Violent Exchanges: Genre, National Cinemas, and the Politics of Popular Films'
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'Violent Exchanges: genre, national cinemas, and the politics of popular films' Case Studies in Spanish Horror and American Martial Arts Cinema University of Nottingham Hallward Library --< By Andrew Willis Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, September 2006 Violent Exchanges: genre, national cinemas and the politics of popular films Contents: 1. Introduction 1.1 Genre 1.2 National Cinemas and popular genres 5 1.3 Popular Cinemas and their Interaction with Hollywood 8 1.4 Stardom 12 1.5 Cultural Exchange 14 1.6 A Note on Structure 15 Section 1: Spanish Horror Cinema 2. Leon' Klimovsky and Narcisco Ibanez Serrador: the origins of the Spanish Horror Cinema of the early 1970s. 24 2.1 The Spanish Horror Boom: 1969-1975 25 2.2 Horror and Latin American Cinema 26 2.3 Narcisco Ibanez Serrador: Argentina, Spanish television and Historias para no dormer 29 2.4 Revival in the 1980s: nostalgia and horror in Spanish cinema 35 2.5 Into the 21st century: Peliculas para no dormer 37 3. Spanish Horror and the Flight from Art Cinema: 1967-1973 41 3.1 Spanish Cinema in the 1960s 43 3.2 Spanish Horror in the late 1960s 46 3.3 The Blood Spattered Bride 49 3.4 The Bell ofHell 51 4. Horror and Politics: Eloy de la Iglesia's La semana del asesino 62 4.1 Horror and Spanish Cinema 63 4.2 Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino 68 5. Angustia and the Self-Reflexive Horror Film in Spain 85 5.1 Angustia and Genre: definitions and misconceptions 88 5.2 Postmodernism, Spanish Cinema and the Horror Movie 92 5.3 Angustia, Self-Reflexivity and the European Avant-Garde 95 5.4 Angustia, Postmodernity and Post-Classical Cinema 100 5.5 Breaking Down Distinctions Between the Avant-Garde and the Popular 101 6. Agusti Villaronga: Horror, genre and authorship in Spanish cinema re-visited 107 7. From the Margins to the Mainstream: trends in recent Spanish horror cinema 129 7.1 Spanish Horror in the 1990s 129 7.2 Generic trends in the 1990s: irony and sincerity 132 7.3 Generic Unity and Realism 142 7. 4 The Victory ofthe Serious 144 Section 2: US Martial Arts Films 8. The Changing Face of Martial Arts Movies in the USA 149 8.1 The Popular Image: martial arts and Hong Kong cinema 150 8.2 Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan: martial arts most recognisable stars 155 8.3 Jackie Chan in Hong Kong and the USA 157 8.4 The Problems ofDefinition and Boundaries: martial arts films in the USA 161 8.5 Conclusions: Jackie Chan and Hollywood (again) 165 9. American martial arts movies and the US exploitation film: Forced to Fight 173 9.1 Exploitation cinema: some definitions 173 9.2 Roger Corman, Exploitation Cinema and Martial Arts 178 9.3 Finding the space in the formula: political content and exploitation cinema 181 9.4 Social Comment, Politics and the Martial Arts Film: the case of Forced to Fight 184 10: From Hong Kong to the USA: Cynthia Rothrock, authenticity and the martial arts performer 197 10.1 Rothrock is the 'Real Deal ': authenticity and the martial arts performer 202 11. Martial Law and Martial Arts on US Television 214 11.1 Martial Arts on US Television 217 11.2 Walker, Texas Ranger 221 11.3 Martial Law: the background 223 11.4 Who is Sammo Hung? 224 11.5 Shanghai Express: introducing Sammo Law 228 12. 'Hip Hop Kung Fu': American martial arts movies in the 21 st century 237 12.1 Re-Inventing Seagal: Exit Wounds 247 12.2 Martial Arts, Blaxploitation and Politics: then and now 251 13. Conclusion 261 14. Bibliography 264 Abstract: This thesis argues that in order to understand the way in which films work one has to place them into a variety of contexts. As well as those of production, these include the historical and culturally specific moments of their creation and consumption. In order to explore how these contexts impact upon the textual construction of individual and groups of films, and our potential understanding of them, this study offers two contrasting case studies of critically neglected areas: Spanish horror cinema since the late-1960s; and US martial arts films since the late 1980s. The first places a range of horror films into very particular historical moments: the Spain of the Franco regime; the transition to democracy in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and the contemporary, increasingly transnational, Spanish film industry. Each chapter in this section looks in detail at how the shifts and changes in Spanish society, the critical reception of cinema, and production trends, has impacted upon the texts that have appeared on increasingly international screens. The second case study considers the shifts and changes in the production of US martial arts films. It discusses the problem of defining an area of filmmaking that is more commonly associated with a different filmmaking tradition, in a different national cinema. Each chapter here investigates the ways in which 'martial arts movies' operate in strikingly different production contexts. In particular, it contrasts films made within the US mainstream or Hollywood cinema, and the exploitation world that functions on its fringes. Finally, these case studies suggest that a fuller understanding of these works can only be achieved by utilising a number of approaches, both textual and contextual; creating an approach which Douglas Kellner has described as 'multiperspectival' . 1. Introduction Violent Exchanges: genre, national cinema and the politics ofpopular films is the study of two distinct types of films in very particular national, cinematic, cultural and political contexts: Spanish horror films from the 1970s onwards, and martial arts films produced in the USA since the late 1980s. It will argue that in order understand these specific examples of popular cinema one must place them into particular national, political and cinematic contexts. Furthermore, throughout each chapter it will consider the ways in which these contexts inform the potential readings of individual films and groups of films. From the outset the concept of genre has been both a key component of this study and informed the major assumptions behind it. That is, that popular films fall into generic boundaries and that our understanding of these works is intertwined with our shared acceptance of generic codes and conventions. It also acknowledges that these codes and conventions may change and develop over time, and that any genre may have contrasting cycles and trends in operation at any time vying for dominance within it. For this reason I do not make concrete claims for sweeping, definitive generic definitions but argue that a detailed textual analysis must be employed to properly consider each film alongside placing it within the shifting boundaries of a film genre. Alongside this, and also at the centre of Violent Exchanges: genre, national cinema and the politics ofpopular films is the argument that in order to understand these films one must place alongside an understanding of the generic codes and conventions in play an awareness of the contexts of their production. Here, this involves very particular historical and cultural moments that assist in an explanation of why certain types of films appeared in the manner that they did within certain industrial production contexts. What follows then is an exploration of Spanish horror cinema and US martial arts films that is based on the drawing together of a variety of approaches both textual and contextual. 1.1 Genre Genre as an approach to cinema has now had a long and fruitful place within film studies for over 40 years. Its first major impact was as part of a move to displace author based approaches in the 1960s, in favour of ones that more clearly acknowledged the wider social and cultural influences upon, as well as the industrial nature of, cinema. However, much of the work that appeared was primarily concerned with identifying the boundaries of what constituted film genres. For example, Will Wright's analysis ofthe western, Sixguns and Society: a structural study ofthe western 1 is concerned centrally with issues of definition. Andrew Tudor has identified this drive as the search for the 'X' that links these films together under a 2 generic label • In terms of a wide ranging analysis this search can become reductive and ultimately limiting. This study will take a lead from Douglas Pye's article 'Genre 2 and Movies' where he suggests a move away from simple definition, arguing that' It seems more likely that the outlines of any genre will remain indistinct and impossible to chart and that genre criticism should concern itself with identifying tendencies within generic traditions and placing individual works in relation to these,3. In fact one might argue that contemporary cinema itself invites critics to move beyond these somewhat essentialist positions regarding what makes an individual film part of a genre. In particular, this has been the result of many films blurring traditional boundaries, as they become self-conscious, generic hybrids. Whilst films themselves have changed so too have the critical approaches to them. However, through these changes, as Barry Keith Grant has observed, 'genre criticism has been able to accommodate the interests of newer approaches to film' 4 and maintain its position as a vibrant and important starting point for much contemporary writing on cinema. That has been the case whether that work has been focussed on the films themselves, their industrial contexts of production, or their audiences and the reactions they have to films and cinema-going. Genre can therefore be usefully linked to a wide variety of aspects connected the life of a film, including those beyond the cinema screen in terms of audiences or industry.