivity is fought over representations of the Muslim other. and contested. It is resolved, finally, as both accept each other’s role in fighting the enemies of the nation. Salim is able THE FEMALE SUBJECT to gather crucial tactical information that leads to a break- through in the case. Having given his information, Salim walks All three films discussed here tie the iconic31 body of away. woman and the female subject to tradition, culture, and fam- ily, on the one hand, and education, social mobility, and the Ajay: Wait Salim. I need you. modernizing public on the other. As modern citizens of the Salim: What do you want now? …Go save your country, nation, women serve as a foil for the Islamic terrorist. For your home. What do you need me for? instance, Sufi Pervez, Altaaf’s childhood sweetheart in Mis- A: I need you. To save this home I don’t need one I need ten sion Kashmir, grows up to be a newscaster on a local TV Salims. channel. She is the modern, liberal educated Kashmiri Mus- S: Not ten, Sir. You’ll find ten thousand if you trust in us. lim woman who functions as a foil for Altaaf’s extremism. She Don’t ever tell another Muslim that this country is not his provides him with a non-traumatic mooring to his past and, home [walks away crying]. through their romance, to another future.32 Thus, the norma- A: [walks over to him as his men look on] I won’t say it. tive woman appears to be that good Hindu or Muslim woman

Harvard Asia Quarterly 10 Summer 2003 who offers to the wayward Muslim a secure mooring to the the nation – Fiza for Amaan. In this last case, we see a kind of nation, family, romance, and idealized memory. failure of the suturing that structures the other two films. In Fiza disrupts the normative representation of women in the end it is Fiza who, having pulled the trigger on her brother these Hindi films in many respects.33 She refuses to be res- Amaam, is left standing without family or support. Alone, cued by her lover, insists that her voice be heard, and dis- she will carry on the struggle for and as an Indian Muslim. plays resolve to work outside the family. As the familiar mod- Thus far, I have tried to map a certain narrative structure ern, college-educated subject, Fiza serves as the norm against that ties historical trauma to melodrama in narratives of na- which Amaan’s transgressions are weighed. Through her tional belonging. My sense is that these narratives provide search for her wayward brother in the deserts of Rajasthan, the occasion to reconsider the relationship between history she moors Amaan to a family, a genealogy, and the affective and Hindi films more generally, and the relationship between ties of community and responsibility. Thus, oddly, the inde- Muslim identity and cultural representation more specifically. pendent-minded Fiza is the one who says to Amaan, “Do Clearly, my analysis of the terrorist monster also has wider you know what they call a man who leaves two helpless implications for the manipulation of dominant media around women? A coward.” This is the same Fiza who says publicly the world, especially after 9/11.36 Nevertheless, it is impor- that, as women, “we are not helpless.” In tant to study media in its specific cul- other words, Fiza, depicted as both an tural and political context. Only through independent and helpless woman,34 pro- such analysis can we grasp the contex- vides the narrative foil for Amaan while In highlighting the tual strategies of resistance available at the same time presenting masculinity antagonisms and traumas that through and beyond their mode of ad- with its traditional and also always anx- haunt the state’s exercise of dress. As I have suggested above, per- ious object of patronage and benevo- power, the legitimacy of that haps it is in representing the specific lence. exercse is brought to crisis. kinds of discrimination used against The representation of women also Muslims at so many levels in India that includes the typical objectification of all three of these movies seem to be at women in romantic segments and dance sequences, consti- their most disruptive and effective. tuting a temporary focal point for a normative male hetero- I conclude with a question: How do cinepatriotic narra- sexual gaze. In Sarfarosh, the good Hindu girl, Seema, sports tives render violence at once render anti-national and legiti- mini-skirts and bathing suits, and lives the good life as one of mate? We can see that the monstrous terrorist is that subject India’s modernizing post-colonial elite. As a well-disciplined who uses any means, violent or otherwise, to secure his goals. college graduate she can easily negotiate, translate and move Arrayed in decided opposition to these violent forces is the between the different cultures of India. She can also provide legitimate violence of the state, as well as the legitimacy of Ajay (and the implicit male viewer) with both romantic diver- normalized citizens. As such, these narratives perform both sion and heterosexual security.35 Indeed, the heterosexual the fetishization of this legitimacy and its undermining. This family finally provides the justification for national security fetish of the state seems to forge a strategic alliance with the and also functions to secure gender identity, and to stabilize filmic construction of woman and thus is able to function (by idealizing) the memory of home and family in these narra- through a cluster of signs, discourses, practices and tives. subjectivities that form the knot of post-secular nationalism But, of course, these three heroines do not exhaust the that I have outlined here. Specifically, this knot ties the state role of women in these films, nor the commoditification of to insaniyat, ghar, parivaar, aur mohabbat – humanity, home, bodies. As I have suggested above, in keeping with the genre family and love. of Bollywood melodramas, it is specifically the iconic bodies At the same time, in highlighting the antagonisms and of women that are used to manage the anxieties of the mod- traumas that haunt the state’s exercise of power, the legiti- ernizing nation. In specific fantasy musical sequences, macy of that very exercise is brought to crisis. For what is the through the objectifying cabaret songs, women’s bodies are basis of the Indian state’s legitimacy when grotesque abuses frequently displayed. This produces an overall discursive of its coercive apparatuses are central to its everyday opera- regularity that ties women and heterosexuality to fantasy, tions? The state represents all that is good and just but must humanity and the nation. On the face of it, of course, it might resort to all that which is evil and unjust to secure itself – that seem that humanity and objectifying fantasies might be in is, to terrorist tactics. Furthermore, the state is represented as contradiction with each other and the construction of the a happy, integrated family except for Muslims and others like nation. As I see it, this seeming contraction provides a dis- the poor, adivasis, tribals, dalits, and so on (who provoke cursive regularity. Women offer the heroes of these films narrative strategies for their integration centered on the fig- with the possibility for sexual fulfillment, hence securing re- ure of woman as I have outlined above). These cinepatriotic productive heterosexuality and, by extension the family – as films and others like them37 show the essential dichotomy with the example of Seema. This secure heterosexuality is that founds state power: that finally the only ground of legiti- what calls the liminal Muslim back from the edge of ruinous, macy for the liberal nation-state in India is the quantity, dis- monstrous violence into the folds of domesticity – as when persal and force of its violence, not the democratic ideals that Sufi foils Kohistani’s plans for Altaaf. Finally, the moderniz- form its pretext. The state in these films is as monstrous as its ing Muslim woman, who serves as the object, target and projections. The Muslim “other” is merely a reflection. I am instrument for the nation, becomes the idealized image through reminded here of the prescient words of Freud on this state which a normalized minority is reintegrated into the folds of hypocrisy, and I will end with these words written in the

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 11 midst of war, 1915: Hindu chauvinists in 1992). In the spring of 2002, returning from a pilgrimage to the site of the razed mosque, a trainload The individual in any given nation has in this way a terrible of Hindus from the state of Gujarat were killed (who killed opportunity to convince himself of what would occasion- them is still not certain). The Hindu right seized on that op- ally strike him in peace-time – that the state has forbidden portunity and fomented a brutal pogrom against the Muslim to the individual the practice of wrong-doing, not because community in which thousands of people lost their lives and it desired to abolish it, but because it desires to monopolize livelihood, and hundreds of women were brutally gang raped. it like salt and tobacco. The warring state permits itself 4 Neera Chandhoke, Beyond Secluarism: The Rights of Reli- every such misdeed, every such act of violence, as would gious Minorities (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), disgrace the individual man. It practices not only the ac- p. 2. Glossing the ideology of Hindutva, Chandhoke argues: cepted stratagems, but also deliberate lying and deception “Cast in the mould of cultural nationalism, majoritarianism against the enemy; and this, too, in a measure which ap- calls for the erasure of all specific identities and demands the pears to surpass the usage of former wars. The state exacts constitution of a culturally homogeneous nation. And this is the utmost degree of obedience and sacrifice from its citi- cause for concern, for cultural or organic nationalism, as his- zens, but at the same time treats them as children by main- tory shows us, is constructed on a ritualized and systematic taining an excess of secrecy, and censorship of news and suspicion of strangers (i.e. minority groups) upon the privi- expressions of opinion that renders the spirits of those thus leging of one ethnic, linguistic or religious community, and intellectually oppressed defenseless against every on calls to exterminate ‘impurities’ in the organic nation. In unfavourable turn of events and every sinister rumour. It India, the project of hindutva does all this. It appeals to the absolves itself from the guarantees and contracts it had mythic unity of the Hindu people, invokes an ahistorical ver- formed with other states, and makes unabashed confession sion of a glorious Hindu past, disparages minority identities, of it rapacity and lust for power, which the private indi- and demands conformity and homogeneity in order to ac- vidual is then called upon to sanction in the name of patrio- complish two tasks” (p. 9). According to Chandhoke, the tism.38 first project of hindutva is to establish the identity of the nation on the basis of a narrow definition of Hinduism; as Home Minister L. K. Advani put it, “India is essentially a Hindu country. My party emphasizes that India is one nation ENDNOTES and not a multinational state.” (Quoted in Chandhoke, ibid., p. 10). The second project of hindutva is the systematic and 1As some terrorism experts based in America put it some insistent denigration of minority communities. “In a tena- years ago, “The open societies of the contemporary global cious, ordered, and subversive mode, the votaries of hindutva arena are confronted by a form of warfare which, while not cast suspicion on the moods and motivation of the commu- altogether new in itself, is unprecedented both in its dimen- nity against which hindutva is largely defining itself – the sions and it its linkages, reflecting a common thread between Muslims (and now Christians)” (p. 10). episodes of violence that are threatening stability in areas as 5 See N. S. Siddharthan, “Globalisation and the Budget,” far apart as South Asia, the Middle East, South Africa, West- EPW, March 17, 2001, p. 889-892. ern Europe, and the Western Hemisphere. To date, mysteri- 6 Arvind Rajgopal, “Thinking Through Emerging Markets: ous immunity to this epidemic appears to have been acquired Brand Logics and Cultural Forms of Political Society in In- by one type of regime only, and that prevails generally in the dia,” EPW, March 3, 2001, pp. 773 - 782. closed societies which follow the Leninist doctrine. Interest- 7 We can situate a bit more rigorously what such context ingly, however, at least in some of the regions infected, the entails. Globally, developing economies “had to implement a immune regimes appear to be located in close proximity to the bundle of new policies and accommodate new conditions open societies which are under attack.” Uri Ra’anan, et al. associated with globalisation: Structural Adjustment (eds.), Hydra of Carnage: The International Linkages of Programmes, the opening up of these economies to foreign Terrorism and Other Low-Intensity Operations - The Wit- firms, the elimination of multiple state subsidies, and, it would nesses Speak (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1986), p. seem almost inevitably, financial crises and particular types xiii. of programmatic solutions.” (Sassen, pp. 101-2). This has, by 2 Manisha Sethi, “Cine-Patriotism,” in Samar: South Asian and large, been the case in India since the implementation of Magazine for Action and Reflection, Summer 2002, No. 15. the IMF liberalization plan in 1991. Recent trends are also not pp. 31-33. Such films as Maa Tujhe Salaam, Indian, and The encouraging: “The year 2000-01 experienced a sharp decline Hero have come to form a genre distinct from the Congress- in the growth of industrial production and growth of infra- aligned nationalist films of Manoj Kumar such as Purab aur structure, decline in the Indian share in world trade, decline Paschim or Roti, Kapada, aur Makaan. in the savings and investment rates, and an absolute decline 3 For instance, the Godhra carnage and communal pogroms in the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.” See N. S. in Gujarat in the spring of 2002 once again assured Indians Siddharthan, “Globalisation and the Budget,” EPW, March and the world that Hindu chauvinism will forward its agenda 17, 2001, pp. 889-892. of national purification by any means necessary. The back- 8 For the relationship between cinema as an institution shaped ground to this carnage was the Hindu right’s declared inten- by society with roots in the national culture and the un- tion of building a commemorative temple at the site of the presentable differences that constitute that national culture, Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India (which was demolished by see Negar Mottahedeh, “Bahram Bayzai’s Maybe . . . Some

Harvard Asia Quarterly 12 Summer 2003 Other Time: The un-Present-able Iran,” Camera Obscura one pursues a course of action in life that is tied (but not (2000) 43, 15:1, pp. 163-191. reducible) to material and psychic conditions the histories of 9 For an illuminating discussion on the recent resurgence of which are obscured and interrelated. “family value” Hindi movies as technologies of disciplining 20 An Amnesty International Report on new anti-terrorism the neo-liberal subject, see Patricia Uberoi, “The Diaspora legislation references the draconian 1987 Terrorist and Dis- Comes Home: Disciplining Desire in DDLJ,” Contributions ruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). “There are hu- to Indian Sociology, 32:2 (1998), pp. 305 – 335. man consequences to this proposed legislation which can- 10 Geeta Kapur, When Was Modernism: Essays on Contem- not and must not be ignored. There are individuals whose porary Cultural Practice in India (New Delhi: Tulika, 2000), lives have been irrevocably damaged by provisions of TADA p. 174. and whose experiences could be repeated if identical provi- 11 See, for instance, Partha Chatterjee’s “The Nationalist Reso- sions are re-enacted,” Amnesty International warned. One lution to the Woman’s Question,” in Recasting Women; see young man, who was detained under TADA in April 1993 also Samir Dayal, “Constructing Nation as Family: Gandhi, after bomb blasts in Mumbai, was hung upside down, given Ambedkar, and Positionality,” Socialist Review, pp. 97-142 ; electric shocks in his genitals, fingers, tongue and nose, and Amit S. Rai, “A Lying Virtue: Ruskin, Gandhi and the Simplic- forced to eat human feces. Kashmir Singh of Punjab was told ity of Use Value,” South Asia Research, vol. 13, no. 2, No- eight years after the “disappearance” of his son Harjit Singh vember 1993. that the TADA charges identifying his son as a “terrorist” 12 E. Ann Kaplan, “Melodrama, Cinema and Trauma,” in were cooked up in order to justify a “stage-managed encoun- Screen, 42:2 (Summer 2001), pp. 201-205. ter” in which he was killed. Seva, along with several other 13 Kaplan, p. 202. women and men from Chamraj Nagar district of Karnataka, 14 Ibid, p. 203. was detained, tortured, sexually abused and charged under 15 Ibid, p. 204. TADA in 1993 in connection with smuggling activities and 16 Khan’s masked face repeatedly flashes across the screen has been awaiting trial for seven years without the chance of in moments when the camera seems to take in Altaaf’s sub- bail” (http://www.amnesty-usa.org/news/2000/32002600.htm). jectivity. Recently, the Hindu nationalist BJP coalition government at 17 A word that is a popular name for both people and places, the Centre has sought to replace TADA by the equally prob- and that translates as “air,” “atmosphere” but more poeti- lematic Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO). See http:/ cally as in the fizan of springtime. It connotes beauty, warmth, /timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id and a feeling of exhilaration commonly associated with =1027679721. springtime, and relates more to the beauty of nature. 21 The definition of shaheed is worth quoting in full: a martyr 18 These riots were sparked off by a series of bomb blasts (religious or political: properly, one martyred in the name of throughout Bombay, apparently in retaliation for the demoli- Islam). With the verb hona: to be killed in battle against un- tion of the Babri Masjid a year earlier by radical Hindu “kar believers; figurative: to become a patriotic hero; to fall des- sevaks” intent on building a temple for the god-king Ram. As perately in love. Justice J. S. Verma of the Indian Supreme Court put it, “The 22 Hazratbal Mosque is situated on the western banks of Dal city of Bombay was rocked by a series of bomb blasts on 12/ Lake in Srinagar. The mosque is home to a holy strand of hair 3/1993 which killed 257 persons, maimed another more than belonging to Prophet Mohammed which was sent to Kash- 700 persons and destroyed property worth about Rs. 27 mir by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and is exhibited to the crores. These bomb blasts occurred in important govern- public on certain days of the year. This shiny mosque is ment and public sector buildings of the stock exchange, Air across the Dal from Shalimar. It is made of white marble with India, Sahara International Airport, several five star hotels a dome and a miniature. (http://www.1uptravel.com/worship/ and busy commercial localities such as Zaveri Bazar, Katha jk.html) Bazar and Century Bazar. Petrol pumps adjoining important 23 It is located at 1100 ft. above surface level of the main city locations were also the target[s] of these blasts. The bomb on the Shankaracharya hill. The Shiva temple, as Kalhana blasts were accompanied by explosion of hand grenades in believes, was constructed by Raja Gopadatya in 371 B.C. sensitive areas intended to incite communal violence which and, as such, is the oldest shrine in Kashmir, though it is not caused riot[s] in certain areas. These incidents were a part of certain if the temple exists in the same form as it had been carefully planned strategy calculated to terrorise the govern- built more than two thousands years ago. The first repair of ments in the State as well as at the Centre and to incite com- the temple is believed to have been undertaken during the munal violence.” See http://www.supremecourtonline.com/ reign of Lalitaditya in the eighth century A.D. According to cases/2141.html. the historian Shrivara, Zain-ul-Abideen conducted second 19 Could one think of radical Islam as a specifically masculine repairs of the temple after it had been damaged in an earth- “alternative circuit of survival”? Sassen writes, “It is against quake. The third repair was undertaken during the Governor- this context of what I would consider a systemic condition ship of Sheikh Mohi-ud-Din when the temple is believed to marked by high unemployment, poverty, bankruptcies of large have been named as Shankaracharya. Dogra ruler, Maharaja numbers of firms, and shrinking resources in the state to Gulab Singh, constructed stone stairs up to the temple. (http:/ meet social needs, that alternative circuits of survival emerge /www.1uptravel.com/worship/jk.html) and can be seen as articulated with those conditions” (Sassen, 24 Jim Rutenberg, “Fox Portrays a War of Good and Evil, and p. 103). Of course, I do not mean to suggest that militant Many Applaud,” New York Times, December 3, 2001, http:// Islam is just one bad alternative out of a few, but rather that query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 13 F30917F73A590C708CDDAB0994D9404482. oping economies of excess under global capital: the female 25 Consider the racialized and sexualized group of monsters sex worker and the migrant laborer. For a compelling discus- known as the abnormals. Michel Foucault ties the history of sion of this point, see Saskia Sassen, “The Excesses of the monster to the overall discursive practice of abnormality Globalisation and the Feminisation of Survival,” Parallax in the West. According to Foucault, (1) the monster contra- (2001) 7:1, pp. 100-110. In the last scene of Sarfarosh, Salim’s venes the law, disturbing “juridical regularities”; (2) the mon- urchin-informant leaves for Dubai; in Fiza, Amaan’s Hindu ster can be both half an animal as well as a hybrid gender and assailants ask if he was in Dubai these past six years; in later in the text Foucault will go on to position the onanist as Sarfarosh and Fiza, the female sex worker is explicitly repre- the third of the abnormals; (3) the monster is both impossible sented in relationship to “criminal gangs.” and forbidden; and finally, (4) he is to be differentiated from 31 Geeta Kapur writes, “the iconic image is formatted to con- the individual to be corrected on the basis of whether power verge spiritual energies through inviting the devotee’s gaze operates on it or through it (in other words, the sovereign, upon a condensed motif, thus establishing hypostasis. The repressive power that produced and quarantines the mon- tableau, a theater fragment of a larger whole, also invites the ster finds its dispersal in panopticism, or what I have referred viewer’s gaze, but by framing it. The image-tableau acquires to above as a normalizing form of power). See Michel Fou- an imminent (not manifest) narrative” [Geeta Kapur, When cault, “The Abnormals,” Robert Hurley (translated), in Eth- Was Modernism: Essays on Contemporary Cultural Prac- ics: Subjectivity and Truth, Paul Rabinow (editor) (New York: tice in India (New Delhi: Tulika, 2000), p. 168]. Tying iconic in New Press, 1997), pp. 51-58. painting to Indian film, she argues that the “iconic in the 26 See “Homeland Insecurity,” Samar2002, No. 15, p. 2; and language of cinema derives its characteristics from painting. Amit S. Rai and Jasbir K. Puar, “Monster, Terrorist, Fag,” Figurative images, especially portraits, rest not only on like- Social Text, Fall (72), Vol. 20, no. 3, 2002, pp. 117-148. nesses or resemblances but equally on an economy of repre- 27 “Revenge will be Our Only Compensation,” sentation, and with that an autonomous logic of positioning OutlookIndia.com, December 24, 2001. http:// and structure. This inevitable distancing between the picto- www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20011224&fname= rial image and the real world acquires additional virtues in the Cover+Story&sid=10&pn=1 transfer between painting and cinematography. The iconic 28 In Sarfarosh, Gulfam Hasan is the Pakistani (or Indian?) sign, peculiar to cinema, denotes precisely this transfer (of refugee who publicly embraces the deep cultural bonds be- icon-image-sign) and helps in breaking down a rigid assump- tween India and Pakistan, asserting, “There are emotional tion: that the cinema upholds ultimate verisimilitude” (ibid., ties that link Pakistan and India. Such ties are stronger than pp. 237-39). all others. In the Ghazal language, we call this bond, mohabbat Indeed, melodrama is tied to the transference between [love]: ‘No consciousness is left, no attention is left. A per- the sacred and the secular on the terrain of the woman’s son in love is no longer a person.’” These cultural bonds, body that characterizes Indian modernity. Drawing on Peter however, mask political identities that are in fact rooted in the Brooks’ theory of melodrama, Geeta Kapur has argued that opposite of mohabbat: Gulfam Hasan, who, as a singer, is “the melodrama . . . is predicated on the replacement of the supposedly a cultural representative of the long-standing sacred; it enshrines the beloved in the space evacuated by connections between Hindi-Urdu speaking peoples, turns the sacred orders to the profane. We know that the invented out to be an agent of Pakistan’s proxy war against India. genre of the Indian ‘mythological’ massively mediates west- Pretending to further cultural bonds, Hasan uses the cover ern romantic and melodramatic forms of narration and, com- of singer-entertainer to oversee the smuggling of arms into ing full circle, alludes to the iconic. That is to say, if melo- India, and helps to encourage the armed insurrection of a drama involves the transference from the iconic/sacred to disaffected tribal community in the southern state of Andhra the simultaneously familial and public registers of the image, Pradesh. the mythological takes that over but reinscribes the detached As Miriam Cooke reminds us, the Mohajir Quami beloved back into a quasi-sacred space. It maintains, in lieu Movement consisted of Muslims who left their homes in of the lost realms of the gods, this close register between the Muslim-minority states in India before and during the 1947 iconic, the familial and public” [see Geeta Kapur, When Was Partition to resettle in the northern Muslim-majority states Modernism: Essays on Contemporary Cultural Practice in that were to become Pakistan. The word “Mohajir,” which India (New Delhi: Tulika, 2000), p. 171]. Indeed, as we have means “migrant,” comes, like “hijra,” from the Arabic root h- seen, it is the bodies of women that will effect such a transfer- j-r, which means “to emigrate.” These Muslims named ence. themselves Migrants, so as to describe the move as one from 32 As one web review put it, “Preity looks a perfect Kasmiri Dar-al-Harb, the Abode of War (a place where Muslims cannot beauty providing romantic relief in the otherwise action- practice their faith), to Dar-al-Islam, the Abode of Islam packed militant affair.” See Tanuka Chakraverty, “‘Mission [“Women, Religion, and the Postcolonial Arab World,” Kashmir’: A Wrap Worth Looking Out For,” http:// Cultural Critique (45), Spring 2000, pp. 150-184, 158]. www.indiaexpress.com/choice/movies/action/action-19.html. 29 This is also the Quick March of the Indian Armed Forces. 33 Put in the broader context of Hindi films, the cinepatriotism The words of this composition were written by the noted of this genre plays on some of the recurring themes of gen- Urdu poet, Mohammad Iqbal. It was arranged for Military der, sexuality and femininity common to Indian cinema. Nota- Band by Prof.A. Lobo. bly, in Hindi films, representations of women have supported 30 Not to mention that these narratives both invoke and then and contested patriarchy in numerous and subtle ways. The expel two figures who have come to represent the new devel- variety of representations ranges from the “avenging women”

Harvard Asia Quarterly 14 Summer 2003 to Mother India [dir. Mehboob Khan; 1957], from Helen, the Dancer of the Night [as in films such as Teesri Manzil (1966) and Jewel Thief (1967)], to Nadia the Fearless [in such films as Jungle Princess (1942) and Stunt Queen (1947)], and from actresses like Shabhana Azmi who take on feminist roles, to the cloying glamour doll roles of Aishwarya Rai. Cinepatriotic Hindi films narrow this representational range in some ways, and extend it in others. See Lalitha Gopalan, A Cinema of Interruptions (London: BFI Publications, 2002). 34 Fiza is in some ways represented as preternaturally strong and as completely weak: she single-handedly tracks down her brother, but cannot defend herself from the local Hindu thugs who harass her and her mother. 35 In terms of the use of women’s bodies, one web reviewer put it in this way: “Sonali Bendre is sizzling in ‘Sarfarosh.’ She romances Amir Khan in the film. [The] Director has used her beauty to its full potential. She looks really stunning in sexy sarongs. [The] Waterfall songs are a treat for [the] eyes of front-benchers.” See Ajay Chaturvedi, “Patriotism’s Battle with Terrorism,” http://www.indiaexpress.com/choice/movies/ action/action-1.html. 36 See my “The Promise of Monsters” in Cultural Studies (forthcoming). 37 As I mentioned in an earlier note, these films form a kind of subgenre within the action film that has a spectrum of ideo- logical range, from Fiza’s more liberal-left critique of state complicity with communalism, to the purely action-patriotic like the Sonny Deol vehicles. An excellent example of the latter is the recent semi-hit Hero (recalling Deol’s earlier flop Champion), where an Indian intelligence agent falls in love with a Muslim-who-turns-out-to-be-a-Hindu (a common trope), fights cross-border terrorism, and eventually saves not only India, but Canada as well! 38 Sigmund Freud, “Thoughts on War and Death” [1915], E. Colburn Mayne (translated), in Collected Papers, 5 vols., Joan Riviere (editor) (New York: Basic Books, 1959), Vol. 4, pp. 293-94.

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 15 SOUTH KOREAN CINEMA: THE TAKE-OFF TO GLOBALIZATION

BY JINHEE KIM outh Korea’s entertainment industry, which has long been domi- nated by the movers and shakers of Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Holly- Swood, is currently ruled by its own products, which are also creat- ing a frenzy overseas. The prominence of South Korean films and TV Jinhee Kim is Assistant Professor in East shows can be felt throughout Asia. In Thailand, when the TV drama Au- Asian Languages and Cultures and tumn Story (Kaul Tonghwa) was shown in January 2001, it became one of Comparative Literature at University of 1 Southern California. Her principal research the most watched TV shows on Thailand’s ITV network. South Korean interests include twentieth-century Korean TV shows were also popular in Vietnam, so much so that local fans some- literature, drama theory, Korean American times had to agonize over choosing between two rival channels, which literature, and Korean cinema. The author of each aired a South Korean drama in the same time slot. Another TV drama, numerous articles on Korean literature and film, Kim is currently preparing a manuscript Winter Sonata (Kyôul Yôn’ga), is currently so popular in Japan that the entitled, "Plays of Colonial Korea." show’s fans have signed up for group tours to the South Korean city of Ch’unchôn and its vicinity where the show was filmed.2 Observers readily opine that South Korean entertainment is popular in other parts of Asia because it is fresh and provocative, but more impor- tantly because it is non-threatening to the local viewers. To put it differ- ently, South Koreans are making shows whose stories are particular to their culture yet universal in their appeal. The theory that South Korean entertainment offers an alternative culture, which is not necessarily Euro- pean or American and thus articulates Asian identity, may very well ac- count for the favorable reception of South Korea’s media entertainment in its neighborhood. However, this post-colonialist view does not tell the entire story about the increasing power of South Korea’s entertainment industry in Asia and far beyond. This essay details the economic impetus that pushes South Koreans to think beyond their national boundary as they seek ways to help their media products, in particular film, gain a global audience and international recognition.

MAKING HOMEGROWN BLOCKBUSTERS

Less than a decade ago, South Korea was an inhospitable environment for its filmmakers. The challenge of making movies was daunting: limited resources, inflexible bureaucracy, and frequent government censorship, all of which discouraged a large number of filmmakers from pursuing their passion. This adverse environment, however, has virtually vanished as South Korea is now being recognized as Asia’s most vibrant film market. Kevin Thomas, the resident film critic of the Los Angeles Times, praised South Korea as destined to fill the vacuum left by the torpid Hong Kong film industry.3 Statistics released by the Korean Film Commission (KOFIC) offer an indication of just how fast South Korea is moving forward to be crowned as the most cinephilic country in Asia, a title previously enjoyed by Hong Kong before its major talents defected to Hollywood. Recent years have brought major changes to the South Korean film industry. In 2000, the total number of moviegoers in Seoul surged to 27 million, a 12.4% increase from 1999, and the number of South Korean films released during the same year stood at 56. Among the films released in 2000, JSA: Joint Security Area, which depicts a dangerous encounter between North and South Korean soldiers, topped the box office by drawing

Harvard Asia Quarterly 16 Summer 2003 2.4 million moviegoers (approximately US $2 million in ticket averaged 47.1% during the same period.5 sales). This film beat out Hollywood heavyweights Mission Impossible 2 and Gladiator. JSA’s commercial success was FINANCING THE BLOCKBUSTERS followed by The Foul King, a comedy portraying a salary- man who leads a double life as a villainous wrestler, and by The spectacular success of South Korean cinema in re- Pich’ônmu, a swordplay film based on a popular South cent years can largely be attributed to the improved quality Korean serial comic set during China’s Yuan Dynasty. of story telling, acting, cinematography, and other formal as- The outstanding success of the films released in 2000 pects of filmmaking. At the same time, the fine-tuning of the seemed impossible to repeat, but the year 2001 put the skeptics commercial style, which caters to the tastes of the teenage at ease, turning out to be a banner year in which previous and college audience at home, has honed the filmmakers’ records were easily broken and the ability to attract the target audience. bar was raised to an even higher More significantly, the new devel- level. The ever-growing domestic film opments in the film industry came industry occupied 46.1% of the when the old model of doing busi- market share by selling nearly 80 ness was replaced by a new model million tickets in total.4 This means that employs statistics, marketing, that as many as 1.6 domestic movies and research strategies. This new were viewed per capita in 2001. The way of doing business allowed in- year’s blockbuster list was topped vestors and filmmakers to forecast by Friends, a portrait of loyalty and the profits and define the target au- betrayal between childhood friends, dience. Equally importantly, the in- which attracted more than 58,000 crease in ticket sales can be directly viewers during its opening weekend attributed to the growth of invest- alone. It sold more than 8 million ment in films. While investments in tickets nationwide from March other sectors, particularly informa- through July 2001. My Wife Is A tion technology, shrank by 50% in Gangster came in second by selling 2001 from 2000, money poured into over 5.2 million tickets. My Sassy Ch’ungmuro, South Korea’s Holly- Girl, which ran for nine weeks, sold wood. The investment boom began over 4.8 million tickets. Kick the in 1999 right after Shiri made his- Moon sold 4.4 million tickets tory by becoming South Korea’s nationwide during its ten-week run. highest-grossing film. The birth of The soaring popularity of blockbusters proved to local inves- South Korean cinema continued in tors that the movie industry is a lu- 2002, as domestic films grabbed over crative sector and that film is a reli- a 45.2% market share in Seoul, only able product for high profits and slightly lower than the 46.1% market fast returns. The investors claimed share recorded in 2001. The box- their share of the returns as early as office sales in 2002, unlike the Top: Joint Security Area (2000). six months after the films were re- previous year in which a few Bottom: The Way Home (2002). leased.6 In short, business emerged (Credits?) blockbuster movies literally towered as the dominant goal of the film in- over the rest of the field, were dustry. balanced between mid-level hits and top sellers like Marrying Up until the last quarter of 2001, the most common forms the Mafia, Sex is Zero, and The Way Home. The Way Home, of investments flowing into Ch’ungmuro were of two types: the second feature film by the female director Chông-hyang venture capital and the “Netizen fund.” Amidst the continu- Yi, set a record by attracting nearly 2 million viewers ing economic slowdown, investment firms turned away from nationwide in just four weeks after its release. In response to the information technology sector, replacing the dot.com its explosive popularity, the number of theaters showing the startups with the film industry. Venture capital firms such as film increased from 75 to 120. The movie’s Hollywood KTB Network, KDB Capital, and Terasource Venture Capital competitors such as The Scorpion King and Serendipity in Seoul formed investment teams to undertake full-time analy- came in fourth and sixth, respectively, at the box office. The ses of the local film industry. The so-called “Netizen fund,” year 2002 saw a healthy growth in exports, which stood at which is largely backed by various production companies, approximately $15 million, a 33.5% increase in sales from 2001. targets young investors, mostly twenty- or thirty-something Japan was the highest-paying country for South Korean films, college-educated urbanites, who are demonstratively versa- taking up 44% of the export revenue, followed by Hong Kong, tile with online investing. This new form of web-based in- Thailand, and the USA. The year 2003 also looks like a vestment has grown into a new source of financing for South promising year for South Korean film industry, as the number Korean films, allowing anyone to buy small shares in film of viewers who saw domestic films from January through productions. If the film performs well at the box office, the June exceeded 20 million, a 9.7% increase from the same period investors are repaid the money they invested and a percent- in the previous year. The market share of the domestic films age of the profits. Film studios have found that people who

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 17 invest in the funds often encourage other viewers to see the worldwide including American Film Market (AFM), Interna- movie as well. JSA, the first Netizen fund project, which aimed tional Film and Programme Market for Television, Video, Cable, at creating a one billion wôn portfolio (roughly $80,000), took and Satellite (MIPCOM), and National Association of Televi- only 40 days to raise the entire sum. Altogether, 200 inves- sion Program Executives (NATPE). During the first quarter of tors put up 500,000 wôn each. What is more astonishing than 2002, Cinema Service made the sale of two films: Volcano this near-maniacal rush to the online investment opportunity High School (Hwasango), a highly digitized martial arts ac- is that each of the 200 investors received as much as a 400% tion-thriller, and Public Enemy, directed by Wu-sôk Kang. profit return.7 The second Netizen fund project, which intro- Together, these two films grossed nearly $8 million in sales in duced Friends as a product, attracted 100 investors in a jaw- the overseas market alone. dropping 60 seconds. Friends turned out to be the best- Tapping into the foreign market was almost unthinkable selling film of 2001, and, as a result, as recently as 1999, the year when Cin- the 100 investors reportedly received ema Service failed to sell a single film to an eye-popping 300% return. On May the European market. While the Euro- 21, 2001, when 150 million wôn worth Emerging as a significant pean market remained indifferent to of shares for the film Kick the Moon consumer of South Korean South Korean films, representatives were made available over the Internet, films, Hollywood is rushing to from Hong Kong and Taiwan showed a they sold out in just 10 seconds. That profit from their arrival. more favorable attitude by picking up film went on to sell over 4 million tick- the psycho-thriller Tell Me Something ets to become one of the best-selling South Korean movies and the action comedy Attack the Gas Station. Although the of all time. The allure of Internet funds remains strong in 2003 European market has yet to notice the appeal of South Ko- as evinced by the recent press release from Myung Film, one rean films, Hollywood no longer dismisses them. Emerging of the nation’s largest film production companies. To finance as a significant consumer of South Korean films, Hollywood its new feature film, which is tentatively titled A Good Lawyer’s is rushing to profit from their arrival. One of the highly pur- Wife, Myung Film introduced a fund that guarantees its in- sued items is remake rights. Following the example set by vestors at least a 70% return on the investment. The mini- Miramax, which bought the remake rights to My Wife Is A mum amount of investment is one million wôn ($830), and the Gangster for $950,000 in 2001, Steven Spielberg-led fund allows a single investor to purchase up to 10 shares. Dreamworks bought the remake rights to My Sassy Girl at Myung Film’s expectation of raising more than $400,000 off the 2001 Milano Film Fair. The movie’s Korean production the Internet was well founded: its 2000 film Happy End, which company, The Shin Film, reportedly received $750,000 up front was financed by a similar method, returned 45% in profits.8 and was promised 4% of the gross profit after the Hollywood Although the money raised by Internet funds represents a version is released. MGM made a similar deal with the pro- small percentage of the overall budget of a film, such high ducers of Kick the Moon at $300,000 and 5% of the gross profit levels prompted institutional investors to jump into the profit.13 Most of these business deals are initiated at interna- game by buying up large blocks of shares, leaving individual tional film festivals, which have become an indispensable investors with little opportunity to get involved. medium for South Korean films to showcase their strengths. By easing their high-brow attitude, traditional financial As eagerly as Hollywood is seeking a business oppor- institutions such as Hana Bank, South Korea’s fourth largest tunity with producers in South Korea, the filmmakers in bank, started showing a keen interest in the booming film Ch’ungmuro are keen to establish direct contact with the industry.9 In November 2001, it established a fund named American audience, which they understand cannot be “Hana Cinema Fund” in partnership with Cinema Service, the achieved by simply selling remake rights to their films. Jae- nation’s largest film distributor, and its mother company, Lo- kyu Kang, the director of Shiri, is the leading proponent of cus Holdings, an entertainment conglomerate. This venture putting the local film industry on the international map of capital fund was said to have raised 10 billion wôn in a matter cinema. Kang’s Shiri had a revolutionary effect on the South of days by allowing investors to buy shares worth as little as Korean film industry. Although it cost only $5 million to make 10 million wôn and as much as 50 million wôn.10 The fund will – a relatively small sum compared with the budgets of most invest the capital into the production of 10 to 15 films over commercial movies made in the West – Shiri was one of the the next two to three years.11 most expensive South Korean films. Before the film’s release, American-made movies accounted for about 60% of the box- IN SEARCH OF FOREIGN MARKETS office receipts in South Korea. Local movies pulled in about 20% of the audience and non-American foreign films ac- As enormous amounts of money were pumped into film counted for the remaining 20%. Shiri showed the local film production, the average production cost of films increased industry that homegrown blockbusters could be a reality. more than two-fold from 1995 to reach 2.15 billion wôn in The movie’s success in Japan and Hong Kong convinced 2000.12 The term “shoestring budget,” which had aptly de- South Korean filmmakers that local films could be successful scribed the financial conditions of filmmaking for over half a in foreign markets. The concept of a global market was some- century, no longer applied to the local industry. In response thing Kang had been mulling over for many years, and the to the rising production cost, local filmmakers are now striv- end-result of such a concept was Shiri. Foreign audience ing to find ways to increase profits. To these eager filmmak- and worldwide distribution was at the center of Shiri, which ers, the international market looms large on the horizon. Cin- Kang proclaimed was not made only for South Korean view- ema Service, for example, attends several different film fairs ers. “386-generation” directors like Kang came to believe that

Harvard Asia Quarterly 18 Summer 2003 they now had to think like international players and over- market value, their talents and abilities often do not keep come provincialism.14 After being released in Europe and pace with fast-changing trends and capricious tastes of in- Asia, Shiri further tested its foreign market by arriving in Los creasingly younger viewers. Angeles in February 2002. The movie that came one step closer to fulfilling Kang’s THE FUTURE OF SOUTH KOREAN CINEMA global vision is The Way Home, the top-grossing film of 2002. The first South Korean film distributed directly by a Holly- The influx of local capital and the unprecedented audi- wood representative, The Way Home was sold to Paramount ence response in South Korea point to the birth of a cinephilic Pictures at $230,000, and the profits in the USA were said to country, which in itself is a stunning development, and all the be divided at a ratio of 6:4 between Tube Entertainment, the more so when we consider the country’s long history of cin- movie’s South Korean production com- ema. The developments taking place pany, and Paramount Pictures. Shown in the local film industry, in particular at only three theaters in Los Angeles the blockbuster fever, were inconceiv- and New York, The Way Home grossed The developments taking place, able a decade ago. The success of Shiri over $120,000 in three weeks after its in particular the blockbuster encouraged the local filmmakers to turn opening day. As the movie’s story line fever, were inconceivable a their eyes to big-budget action-thrill- centers on the conflict between an old decade ago. ers, sci-fi adventures, and horror films, woman and her rambunctious grand- all of which have been instrumental to son, the movie was at first deemed a difficult sell in the for- the industry’s commercial success and popularity. Will the eign market, but it fared very well. This prompted Paramount blockbuster fever continue? When considering that large Pictures to commit $3 million for the advertisement of the film capital outlays and export markets have been indispensable and take the film to ten additional cities. The movie’s success to South Korea’s economic development, it is not surprising in the United States has also helped the local filmmakers to that many filmmakers believe that strong economic incen- re-examine the paradigm of blockbuster movies, particularly tives translate into the future success of the film industry. when they are targeting an overseas audience. That is, genres Shiri and its likes appear to have taken the local film industry other than action thrillers might do as well or even better in down a path from which it will be impossible to return. Whether the foreign market as shown by Yi’s new film. In addition to South Korea’s film industry will eventually prove as profit- the storyline or the complete film, young, fresh talent is en- able as other industries, and whether homegrown blockbust- thusiastically sought after by Hollywood. Director Chae-yong ers will manage to join the exclusive league of international Kwak, whose My Sassy Girl became a huge hit in Hong Kong, brand names like Samsung and Hyundai only remains to be is expected to arrive in Hollywood as early as 2004. For his seen. Hollywood debut, Kwak can choose either a screenplay writ- ten by him or a script recommended by his Hollywood agency.

PROBLEMS IN THE RECENT TRENDS

The revitalization of the local film industry, however, has not arrived without problems. With the emergence of corpo- rations such as Samsung, Orion World, and the now defunct Daewoo as film producers, the costs for production have risen at an exponential rate. Films made with lower than aver- age production costs are now invariably considered “low- quality” and are hardly able to reach a mass audience outside Seoul due to limited distribution and delivery services. There is a growing concern that theater space is being monopolized by corporate-backed production companies and distributors. At one point in the summer of 2001, four films occupied up to 95% of the theaters across the country. In contrast, critically acclaimed, small-budget films such as Butterfly, Take Care of My Cats, and Waikiki Brothers were closed down just one week after their release. As a large number of future products are designed based on a distinctive business model, the local film industry is constantly seeking novice directors who can make new block- busters. An influx of new talent knocks on the doors of Ch’ungmuro on a daily basis. The outcome of this human traffic is startling: nearly 70% of the films made in recent years were directed by first-time directors. However, only a handful of these filmmakers will have a chance to direct more than one film. Since directors are hired on the basis of their

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 19 ENDNOTES

1 Yonhap News, January 17, 2003. 2 Chông-jin Yi, Yonhap News, July 30, 2003. 3 Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2002. 4 In 1993, domestic films occupied merely 16% of the market share. 5 Su-kyông Kim, Tong’a Ilbo, July 10, 2003. 6 Ki-tae Kim, The Korea Times, October 25, 2001. 7 Korean Film Commission Newsletter, August 26, 2001. 8 Yonhap News, July 10, 2003. 9 The ranking reflects the 1999 nationwide standing. 10 Hyôn-ch’ôl Choe, Joongang Ilbo, November 28, 2001. 11 The investment boom buzzing in the private sector is also felt at the level of the government. The Korean Film Commis- sion is said to reportedly invest 30-40 billion wôn ($2.3 mil- lion - $3.9 million), and the Ministry of Culture announced that it plans to invest 130 billion wôn ($10 million) per year in the film industry to reach 500 billion wôn ($38.5 million) by 2003. 12 The Korea Times, February 25, 2001. 13 Joongang Ilbo, February 27, 2001, A25. 14 386, a recently coined term, refers to 30-something urban- ites who matriculated in college in the 1980s and were born in the 1960s.

Harvard Asia Quarterly 20 Summer 2003 INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR ZHANG HUI-JUN, PRESIDENT OF THE BEIJING FILM ACADEMY

BY HAQ STAFF HAQ: Please introduce the general structure and curriculum of the Beijing Film Academy (BFA).

A versatile artist and an active filmmaker for ZHANG: The Beijing Film Academy was founded in 1950. We have 15 de- over 20 years, Zhang Hui-jun is the President of the Beijing Film Academy (BFA). He has partments including Film Literature, Screenwriting, Directing, Cinematog- worked on many films that have garnered raphy, Acting, Sound, Art Direction, and Animation. We also have man- prizes at Chinese and international film agement and editing departments as well as a film studies department, festivals. Zhang's film credits include: which specializes in film analysis and history. There is a film production Neighbors (Linju) (1982), Black Sun (Hei Taiyang) (1989) and, most recently, The Most department that teaches the technical skills of filmmaking. We also have a Beloved One Has Left (Shijie shang Zui Teng Division of Continuing Education for Adults and an international exchange de Nage Ren Qule) (2002). division that annually accepts about 15 foreign graduate students. Last but not least, there is a photography department, and we have film labora- tories and sound studios on campus. All of the courses have evolved over the school’s fifty-year history. Each course teaches a particular aspect of the methodology of film pro- duction. For example, if you are learning about screenwriting, the first year you must first record a 10-minute segment. We don’t allow the students to write first, because [after filming] one will know how to use the lens and the screen to tell a story and the difference between telling a story with words and with images. They will know how characters are filmed. [They learn how to answer questions such as:] Should they film one, two, or three persons; how events should be filmed, whether there should be a link and a background; whether there should be a longer shot; should they talk in the car or on the side of the street. Screenwriting students also have many papers to complete. They are free to choose their paper topics. They are also responsible for 5 to 10-minute film projects with the topic and content to be decided by the student as well. However, the student must discuss the written work with his or her teacher and the teacher must help with editing. If the language is not moving enough for a character, words must be added; if there is not enough action for a character, action must be added; if the story’s location is not appropriate, then the student must change it. For example, one might include a transition from the library to the cafeteria. The student must discuss it with a teacher and then start filming, because the school takes full responsibility for the experiment of the students, giving them time to write the paper, make corrections to the paper, etc. Once it is finished, the teacher will discuss it, and the whole class then watches your film and you explain the ideas behind the film, what obstacles you had in filming, and what goals were not met, what were the mistakes and lessons. The other classmates then critique and finally the teacher identifies what is good, what is bad, and what needs to be changed, or if it does not need change, and it is set aside. The student then proceeds to the next project. The student ultimately chooses the topic and sets the details of his or her graduation project.

HAQ: What are some of the general characteristics of students and faculty members?

ZHANG: Students are recruited from high schools in February and March. All film students have to go through subject tests in addition to the na- tionally administered humanities examination. Every year, more than 100,000

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 21 students participate in the film & acting exams, but we only can films because they watch too many of them. Neverthe- accept some 400 to 500 students. Acting is an especially less, students still think that American cinematography is competitive major. the most advanced: the screen quality, the action shots and Beijing Film Academy’s acceptance rate for women is edited shots, combined with the whole atmosphere. Students the highest for all Chinese higher educational institutions. like to watch European, Iranian, Indian, and Scandinavian Over half of the student body is female. I feel that if one does (Icelandic, Swedish, Danish) films. These other countries’ film or another fine art, gender is not significant. Female stu- directors are unique and present their personal characteris- dents are often more sensitive and more emotional than their tics along with their respective native cultures in their films. male classmates. They also have viewpoints different from those of their male counterparts. The only department that HAQ: Do you see any changes in student productions, par- has only a few or no women is the ticularly in comparison to the 1980s, cinematography division. This is when the fifth generation of gradu- because the equipment is heavy. ates, including some of the most However, in general, female stu- prominent alumni like Zhang Yimou dents are not particularly disadvan- and Chen Kaige, were being taged, whether during their time at trained? the school or on the job market. The majority of instructors are ZHANG: Students in the 1980s had Chinese and many are BFA gradu- much more bitter yet richer and ates. Every year, we also invite vis- more diverse experiences than the iting scholars from Europe and the current generation. Some had US for intellectual exchange and served in the army, others had been teaching. All of our faculty mem- rural workers or industrial workers. bers have film production experi- They could only learn from books ence. Without film experience, they and rarely watched movies. The stu- can’t be at our school, because dents today live much better, and they can’t discuss problems with the Loretta to confirm that this is Zhand Hui-jun and director they never dealt with significant students. Teaching is not having a Ang Lee. hardships; after graduating from book, memorizing three pages, and high school, they go into university. then teaching it to the students. This is an impossible method. They also seem to be brighter and are more knowledgeable. No matter if the teacher is a veteran or a novice, they must They get a lot of information from magazines, newspapers, have filming experience and not just one but a few experi- the Internet, television, books and movies. ences, so that they have the requisite experience to lecture a Furthermore, I think the students today are very intelli- class. Our teachers work in a cyclical schedule. They have 1/ gent and conscious about how competitive it is to succeed in 3 of their time allotted specifically for class. During this time, the film industry. Over the course of their studies, they deal they remain at school teaching a variety of classes. They with a lot of stress and many dilemmas. They are troubled by must teach at least 2 classes. Another 1/3 of the time, they how to get a job, how to obtain funding to make a movie, work on films. They either write a screenplay themselves and whether they will make a profit, how to become famous and then film or go through a film company and be a director or how to survive. The stress now is much greater than what we cinematographer. For the remaining 1/3 of this cycle, they faced. Our era was the era of the planned economy, which should do research, go abroad to tour, attend conferences, or meant that we didn’t have to think about economic condi- write books. In practice, the distribution of time for teachers tions and funding opportunities. Today, opportunities are is like this. For six months you teach, for the next six months more rare because the number of graduates has increased you go become a director, actor, or cinematographer, and exponentially. Thus, for each person, the probability of suc- then for six months after that, you can go to England and cess has lessened significantly. spend a month, go to the US for some time, or attend a Chi- nese university to take a course in economics or another HAQ: Is the student body divided between those who want related field, or stay home to write a book or article. to be artistically oriented and those who want to be commer- cially oriented? HAQ: What kinds of films do BFA students like to watch and draw their influences from? ZHANG: If we are talking about what they watch, most stu- dents actually watch both types of films. Artistic films, like ZHANG: Many of them watch Western films. They watch clas- those from Europe, have slim prospects for box office suc- sic films, starting with pieces from the silent film era, and cess and are purely individualized. As I mentioned before, those all the way to the present. However, they do not really the students like those films very much. At the same time, prefer American films because it seems that many produc- they also enjoy popular commercial films, such as those from tions, especially Hollywood’s, are from one mold and do not South Korea, India, and the US. Students need to choose have any special characteristics. They question why every- between two contradictory options. To be famous, they have one [in those films] wears the same clothes, says the same to make artistic films; to make money, they need a box office things, and in the same accent. Also, they don’t like Ameri- hit and thus will have to make commercial films. Students

Harvard Asia Quarterly 22 Summer 2003 forced to take the latter route always have regrets, so they track, which is specifically for film. This includes jobs for can never fully commit to commercial films. Thus, when they domestic film companies, foreign film companies, and film make commercial films, they’ll want to make some artistic factories. The second track is for television, producing shows films. However, they are likely to face the situation in which and MTV. The third track is working for a cultural organiza- no investors are interested. tion that makes commercials or does set design, printing, and planning of large performances. HAQ: Is there a modernization of the topics studied and por- trayed in the films? HAQ: Are there students at the BFA who go abroad on ex- change programs? ZHANG: Yes, the subject matter of the films has really become more modernized. The Chinese economy is doing really well. ZHANG: Yes, but there are no students who graduate from our In the 1970s and 1980s, when China’s economic reforms just school who then go abroad to learn about film production. started, the films challenged the viewers to think more about This is because such education is too expensive and be- and establish China’s national identity and status in the world. cause it would be redundant after what they’ve learned at Chinese philosophy, religion, and culture had to be situated BFA. When they do go abroad, they typically earn Master’s in world culture. The films reflected degrees, and they usually learn about China’s path from the time of the Opium a related field. They learn film history War until the current period and fea- and theory, but they don’t learn about tured more topics that addressed We want to instill the belief in production. The students who leave China’s history, including ancient his- our students that addressing the to study abroad only amount to about tory. They showcased the past in or- Chinese audience must be their 5% of the student body. Some students der to get people to see historical par- priority. don’t go abroad to learn about sub- allels in thinking about current affairs. jects related to film but other subjects However, in the past 20 years, the Chi- such as economics and management. nese economy has been growing rapidly, and the position of Conversely, hundreds of foreign students have studied and China in the international community has changed, with the graduated from the BFA over the years. They are mostly result that the topics have now shifted towards discussing from other Asian countries – Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India, the lives of people in the past 20 years along with the social and Sri Lanka. and economic transformations. These topics include how Eastern and Western cultures have interacted and how to HAQ: Are there films written in other dialects or languages? harmonize [the differences between these cultures]; and, under these conditions, how individual feelings and ZHANG: Yes, but none of the films is entirely written in a re- thoughts, as well as education, can adapt to the transforma- gional dialect and every one must have subtitles in Chinese tions. characters. Foreign students are often able to use their na- tive languages such as English or Korean but they are re- HAQ: Do students follow international trends or national quired to provide Chinese subtitles. In the foreign languages trends? genre, there are always subtitles because they are distrib- uted around the world. All graduation projects are [also] re- ZHANG: We want to instill the belief in our students that ad- quired to have English subtitles in order to allow them to dressing the Chinese audience must be their priority. If you compete in future international competitions. make a film that no one in your own culture likes, and if even your parents and siblings don’t like it, then you are not a HAQ: As a finishing note, can you discuss BFA student successful filmmaker. You first have to have the Chinese participation in international film festivals? people like it. Thus, being more “Chinese” means being more practical. You can’t make a film to please certain persons, like ZHANG: We don’t recommend films but we do mail all of the members of a Western audience, since there are even differ- films to international competitions. If the competition com- ences between Western audiences, such as that between the mittee selects one, then we allow the students [involved in Europeans, Latin Americans, Australians, etc. You can’t the film’s production] to go and attend. Some films have please every group because their histories, economic condi- gone to the Cannes festival. Others have been included in tions, and levels of cultural development are different. Con- the Tokyo Film Festival and others in Korean events. Our sidering these conditions, we want our students’ target audi- school held a tri-regional student film exchange and small- ence to be the native audience. In Asia, many filmmakers, scale competition in May 2002. We submitted two films and such as those from Korea, Japan, as well as China, focus on one won an award. Taiwanese schools entered about 10 appealing to their own native cultural audiences. films and one won an award. Every film school, like the City University of Hong Kong, Tainan Arts Institute, and Taiwan’s HAQ: What do the majority of the students do after gradua- Chengchi University, all sent in films. A panel of professors tion? decided on best screenplay, best director, and so on.

ZHANG: There are typically three tracks for our students in terms of concentration and eventual career. One is the film

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 23 THREE ORAL POETRIES FROM SOUTHERN CHINA

BY MARK BENDER hina has one of the world’s richest poetic heritages, the written record beginning in the fifth century BC with a text known as The Book of Songs (Shijing). Poems from the Tang (618-907 AD) and Mark Bender teaches courses on China's oral C Song (960-1279 AD) dynasties are still memorized and recited in class- and oral-connected literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and rooms in the Chinese speaking world, and knowledge of classical poems is Literatures at Ohio State University. His book still an index of culture among educated Chinese. Not limited to silent on Suzhou storytelling, Plum and Bamboo: reading, Chinese poems were composed to select tunes and delivered China's Suzhou Chantefable Tradition, is orally when the occasion demanded. Incorporated into paintings or archi- soon to be released by University of Illinois Press. tecture, poems contribute to the creation of sublime oral, aural, and visual syntheses. Alongside the great tradition of Chinese classical poetry, how- ever, exists a cornucopia even more extensive and diverse – though less familiar and under-appreciated – of regional and ethnic traditions of oral and oral-connected poetic narrative and lyric. The hundreds of traditions forming this immense corpus once had, and to some extent still have, widespread popularity in their respective regions of circulation through- out China and today deserve attention on a broader scale. In order to give some hint of the variety of China’s oral poetry, I will introduce three such traditions. Giving such recognition to the often overlooked oral and oral-con- nected traditions in China is very much in line with developments occur- ring globally, in which new ways of looking at oral traditions have been emerging over the last few decades. Building on the Ethnopoetics tradi- tion of the late 1960s and 1970s, John Miles Foley, one of the foremost scholars of epic, suggests that we must recognize the diversity and value of the traditions he calls “oral poetry” worldwide – traditions that too often take second place to canons of written literature.1 According to Foley, this realization requires the development of an inclusive viewpoint that highlights the many manifestations of oral poetry. Coupled with “di- versity in frame of reference,” each oral poem would ideally be appreciated within its own particular context, and as part of a greater ecology of verbal art.2 As younger scholars in China become acquainted with newer theo- ries of performance and folkloristics, and as their counterparts outside China increasingly pursue studies of China’s local ethnic cultures, the potential for a new appreciation of China’s oral legacy is great, though many traditions are in danger of extinction in the midst of dynamic changes in a modernizing country. In China, hundreds of localized “little” traditions of oral and oral- connected lyric and narrative exist. The oral traditions include numerous styles of folksongs, ballads, epics, and types of prosimetric narratives that alternate passages of singing and speaking. The oral-connected works can include traditions of oral delivery in which written texts are the basis of oral performances, vernacular narratives for readers that suggest the context and style of oral storytelling sessions, and collections of stories or folksongs polished and published by the literati (such as the Book of Songs, mentioned above). These traditions are performed in many lan- guages and dialects. China officially recognizes fifty-six ethnic nationali- ties: fifty-five minority nationalities (many of which are comprised of nu- merous subgroups) and the majority ethnic group, the Han nationality. The Han consist of an amalgamation of varying local cultures that speak often mutually unintelligible versions of Chinese. The traditions of oral poetry in China range from the lengthy epics

Harvard Asia Quarterly 24 Summer 2003 sung by Mongol, Kazakh, and Tibetan bards on the northern China, sometimes in bilingual editions. Although the respec- steppe and the Tibetan plateau, to the Han stories of love tive traditions use different languages (and are written using and intrigue related in a mixture of speaking and singing by different writing systems), all of the languages are tonal, em- professional storytellers in the scenic cities of the Yangzi ploying a range of speech tones that differentiate similar River delta, to the antiphonal songs that are part of a fading sounding words and allow for the use of tone patterns as a tradition of love songs in the multi-ethnic “Song Sea” of the prosodic feature. Two of the languages (Suzhou dialect and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and other areas in Yi) have clear links to the Sino-Tibetan family, and all share south and northwest China, to certain styles of folk song and similarities in syntax and other linguistic features. Moreover, music shared among several ethnic groups in the broken up- the Miao and Yi examples are both in an antiphonal format, in lands of Yunnan province in which singers alternate pas- the southwest.3 Most of sages of songs between these traditions (including them or between two groups. those in writing) are little Although Suzhou opening known outside of their own ballads are typically sung by areas of circulation due to bar- one voice, dialogue (both riers of language and culture, spoken and sung) between though as a whole they com- two or more performers prise a tremendous volume of sometimes occurs, and is an rich, creative voices which important part of the Suzhou deserve a place in the global storytelling tradition. choir of oral poetry. While examining even a OPENING BALLADS IN THE fraction of China’s reserves of YANGZI DELTA oral poetry would require vol- umes, short introductions to Opening ballads are as- three very different local tra- sociated with a general pro- ditions of oral poetry, each as- Amateur Suzhou chantefable performers singing the opening ballad, fessional tradition of per- sociated with relatively large "One Grain of Rice," Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. (Mark Bender, 1991) forming narrative arts known and well-studied ethnic cul- as quyi (literally, “art of melo- tures, will suggest the diversity that exists in a complex weave dies”). These arts, many of which were once commonly per- of regional cultures, languages, and ethnicities and help widen formed in entertainment districts of urban areas, typically our frame of reference in terms of what constitutes “poetry” combine speaking and singing, often accompanied by per- (oral or otherwise) in China. cussion and/or string instruments. Though most arts in this Each of the three traditions is associated with one of the category are associated with Han local cultures, some forms three prominent – and very different – local cultures located were once popular among other ethnic groups, such as the at points across southern China in a wide corridor following Manchus, that had urban populations. Many of the hun- the twists and turns of the Yangzi River. For each example, I dreds of living, local forms at the dawn of the twentieth cen- have supplied a short introduction to the tradition, a sample tury are now moribund. However, in some traditions profes- oral poem, and a few key observations that will allow those sional performers still ply their trades despite severe chal- unfamiliar with the respective cultures a degree of access to lenges to their existence during political movements such as the sort of traditional knowledge available to native audi- the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and in more recent times, ences. despite almost overwhelming competition from the mass me- The first is the “opening ballads” (kaipian) tradition dia.4 One of the liveliest traditions is the hybrid of storytelling associated with Han professional storytelling in Suzhou and and drama known as pingtan practiced by professional and other cities of the Yangzi delta; the second, from south-cen- amateur performers throughout the Yangzi delta. Pingtan is tral China, is the “song flowers” (bangx hxak; literally “flower a cognate term referring to two related styles of storytelling, song”) tradition of a sub-group (called Hmu) of the Miao pinghua (“straight storytelling”) and tanci (chantefables; nationality in the southeast corner of the mountainous literally, “plucked lyrics”). In the straight storytelling tradi- Guizhou province; the third is the “three-part poem” lyric tion, a single storyteller tells long and involved tales of val- tradition of the Yi nationality in western Guizhou province, iant heroes, warfare, injustice, and intrigue. In the chantefable the Greater Cool Mountains of Sichuan, and Yunnan prov- tradition, a pair (or occasionally a trio) of storytellers weaves ince, on the upper reaches of the Yangzi. passages of song and speech into stories that usually con- All three examples can be described as lyrical in that cern complex love affairs between “gifted scholars” and “tal- they deal more with the creation of emotions rather than tell- ented beauties,” and more modern transmutations of love ing a story, though each has certain narrative elements or is stories. The pair of storytellers, often a male lead and a fe- related to a larger narrative tradition. Two of the represented male assistant (though same gender pairs are common), pluck traditions, the Suzhou opening ballads and the Yi songs, have stringed instruments to accompany the singing roles. Often historically had parallel traditions of written texts for some of performed in the same venues, these styles are associated their respective repertoires. In recent years, however, many with the ancient cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou, examples from all three traditions have been published in with performance conventions and dialect of performance

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 25 differing by locale.5 The Suzhou style of storytelling, influenced strongly by A special kind of opening ballad is associated with the local forms of opera and classical poetry, gained wide popu- Suzhou chantefable tradition. In the usual storytelling for- larity in Shanghai during the 1930s as radio programming mat, the chantefable storytellers begin the day’s performance began to include daily storytelling sessions. Opening bal- with an opening ballad, then proceed into the main narrative. lads came into their own in this era, and musical styles in- The main narrative, presented in serial form, takes about two creased in number and variety. Traditional tune styles were weeks to complete. Each daily storytelling session lasts about embellished or transformed by young storytellers influenced two hours, with the opening ballad taking between ten to by sounds as diverse as Beijing opera and Bing Crosby. fifteen minutes. Content-wise, the ballads usually have little Carlton Benson has examined the use of catchy opening bal- or nothing to do with the main story and are valued on their lads on Shanghai radio stations during the 1930s and 40s, own merits. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing in their particularly in tobacco and leisure goods advertising.7 Many own right, the ballads serve to focus audience attention on new opening ballads and tune styles were written and devel- the main storytelling event, and allow the storytellers to lim- oped in the 1950s when the storytellers were organized in ber their voices. Besides the two-week long stories, opening government troupes. ballads are sometimes used in conjunction with shorter story Today, performances of Suzhou storytelling can be ac- formats, such as the “middle-length” cessed in a number of contexts. Sev- form that lasts about three hours (per- eral hundred pingtan storytellers affili- formed in one long session). In other ated with local troupes tell stories daily cases, the ballads are performed in spe- Audience members sip tea while in dozens of venues called “story cial storytelling gatherings, contests, listening to the pingtan stories, houses” (shuchang) located in large or other events, standing alone as oral which last about two weeks and and small cities throughout the Yangzi poetry. Printed collections of hundreds are told in two-hour sessions River delta. Audience members sip tea of such ballads have been popular with each day. while listening to the stories, which last storytelling aficionados since the end about two weeks and are told in two- of the 19th century. hour sessions each day. Performances are also regularly fea- Opening ballads on traditional themes are composed and tured on radio, television, and available in audiocassette, sung in a refined linguistic register, with certain similarities to video, and CD-ROM formats. A polished website with audio singing roles in styles of local opera.6 Suzhou dialect is also and video clips is available online at: www.pingtan.com.cn. used, especially with humorous or popular themes. After 1949, Special storytelling gatherings at which performers compete some “revolutionary” opening ballads were even written for or compare are held several times each year, often around singing in standard Chinese. The most elegant ballads are Spring Festival. Opening ballads and short passages from known as “Tang poem ballads” (Tang shi kaipian), alluding the full-length stories are typical offerings. to the poetry of the Tang dynasty, China’s high-water mark The use of opening ballads in chantefable performances for poetic accomplishment. These ballads feature highly lyri- dates to at least the mid-19th century. Performers developed cal imagery and often describe seasonal landscapes, famous the strategy of reciting “opening poems” (kaici) or singing gardens, literati such as the poet Su Dongpo and the painter opening ballads (which eventually displaced the opening Tang Yin, the philandering hero of the full-length chantefable poems) at the beginning of sessions in order to focus audi- Three Smiles (San xiao). Other themes are vignettes about ence attention, limber their voices, and test the acoustics of characters from vernacular fiction and drama. One famous the venue.8 Legendary storyteller Ma Rufei edited a volume ballad, written by Zhu Wuchai in the 1940s, concerns Du of opening ballads for publication in the late 19th century, and Shiniang, a tragic heroine from a Feng Menglong story dur- many collections have appeared over the years since. Hun- ing the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). A number are about Cui dreds of “new” opening ballads, often on classical literary Yingying, the principal female character in Romance of the themes or more political topics, were produced in the 1950s Western Chamber (Xixiangji), the famous story of star- as part of the re-orientation of the traditional performing arts crossed lovers that has been told and retold in numerous in the first decade of socialism. Among these was a clever styles of drama and storytelling. Besides self-contained lyr- piece called “One Grain of Rice” (Yili mi) in which an old ics, a large body of opening ballads are actually short, mov- farmer quizzes his grandchildren about the economics of one ing extracts from full-length or middle-length chantefables grain of rice in reference to the 650 million citizens then in (the latter lasting only a few hours and performed by three China. storytellers at special events). Rhyme and tonal patterns in Contemporary storytellers and aficionados are still com- many opening ballads are rather free, with seven to ten char- posing opening ballads, often based on traditional themes. acters typically per line, though with many variations. In some The following ballad, entitled “Admiring Plum Blossoms” cases, wordplay and humor lighten the mood of these bal- (Shang mei), was written by the well-known avocational lads, which are often sentimental in tone. Typically, as one Suzhou chantefable storyteller Dong Yaokun.9 Dong and his storyteller sings the ballad (often the lead), his or her partner wife, Ni Huaiyu, perform portions of longer stories and open- provides instrumental accompaniment. In some instances, ing ballads many times a year at schools, factories, rest homes, especially when the storytellers are performing a choice por- and competitions. In theme and spirit, the ballad (presented tion of a well-known story, both storytellers will sing, ex- here in English translation) is not unlike many of those in the change short passages of dialogue, and play their respective collection made by Ma Rufei over one hundred years ago. instruments, just as if telling the main story.

Harvard Asia Quarterly 26 Summer 2003 Silvery cotton catkins waft in profusion across the moun- of singers. A fascinating feature of this tradition is that of the tains, “song flowers,” which are lyrical digressions sung at the Ice yet locking the vast vistas, as cold winds howl. beginning of an epic recital and occasionally inserted Mountains and rivers bound beautifully in silver raiment, throughout the main body of the epic. Usually eight to twenty Countless trees lavished tenderly with silver blossoms. lines in length, song flowers must be sung employing only Standing before plum trees, in intricate regard, one tone rhyme (in the final word of each line) per song. Like Respect wells, thoughts linger, the Suzhou opening ballads, the initial song flowers allow Heart and tree are one. the singers to limber their voices, get in sync with each other, The plum does not hide away in some warm studio, and focus listener attention. The ensuing flowers, which al- But bears chill winds, enduring on frigid crags, ternate with passages of epic narrative, do much to enrich Maintaining her dignity as buds swell. epic performances by offering opportunities for the singers Plum blossoms are no rarity— to display their rhetorical skills in a mix of wit, humor, meta- What’s rare is the defiance of difficulty. phorical language, and riddles, delivered within the param- Plum blossoms are not known for fragrance, eters of epic lore and aesthetics. But instead for elegance and virtue. As noted, the framework within which the flowers are Love of the plum is not a love of flow- employed is that of lengthy antipho- ers, nal epics. Many of the epics deal with Nor is admiring blossoms like admir- the creation of earth and the celestial ing beauties; “Song flowers” allow singers to bodies by supernatural beings known It is learning how she faces wind and display their rhetorical skills in a as the “ancestors.” One important cold without fear— mix of wit, humor, metaphorical theme concerns the forging of the Still charming, the pretty blossoms. language, and riddles. suns, moon, and stars from gold and Red blooms reflected on snow, signal silver by the mythical ancients. At one spring’s coming; point the earth becomes so hot due to the presence of mul- When spring arrives, ice and snow melt away; tiple suns in the sky, an archer is called to shoot down all but She welcomes spring winds with a smile. one, a motif common in many creation epics from various One flower opens, and hundreds follow, nationalities in south China. Another theme in the creation Announcing spring in a profusion of colors. cycle is that of a supernatural insect known as Mai Bang Her efforts in announcing spring are not in vain; (Mais Bangx) or “Butterfly Mother,” who makes love with How nice if everyone were like the plum blossoms, the wave foam in a river and lays her eggs in a giant sweet Beautifying the world without pride, gum tree. From the eggs hatch various beings, including the Merging with spring soil at death, direct ancestor of humans, Jang Vang (Jangx Vangb). to aid in putting forth new shoots. The epics are performed by two pairs of singers (often a male versus a female team), who trade passages back and This opening ballad is striking in its use of natural imag- forth, stimulated by questions sung at the end of a response. ery to exemplify endurance, survival, continuity, and beauty. Like the opening ballads in the Suzhou chantefable tradition, In reading it, we should keep in mind that it was designed to the lyrical song flowers are part of a larger tradition of epic be sung aloud to the sounds of string instruments in a dy- narrative that involves cooperation among singers. As with namic of special interaction between audience and performer. the pairs (or sometimes trios) of storytellers in the Suzhou It is this creative relationship that is the life-blood of the chantefable tradition, epic singers must cooperate closely Suzhou chantefable tradition and that links it to the rich past with their partners to perform effectively in a medium entail- of the entertainment districts where literati sometimes took ing a complex weave of narrative and lyrical modes of expres- inspiration for the freer styles of classical poems from lyrics sion. The singers are usually rural residents who are espe- sung by female singers. This dynamic between audience and cially good at singing and have an interest in the epic tradi- performer, although different in expressive style, is very much tion. Crowds of listeners gather to listen to the epic recitals, a part of the following traditions as well, which are repre- which take place at life cycle events such as weddings, at sented here only in the shadow form of writing. giant song festivals that attract thousands of people of all ages, and during small, informal singing events in villages “SONG FLOWERS” FROM SOUTHEAST GUIZHOU during the winter months. As the singers cooperate in the performance, a pair will occasionally diverge from the story The southeast corner of Guizhou province, located in line (or “bone”) to insert a song flower. The flowers some- China’s mountainous southwest, is the home to a number of times expand on themes sung in the bone, but often are on ethnic minority groups, including a subgroup of the Miao unrelated topics. In some instances, especially at the begin- nationality (which number over six million people), known in ning of epic singing exchanges, the content of flowers sung their own language as Hmu.10 The Miao are upland farmers by one side will be repeated and expanded upon by the other, who raise fish in their rice fields, with their settlements and especially in the initial period when singers are deciding on towns scattered through the beautiful limestone karst hills what part of the bone to sing. Once the portion of the bone to and along the river ways of the region. A major aspect of be sung is decided upon, the performance will unfold in inter- their historically rich oral tradition is an ancient tradition of spersing segments of bone and flower. The flowers are often epic narrative singing, sung in antiphonal style between pairs used to comment on one’s own or one’s opponent’s singing

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 27 skills, employing images involving local flora, fauna, geo- To the first lyric, you must reply, graphical features, place names, and customs relating to vil- To the second lyric you must respond, lage life, mingled with similes, proverbs, and puns. Many Only then will you become the winner, jokes related in the flowers are related to the custom of young Only then will you count as one who can sing. people singing antiphonal love songs at village and regional singing gatherings. Singers may address each other as THREE-PART POEMS OF THE YI “brother” or “sister,” as in the antiphonal love song tradi- tion, or as “host” and “guest,” alluding to the practice in A final example from China’s rich store of oral poetry which singers travel from village to village during the winter comes from the Yi nationality of southwest China. The Yi, months searching for singing opponents. who exist in over 70 subgroups with names like Nuosu, Nisu, The following example of a song flower lyric is from a Lolopo, Lipo, and Sani, live in the mountains of Yunnan, bilingual collection assembled by a Miao nationality intellec- Sichuan, Guizhou, and a few areas in the western part of tual from Southeast Guizhou named Jin Dan, an epic singer in Guangxi. In southern Sichuan, for hundreds of years groups his youth.11 The lyric makes refer- of Nuosu retained an indepen- ence to the respective skills of the dent kingdom until the early singers in an epic recitation, and 1950s. The Yi dialects are in the is an example of witty verbal duel- Tibeto-Burman branch of the ing that incorporates similes and Sino-Tibetan family and Chinese metaphors drawn from the special- researchers identify six major dia- ized knowledge surrounding the lect areas. Many songs and most local oral tradition. Among this written texts are composed in lore are references to the forging poetic lines of five syllables each. of iron and other metals, a prac- Although a modern syllabic sys- tice still employed by blacksmiths tem (based on the sounds of and silversmiths in some villages. about 800 of the older charac- The singers brazenly assert their ters) for the Nuosu dialect has song power by the image of work- been in widespread use in ing cold metal, which requires Welcoming band at a Lolopo (Yi subgroup) village festival, in Sichuan since the 1970s, the older much more force than shaping the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. literary texts are written in one of iron softened in a forge. The flow- (Mark Bender, 1987) several regionally diverse writ- ery staffs are martial arts weap- ing traditions comprised of thou- ons, and a smaller version is sometimes used in song and sands of unique characters (both pictographs and ideographs) dance performances and can be swung very deftly. The men- that differ almost completely from Chinese characters. Only a tion of sacrificial meat refers to the portions of meat from few priests (known in Nuosu as bimo) and scholars can read water buffaloes sacrificed at periodic clan rituals. The song the older texts. Moreover, according to folklorist Aluoxingde, flower text (in English translation) is that sung by the guest the number of singers below thirty in the Bijie region of west- side, in this instance comprised of a pair of male singers ern Guizhou is in rapid decline.12 Among the Sani people singing to a pair of female singers. around the Stone Forest, Yunnan, many aspects of oral per- formance have been incorporated into the context of tourist Others strike iron and sparks fly, performances. In parts of northern Yunnan, the words are But we’ve come to cold-forge iron, sometimes sung in Chinese to Yi tunes, reflecting a decline in Cold-forge it down into metal sheets. the number of Yi speakers in some areas. Others compete with flowery staffs, In recent years, the Yi have been the subject of increas- we compete with wolf-tooth clubs. ing interest to anthropologists and other scholars inside and Sister extends the end of her staff, outside of China, as evidenced by a growing number of pub- Brother swirls to block with his tip. lications in both Chinese and English.13 This is due in part to Sister extends the tip of her staff, an increasingly vocal cadre of well-trained and well-posi- Brother rises to block with his end. tioned younger Yi scholars and to a dedicated contingent of For each club blow, one is returned; foreign scholars with active interests in one of southwest For each staff strike, one is parried. China’s largest and most ethnically complex groups. A num- ber of international conferences devoted to Yi studies have Other’s ox horns are gleaming white, been held since the mid-1990s, including a conference on Yi Our ox horns are glossy black. medicine and literature held in the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Sister, listen carefully! Prefecture in Yunnan in July 2001 and a symposium on the Count the arrows I’ve released, dynamics of contemporary Yi culture at Harvard in Novem- Reply to the song I’ve sung. ber 2001. Whatever I shoot hits dead center, One of the organizers of the Harvard symposium, Bamo Whatever I fold has neat corners. Qubumo, recently published a work on Yi poetics and tradi- Every one so clean and bright, tional poetry entitled, Golden Eagle Spirit and Poetic Soul, Like slices of sacrificial meat. in which she provides an extensive introduction to form and

Harvard Asia Quarterly 28 Summer 2003 content of oral and oral-connected texts from various Yi ar- dozen lines, sometimes following a basic narrative line.16 As eas.14 Many of the features in Yi lyrics have parallels in Han in many love songs from ethnic groups in southwest China, and sometimes Miao oral and written poetry, including the terms “brother” and “sister” should be understood as reduplicatives (in which a sound is repeated), rhyme and terms of endearment between lovers. The poem is a fine ex- tone patterns, tone shifts, line linkage patterns, and parallel ample of the three-part form and the manner in which nature couplets. imagery (rivers and fish, trees and bees, and the young man Among the most common of lyrics in the Yi areas is the and woman) is used to cleverly express the complicated feel- “three-part” or “three-strophe” poems. These poems are an ings between young people seeking suitable partners. important part of the oral performance repertoire in some Yi communities, and some were recorded in the ancient texts. If the waters don’t rise for a year, Traditionally, such po- The fish will wait for a year; ems are sung at all major If the waters don’t rise for two years, life cycle events and in The fish will wait for two years. some locales act as an If the waters don’t rise for three years, important medium for The fish will ask the great waters: young lovers to commu- Will you still rise or not? nicate. Many such songs If you won’t rise, are intricate love poems, The fish will swim, swim away! running the gamut from Once they’ve swum away, longing and loneliness to When they see the waters rise, teasing and praise. Oth- They’ll miss their hometown waters. ers contain proverbial advice and folk wisdom, If the trees don’t bloom for a year, while others are a series The honeybees will wait for a year; of riddles in the form of a If the trees don’t bloom for two years, guessing game. In some Three folksingers at a local folkfestival in the Third Month Fes- The honeybees will wait for two years. instances three-part tival, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The women are If the trees don’t bloom for three years, songs (especially the rid- singing antiphonal folks songs. The woman in black is advising The honeybees will ask the trees: dling songs) are traded the two singers on the left what to sing to their counterparts Will you still bloom or not? across the way. (Mark Bender, 1986) between skilled singers If you won’t bloom, in antiphonal fashion, though the Yi have many other styles The bees will fly, fly away. of antiphonal singing, including shorter love songs and ep- Once they’ve flown away, ics. When they see the trees bloom, The three-part poems take their name from the way in They’ll miss their hometown trees. which they are divided thematically into three parts, com- prised of linked images. A poem often starts with a scene in If brother doesn’t meet her for a year, the heavens, then shifts in focus to some feature of earth and Sister will wait him for a year; finally to a very immediate human scene. Sometimes the im- If brother doesn’t meet her for two years, ages move from mountains, to a river, to humans. In others, a Sister will wait him for two years; particular series of flowers, birds, insects, fish, animals, and If brother doesn’t meet her for three years, even precious metals or objects may organize the poem. In Sister will ask: certain poems (although not every position is always men- Are you still looking for a partner or not? tioned) there is a sequence of images rooted in concepts of If you are no longer looking, the traditional Yi social hierarchy, consisting of ruler, official, Sister will go, go away bimo, artisan, and common people. In many cases, the usual Go to another brother’s town, ending place is an image of the singer on the singing grounds Go to another’s town to play around, with his or her love interest. Thus, the singers at once place There to miss her hometown brother. themselves on the bottom rung in a descending ladder of power, yet gain rhetorically by the implied comparisons with CONCLUSION the “higher-ups,” whether human, grand natural phenom- ena, or the supernatural. In some cases, the three-part form The three traditions examined above can only suggest has been employed by contemporary Yi poets such as Aku the sort of diversity found within the hundreds of local tradi- Wuwu, who has used variations of it in a number of poems in tions of oral poetry in China. Although there are parallels volumes such as Out of the Land of Sorcerers.15 between the three traditions I have chosen to highlight (i.e., The following three-part oral poem was collected by each has lyrical aspects, a high degree of cooperation is Aluoxingde in the Bijie area of western Guizhou province needed for each to carry off performances, and each is re- from an unidentified singer. It was published in a bi-lingual lated to a larger corpus of local oral tradition), the many dif- edition presented in Yi and Chinese, along with the Yi pro- ferences reflect the complex and dynamic nature of ethnicity, nunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet. It is an ex- language, local culture, and oral tradition in China today. ample of a shorter three-part poem, which can run to several However, confronted with the forces of a modernizing world,

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 29 some traditions will follow their forebears into extinction, 10 See Louisa Schein, Minority Rules: The Miao and the while others may find a following to keep them alive. On a Feminine in Modern China (Durham: Duke University Press, positive note, an increasing number of competently trans- 2000) for an extensive study of Miao culture in southeast lated and reliable versions of many of these forms are be- Guizhou. “Hmu” is also written “Hmub” if the tonal marker is coming available in Chinese, the best in bilingual editions included. The tone maker, however, is not pronounced as a with notes on provenance and cultural background. Although “b” and only denotes a specific speech tone in this particular in the past many features of the oral nature of performances Miao dialect. In the following paragraphs Miao words appear were lost in the process of collecting and editing, new ways in two forms. The first form is written without tone marks to of collecting and textualizing oral literature – utilizing meth- avoid confusion for those unfamiliar with the tonal notation ods that will allow greater appreciation of the distinct quali- system. For those wishing to see the tones, they are included ties of the individual oral traditions – are gradually being in the versions of the words in parentheses. introduced in China by younger researchers such as Chao 11 See Jin Dan, Bangx Hxak, Miaozu guge gehua [Song Flow- Gejin (Chogjin) and Bamo Qubumo of the Chinese Academy ers from the Ancient Songs of the Miao Nationality] (Guiyang: of Social Sciences (CASS).17 Both are strong advocates of Guizhou minzu chubanshe,1998): 132 for the original Miao syncretic approaches that combine cutting-edge folkloristic along with a Chinese translation. theory with deep knowledge of local cultural situations. As 12 Aluoxingde is a Yi researcher in the cultural bureau in Bijie, the fruits of these emerging approaches increasingly find in the western part of Guizhou province. He has published a their way into publication, poets and translators worldwide number of collections (some bilingual) of Yi literature, includ- can aid in introducing the oral poetries of China to audiences ing folksongs, epics, and ancient histories. He is an example outside its borders and thereby contribute to the apprecia- of the many local scholars doing on-site research in minority tion of China’s oral poetries on a global scale. areas today. 13 See Stevan Harrell, ed., Perspectives on the Yi of South- west China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001) and Erik Mueggler, The Age of Wild Ghosts: Memory, Vio- lence, and Place in Southwest China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001) for recent studies on local Yi cul- tures. ENDNOTES 14 See Bamo Qubumo, Yingling yu shihun, Yizu gudai jingji shixue yanjiu [Golden Eagle Spirit and Soul of Poetry, study 1 See Gary Snyder, “The Politics of Ethnopoetics,” The Old of Yi nationality ancient poetic texts] (Beijing: Shehui kexue Ways: Six Essays (Berkeley: City Lights Books, 1977): 15-43, yuan chubanshe, 2001). and John Miles Foley, How to Read an Oral Poem (Urbana 15 See Aku Wuwu, Zou qu wushi [Out of the Land of Sorcer- and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2002). ers] (Chengdu: Chengdu chubanshe,1995). He is a professor 2 See Foley (2002): 215-216. in the Department of Yi Studies at the Southwestern Institute 3 See Helen Rees, Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern for Nationalities in Chengdu, Sichuan province. He writes in China (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) for a descrip- both Chinese and the Nuosu dialect of Yi. tion of the music cultures in the region of Lijiang in north- 16 For the original text, see Aluoxingde, Qugu jingxuan [Se- west Yunnan province. lected “Qugu” lyrics] (Guiyang: Guizhou minzu 4 See Vibeke Bordahl, ed., The Eternal Storyteller: Oral Lit- chubanshe,1996): 183-184. Since there is no standard erature in Modern China, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies romanization system for all Yi dialects, it is customary among (Surrey, England: Curzon, 1999). scholars in some areas to employ the International Phonetic 5 Wu dialects of Chinese are spoken in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Alphabet. and other area cities south of the Yangzi, while a Mandarin 17 See Chao Gejin, Kochuan shishi xue: Ranpile dialect is spoken in Yangzhou. “Jiangge’er”chengshi jufa yanjiu [Oral Poetics: Formulaic 6 This refined register is a local form of “Zhongzhou rhymes” Diction of Arimpil’s Jangar Singing] (Nanning: Guangxi renmin (zhongzhouyun) speech. See Pen-yeh Tsao, The Music of chubanshe, 2000) for his groundbreaking study of Mongol Su-chou T’an-tz’u: Elements of the Chinese Southern Sing- epic singing. ing Narrative (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1988): 10-12 and Mark Bender, Plum and Bamboo: China’s Suzhou Chantefable Tradition (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2003): 53-55. 7 See Carleton Benson, “The Manipulation of Tanci in Radio Shanghai During the 1930s,” Republican China, 20.2 (1995): 116-146. 8 See Zuo Xian, Pingtan yishu qian tan [Initial observations on the art of pingtan] (Beijing: Zhongguo quyi chubanshe,1981): 9-10. 9 For the original Chinese, see Suzhou tanci daguan [Vistas of Suzhou tanci chantefable] (Shanghai: Xuelin chubanshe,1999): 93.

Harvard Asia Quarterly 30 Summer 2003 GRAFFITI PHOTOS: EXPRESSIVE ART IN JAPANESE GIRLS' CULTURE

BY LAURA MILLER fter spending a pleasant day shopping together, Yasuko and her friend, 16-year-old Mie, decide to take a photograph of themselves Awith a Polaroid camera. They pull two freshly purchased white A specialist in linguistic anthropology and bras out of their shopping bags, place them on their heads, and shoot. Japan studies, Laura Miller is Associate When the snapshot is dry, Mie uses pink and turquoise markers to write Professor of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago. Her recent publications “Idiots!! Damn, they wore them on their heads!” (Baka!!Kabutte shimatta!) include "Male Beauty Work in Japan" (Men and in big characters at the top and bottom of the photo. I doubt this was quite Masculinities in Contemporary Japan, 2003) what George Eastman had in mind in 1888 when he made the first cameras and "Mammary Mania in Japan" (Positions: accessible to the everyday consumer. His slogan, “You press the button, East Asia Cultures Critique, 2003). we do the rest,” no longer applies in the world of many adolescent Japa- nese girls, because a photograph is not “finished” until it has been embel- lished with colored ink captions, naughty words, hearts, flowers and other decorative motifs. These annotated “graffiti photos” are a new expressive art form that reflects some unique linguistic and cultural features. This essay will survey a few of the ways in which graffiti photos exhibit new forms of girls’ writing and self-expression, and how these new writing styles are intertwined with visual imaging. Graffiti photos first appeared among a subcultural group whom the media termed “Kogals” (kogyaru).1 Kogal was a handy classification for young women between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two who launched new forms of fashion, behavior and language. The Kogal mode began in the early 1990s, when high school girls first created a style made up of “loose socks” (knee-length socks worn hanging around the ankles), bleached hair, distinct make-up, and short school uniform skirts. Kogal culture surfaces in magazines such as Egg and Cawaii!, each of which has a readership of around 300,000. Although the impertinent panache, independence, sexuality, and self-confidence of the Kogal appalled older Japanese and made them the target of intense media scrutiny, many of their cultural practices eventually became aspects of girlhood culture in general, including a fondness for graffiti photos. The number of websites featuring graffiti photos, the magazine pages devoted to publishing them, and the sales of photo-related services sug- gest that the art form is now widely popular. Although the majority of those who produce graffiti photos are junior high and high school-aged girls, many couples also make them during courtship, and some young mothers create graffiti photos of themselves with their children or spouses, indicating that they retain this aspect of girls’ culture as they transition into adulthood. Photographs supplemented with written words are providing a new method for forging social bonds and creating a community of girls sepa- rate from their parents’ culture. In addition, together with other forms of popular culture, such as fashion and music, graffiti photos underscore a growing generational divide and point to a shift in values and attitudes. Graffiti photos are only one part of the culture of contemporary girlhood, yet they offer a point of entry into the complexities and concerns found therein. Japanese girls are constantly bombarded with messages from a beauty industry and media that exhort them to be feminine and sexy. They are simultaneously admonished in home and school environments to be chaste Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 31 and submissive through confining gender norms. Their dis- ing machine. The cost ranges between 200 and 350 yen dain for the contradictory messages received from adult so- (US$2.00 to US$2.50) for a sheet of four to sixteen small, self- ciety is funneled through their own unique cultural products, adhesive photos. The curtained booth is most often fre- including comics (manga), fashion, language, and graffiti quented by groups of two or more girls, who check it first to photos. Within the space of the graffiti photo, girls resist the see if they like the available decorations, backdrops and text oppressive demands of adolescent femininity by producing styles used in the machine. Inside, they gather in front of the images and writings that contest or parody traditional norms. camera and select from a menu of backdrops, camera angles Their creative expressions occur in and fanciful borders. Some ma- a girl-generated sphere beyond the chines are dedicated to particu- compass of parental or institution- lar celebrities and insert their alized control. Girls’ critiques of images onto the photo. A video societal rules about gender confor- screen shows how the photo mity surface in the graffiti photos’ will appear on the sticker. There linguistic and nonlinguistic visual are hundreds of different print forms, provocative posing, and club machines that feature a gendered and nonstandard lan- variety of fake backgrounds guage use. The transformation of that make it appear as if one photos into an expressive outlet for were in some unusual setting. girls’ concerns is predicated on Girls are able to place them- new photographic technologies, selves in the Swiss Alps, in which they also had a role in stimu- front of Easter Island stone fig- lating. ures, or under a waterfall. The print club editing of one ma- PRINT CLUB BOOTHS chine perches two girls on top of a huge pile of pancakes drip- The easiest method for pro- ping with butter. The graffiti ducing a graffiti photo is to visit says “excellent” in nativized one of the thousands of “print English (ekuserento). club” or purikura booths located Similar to the earlier sticker in game centers, train stations and fad, there are now micro-albums trendy shopping areas. Purikura, attached to key chains, note- clipped from purinto kurabu, was books, and scrapbooks made invented by Atlus, a Tokyo-based for the archiving and display of game software company. A female print club stickers. Girls collect employee named Sasaki Miho had Sheet of photos from the Yamato Nadeshiko machine. (Miller) them in thick albums, and it is noticed the popularity of stickers not unusual for a collection to among schoolgirls, a craze that also generated huge sales. include hundreds or thousands of pictures. People also write Stickers of favorite TV or comic characters, antique cats, or their cell phone numbers on the stickers and exchange them other cute images were purchased in sheets and used to with potential friends and dates, the image providing a mne- decorate scrap books, cards, letters, or albums. Many al- monic cue of the new person. Print club stickers are affixed to bums created especially for collections of stickers had lami- diaries, letters, postcards, greeting cards and business cards. nated pages so that peel-and-apply stickers could be removed Unadvisedly, a few young women attach them to their job and traded or given to friends. Eventually mini-albums for resumes in place of the customary portrait photographs. One stickers were attached to keychains, handbags or purses, girl told me she places print club stickers of friends on annual and these could easily be carried around and shown to friends. calendar pages corresponding to their birth dates in order to In 1994, Sasaki came up with the idea of combining stickers remember them. Another girl I spoke to said she placed photo with photos and proposed it to her Atlus employers, but her stickers of her friends on her mini-CD disc cases. She could male bosses did not think it worth pursuing until 1995, when remember particular songs more easily if they were associ- they finally gave her concept a chance. The photo-sticker ated with her friends, as their favorite songs or songs they machine they developed was a major hit with girls, and, by sang together at karaoke, rather than just from the names of 1996, these instant photo machines had generated 70% of the songs alone. the company’s 36.5 billion yen sales.2 One report claimed Within a few years of the appearance of the print club, that in 1997, as many as 89% of high school girls in Tokyo girls began to annotate their photo stickers with funny cap- were avid print club fans.3 Judging by various non-scientific tions or racy commentary. The resulting graffiti photos were mini-polls, the craze for print club and graffiti photos contin- shared with friends or published in girls’ street magazines. ues unabated. For example, one magazine asked a hundred One magazine in particular, Egg – a magazine that, like many people: “How often do you use a print club machine?” Of the others, adopts an English title – was once famous for print- respondents, 68% said they frequent print club machines at ing thousands of unedited and uncensored graffiti photos least once a week.4 sent in by its readers, providing a unique forum for this popular The print club is essentially a coin-operated photo-edit- art form.5 The print club makers noticed this trend and began

Harvard Asia Quarterly 32 Summer 2003 to add editing features to the machines that allowed users to camera attachments for their existing cell phones, such as the add graffiti while taking their photos. Predetermined words DoCoMo Camesse Petit digital camera attachment, which is and phrases, such as “lovely” (in English) or “good friends” housed in a dainty pink or white molded body. Once the (nakayoshi), as well as hearts, squiggles, bubbles, stars, and photo is taken, it can be edited from the camera’s LCD touch flowers can now be inserted onto the photo. There are also screen, with added borders, text and other decorative ele- print club machines that have a pen feature to write original ments transforming it into a graffiti photo. The photo is saved text before printing the photo. The outline-style pen (fuchi on a smart media card and is later transferred to a computer or ari pen) is especially popular. The Cinderella print club ma- printed out on special photo printers. Additional graffiti can chine will add letters or numbers formed with tiny glittering also be added after printing. The photos are similar to print diamonds, called “sparkling characters” (kira moji). club photos in size but are often of poorer quality. The print club fad inspired other new developments, Eventually both DoCoMo and the J-Phone Group pro- such as “costume play print club” (kosupure purikura). duced cell phones with built-in digital cameras. The design Manufacturers of the print club machines set up sites in game engineers at these cell phone outfits wanted to enable the centers where girls can select from a sending and receiving of color pho- menu of costumes to put on before tos through the cell phone’s e-mail getting into the booth to have their function. Because girls were the pri- photo taken. The most popular cos- The engineers who designed the mary users of cell phones, and be- tumes include Mini-skirted Police- cell phone camera did not cause of their avid interest in the print woman, Santa, Chinese-style Girl, understand that it is a transformed club, designers wrongly assumed Nurse, and Bride. The Bad Girl cos- photo that is the object of that this feature would be an enor- tume features a low-cut dress with the interest. mous success among girls. This ser- Budweiser logo running down the vice, named “photo mail” (shamêru, front. Also available are stamp club (sutakura) machines clipped from shashin mêru), was not a big hit with girls. They that create small circular rubber stamps with a head shot prefer to use the phone camera to take photos which are then obtained from a photo, to which text such as an email address printed out as photo stickers for graffiti treatment. This pat- or cell phone number may also be added. tern of use did not affect sales of the digital camera cell phone From the beginning, girls were using the print club ma- but, rather, merely the manner in which the camera feature chines in unanticipated ways, and commercial enterprises was put into practice. Print club-style photo stickers from cell were quick to exploit their desire for taking novel photographs phone-captured images may also be produced through kiosk through development of other photographic technologies. printing. An example is the purimôdo, a kiosk that makes stickers from cell phone photos with various optional bor- MIDGET CAMERAS AND INTERNET PHONES ders and text captions. One of the drawbacks of the cell phone camera is that Although their subculture is trivialized by older Japa- graffiti cannot be added as easily or in the preferred ways. nese, schoolgirls and other young women have been driving Cell phone manufacturers made the mistake of fixating on the many contemporary media and communication industries in photograph alone, neglecting the equally important textual addition to the print club phenomena.6 Since small portable aspect of the graffiti photo. It is not only through the photo- cameras may also be used to create graffiti photos, instant graph that girls express their dreams, desires, and humor, and cameras targeting this market were designed and released the engineers who developed the cell phone camera did not following the success of the print club machine.Young girls understand that it is a transformed photo that is the object of sometimes call these “mini Polaroid cameras” or chibi pora interest. The cell phone editing features are simply not up to (combining Japanese chibi, undersized or midget, with a the demands of this new graffiti art form. clipped form of the English word Polaroid), which they find Although Japanese women continue to be placed in easy to carry around in their bags. The two most popular mini marginal or subordinate positions in political and employ- instant cameras are the Polaroid iZone Instant Camera and ment spheres, the Japanese consumer market has been domi- the Fuji Instax Mini 10, nicknamed Cheki (Cheki is a slang nated by female tastes since the 1980s. Advertising agencies term used for about a decade among young people, derived and research and development departments of major corpo- from the English “check it out”). Both are inexpensive cam- rations began employing female work teams and focus groups eras that use costly photo sticker film. Film with decorated in an effort to understand female tastes and desires. One borders and cute characters such as Hello Kitty may also be market research company, Boom Planning, specializes in fo- purchased. Older Japanese view the quality of these instant cus groups composed solely of high-school girls. The camera photos as poor, but these products are successful DoCoMo phone was specifically targeted at females, and among girls because the photos will be altered with graffiti Matsunaga Mari, one of the key inventors of DoCoMo’s “I- and decoration, thus rendering their grainy quality less im- mode” Net-connecting mobile phone, said she specifically portant. had a young female consumer in mind.9 With these new tech- Because teenagers in Japan are the primary users of cell nologies at hand, girls have been able to elaborate on the phones, some analysts link the development of the cell phone possibilities of the graffiti photo form, particularly in their camera to the print club craze.7 According to the Nomura fusing of photo images with unique script styles. Research Institute, 95.7% of women under the age of twenty had a cell phone or a pager in 2003.8 Girls occasionally buy

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 33 DEVIANT SCRIPT STYLES manifestations of transgression. For example, in some cases the girls’ graffiti employs one of the two syllabic scripts for Graffiti, stripped to its most common meaning of writing words that would normally be written in the other. Stand- or drawing scratched on a wall or surface, has a long history alone words, particularly auxiliary verbs, inflectional endings, in many cultures. We find it on the walls of Pompeii, where or other suffixes, are usually written in the hiragana syllabary, inscriptions take the form of quotations from poets, while exclamations and foreign words are written in the salutations, satirical remarks, and pornographic notes. Graffiti katakana syllabary. An example of writing that departs from has influenced identity formation in the US, especially among this rule is found on a photo of two girls opening their tops Chicano gangs in Los Angeles and elsewhere, where we find towards the camera lens, displaying a slight decolletage. Writ- original script styles and textual interpretations. Graffiti is ten over the image, it says “sexy shot” (SEXY shotto). “Sexy” essentially a form of defacement, of placing writing where it is written in Roman alphabet capital letters, but the borrowed was not intended. Instead of subway cars or city walls, English word “shot” is written in hiragana instead of Japanese girls are using photographs as the canvas for text katakana. The type of self-proclaimed sexiness seen in this that surprises, bewilders, or offends. Graffiti photo is a radical departure from traditional photos are a new medium for the display of girls’ norms that stress maidenly virtue and modesty. writing styles, which have evolved from Within the confines of the graffiti photo, girls innovations that began appearing in the 1980s. are free to express impermissible sauciness in a The expressive power of the Japanese lan- frank departure from expected girlish innocence. guage is perhaps given its fullest play in the When girls are willing to convey adult sexuality area of orthography, because a writer has four and self-confidence through image and text, it writing systems to draw on as resources – Chi- is a form of empowering self-expression. Al- nese characters (kanji), two syllabic scripts though provocative poses and body display (hiragana and katakana), and the Roman al- may also be read as forms of socialization into phabet. The plurality of scripts available to graf- sexualized femininity, these displays, within the fiti photo writers allows creativity and innova- context of the graffiti photo, are almost narcis- tion on a scale not possible in single script lan- sistic, intended for consumption by girls and guages such as English. not for an imaginary male spectator. In Japan, girls have played a pivotal role Another example of both script variation as cultural innovators in spheres in addition to “We Are Beautiful” and unusual audacity is found in a photo of two (Miller) the development of photographic technologies. girls in their mini-skirted school uniforms and During the 1980s, the girl-driven kawaii or “cute” aesthetic big white socks hanging from their ankles. They are sitting leaked into mainstream culture, as a result of which even on the ground facing the camera with their knees bent, with items in the adult universe, such as bank books, heavy ma- icons commonly used to alert tourists to the presence of hot chinery, and household appliances, were designed with pink springs obscuring a view of their panties. “Looking is hate- and pastel colors and decorated with bunny and kitty motifs. ful!” (Mitcha iyan!) is penned at the top, while below, the Adolescent girls in Japan have also pioneered many new word “nasty” (eitchi ) is written in hiragana instead of either linguistic trends, including novel ways of writing.10 For ex- the conventional katakana or the Roman letter “H.” The ample, an orthographic fashion that was popular in the 1980s, icons, of course, have the effect of drawing attention to that rarely seen on graffiti photos, is writing extravagantly round which is not supposed to be looked at. The tableau reflects characters, called “round script” (marumoji).11 This globular the creators’ taunting awareness of the male eroticization of writing style was part of a cult of cuteness that was reflected the schoolgirl uniform, a sexual fetish seen in many forms of in other cultural products such as speech, clothing, food and Japanese popular culture.14 Japanese girls are submerged in music.12 Although the cute aesthetic remains in some cul- a culture that objectifies female sexuality and commodifies it tural domains in a somewhat less saccharine form, puffy script in putatively illegal yet openly condoned sex-for-sale ser- has ceased to be as fashionable as it once was. More endur- vices. Prominent among these are the market for pre-worn ing are other unconventional orthographic practices, includ- schoolgirl uniforms and underwear sold in specialty sex ing stars, hearts, emoticons, and non-native punctuation (es- shops, and the spread of a “Lolita complex” found in men’s pecially exclamation points) used in wild abandon.13 One pornographic media. The sexualized poses seen in many graf- longstanding practice found in girls’ writing is to use the fiti photos are poking fun at assumptions about sexual pro- notation that represents the concept of “squared” in math- priety and an ideology of “natural” female modesty and re- ematics (x2) to express intensity. A photo that has “cute2” straint. They also underscore the hypocrisy of adult morality (kawaii2) written on it would be read as “cute cute” (kawaii and unveil girls’ increased experience with many forms of kawaii). Unusual sizes, colors, or script elements also are sexuality. called on to indicate emphasis or emotional intensity. The relative size and shape of writing is also exploited Graffiti writers frequently make modifications in stan- for expressive purposes. The writing on graffiti photos ex- dard writing practices. A close examination of the details of presses a broad range of emotions and attitudes, including their script styles reveals deviant usages and augmented excitement, embarrassment, ridicule, and brazen self-confi- markings that are strategically selected to communicate re- dence. In place of the reserve and non-assertiveness expected jection of the regulated system of writing they are taught in from girls, one finds defiantly expressed raw emotion. Words school. These script innovations are small but confident in a sentence may be written in radically different sizes or

Harvard Asia Quarterly 34 Summer 2003 colors instead of the uniformity taught in school. In a photo when it wears the marks of its individual creators. of a girl with many pink hearts surrounding her, the words “it It is in relation to mainstream expectations of female con- is~~~the fifteenth birthday!!” (Kakei da yô ~~~!!) are writ- cern for proper writing that unsightly script on a graffiti photo ten. The first word is written in red ink with a yellow outline, is perceived as deviant. Good calligraphy has traditionally while the last part of the sentence is in monochrome blue. been viewed as an aspect of ladylike accomplishment. Along Another example is a photo of two girls in which one has a with the writing of kanji, Japan also inherited the Chinese stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear positioned between her legs. idea that good penmanship is a reflection of a person’s inner The graffiti above her says “when giving birth to Mr. Pooh” self, character, and background. In Japan, it was traditionally (Pû-san shûssan toki). “Giving birth” (shûsan) is written in thought that women in particular ought to study the art of enlarged writing, while “the time when” or “while” (toki) is calligraphy, which became part of the obligatory curriculum written in much smaller characters and in a different color. in middle-class bridal training. By flouting the pressure to The other girl in the photo is facing the childbirth scene and carefully attend to handwriting, graffiti photo writers are also has the words “give it your best Older Sister” (Onêsan defying gender expectations. During the postwar era, middle- ganbare) written in a callout bubble drawn next to her. Graf- class women studied arts such as flower arrangement, tea fiti photos with this type of structure, containing a comment ceremony and calligraphy as part of their socialization into or question that is paired with a re- “ladylike” genteelness and refined sponse or assessment, are quite com- sensibilities. Study of elite arts also mon and transform a common photo served to establish women in the role into something with interactive prop- Writing in different colors and of guardians of Japanese cultural heri- erties. The birthing enactment makes sizes is an aspect of girls’ tage. When they “degrade” the art of fun of girls’ presumed future roles as resistance to standardized print calligraphy, girls are defying a con- reproducers in heterosexual marriages, media’s emphasis on uniformity, straining model of gender, and are re- especially in a culture that is currently orderliness, and perfection. fusing to be caretakers of a cultural consumed with anxiety over the declin- tradition that they associate with adult ing birthrate and a dangerously low population replacement expectations of gender conformity. level. Graffiti photos afford an unrestrained space for girls to There are many interesting instances of script mixing on grapple with the pressures of feminine socialization, provid- the photos. A photograph of two girls sanding a surfboard ing a common discourse for them to deal with issues such as has the graffiti “while repairing my surfboard!” (my board potential fecundity in a society which seems to value them ripeachû!) written on it. The English phrase “my board” is for that above all else. written in the Roman alphabet rather than in katakana, while Writing in different colors and sizes is an aspect of girls’ the English word after it, “repair” (ripea), is written in resistance to the world of standardized print media, with its katakana, and “while” or “in the middle of” (chû) is written emphasis on typeset uniformity, orderliness, and perfection. with a Chinese character. Another photograph shows three By eschewing standard “correctness” in writing, they are young women giving the peace sign, with the words “our also symbolically undermining other rules of propriety. Japa- first overseas trip in California” (hajimete no kaigai torippu nese conventions for writing kanji as taught in school are in karuforunia), written on the white border of the photo. usually modeled after the classic kaisho style, a form that The loanword “trip” (torippu) is transliterated into katakana, tries to achieve an overall balance in the perpendicularity yet it is followed by the English preposition “in” written in and alignment in the elements of each character. The kaisho the Roman alphabet. In these cases, it is not linguistic logic script resembles the font for characters seen in mechanically that determines choice of script, but rather a marked juxtapo- produced texts. By contrast, girls’ writing on graffiti photos sition of different scripts, providing graphic contrast.15 is malformed and contains messy errors and glitches. It de- Graffiti photos may have some unexpected consequences parts from the pleasing symmetry of kaisho style, but with- for the Japanese media in general. The advent of typeset text out the beautiful flow of the gyôsho style, a semi-cursive during the Meiji era (1868-1910) transformed the way written derivative of kaisho. language was consumed and appreciated. According to Kida, In part, the distorted, uneven writing on graffiti photos ”people fell in love with the orderly beauty of the printed is the result of placing text in such a way as to avoid blocking word.”16 Typeset text in magazines became the norm, with out parts of the photo, especially faces. Without guidelines natural handwriting rarely reproduced in their pages. How- or an opportunity to compose writing carefully into available ever, this girls’ cultural practice has now leaked into main- space, characters are oddly dilated or slanted as they wrap stream media, and, increasingly, magazines are imitating their around the photo. Lines of writing become smaller and more uneven and idiosyncratic writing. In place of typeset text, scrunched up as the sentence approaches the photo’s edge, feature articles and advertisements are using writing that re- or else the words are staggered in ragged vertical lines. Yet, sembles that found on graffiti photos. Recently, McDonald’s even with the constraints imposed by the medium, there nev- hamburger restaurants and SkinLife acne medicine have both ertheless appears to be little effort to make the writing pleas- used pseudo-graffiti in their advertisements. Some critics fear ing or systematic. Perhaps the absence of linearity and pre- that one consequence of new technologies such as the com- dictability denotes spontaneity, authenticity, and immediacy, puter is that Japanese have fewer occasions to use handwrit- traits highly esteemed in contemporary youth culture. Al- ten text, and that they are therefore becoming more proficient though the graffiti photo is in fact created through mass- in recognizing characters but are losing the ability to write or produced mechanical means, it nevertheless is most valued produce them.17 Perhaps, the popularity of the graffiti photo

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 35 will retard this trend, as the production and value of hand- ing, and experimented with various paragraphing and sen- written text spreads outside the orbit of girls’ culture. tence structuring.19 Today, the Japanese period, quotation marks, and comma are different in shape from English equiva- LANGUAGE TEXTURE lents, but graffiti writing contains both Japanese and English forms.20 Because graffiti photo text is generally short, the Graffiti photos are fascinating, weird, cryptic and satu- inclusion of many types of punctuation, in addition to other rated with many possible meanings and interpretations. It is signs, gives it a somewhat cluttered or busy appearance. a genre that allows girls to write what they want in any way Another element of the graffiti photos’ distinctive ap- they please, divorced from the rules pearance is the layering of script and of correctness drilled into them non-script elements, which graphi- through an unrelenting educational cally portrays linguistic nuances. system. Part of the charm of graffiti This practice has its roots in other photos is their impenetrable opac- forms of popular culture, especially ity and offbeat nature. Graffiti often the widely-read “girls’ comics” features the English word “lovely,” (shôjo manga). One critic said of but it is hard to tell whether it is girls’ writing: “The characters, too, meant as a description of the people aren’t the characters we learned in in the photo, or in the British collo- calligraphy lessons, instead, they’re quial sense of a smashing good graphical.”21 By this, he meant the time. Used alone, novel words, ex- type of script that is found in com- pressions and script may have no ics, where words in a single phrase obvious meaning, but the context might appear in various sizes, of the photo will sometimes provide shapes or outline styles, and drawn information that allows interpreta- in unusual spatial configurations. In tion by someone removed from its order to illustrate the varieties and inception. manner of speech used by their char- At times, the combination of acters, Japanese comic artists have cryptic and messy writing makes developed their own set of ortho- reading or understanding difficult. graphic conventions that attempt to An example is a graffiti photo sent portray natural speech elements to a magazine that shows five girls such as hesitations, glitches, self- making ugly faces at the camera. The repairs, overlapping talk, pauses, “Kiss” (Miller) graffiti written on the photo uses and other paralinguistic phenom- an unknown word. The magazine editor published the photo ena. For example, many use the long dash not to show the with a note asking, “What the heck is fûmen?” The contribu- phonemic long vowel, but rather a stressed or drawn out tors explained that they made the photo right after taking an syllable that indicates strong emotion or loudness. Likewise, exam, as if to excuse its incomprehensibility.18 In a photo of a the lowercase katakana character for the syllable tsu, used girl with her boyfriend at the new Disney Sea theme park, we to represent the geminative or double consonant, is often find the words “on a date at Disney Sea” (ne no SEA dêto) written in comics to express a sound that is akin to a glottal written at the bottom. The direction of the script begins left stop, like when an English speaker quickly says “oh oh.” to right with the first three words “at Disney Sea” (ne no Both of these conventions are common in graffiti photos as SEA), but suddenly switches direction to top-to-bottom with well. the word “date” (dêto), while the name Disney itself is stripped Similar to comics, graffiti photos include onomatopoetic of all but its last syllable. Group-bonding often involves the words such as dokidoki, the sound of rapid heartbeat, to creation of a repertoire of insider linguistic practices, and suggest that the photographed person is excited or nervous. graffiti photos reflect this. Nicknames, unique terms, catch Photos might have the expression jajajan written on them. phrases, and unique clipping as seen in the Disney photo are This is a sound imitation of an orchestra prelude, something part of the shared context of those who create graffiti photos. like the English use of tatata for the drum roll that precedes Along with English and other foreign words and script, an announcement. Photos that show people smiling or laugh- other novel elements are often found in graffiti photos. A ing often have kyaha, the way maniacal or snide laughing is musical clef is a popular sign inserted at the end of sen- indicated, written on them. Other expressions used in graffiti tences, giving the expression a jaunty or lighthearted feeling. are “pukey” or “nauseous” (mukkâ), “kiss” (chû), and “argh” English-derived punctuation, including ellipses (....), the am- or “yuck” (gê). Extra lines and squiggles clue the reader into persand (&), and spaces between words, is prevalent as well. intonation or emphasis. A photo of a girl sitting on the hood Some types of non-Japanese punctuation, such as commas, of a truck parked in a Texaco gas station reads: “Here I am in hyphens, brackets, quotation marks, and question marks, California” (jajaja~~n in karuforunia, using the English began to appear in everyday Japanese writing in the early preposition “in”). In another photo, the graphic representa- twentieth century. Japanese texts, which had previously con- tion of a prolonged sound is seen in the word for “everyone” tained little or no punctuation, changed as novelists and (minna), which is written with a squiggle inserted between essay writers came under the influence of Western-style writ- the “n” syllabic character and the “na” syllabic character, as

Harvard Asia Quarterly 36 Summer 2003 min~~na. hands posed in front of their bodies like paws. The graffiti The writing on graffiti photos visually represents the reads: “waiting in front of the Hachiko statue” (machi awase texture of spoken language, freely incorporating the above Hachiko mae). The Hachiko statue at Shibuya Station in as well as other strategies. Overlaid on these orthographi- Tokyo, built to honor the memory of a faithful dog, is a popu- cally enervating forms are numerous exclamation points, lar meeting place. The text verifies the impression that the hearts, stars, clefs, pentacles, rosettes, sunbursts, and tear girls are attempting to look like cute puppies. Their cuteness drop signs. The graffiti photo thus includes a non-linguistic is consciously and unabashedly staged. yet nevertheless important symbolic and semiotic stratum. Graffiti photos often express an underlying dissatisfac- tion with the dominant culture’s premium put on female beauty GIRLS’ RESISTANCE and cuteness through a radical reversal of expected feminine appearance. Far more common than beautifying photos are As a form of unregulated cultural production, graffiti those meant to portray girls in intentionally bizarre or unat- photos are a domain where anything of interest to girls, from tractive ways. The competing ugly aesthetic is created the most mundane to the philosophical, is a suitable topic for through the pose or with the assistance of graffiti. Girls often photo-textual representation. Graffiti photos display parodic make scrunched up or freakish faces with the help of their cuteness, intended grotesqueness, and naughtiness that si- hands, such as pulling down the eyes or pushing up the multaneously celebrate and mock the nose. The face and body are also dis- world of female adolescence.22 Graffiti torted through use of various camera photos are a deposit for the cheeky When girls deliberately create angles. These calculatedly ugly pho- spirit that imbues much of contempo- tos are sometimes called yabapuri, a 23 repulsive images of themselves, rary girls’ culture. They admit visual- it subverts the framework and clipped form of “repulsive print club” linguistic access to a writer’s sentiment, terms of evaluation that are (yabai purikura), or kimoburi from and are a shared arena for girls to con- normally used to control them. “print club that gives you the creeps” test gender norms they are taught to (kimochi warui purikura). Mous- aspire to, such as restraint, docility, modesty, and elegance. taches, cat whiskers, animal ears and noses, food items, and It is primarily through the structures of the family and school other objects drawn on the people in the photos also assist that girls are socialized into norms of female gender identity, in the process. although media and peer pressure also play a role. The an- An example of repulsive print club is a photo with a thropologist Takie Sugiyama Lebra named this process “femi- close-up of the faces of two girls which are partly cut off on ninity training,” in which girls are socially rewarded for being the side. The lips, on which little speckles of something dark self-sacrificing, cheerful, empathetic, meek, and gentle.24 They green has been added, are pursed towards the camera lens. are the recipients of negative sanctions when they express The graffiti scrawled on the photo says: “The lips enchanted strong opinions, think of themselves before others, or openly by dried seaweed” (kuchibiru nori bakasutte). The text sug- parade sexuality or knowledge of carnality. Graffiti photos gests that the green stuff on the lips is the dried and sea- play off these norms with their aggrandized celebrations of soned seaweed commonly used as a topping on dishes such girls’ everyday concerns, narcissistic commemorations of the as fried noodles or octopus dumplings. The seaweed-en- self, and assertive or daring exhibitionism. crusted girls openly traverse the premium put on cleanliness There seem to be two conflicting impulses in graffiti pho- and daintiness in women, and sabotage the social value of tos. One is to look cute or sexy, and the other is to look appearance. When girls deliberately create repulsive images grotesque or ugly. Both forms are infused with an underlying of themselves, it subverts the framework and terms of evalu- sense of self-parody that undermines notions about feminin- ation that are normally used to evaluate and control them. ity, although in divergent ways. The cute or sexy aesthetic is In another photo, two girls have drawn black moustaches a form of mimicry, with an abundance of over-the-top markers and black pipes on their faces. The text, which is in English of sweet femininity. The smothering prettiness of the con- capital letters, says “WE ARE BOSS.” Their photographic structed photos approaches drag-queen camp and brings to cross-dressing is easier to understand, as they try to repli- the forefront the constructed nature of gender. The grotesque cate the stereotypical male “boss” of some 1930s American or ugly aesthetic presents a behavior that inverts cultural gangster movies. In cases such as these, we detect a desire models of beauty, which “normal” girls are taught to value to create absurdist scenes that display girls’ imagination and and strive to attain. It is in stark counter-point to the ideal of humor. girls as soft and delicate, and also serves to deny the “natu- One way that the Japanese language is associated with ralness” of gender stereotypes. gender identity is with the attachment of sentence particles. Many of the print club machines offer features that are These particles indicate speaker stance or tone. One of the meant to enhance the appearance of those photographed. supposedly “male” sentence particles is zo, which is attached One series is famous for making the skin look better; another to the end of a sentence to make it seem especially forceful. will change the color of the eyes. An editing feature on the According to the linguist Okamoto, young women’s speech Cinderella unit allows the customer to attach hair extensions, in Japan is increasingly characterized by the use of such braids, or twinkling diamond tiaras to her image. The cute “male language.”25 In one photo, two girls pretend to climb aesthetic is seen in a photo of two girls with their dyed or- the curtain in the print club booth. The sentence marked on ange hair tied up Terrier-fashion in little ponytails on the top the photo is, “Today I’m gonna climb it!” (Kyô wa noboru of their heads. They have their tongues hanging out and zo!). What is notable is the use of the male-associated par-

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 37 ticle zo. The same putatively “male” particle zo is seen in assertiveness seen in these and other photos is in marked another photo of a young woman holding a very small stuffed contrast to the mainstream ideals of female reserve, chastity, bear to her mouth. Pink and purple ink is used to write “I’m and self-effacement. hungry so I’m gonna eat Mr. Bear!!” (hara hetta kara kuma- Given the manner in which girls regularly use the graffiti san kû zo!!). The expression used to say “I’m hungry” (hara photo to challenge proscriptive norms about language and heta) is also considered part of male speech. Because lan- gender, it is ironic that a popular print club machine series is guage is a key method for creating or displaying gender iden- named Yamato Nadeshiko. The term Yamato nadeshiko (Japa- tity, the use of “male” or “inappropriate” forms represents a nese pink) refers to the ideal Japanese woman, who is as resistant identity. According to popular Japanese concep- dainty and delicate as a flower. Yamato is one of several tions of language, women’s speech is thought to be more historic terms for Japan, and nadeshiko is the name of a polite and to adhere more flower (the common fringed closely to the standard than pink). Traditionally, the ideal does men’s speech. Within woman would be expected to this model of language, men express traits such as mod- have more freedom to be flex- esty, submissiveness, and ible and creative in their use meekness. In place of the un- of dialect and nonstandard complicated sincerity and in- forms. Girls are usurping this nocence expected from a girl, male prerogative. graffiti photo creators exu- Girls also write things in berantly defy this ideal when regional dialects or with non- they express satirical repul- standard forms that they siveness, enact bizarre would never be allowed to scenes or assertively drama- use in writing done in insti- tize themselves. One won- tutional settings. They use ders if the manufacturers of unsanctioned forms in the the Yamato Nadeshiko ma- face of a deeply held folk be- chine envisioned girls enter- lief that, given a choice, any- “I’m so hungry I’m gonna eat Mr. Bear” (Miller) ing the booth to lift up their one (but especially women) tops or to make grotesque would logically prefer to use the non-stigmatizing standard faces. The makers may have been aware of the sense of irony language. Language violations and refusal to obey this prin- that permeates much of girls’ culture; however, considering ciple make possible the creation of a new girls’ idiom. For the way most adults in Japan devalue and ridicule girls and example, a photo of two girls has the words “we went to their cultural activities, this seems unlikely. karaoke” (karaoke iku nen) written on it, in which the Kinki dialect’s neutral sentence particle nen is used. In another BIRTH OF THE GENIUS CAMERAWOMAN case, two girls making ugly faces in a photo have written “cute” in English and “it’s not icky” (yabai yan) in Japanese. During high school and junior high school, girls learn The phrase includes a slang term for “wretched” or “awful” many forms of cultural knowledge which will serve as mark- (yabai), as well as a Kinki regionalism that ends the phrase ers of prestige. Knowing the coolest fashions, music and (yan), which is the equivalent of standard Japanese “is not” language is an aspect of teen culture most often recognized (janai). Because writing involves choice, girls are using re- as having the ability to confer status. Now, the graffiti photo gional and vernacular language to show affiliation and soli- is valued as a cultural commodity, as something that allows darity with peers, overriding the value of the standard lan- girls an opportunity to reveal standing through their ability guage as a marker of class, educational achievement and to construct one that manifests a combination of textual wit, femininity. The language seen on graffiti photos redefines visual novelty, and general sassiness. Graffiti photos are an the borders of linguistic possibility while concurrently ex- extension of an independent girls’ subculture, encoding pressing cohort identity. shared criteria for evaluation and status that have the liberat- Writing on girls’ photos frequently expresses a lack of ing potential to empower girls’ identity formation and group feminine modesty and is straightforward and boastful. A cohesion. It is an expression of their own issues as they photo of two girls has the words “it’s women’s knowledge” define them. (onna no shiki yo) written under their self-satisfied smiles. On the ladder of distinction, an awareness of some forms Another photo of five girls in a costume play print club photo of knowledge may not count as much as an awareness of has them all dressed up in tight, white nurse’s uniforms. The other forms. For example, across a photo of two girls making graffiti mockingly asks, “What about those huge boobs?” droopy-eyed faces (by pulling the skin under their eyes down- (oppai dô nan no yo?). Here, the use of a crass term for ward) is written the name of a popular character, Tarepanda, breasts (oppai) coupled with ultra-feminine sentence final which means “floppy panda.” Because virtually everyone in forms (nasalized na no yo) lends a particularly burlesque Japan knows about this chubby, squashed panda who lays feeling to the graffiti. In another case, underneath a photo of around on his belly, the creators of this graffiti photo have two girls, the phrase “people good at sex” (H ga umai hito) is not demonstrated more than an adequate handle on trendy written in outline-style blue characters and a fat letter H. The coolness. On the other hand, in another photo, two girls

Harvard Asia Quarterly 38 Summer 2003 have their hands pressed together and held near the heart particular feeling or sentiment. Girls use criteria such as how with the word namasute written in hiragana across it. The interesting, unusual and “perfectly fitting” (pittari) the words word is the Hindu greeting namaste, perhaps familiar to them and images are, meshed together. In the case of a graffiti through a yoga class they may have taken together. Know- photo showing two girls facing each other with their checks ing about yoga and how to give the proper greeting is not puffed out with air, while behind them many pink hearts crowd everyday knowledge, so this is a better manifestation of cul- the edge. The graffiti reads “staring girls” (niramekko). One tural one-upmanship. of the creators said that it was a “naturally occurring print Part of the display of prestige involved in graffiti photo club” (shizen ni dekita puri), and that they did not talk about production is also in knowing its rules and conventions of it first before making it. She suggests that, with the funny expression. There is a formulaic quality to some of the stewed faces, “It’s interesting, right?” A commentator who was not words, as if certain types of photos demand part of the photo felt that the inserted pink particular phrases. For example, many of the heart shapes really complemented the photo graffiti photos that entail the Chinese-style nicely. These assessments may seem banal Girl mode taken at a costume play print club to outsiders, but the point is not their na- have the words “How are you?” in Manda- ture but the very act of making them. rin written on them (nii hao ma) in In another photo, two girls are facing katakana. Another phrase that occurs fre- the camera with their hands clasped to- quently takes the form of “people who are gether under their cocked heads in the uni- x” or “a person who is x.” The prior example versal gesture for sleep. The caption reads of “people good at sex” (H ga umai hito) is “good night” in English. Explaining the one of these; others are a “person with a photo, one of the creators said that the ma- beautiful face” (bijin kao hito), a “person chine they used had a black background who is masculine” (otoko rashii hito, used curtain with stars on it that gave her a sort to describe a girl), a “person who talks to of “nighttime feeling.” So, she decided to herself” (jibun o hanashitte kureru hito), use star stamps on the photo and the En- and “people good at parapara dancing” glish phrase to convey a sense of “it’s time (parapara jôzu na hito). Parapara is a to go to sleep.” However, not all graffiti unique girls’ dance form that combines tra- “A visitation by The Jerks” photos are as successful. Commenting on ditional Japanese festival dancing with its (Miller) one that depicts seven girls making ugly emphasis on hand and arm movements, with faces, a girl critic said that it “looks a bit contemporary club music. forced, they seem to be trying just a little too hard.” 28 Here, The bits of writing, facial expressions and poses that then, is another layer in graffiti photo culture, that of analysis constitute graffiti photos have also become a source of fasci- and meta-analysis. Websites and magazine articles that com- nation and commentary for girls themselves. Teen magazines bine commentary from makers and connoisseurs of graffiti often carry reproductions of unedited graffiti photos with photos are providing a retrieval and synthesis of separate interpretations provided by girl connoisseurs of the art. For appraisals. The production and critiquing of graffiti photos instance, in an issue of Popteen magazine, two experts offer enables girls to meld artistic, linguistic, and stylistic skills remarks on the graffiti photos submitted by readers.26 They into one space. make assessments on the text and the appearance of the girls, such as “overdone cuteness,” “they look like lionesses,” CREATING COHORT IDENTITY or “they look like Yankees.” (Yankii is a derogatory term for the belligerent or semi-delinquent youth who are said to emu- In one graffiti photo of five girls in school uniforms, they late brash Americans.) are giving the peace sign with the words “seriously, we are Teen magazines also run feature articles offering camera the best” (uchira maji saikô~) written in big characters. The techniques and editing suggestions, and there are print club phrase uses the colloquial, non-standard term for “us” websites for the posting and discussion of graffiti photo art. (uchira) and the incredibly popular teen slang term “seri- When asked to rank their favorite machines, girls like to give ously” (maji). Here, succinctly, we see a priority of the graffiti assessments, such as a high school student who says about photo art form, the documentation of one’s circle of friends. her favorite unit, “They take the cutest photos,” or a third Anthropologists such as Chalfen and Plath have examined year student who claims, “It upgrades the cuteness of every- the Japanese love of self-photography, often called “home one.” Other girls say that particular machines “make your media.”29 They find that in general, people like to take many eyes look sparkly,” or that “your face looks distinct.”27 There photographs of themselves while visiting tourist destina- are numerous internet sites that also offer user rankings, in tions or to mark special ritual events. They like to share cop- some cases evaluating more than fifty machines. Favorites ies of photos with friends, coworkers and family as a form of have included units named Aesthetic Revolution (Biteki reciprocal exchange to strengthen social solidarity. This last kakume), Cinderella, Birth of the Genius Cameraman (Tensai function certainly seems to be true for graffiti photos as well, kameraman tanjô), and Lightness (Hikaru). because photographic images and writing together create Girls not only love to create graffiti photos but to cri- and buttress friendship networks and express cohort iden- tique them as well. The photos are often evaluated according tity. When graffiti photos are in the form of stickers from print to how well they convey a sense of fantasy, or project a club machines, they are printed onto sheets in multiple cop-

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 39 ies that are easy to divide up among those present at their ing divergence with the thinking of older Japanese such as creation, or perhaps later when they are handed out to other this executive. The capacity to let themselves be seen enact- friends who missed the event. ing a range of fantasy identities and styles, and of sharing Girls frequently write or talk about the circumstances or them with others, is completely alien to those of his genera- occasions when the graffiti photo was produced. Although tion. Identity is now something that can be played with, made dates or outings with boyfriends are occasionally docu- fun of, and creatively produced through fashion, style, lan- mented this way, it is mainly the activity of getting together guage, or graffiti photo art. with female friends that is memorialized. Graffiti on the pho- A notable generational shift is seen in the willingness of tos may itself do this, as in the many instances in which girls to engage in inventive forms of self-display, and to be those pictured write things such as “our first print club” or viewed in less than beautiful modes or engaged in forms of “the first time we did print club since entering high school.” gender parody. I recall a Japanese friend thirty years ago who In a photo of two schoolgirls, the graffiti says simply, “Lord would tear up photographs of herself that she thought made of the Rings” (Rôdo obu za ringu), and serves to document her look anything but sweetly adorable. While their parents that they had just gone to see the film of that name. In an- would have feared ridicule of efforts to create funny and other, the graffiti underneath two girls says, “we went to amusing images, girls today fearlessly welcome critiques and Tomato today” (kyô Tomato ni itta yo), discussion of the scenes they portray Tomato being the name of a popular in their photo-textual constructions. karaoke spot. In some ways, the graf- Graffiti photos are shared with many fiti photo is augmenting or usurping Creating and exchanging graffiti people, including boyfriends, but they the role of the diary. photos is a more constructive are primarily circulated in girls’ friend- In giving commentary on their and empowering bonding ship groups, and they are rarely graffiti photos, girls often talk about activity than commiserating shown to adults. Moreover, the idea how long they have known the friends about body image or boys. of taking photos of themselves in re- pictured with them: “My friend from vealing poses, regardless of whether the second year of grammar school,” or “my friend since high or not obscuring images prevented full exposure of panties school days.” An important point revealed here is how friend- or breasts, would have been unthinkable. The girls who cre- ship ties are substantiated through the graffiti photo. Al- ate graffiti photos like this show an astonishing lack of anxi- though he wrote them before the advent of the print club, the ety about social censure of their naughty posing and risqué following words from David Plath apply to the graffiti photo words. The eyes of society, so effective in keeping their moth- as well: “The Japanese may respond to an occasion with an ers in line, are of no consequence to them. Graffiti photo apt sketch (haiga) or any of various modes of terse phrasing. creators appear to dissociate their oppositional behavior from Often enough, words and images are both inscribed in a vi- any future consequences, and do not feel exposed within the sual-verbal mode seldom found in the West, though evident safe confines of graffiti photo production and distribution. in the work of a Blake or a Ben Shahn. Perhaps, this heritage As illustrated by the many essays in a book on Japan’s gen- of readiness not just to ‘read’ moments but to compose them eration gap, Japanese youth in general are experiencing a makes it easier to understand the modern Japanese passion, widespread disillusionment and are refusing to slide into the which otherwise seems so extreme, for making snapshots.”30 social grooves that structure their society.32 The grotesque Graffiti photos are not simply recording friendship, but are and sexy graffiti photos are therefore not simply individual also constitutive of what being friends is all about through acts of deviancy, but are a manifestation of general dissent the creation of shared sentiments, feelings, and representa- among girls, who have little desire to follow in their mothers’ tions. Female bonding has always been strong in Japan, and footsteps. friendship groups are usually retained into adulthood and Older Japanese keep personal photos in albums and form a major part of many women’s social lives even after rarely display them openly in homes or in workplaces (one marriage. As a bonding-ritual, creating and exchanging graf- exception is the photograph of a recently deceased family fiti photos that celebrate girls’ cultural milieu, and engaging member, which is placed in the household Buddhist shrine). in evaluations of their quality, is a more constructive and As the anthropologist Chalfen notes, there is nothing like empowering bonding activity than commiserating about body the “wallet photograph” in Japan.33 He found that people are image or boys. reluctant to carry personal photographs and are not comfort- able showing photos in wallets or schedule books. But the NOT YOUR MOTHER’S PHOTOGRAPHY way girls use graffiti photos extends well beyond these uses, and graffiti photos are displayed in even more public ways, As a popular culture form, graffiti photos are of interest particularly when they are mailed to magazine forums and are because they depart from anything older Japanese, particu- subsequently published. larly women, have ever done with photographs. For example, Furthermore, the type of risqué textual expressions we the president of the company that developed the print club find on graffiti photos would have been unusual to find in machine said: “At the time, I wasn’t interested in the idea, any girls’ writing decades ago, let alone directly associated because I disliked being photographed myself. Even after with the writer’s image. This change in how photographs are giving it the green light, I wondered who would give away used suggests that young people have different ideas about their photos and what purpose the stickers would serve.”31 acceptable female conduct. The creation of photo-text sto- The phenomenon of the graffiti photo shows some interest- ries of giving birth to stuffed bears or assuming a new per-

Harvard Asia Quarterly 40 Summer 2003 sona as a sexy nurse constitutes a fantasy world shared by a ENDNOTES girl and her friends, but incomprehensible to the adults around her. The dissenting voices of Japanese girls are emerging in 1. There is much debate about the origin of the label, but a the unlikely and tiny space of a photograph, and the senti- likely etymology is that it is the clipped form of “high school ments they express are defiantly self-centered and intention- girls” (kôkôsei gyaru). ally provocative. 2. Saitô Sayuri, “Print Club Creator Changes Focus to Fu- Graffiti photos are only one avenue through which girls ture,” Daily Yomiuri Online. Electronic document, http:// are influencing the trajectory of Japanese aesthetic sensibili- www.yomiuri.co.jp/intview/0204dy27.htm, accessed May 20, ties, language and technology. Sandwiched onto a piece of 2003. paper, these small rebellions, creative innovations and vi- 3. The Japan Times, December 12, 1997. sual-linguistic diversions nevertheless have the ability to 4. “Fotojenikku teku oshiechaimasu” [Teaching you photo- powerfully confront dominant cultural meanings. The impres- genic techniques], Cawaii!, May 2003, p. 147. sions that emerge from girls’ graffiti photos are naked en- 5. Until 2000, when it changed publishers, Egg was primarily ergy, playfulness, and insurgent gender critique. This is a a site for schoolgirls to publish graffiti photos and other self- popular art form created and ratified by a community of girls expressive writing. Although it still publishes some unfil- who, even if only within the limited sphere of the symbolic, tered writing of its readers, especially their graffiti photos, are engaged in a struggle over autonomy and self-identity. the new format focuses mainly on fashion and other types of consumption. 6. For example, discussing young women’s extreme fashion, one commentator said: “These girls almost seem to be wear- ing placards that say, ‘I’m stupid.’ Meeting someone who so overtly insists on her own idiocy tends to scare people.” Quote from “The Emperor’s Decennial: Stuff and Nonsense ‘99,” Japan Echo, Vol. 27, No. 1, originally published in Bungei Shunjû, December 1999, pp. 200-208. 7. “Taking Pictures with Your Phone,” by correspondent Jon Wurtzel, specialist on digital technology. Aired on BBC News, UK, Tuesday, 18 September, 2001, 12:58 GMT 13:58. 8. Asahi Shimbun, Japan Almanac 2003 (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 2003), p.176. 9. Matsunaga Mari, I-mode Jiken [The I-mode Affair] (To- kyo: Kadokawa shoten, 2000). 10. The linguist Horiuchi Katsuaki noted that, in the 1980s, girls and young women often inserted stars, hearts, and ex- clamation points into their personal writing. Horiuchi Katsuaki, “Amerikanizumu kara dasseiyôka e” [From Ameri- canism to Post-Westernization], Gengo, 14:9, 1985, pp. 70-77. 11. Yamane Kazuma, Hentai shôjo moji no kenkyû [Research on Abnormal Girls= Characters] (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1996). 12. For more on the cuteness aesthetic reflected in speech, see Laura Miller, “You Are Doing burikko!: Censoring/Scru- tinizing Artificers of Cute Femininity in Japanese,” in Japa- nese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People, edited by J. Smith and S. Okamoto (Oxford: Oxford University Press) (in press). 13. Emoticons originated among Email users to denote a vari- ety of emotions with combinations of punctuation marks and accent marks. The Japanese have developed their own ver- sions that are different from those seen in the U.S. For ex- ample, the “smiley face” in Japan is (-) instead of :-). In his study of girls’ letter-writing styles, language scholar Kataoka lists many features that are also seen in graffiti photo writing. See Kataoka Kuniyoshi, “Affect and Letter Writing: Uncon- ventional Conventions in Casual Writing by Young Japa- nese Women,” Language in Society, 26, 1997, pp. 103-136. 14. The status of the schoolgirl uniform in mass culture is discussed in Sharon Kinsella, “What’s Behind the Fetishism of Japanese School Uniforms,” Fashion Theory, 6 (1), 2002, pp. 1-24. 15. There appears to be a lot of English used in graffiti pho-

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 41 tos. Generally, the English-derived language material in graf- club and graffiti photos with commentary). Online, http:// fiti photos is not the result of a normal contact situation and bisha.jp/top.php, accessed July 26, 2003. borrowing. Japanese girls and young women are not using 29. David W. Plath, “Durable Snapshots, Mutable Selves: Or English because of some lexical gap or for social prestige. Is It Vice Versa?” Paper presented at the Association for Instead, they are exploiting available linguistic resources for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, March 31-April 3, 1995. Ri- their own aesthetic, expressive, humorous, visual, and affec- chard Chalfen, “Japanese Home Media as Popular Culture,” tive meanings. See Laura Miller, “Wasei eigo: English Paper presented at the Japanese Popular Culture Conference, ‘Loanwords’ Coined in Japan,” in The Life of Language: Pa- University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, April, 1997. pers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright, edited by J. 30. David Plath, “Takes from Distant Fields,” Anthropology Hill, P.J. Mistry and L. Campbell (The Hague: Mouton/De and Humanism Quarterly, 17 (1), March 1992, p. 20. Gruyter, 1997), pp. 123-139. Also highly recommended is the 31. Saitô, ibid. forthcoming book by James Stanlaw, Japanese English: Lan- 32. Gordon Matthews and Bruce White (eds.), Reproducing guage and Culture Contact (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Uni- a Shaken Social Order: Young People in Japan Today and versity Press). the Creation of Japan Tomorrow (London: Routledge/Curzon 16. Kida Jun’ichirô, “Japanese in the Age of Technology,” in Press, 2003). The Book and The Computer: The Future of the Printed 33. Chalfen, ibid. Word. Online journal, January, 1999. http://www.honco.net/ japanese/index.html, accessed May 17, 2003. 17. Ishii K., “Kompûtâ to kanji kyôiku” [Computer and Kanji Education], Nihongogaku, 19, 2000, pp.40-48. 18. “Yabapuri” [Repulsive print club], Cawaii! magazine, January 2003, p. 148. 19. See Nannette Twine, “The Adoption of Punctuation in Japanese Script,” Visible Language, Vol. 18 (3), 1984, pp. 229- 237. 20. The Japanese period is a small circle, and the Japanese comma is a short line. Quotation marks look like small right angles at the bottom left (open quote) or upper right (closed quote) of the text. 21. Mukôda Kuniko, Mumei kamei jinmeibo [Directory of Anonyms and Pseudonyms] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1980). 22. There are aspects of graffiti photos that are beyond the scope of this essay but which still deserve brief mention. For example, food is a common theme. In one photo, two girls reverently hold bowls of noodles with both hands, with the word “lovely” inscribed nearby. Another photo shows a smil- ing girl amidst a barrage of swirling strawberries with the lone word “strawberries” (ichigo) written in big, red characters. Girls find these images of delicious food delightful. Single- character graffiti is also common with meaning-laden con- cepts such as “love” or “cute.” For example, a photo por- trays two girls with red hair, both wearing black tops, stand- ing in front of a bright pink backdrop surrounded by many tiny human skulls. The single character for “life” (inochi) is centered in front of them in sparkling blue ink. Photos like these are terse yet heavy with implied meanings. 23. For a discussion of impertinent forms of fashion, see Laura Miller, “Media Typifications and Hip bijin,” U.S.-Ja- pan Women’s Journal, No. 19, 2000, pp.176-205. 24. Takie Sugiyama Lebra, Japanese Women: Constraint and Fulfillment (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984). 25. Okamoto Shigeko, “Tasteless Japanese: Less ‘Feminine’ Speech Among Young Japanese Women,” in Gender Articu- lated: Language and the Socially Constructed Self, edited by K. Hall and M. Bucholtz (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 297-325. 26. Popteen magazine, July 2002, p. 192. 27. “Sukina purikura kishu” [Print Club Machines We Like], Cawaii! May, 2003, p. 148. 28. Bisha Club Purikura website (Changing postings of print

Harvard Asia Quarterly 42 Summer 2003 DANCING THE NATIONAL DRAMA: THE MUSLIM SOUTH IN FILIPINO DANCE

BY WILLIAM PETERSON oday the Philippines is a hostage to the wealthier nations of world, as it exports its working-age population to fill low-wage jobs as domestic servants and unskilled workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, William Peterson, who helped establish the T Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. Add to this the country’s staggering pov- theater programs at the National University of Singapore and the University of Waikato in erty and economic inequalities, the ongoing struggle to wrest land out of Hamilton, New Zealand, has published widely the hands of the few families who own most of the country’s productive on theater and politics in Southeast Asia and resources, and the continuing war against Muslims in the country’s the Pacific, including Theatre and the Politics south,1 and it becomes clear why Filipinos may well yearn for a time of Culture in Contemporary Singapore (Wesleyan University Press, 2001). He is before colonization and globalization transformed the country from one currently Associate Professor of Theater of the most promising in the region in the early 1960s into one of the Arts and Co-Director of the International poorest and most troubled. Like many formerly-colonized nations, the Institute at the California State University, San Philippines consists of many cultures and its sense of nationhood was Bernardino. forged largely by growing opposition to the colonizing powers of Spain and the United States. Given the country’s long history of colonization, its relatively short life as an independent nation, and its current economic and political woes, the Philippines is especially in need of cultural sym- bols of a proud, strong, authentic, pre-colonial past. Ironically, while when the government of the Philippines is waging a vigorous two-pronged war with American assistance in central Mindanao and the island of Jolo, the Muslim-influenced dance tradition of the country’s southernmost regions fulfills this function, serving as a power- ful icon of a unified national culture. The independent spirit of the Muslim south – expressed through a dance form with singular, distinctive charac- teristics – has become the dominant performance icon of a proud, vigor- ous, independent nation. From the country’s signature dance troupe, Bayanihan, to theme-park performances and dinner theater entertainment, Muslim-influenced dance is ubiquitous not only in the Philippines, but also abroad where overseas dance tours have served to create an interna- tional image of the country with a mythic past replete with sultans and spectacularly exotic local color. This article seeks to interrogate the relationship between the tradi- tional Muslim dance form known as pangalay and contemporary Filipino politics and culture, examining how this dance tradition functions at a time when the country faces strong internal and external challenges. I also analyze the work of one influential group – IPAG, or the Integrated Per- forming Arts Guild – that uses dance to highlight the conflict between Muslims and Christians and possibly suggest an alternative future char- acterized by mutual understanding and interdependence. Following a brief overview of the context and basic features of this dance tradition, four disparate sites for Muslim-influenced dance will be considered: perfor- mances by Bayanihan, the country’s signature cultural dance company; performances designed to enhance the dining experience of foreign tour- ists in Manila; dance presentations at a national theme park; and the domestic and international performances of the Mindanao-based group IPAG. My aim here is to demonstrate not merely the pervasiveness of this dance form, but how it operates differently in each context. On one end of the spectrum is the Bayanihan troupe, which presents the pangalay form as a context-free symbol of national unity cut off from its Muslim roots. The form is used with greater complexity and deftness by IPAG, a group that has sought to reinvigorate the tradition by acknowledging and hon-

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 43 oring its Muslim roots while using pangalay to dramatize the nization that the US and Filipino governments maintain has continuing conflict between Christians and Muslims and links to Al Qaeda – that was responsible for the 2001 kidnap- suggest an alternative future. ping of three Americans, only one of whom survived captiv- ity. By the early 1980s the more moderate MNLF had signed SIX CENTURIES OF MUSLIM RESISTANCE a series of agreements with the government guaranteeing autonomy in Muslim areas, while the relatively militant Moro Islam predates the Spanish conquest by three centu- Islamic Liberation Front continues to seek an independent ries. It was introduced in the Philippines during the early Moro state. By contrast, Abu Sayyaf is fighting for an inde- 13th century by Arab traders and Islamic missionaries, and pendent state under the administration of conservative later grafted onto the cultures and Muslim Shari’a law. From the language groups of the region. As point of view of the latter in Indonesia, Islam has historically group, Muslims in the south are been capable of absorbing pre-ex- engaged in what they would isting, animist belief systems as consider a “just struggle” or long as the public expression of jihad from 1521, the year the the religion involves embracing Spanish arrived in the Philip- monotheism. Though Muslims to- pines. Over the last three de- day constitute only five percent cades, an estimated 100,000 in- of the total population of the Phil- dividuals have died in the ippines and nineteen percent of nearly continual fighting be- Mindanao – the largest of the tween Muslims and govern- southernmost islands – the culture ment forces in the south,6 mak- is strong, resilient, and has a long ing it the most bloody and pro- history of resisting any outside tracted conflict in contempo- domination. Filipino Muslims are rary Filipino life. called “Moros” (Moors in En- Moors have historically glish), a legacy of Spanish coloni- Traditional pangalay dancing, employing a crouching position been depicted even in theatri- and bamboo poles on which a dancer balances. (IPAG) zation, which began in the six- cal presentations as the teenth century. The Spanish never successfully conquered nation’s enemy. In the traditional Filipino komedya, a popu- the Muslim-dominated areas of the south and even the lar verse play that often dramatizes the conflict between present degree of contested control over the region has Muslims and Christians, plot resolution typically involves only been achieved over the last 100 years, after the the Muslim antagonist converting to Christianity to make country’s nominal purchase by the US from Spain in 1898. reconciliation between lovers and families of opposing faiths The US military moved into the region between 1902 and possible.7 The social status of Muslims in the Philippines is 1913, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Muslims.2 Later, relatively low and they continue to be poorly integrated into US colonial administrators encouraged resettlement of land- the dominant, Catholic culture of the more populous north less Christians from the densely populated islands of the of the country, making the appropriation of their dance idi- north to the less populated island of Mindanao, where Mus- oms as symbols of national identity deeply ironic. lims had traditionally lived as hill people rather than land- owners.3 THE PANGALAY DANCE TRADITION During the Ferdinand Marcos era, the intensity of the conflict between the government and Muslims in the south The signature dance style of the Muslim south is increased significantly. The Moro National Liberation Front pangalay, a form with striking similarities to dance tradi- (MNLF), modeled after Islamic nationalist movements in tions found in other Southeast Asian countries. In Indone- Malaysia and Indonesia, was formed in 1968 to fight for sia particularly, there is a similar history of assimilating In- independence, though by the late 1970s its ultimate goal dian-based dance forms in ways that are considered harmo- shifted to increased autonomy. Funded by Libya and other nious with the practice of Islam. Pangalay, which means “to Arab states, by 1974 the MNLF engaged as many as 60,000 dance,” is a product of the Tausug, Samal and Badjao peoples guerrilla fighters in a full-scale war against government of Sulu, an archipelago of some 500 islands in the southern forces.4 At its peak, the war involved the majority of the Philippines. Much like Thai classical dance or Javanese and country’s armed forces and seriously strained the financial Balinese court dances, pangalay involves the hyperexten- and military resources of the Marcos regime. As Muslims sion of the arms and wrists, coupled with complex and fluid constituted the minority of Mindanao by this time, many finger and hand movements. Pangalay performers tradition- fled to the much smaller island of Jolo, where in 1974 Presi- ally attach ornamental extensions to their fingers, giving dent Marcos, by then functioning as a virtual dictator, them a heightened focus similar to that found in Thai classi- bombed the predominantly Muslim city of Jolo.5 cal dance. As with Indian classical dance and other forms of Not surprisingly, the island of Jolo is today a hotbed of Southeast Asian traditional dance, the body’s center of grav- Islamic fundamentalism and home of Abu Sayyaf (“Bearer ity is low and centered over the pelvis, with the bottom half of the Sword”), the most radical of all of the anti-government of the body capable of moving fluidly, vigorously, and quite forces operating in the south. It was Abu Sayyaf – an orga- independently from the top. While the torso remains rela-

Harvard Asia Quarterly 44 Summer 2003 tively rigid, complex movements of the arms, hands and fin- the “native” and his or her own culture, greatly expanding gers demand an audience member’s attention. Pangalay is the possibilities for exoticism of one’s own culture. performed to the accompaniment of the kulintang, a tradi- tional instrument similar to the Javanese gamelan that fea- BAYANIHAN’S SIGNATURE STYLE tures bronze gongs of various tones mounted horizontally on a rack. A complete ensemble consisting of eight sets of Bayanihan, recognized as the country’s National Dance bronze gongs as well as larger hanging and hand-held gongs Company by the Philippine Congress, relies extensively on and a drum is typically scaled-down in the context of a dance the pangalay style in much of their work. As the resident performance. company in the country’s most prominent performing arts Although pangalay is a performance tradition found in venue, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Bayanihan Muslim areas, its shared characteristics also tours extensively throughout the with regional dance forms suggest that world and is honored with its own Na- some of its features predate the arrival tional Day every May 27th to “com- of Islam in the Philippines. For Muslim The value of indigenous memorate and propagate the fundamentalists, representation of hu- bayanihan spirit as the unique way of traditions has increasingly 10 man beings through art is considered been determined by their working together as a people.” A core sacrilegious, a factor which is respon- ability to signify a generic concept underlying national identity, sible for the relative infrequency with “otherness” in the context of the “bayanihan spirit” refers to the which the form is performed in Muslim a Western frame of reference. ability to work together in an atmo- areas today. According to Filipino dance sphere of collective unity. The term scholar and choreographer Ligaya bayan literally means town, nation, or Fernando-Amilbangsa, pangalay fulfills the following so- community in general, marking bayanihan in a literal sense cial and cultural functions, virtually all of which a Muslim as “being a bayan.” To be one is to come together, but as the fundamentalist would find objectionable: (1) to drive away literal meaning of the term suggests, there is no clear bound- harmful sprits (saytan); (2) to counteract forces beyond their ary between town, nation or a more general sense of commu- control that cause illness or ill luck (busung); (3) to appease nity. While this sense of personal investment in the greater or invoke the help of spirits (jinn); (4) to fulfill psychological social good is an obvious potential source of strength and and disciplinary functions always in accord with ethnic unity, there is also an extent to which bayanihan smoothes needs; or (5) to function as a social and sexual safety valve over personal and cultural differences and assumes that con- when man-woman relationships are by tradition very re- sensus is always possible. The Bayanihan Dance Company’s pressed and strictly regimented.8 appropriation of a part of the whole – specifically, the Since the first three functions suggest the presence of pangalay idiom – to signify the nation is especially prob- animist or spiritual forces that would undermine the belief in lematic. a monotheistic conception of god, a conservative Muslim In an article on Filipino American dance, Barbara Gaerlan would consider these social functions of pangalay sacrile- maps out the ways in which Muslim dance quickly emerged gious. The final function, of providing a “sexual safety as “signature pieces” of the country’s national dance troupe valve,” would certainly be objectionable to many funda- shortly after its founding in 1957.11 During the Marcos era, mentalists in that any public display or acknowledgment of the exalted position of Muslim dance took on a special irony: sexual desire between men and women would be considered under normal circumstances it would not be controversial taboo. Unfortunately the predominantly Muslim regions in for the President and First Lady of a nation to promote the the south Philippines are considered dangerous regions for artistic heritage of their country. However, this period was travel by non-Filipinos, a factor which makes it impossible also the time that Marcos was fighting a particularly brutal to independently corroborate the state of pangalay in Mus- civil war against Moro separatists in Mindanao and Sulu. It lim communities. was at this time that the non-Christian dance suites of the In addition to finding disapproval at the hands of many Bayanihan assumed even more prominence than they had Muslim fundamentalists, pangalay is also on the decline previously achieved. During this time the Bayanihan, with due to the increasing pervasiveness of a Westernized, glo- its “signature piece,” the Singkil, became a special project bal popular culture and the marginalization of indigenous of First Lady Imelda Marcos, who provided new costumes, traditions.9 The value of indigenous traditions has increas- encouraged frequent trips abroad, and arranged Bayanihan ingly been determined by their ability to signify a kind of performances at the presidential palace as often as once a generic “otherness” in the context of a Western frame of week.12 reference. In the last twenty years, music videos have The irony that Muslim dance was the most extensively brought this aesthetic of cultural exoticism to a much larger used cultural symbol of nationhood at a time when relations global audience than had been the case when the artistic between Muslims and the government were especially borrowings from indigenous cultures were largely confined troubled was apparently overlooked by the First Lady, as it to the work of a few “avant-garde” Western visual artists continues to be today. The sheer length of colonial rule over and theater practitioners. While cultural borrowings are the Philippines makes it especially difficult to find perfor- hardly a new phenomenon, what is new is the global reach mance forms that reach back to a time before Catholicism of Western culture through media and advertising, a factor and contact with Spanish and American culture. In this con- which increasingly places a Western cultural filter between text, the largely unexamined and unquestioned use of

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 45 pangalay as a national dance style is perhaps inevitable as and exotic Filipino dances along the lines of the “Instant it can claim the mantra of cultural purity, though only if one Asia” cultural shows found in Singaporean hotels. The is willing to ignore its more specific, local roots within the glossy flyer handed to would-be patrons features an image “bayan” of Muslim towns, rather than the nation of the Phil- of a highly stylized traditional sailing vessel next to an over- ippines. sized image of a giant lobster, while the inside of the bro- The appeal of the Bayanihan signature style extends chure includes photos of performers, one of whom wears beyond the Philippines to the Filipino diaspora overseas, traditional, ceremonial female Muslim attire and whose hand particularly in the United States, where Filipinos constitute gestures and crouched stance suggest pangalay. On the the second largest Asian ethnic group after Chinese-Ameri- same page are male and female dancers showing consider- cans. In urban California, where their presence is especially ably more flesh who are more suggestive of the sort of act strong, the pangalay style is replicated that might accompany a luau for tour- in the cultural dance nights created ists at a hotel in Hawaii than any recog- largely by and for a young, Filipino- nizable indigenous Filipino dance tra- American audience. Bayanihan’s sig- In an age of global capitalism dition. The text accompanying the im- nature style has profoundly affected where cultures are offered as ages simply states that the restaurant Filipino-American college students consumables, context is offers “exciting and colorful Filipino yearning for contact with a home cul- irrelevant and surfact appeal dances presented by an international ture from which they are often es- is all-important. dance troupe.” Just what makes the tranged.13 Students who grew up in the troupe “international” is left to the reader suburbs of California’s larger cities eagerly latch on to the to determine, though the designation may be used simply to exoticism and orientalist tropes implicit in Bayanihan’s de- bolster the standing of the group. piction of a remote, mythic past replete with rajahs and har- As is usually the case with cultural shows offered to ems. Indeed, students reconstitute their performance style accompany a rich meal, no appreciable effort is made to in the context of popular Pilipino14 Cultural Nights (PCNs), a contextualize the form. Christopher Balme’s observations popular event on college campuses such as UCLA. These about the nature of theatrical exoticism are particularly rel- PCNs in turn become the focal point in the reclamation of an evant: “Exoticism involves the use of cultural texts purely authentic Filipino cultural identity, one that many have ar- for their surface appeal, but with no regard to their original gued has often been presented as compromised due to the cultural semantics. They mean little else than their alterity; successive and pervasive influences of Spanish and Ameri- they are no longer texts in the semiotic sense, but merely can colonizers. signs, floating signifiers of otherness.”15 In this manifesta- To a large extent, Bayanihan functions in a similar man- tion of pangalay a context-free performance provides the ner on its home terrain, offering up an image of a powerful, viewer with a stage filled with vaguely distant “others” and independent, exotic cultural past using the dance idioms of considerable local color, basic requirements for entertain- the vanquished. The most culturally distant performance ment that is designed to be easy to digest. Unlike Bayanihan, form vis-à-vis the more populous, Tagalog-speaking, Chris- the context for the dances presented is further distanced tian north of the country is ironically the dance idiom deemed from any concrete point of origin. Rather than offering up best able to represent a vigorous, independent country freed dance as a symbol of the country – a function that Bayanihan from European and American influences. In a similar fash- served especially during the Marcos era – dance is offered ion, the relative absence of interest in Filipino performance merely as entertainment. In an age of global capitalism where forms by scholars of Asian theater may well derive from the cultures are offered as consumables, context is irrelevant common stereotype that somehow the Philippines “isn’t and surface appeal is all-important. Asian enough” to merit scrutiny owing to four centuries of colonial rule. Given Bayanihan’s extensive international DANCING IN A THEME PARK tours, much of what the outside world knows about Filipino culture is gleamed from their encounter with this form and Perhaps less exoticized is the pangalay-inspired dance the relatively prominent position given to dances from Mus- found at the Nayong Pilipino, also known as the “Philip- lim areas. In the next performance site under consideration, pines in Miniature,” a national cultural park that borders the the pangalay tradition is not appropriated to serve larger main runway of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Air- political and cultural objectives, but is instead offered up port. The park, which caters largely to Filipino tourists, fea- merely for consumption. tures miniature villages of five regions deemed to be among the most distinctive in the country: the Tagalog region of INSTANT ASIA Luzon; Cebu, in the center of the Visayas region; Bicol, home of a nearly-perfect volcano cone; the Cordillera, known for Most foreign tourists visiting Manila are far more likely its 2000-year-old rice terraces; and the Mindanao region of to encounter pangalay-inspired dance while dining on lob- the south. Each segment of the park features representative ster at a pricy restaurant in the city’s Ermita hotel and enter- regional architecture and some of the environmental fea- tainment district than on the stage of the Cultural Center of tures of the respective areas, often in miniature, such as the the Philippines. The Zamboanga Restaurant, for example, scaled-down versions of the volcanic Mount Mayon and named for the region on the southern island of Mindanao the famed Banaue Rice Terraces of the Cordillera. closest to the Sulu archipelago, features a range of colorful The Mindanao village features a mosque and a torogan

Harvard Asia Quarterly 46 Summer 2003 – the home of a datu or a Muslim village leader – as well as priated as “ethno-show biz.” As with theme-park perfor- other elaborate village homes with the distinctive soaring mances elsewhere, the use of elaborate props, live music, rooflines found in the region. In addition to constituting the and a complex and visually stimulating visual environment most elaborate segment of the park, the Mindanao region for the staging of the work creates the appearance of “au- anchors the far end of the park; it is situated in the most thenticity” in a way that is absent in the Bayanihan tradi- geographically remote spot from the main gate, as if mirror- tion. Theme park environments, because of their apparent ing its actual geographical position vis-à-vis the capital city completeness and visual complexity, can easily become a of Manila. The Mindanao village is also the only area in the substitute for reality. In this sense, dance in the Mindanao park with a permanent space devoted to what are billed in village can easily be read by the tourist-spectator as having the park brochure as “cultural performances,” held twice a a kind of purity that the same dance would lack if it were to day every weekend, and featuring the be performed by actual Muslims on the Nayong Pilipino Dance Troupe. I stage of the Cultural Center of the Phil- watched the monthly “lagoon show,” ippines. in which a considerable entourage fea- By mispresenting performance turing an actor attired as a datu and his conditions in a village TALES FROM MINDANAO extended family arrive in rafts from context, stereotypes about across a nearby lagoon, disembarking Muslim culture are reinforced. The final dance company under at the performance pavilion amid great consideration, the Integrated Perform- fanfare to the accompaniment of a kulintang ensemble. A ing Arts Guild (IPAG), is the only group with a significant range of dances based on the pangalay style are performed domestic and international touring schedule that is com- in front of the piercing gaze of a datu who occupies an elabo- prised largely of dancers residing in the south of the coun- rately carved chair while two women clad in a colorful ver- try. Founded in 1978 by Steven P.C. Fernandez and Ligaya sion of traditional Muslim attire sit at his feet. All three face Fernando-Amilbangsa and housed at the Mindanao State out toward the audience and though their visual focus is not University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), the always directed at the performers, the three are clearly the group is a seasoned company of professional dancers who intended fictional audience for the performance event. Un- tell stories using a movement vocabulary based largely on derscored by the staging is a sense that dance is for the the pangalay dance idiom. Rather than attempting to posi- pleasure of the top man of the village while the women occu- tion the work in a mythical, context-free, or ossified, fictional pying the positions on the floor are marked as subservient. past, IPAG uses the concrete features of the form to bring The notion that these performances functioned an enter- traditional stories to life in ways that have clear, contempo- tainment for a powerful datu and his “harem” of women rary relevance for a modern Filipino audience. harkens back to the orientalist tropes present in Bayanihan’s What marks IPAG’s encounter with pangalay as differ- staging of dance from Muslim areas,16 and has little corre- ent from those discussed earlier is its stronger and more spondence with reality. direct link to the indigenous cultures from which the form While the larger and more complete physical and cul- springs. The group’s co-founder, Ligaya Fernando- tural environment of the Mindanao village provides a wider Amilbangsa, spent 18 years in the Sulu archipelago cata- context for this performance event than one would encoun- loguing and learning pangalay, and is regarded as the ter at a dinnertime cultural show, any sense of how these country’s leading expert on the form. Rather than trying to dance traditions might be integrated into the life of the com- preserve pangalay as a museum-piece, Amilbangsa has munity that created them is largely absent. Pangalay is not sought to make adaptations to ensure its survival, while the exclusive province of the village headman, and the ways remaining respectful of the context in which the form was in which the dances reflect the rhythms of village and rural created.18 The work of IPAG suggests that even though life are undercut by presenting them merely as offerings to a pangalay is apparently imperiled on its home ground in village elder. Even though one would hardly expect a thor- largely Muslim areas,19 it may have a future as a gestural and ough contextualization of traditional dance in a theme park performance language capable of speaking to a contempo- performance, there is still an extent to which the communal rary audience about current political and social realities. ownership of these traditional forms is somewhat compro- IPAG has been seen extensively in Europe, where their mised. Furthermore, by misrepresenting performance condi- 2002 tour of “Tales from Mindanao: Earth, Wind, Fire and tions in a village context, stereotypes about Muslim culture Water” was staged in four countries and over 20 cities. For can only be reinforced. many Europeans, IPAG’s tour was their first significant en- On the issue of cultural ownership, Rustom Bharucha counter with Filipino culture, and Filipino newspaper ac- observes, “the cultural resources of indigenous peoples and counts took obvious pride in the company’s overseas suc- tribal communities are particularly vulnerable to misuse be- cess, describing in detail how the group performed for roy- cause they are not owned by any defined party; they belong alty while in Monaco and garnered a top prize at the 13th to the entire community.”17 Spectatorship in this context is International Folklore Festival in Port Sur Saone, France, presumed to be limited to the datu, while ownership of the edging out the competition from eleven other countries. While dance forms is not connected to the village, but rather the the Filipino press noted that “the Philippines’ woes, includ- dance troupe presenting them in a the cultural theme park. ing the notoriety of the Abu Sayyaf, were not mentioned” Any inkling of where these traditions come from is absent, a during the course of the European tour,20 it seems highly common occurrence when indigenous traditions are appro- unlikely that European audiences were totally unaware of

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 47 the Muslim context for the work. quence suggests that instead of recreating a fictional past Indeed, when the group performed in Manila prior to or creating a false sense of a unified nation, traditional dance their international tour, no attempt was made to ignore the forms such as pangalay are better used as tools for cultural ongoing military and political crisis in the south of the coun- empowerment. The movements on which pangalay is based try. Performing before an audience comprised largely of provide a performance vocabulary and mode of expression school age children in the cavernous theater on the campus that may come from a site that is removed from the dominant, of the University of the Philippines in July 2001, company Catholic culture of the north of the country, but it is still director Fernandez introduced the group by acknowledging more thoroughly a product of the Philippines than knock- that for many of the children present, the radical Muslim offs of break-dancing from the streets of America’s largest group Abu Sayyaf was probably their only association with cities. While urban American street dancing can be made Mindanao. The repertoire listed in the Filipino, IPAG seems to be suggesting program provided a brief description of that there is greater value in reclaiming the “neo-ethnic” vignettes and suites a tradition that is from the soil of the to be performed, while each segment Rather than providing the country, a dance practice that is liter- was preceded by a brief explanation by fiction of a culturally ally in one’s bones. Fernandez on the content of the piece. “authentic” performance, Perhaps surprisingly, the opening The term “neo-ethnic” suggests that IPAG was offering their segments of IPAG’s “Tales from rather than providing the audience with interpretation of traditional Mindanao” place conflicts between the fiction of a culturally “authentic” stories from the region. Muslims and Christians at the center performance, IPAG was instead offer- of the narrative frame. Three key dance ing their interpretation of traditional stories and dance pieces pieces presented sequentially early in the program seem par- from the region. By acknowledging Abu Sayyaf at the be- ticularly noteworthy in this regard. According to the pro- ginning of the program, Fernandez was also highlighting the gram, the first of the trio, “The Legend of Maria Cristina fact that the company was providing the audience with an Falls,” tells the story of “a Rajah’s unbridled lust for one alternative to the view of Muslim culture as one dominated woman.”21 In performance, the young woman, Maria Cristina, by radical, armed militants battling government forces. wearing a Spanish-style dress, is the object of desire by the The group’s opening number used traditional dance as Rajah, represented in traditional Muslim court attire, replete a metaphor for cultural empowerment. Rather than present- with ceremonial knife or kris. After being pursued and cap- ing dance as an artifact from the past, it was instead offered tured by the Rajah’s men, Maria Cristina escapes and em- as a living, culturally vibrant form with the power to provide braces death in a slow-motion leap over a waterfall accom- an antidote to the forces of consumerism and Westerniza- panied by the mournful lament of a bamboo flute. Dancers tion. The performance began when the company, clad in then lift Cristina, a martyr to the Rajah’s uncontrolled lust. loose-fitting black attire similar to that used in martial arts Given the political and military crisis in the south, the traditions, made a dramatic entrance from the back of the dramatization of a conflict between a sexually rapacious theater. As soon as they reached the stage, a young man Muslim male and a Christian woman who chooses an honor- wearing the baggy clothing of a “Sk8er Dude” entered with able death over submission seems shocking indeed. Placing a boombox and began a display of street dancing that owed the piece near the beginning of the program makes its mes- more to MTV and popular, urban culture than traditional sage that much more provocative, especially as it appears to performance. The onstage dancers then proceeded to show reinforce the myth of the dangerous, Muslim male who views the street dancing youth how to put on traditional dance women as property to be acquired for his pleasure. Were the trousers that are gathered and tied in the middle. In a sight story not based on a traditional folk tale, it is hard to imagine gag, the young man tied the trousers incorrectly and they how it might be met by an audience containing a significant fell down, revealing his bright red underwear, much to the number of Muslims, something that was not the case on a delight of the squealing children in the audience. Gradually, university campus in Manila. The logic behind the place- the young man gained confidence as he copied the dance ment of the work only makes sense when seen in the context movements of the ten traditional dancers onstage with in- of the dialogue it establishes with the two subsequent sto- creasing dexterity and skill while the kulintang rather than ries, both of which are also derived from traditional rather the boombox provided the percussive beat for the move- than modern sources. Collectively, the first three works serve ment. The young man dared members of the group to ex- to interrogate one another, suggesting that Muslims in the ecute a solo act of dancing virtuosity, a challenge met by south are more interested in resolving conflict and bridging successive dancers, demonstrating that competitive danc- cultural and religious differences than the Filipino media ing is hardly a new phenomenon. might lead one to believe. By leaving behind Western-influenced urban street The next dance piece, a Tausug story entitled “Love dance and connecting viscerally with his cultural heritage, and Death at Muddas,” heightens the focus on religious the young man’s dance progression demonstrates that tra- conflict by enacting a “forbidden affair” between a Christian ditional art forms can provide an opportunity to rediscover soldier and a Tausug woman, a relationship that the program one’s roots. The ease with which he picked up the new moves notes is “strictly taboo by Islamic custom.”22 Perhaps more also suggests that an urbanized Filipino youth has a kind of shocking than the story itself is the fact that the young natural affinity for a traditional movement form that lies just soldier wears what appears to be a contemporary Filipino beneath the skin, waiting to be tapped. The opening se- military uniform, while the Muslim woman is dressed in tra-

Harvard Asia Quarterly 48 Summer 2003 ditional formal attire. At the point in the story when it be- on the island over the last decade. “The Tale of the Bird and comes clear that the young woman, now pregnant, cannot the Fish” is very much the story of contemporary Mindanao, leave her culture behind and disobey her sternly authoritar- IPAG’s home. In such a world, Christians and Muslims need ian father, the soldier tries to force her to run away with him to heed the message of this old Maranao story and use their and when rejected, shoots her. As she dies in his arms, one energies not to maintain the fiction that they are incompat- sees a Christian soldier holding a Muslim woman, a remark- ible species, but instead must act in tandem against the ex- ably poignant image given that Christian soldiers were track- ternal forces that threaten their collective future. ing down Abu Sayyaf in the south at that very time the The vastly different uses to which Muslim dance is put performance was taking place. to use in these four sites reflect the That the Christian soldier kills the complexities, challenges and contra- woman he cannot have rather than dictions found in the cultural and po- permitting her to return to her own litical life of the Philippines today. The culture suggests a level of brutality most established use of the pangalay that matches the selfish impulses of idiom and the one most clearly linked the rapacious rajah. The soldier’s dis- to the needs of modern statecraft is respect for traditional Muslim cultural found in the example of the Bayanihan values and his desire to own the Dance Company, where spectacularly woman at all costs also mirrors the way exotic scenes involving rajahs and in which aspects of Muslim culture passive female “slaves” became a have been appropriated to serve the standard feature of the company’s interests of the country’s Christian repertory shortly after it was founded majority. The message seems to be that in the 1950s. While the orientalist when a culture cannot be subdued and tropes of the “exotic east” have been acquired, it is better to destroy it rather Tale of the Bird and Fish. (IPAG) tamed down somewhat over the suc- than to let it live. As before, the next ceeding years, there is still an extent dance number answers this apparent provocation. to which the old Bayanihan model lives on in the sizable The next piece offers what appears to be a kind of third Filipino diaspora, particularly in the United States. The way, a fable of inter-species cooperation that provides a problematics of the consumption model in an age of global possible antidote to the excesses of the lusty Rajah and the capitalism and MTV are much in evidence in dinner theater wife-murdering Christian soldier. Inter-species cooperation presentations that borrow the pangalay form; audiences is used as a metaphor for an alternate future where religious are left entertained and visually stimulated, but context is and cultural differences can be resolved. “The Tale of the absent. Theme park performances create a total physical Bird and the Fish,” adapted from a Maranao folk tale, shows environment for staging the dance, but their very complete- how the bird and the fish support one another when their ness and complexity runs the risk of creating the illusion natural environment is threatened by humans. At one point that the spectator somehow “knows” the tradition from the the bird’s habitat is destroyed by loggers and he falls into “inside” when in fact the context for the inscription was the water where he is rescued by the fish, while later in the carefully controlled and often far removed from its point of story the bird rescues the fish as it lies baking under the sun. origin. Finally, IPAG provides another model, one that seeks The moral of the story is clear: even where differences ap- to use the tradition in a way that respects and acknowledges pear insurmountable, in the face of larger, external forces a its origins, while empowering a second generation of danc- common bond makes cooperation between apparent oppo- ers to present traditional stories that speak to the perilous sites essential for survival. state of contemporary Filipino life. Thus the future of The way that this third dance piece reflects the conflict pangalay-influenced dance as a living and evolving art form evident in the earlier two pieces also suggests that Fernandez may be in the hands of groups such as IPAG that have dis- and IPAG are planting the seeds for future cooperation be- covered ways to use the characteristic features of the dance tween all segments of society, while also commenting upon to tell stories with the potential to bridge cultural and reli- the environmental devastation that is particularly pervasive gious differences. in Mindanao. The island’s vast forest resources have been significantly depleted by large logging companies that have leveled ancient forests while failing to return the financial rewards of that enterprise to the communities most affected by the loss of their forests. Similarly, the opening of Mindanao’s considerable gold reserves to foreign mining ENDNOTES operations has resulted in a compromised eco-system in many areas as the cyanide solution used to extract gold has 1 While the current conflict is largely between government leached into the groundwater, killing off plant and animal forces and the radical Muslim organization Abu Sayyaf, rela- life. The so-called “liberalization” of trade enforced by the tions between Christians and Muslims in the Philippines have World Bank has resulted in a situation where a handful of been troubled since the arrival of Spanish colonizers in the foreign corporations, relying on political cronies from out- early 16th Century. Spanish colonization brought the Catholic side the region, have heaped huge environmental damage Church to the Philippines, creating what remains the only

Harvard Asia Quarterly Summer 2003 49 predominantly Catholic country in Asia. Whereas Filipinos about Muslims. Clearly such a setting has little to do with the throughout much of the rest of the archipelago ultimately reality of village life where these dance traditions were cre- converted to Catholicism during the era of Spanish rule, ated and performed. Muslims in the south did not. During the 20th Century the 17 Bharucha, Rustom, The Politics of Cultural Practice: conflict has been about land and the demand for increased Thinking Through Theater in an Age of Globalization, autonomy in majority Muslim areas. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2000, p. 23. 2Gaerlan, Barbara, “In the Court of the Sultan: Orientalism, 18 See Fernando-Amilbangsa’s book, previously cited, for Nationalism, and Modernity in Philippine and Filipino Ameri- complete documentation of this tradition. See also De Vera, can Dance, Journal of Asian American Studies 2.3 (1999), Ruel S., previously cited, for information on Fernando- p.269. Amilbangsa’s contributions to pangalay. 3 Steinberg, David Joel, The Philippines: A Singular and a 19 Again, without the opportunity to travel to these regions Plural Place, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994, p.92. myself, I have had to rely on those who have links to the 4 Hamilton-Patterson, James, America’s Boy: The Marcoses region to reach this conclusion. Fernando-Amilbanga, quoted and the Philippines, Pasig City, Philippines: Anvil Publish- in the Asiaweek article by De Vera, previously cited, makes ing, p.342. this point. 5 Gaerlan, op. cit., p.271. 20 Godinez-Ortega, Christine, “Iligan Folk Dance Group Wins 6 “Moro National Liberation Front” entry, Encyclopedia Big in France and Monaco,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 28 Britannica online, . This figure October 2002. is also cited by MNLF Leader Nur Misuari in Steinberg, op. 21 Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG) Program for 2001- cit., p.342. 2002 tour entitled, “Tales from Mindanao: Earth, Wind, Fire 7 Fernandez, Doreen, Palabas: Essays on Philippine The- and Water.” ater, Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, p.64 22 Ibid. 8 Fernando-Amilbangsa, Ligaya, Pangalay: Traditional Dances and Related Folk Artistic Expressions, Manila: Filipinas Foundation, Inc. for the Ministry of Muslim Affairs, 1983, p.36. 9 De Vera, Ruel S., “Learning to Make Waves: A Troupe’s Quest to Save the Dance of Sulu,” Asiaweek online, 26 May 2000, . 10 Cultural Center of the Philippines Website . 11 Gaerlan, op. cit., p.268. 12 Ibid., p.271. 13 Ibid., p.251-287. 14 The Tagalog spelling of “Pilipino” is used in this context rather than the Spanish-language spelling of “Filipino.” There is considerable debate over the appropriateness of the use of “Pilipino” in an English-speaking environment. Generally speaking, younger Filipino-Americans claim this term to make a political statement that they will not take on the language of the colonizer when they define themselves. 15 Balme, Christopher, Decolonizing the Stage: Theatrical Syncretism and Post-Colonial Drama, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999, p.5. 16 In her analysis of a filmed 1962 Bayanihan performance, Barbara Gaerlan transcribes the narrator’s introduction to a Muslim dance suite: “As we enter the court of the Sultan, the sound of the kulintang gong comes to us, as once it came across the seas, when the great Majapahit spread his empire from Java to Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago and brought Mohammedanism and the mysteries of Islam, the life of all the Orient, of India, of Arabia, of China as well. Our people of the south are called Moros, and theirs is the dance of the Orient. . . . As in the Arabian Nights of old, the Sultan is entertained with ancient tales. For the thousand and first time, the Sultana performs a dance meant only for the eyes of the royal family” (op. cit., p.259). Gaerlan argues that this fictional setting reinforces dominant, orientalist attitudes

Harvard Asia Quarterly 50 Summer 2003