The Birth of East Asia Cultural Regionalization Through Co-Production Strategies

Dal Yong Jin & Dong-Hoo Lee The Birth of East Asia Cultural Regionalization through Co-Production Strategies

Introduction

East Asian cultural producers have rapidly which we have that others have not.”4 As in many increased co-productions over the past several countries, television particularly remains primarily years. The Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, and a national phenomenon in East Asia, and the Korean cultural industries have produced cross- domestic state plays a significant role in shaping cultural outputs, including films, television national television systems.5 dramas, and music. Local cultural industries Producers in the region, however, have and producers in East Asia have begun pooling increasingly turned to international co- financial and cultural resources, which is a useful productions since the late 1990s, because the Pan- means to compete with cultural products from Asian co-production mode takes advantage of the other regions, particularly those from Hollywood, joint consumption cost structure. It entails jointly and have produced a few cross-cultural hits since developing and producing film and television the late 1990s.1 programs with attributes which make them Unlike in many other parts of the world, co- accessible to audiences in more than one national production strategies in East Asia are relatively market.6 Filmmakers and television networks, new phenomena. Until a few years ago, East Asia including independent producers, are now rapidly was viewed as a jumble of provincial cultural reaching beyond their local and national audiences markets. Cultural works in Japan, China, Korea, to attract regional and global viewers. Hong Kong, and Taiwan were made largely for This article examines the recent trends of domestic markets. Barring a few exceptions, local co-productions in East Asia to map out cultural filmmakers and broadcasters never collaborated regionalization in the region. Considering that co- out of their countries.2 Local and/or national production strategies are relatively new phenomena cultural industries took the stance that they in East Asia, first, this paper attempts to provide a should protect and maintain national culture, general documentation of co-productions in the or “the body of values, practices, and identities, broadcasting and film sectors. It discusses why because they believe national culture deemed to the region has adopted a co-production system make particular nations different from others.”3 by exploring an economic angle to explain the For East Asian producers, “the meaning of culture interdependence of television program and film (and thereafter cultural products) is something flows, especially since the late 1990s. The paper

26 Follow the Money: financing practices in contemporary international cinema Ioana Uricaru, editor, Spectator 32:2 (Fall 2012): 26-40. JIN & LEE also brings into focus the relationship between programs for Latin America, the producers in culture and economic factors while investigating Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea have made programs the driving force behind co-productions in East for the East Asian cultural market.10 Asia. Finally, it examines whether co-production However, it was rare to find direct cultural among East Asian countries, which has been cooperation in East Asia until the early years of considered one of the most significant factors for the twenty-first century, with a few exceptions, cultural regionalization, has played a key role in such as co-productions between the Hong Kong the growth of regional integration in the content and Korean film industries in the 1970s, as well as of co-produced cultural products. between Hong Kong and Japan. A few countries To investigate these questions, the paper has have expanded their cultural penetration based offered political economy approaches in parallel on technological development and advanced with a textural analysis of the content of co- programs; however, they have not developed co- produced films and television dramas. This paper, production strategies, which are critical for cultural first of all, articulates the relationship among regionalization. Although cultural flows in the cultural products, industry, and cultural politics same region initiate cultural integration, they do in production. At the textual level, this study not guarantee cultural cooperation among local aims at exploring the uniqueness of co-produced producers. Cultural regionalization, as a form dramas and films in genre, theme, and style. From of practical collaboration between two-three the perspective gained from the angle of political countries in the same region, rarely existed in economy as well as textual analyses, it intends to East Asia. Cultural regionalization could be “the generate new insights into the emerging discourse (empirical) process which can be defined as a of cultural regionalization in East Asia and its process of change from relative heterogeneity and implications for globalization. lack of cooperation towards increased cooperation, integration, convergence, coherence and identity 11 The Rise of Cultural Regionalization in culture within a given geographical space,” which is a broader concept of collaboration than Over the last decade, cultural product flows in cultural product flows. the same region have been made possible by Cultural regionalization can also be understood information flows through television programs as a comprehensive and multidimensional process, and films from the same region, including in Latin which implies increasing regional cooperation and America, Europe, and Asia.7 Several countries integration with respect to a number of dimensions, in Latin America, including Mexico and Brazil, not only political and economic, but also cultural have reduced the import of television programs dimensions. Such effective trans-border structures from industrialized countries such as America and have to be embedded in the local institutions and Europe to secure their own programs. Furthermore, correspond to a certain commitment of the people they have expanded their exports of indigenous on both sides. In other words, cultural integration television programs with their unique character to in the same region should be the extension of neighbouring countries in the same region. collaboration and cooperation in terms of co- East Asia has experienced a very similar productions between broadcasters and film makers, situation in recent years. Several countries, first as well as music studios, in different countries. Hong Kong, followed by Japan and Korea, have Over the last few years, several East Asian increased their cultural penetration of the same countries have shown a trend towards the region.8 Asian broadcasters are expanding their cultural regionalization of media content to suit operations within the region; therefore popular the cultural priorities of their audiences.12 Local culture in East Asia, more attuned to local producers in Korea, Japan, China, and Hong Kong tastes, routinely crosses national boundaries, have found their partners in other countries for the although global media firms are still increasing production of cultural goods and the distribution their operations in Asia.9 As television program of co-produced products. Beyond producing producers in Mexico and Brazil have created and exporting their products to neighbouring

FOLLOW THE MONEY 27 THE BIRTH OF EAST ASIA countries, they have begun to co-produce films, for example, between KBS (Korea) and NHK movies, and music, which is the foundation of ( Japan). However, it is a very recent trend that cultural regionalization. East Asian producers broadcasters of Asian countries produce dramas have collaborated to form alliances that endorse together, and this co-production is on the rise since the emergence of a regional market for culture, the successes of the first several dramas as evident facilitate trans-national bypasses to connect in audience ratings and increased revenues from individuals and communities, and provide cultural advertising. content to the imagery of a region.13 There are several different dimensions of More importantly, unlike political co-productions between broadcasters and film regionalization, defined as a state-led project producers in East Asia. Local producers make designed to reorganize a particular regional space,14 television programs in other countries by using local producers and people in East Asia have been talent and actors in two or three countries, while major actors in cultural regionalization. As Schiller the local broadcasters almost simultaneously and points out;15 jointly share production costs to reduce risks. New investment from other countries has also transnationalized investment, product been a new source of product sourcing, because sourcing, and distribution patterns are these joint-products appear to be a real profit being actively and extensively forged; potential for the broadcasters. Several producers and that culture industry programs are have collaborated in marketing in recent years, assembling most-desired audiences in as well. Beyond sharing talent and capital, many new and increasingly comprehensive network broadcasters have systematically adopted ways. co-production strategies. In addition, there has been a joint-venture co-production, which is Indeed, it is crucial to understand the characteristics an integration of media industries and capital, of cultural regionalization in East Asia as a form although it is still in its infancy in East Asia. of state-society complex model. Not only the role These developments overlap and are not mutually of the nation-state is important in the process, exclusive; therefore, co-production strategies using but there were major non-state actors playing different levels of collaboration are made possible major roles in the historical process because in a single cultural product. cultural regionalization is not a top-down, state- To begin with, East Asian broadcasters have driven phenomenon, but a bottom-up, market- expanded their co-productions, in particular, and society-induced process.16 This article aims in dramas since 2001. MBC (Korea) and TBS to contribute to this ongoing debate on cultural ( Japan), Fuji TV ( Japan) and MBC, CCTV regionalization with the cases of co-production (China) and KBS (Korea), and Jet Tone Film trends and strategies in East Asia. (Hong Kong) and SBS (Korea), have jumped into drama co-productions, as if competing with one Emerging Co-Production Strategies in East Asia another. The first prominent co-production drama in East Asia was made between Japan and Korea. East Asian broadcasters and film producers In 1999, the Japanese TV network TBS proposed have expanded co-productions, and they have to KBS to co-produce a drama in the midst of circulated their products effectively in East the rapid penetration of Korean dramas in East Asia through their partner producers in those Asia. However, MBC, another Korean network, countries. Several network broadcasters and film and TBS got the first contract and co-produced producers in East Asia have provided essential Friends, a love story transcending their countries. services for local companies as new product After a long process of production, Friends aired sourcing, while distributing television dramas and in Japan first in 2002, and followed in Korea in films in their countries. In the 1980s and 1990s, the same year. The two broadcasters co-produced a few documentaries were produced by the co- Friends as a symbol of cooperation between the production system between countries in East Asia, two countries, aiming at the FIFA World Cup co-

28 FALL 2012 JIN & LEE hosted by the two countries; and, it was relatively The co-productions in drama have been successful in terms of its viewing rate. Regardless indeed booming. In 2005, SBS Production, an of some conflicts between the two broadcasters due independent drama production company in to their styles and production environments in the Korea, established a joint broadcast production process of programming, it recorded 15% and 17% with MTA in Indonesia,21 and MBC established viewing rates in Japan and Korea, respectively.17 a China branch in Shanghai to participate in The success of Friends in both countries has the sitcom production with SMG.22 BB-TV in expedited co-productions in East Asia. MBC and Thailand and DHB Media in Korea jointly co- Fuji TV in Japan co-produced the second drama produced a drama in Thailand, which was aired in between the two countries, Sonagi: Malice After April, 2006.23 DHB Media dispatched domestic the Rain in November 2002. Again, in most cases, production teams, including producers and writers, the broadcasters invested the same amount of to Thailand to produce a drama using Thailand production costs and an equal number of actors actors. SBS, the third-largest Korean network, also and actresses while airing the dramas co-produced produced a new drama, Trees in Heaven, in Japan at the same time in both countries. However, and aired it on both Fuji TV and SBS in 2006. because of different production costs between SBS shot the entire episodes in Japan, partially countries, the content of the contracts varied. For casting Japanese actors and actresses. Funan TV in example, for the drama Sonagi, Fuji TV invested China and MBC also got the contract for a new $2.8 million, while MBC spent only $400,000.18 miniseries, titled Good Morning Shanghai, in July The consecutive successes of co-produced 2006. As of October 2006, several TV dramas are dramas between Japan and Korea have developed also under co-production in Asia, including Maze co-productions in other countries, such as those and Chef of Love (Korea and China), and Scene of between China and Korea, as well as between Coriander (Vietnam and Korea).24 Japan and China. In 2004, KBS and CCTV in Co-productions in films in East Asian China co-produced a TV drama titled Beijing My countries are also prospering increasingly. Film Love--the 20-episode drama tells of the struggles co-productions in East Asia have had a relatively in the lives and career of two young, trendy people long history. Several producers in Asia had already from the two countries. The story was shot in co-produced films together before the twenty- many places that are unique to Beijing, including first century; however, in the midst of the rapid Fu Xing Road and Shi Cha Lake, as well as Jeju growth of co-productions between broadcasters, Island in Korea, and the beauty and dude cast line- the number of film co-productions is also rapidly up includes Korean actor Kim Jae Won, Han Chae on the increase. The combination of a well written Young and Chinese actress Sun Fei Fei.19 screenplay, talented director and popular actors Co-productions in East Asia sometimes is the main reason for co-productions in East have crossed over several countries. Fuji TV Asia.25 Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Korea in collaboration with companies in Singapore, have invested together for movies, and they share Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Korea, produced locations, actors, and contents, including Musa: and directed the popular star-search program, The Warriors, a Korean-Chinese co-production Asia Bagus (Asia is great) in the 1990s.20 In 2003, shot in China. Taiwan and Japan produced Yi Yi China, Japan, and Korea co-produced 101st together. Japanese producers have also shown their Proposal, a remake of 101st Marriage Proposal of interest in cross-border cooperation with China, Fuji TV (1991), a Pan-Asia television series that particularly Shanghai. In 2002 Toei in Japan and weaves together the most dazzling TV stars and Shanghai Film and TV Group shot the action and the biggest names in TV production from China, adventure movie, T.R.Y., set in early-twentieth- Japan and Korea. The famed Korean actress Choi century Shanghai, featuring Japanese star Yuji Oda Ji Woo, Taiwanese actor Suen Hing, and China’s and Chinese star Shao Bin.26 Huang Zhi Wei worked as co-stars, and the drama This is only the tip of the iceberg. Seven was aired on CC TV 2 in China, Fuji TV 721 in Swords, the co-production movie among Hong Japan, and Home CGV in Korea, respectively. Kong, China, and Korea in 2005, was made in three

FOLLOW THE MONEY 29 THE BIRTH OF EAST ASIA

Korean-Chinese co-production, Musa: The Warriors. languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, and Chang-Hong Channel Film & Video Co. and Korean. The action movie by Tsui Hark, in which China’s Shanghai Film Group also announced its seven warriors come together to protect a village co-production of new film, titled Slam Dunk. The from a diabolical general in seventeenth-century $10 million project started shooting in May 2006, China, was nominated as the opening film for the with a release planned in time for the 2008 Beijing 2005 Venice Film Festival. The Promise, made by Olympics.28 Chen Kaige with a Korean actor Dong-Kun Jang There are other significant resources for as well as a well-known Japanese actor, Hiroyuki co-production. Most of all, film festivals and Sanada, was also nominated for the Golden Globe international film agencies have become major award in 2006. This action and adventure film, resources for co-productions. Film co-productions also known as Wu Ji, is the most expensive film have been highlighted in many countries since in Chinese history, with a budget of $35 million.27 the launch of the Asian Film Industry Network In addition, China, Japan, Korea, and Hong (AFIN) in 2005. Several film organizations in Asia, Kong co-produced a fusion movie, Battle of Wits, in including the Korean Film Council, UniJapan, 2006, through co-investment of $16 million. The the Federation of National Film Association of four film producers in these countries divided the Thailand and Vietnam Media together founded production costs evenly. This movie was made by a the AFIN to engage in various cooperative Hong Kong director with two co-stars from China ventures and exchanges, as well as in varied joint and Korea; however, the original script came from overseas promotion activities.29 Since the China Japan. Daisy, filmed by Korea I Production, was Film Promotion International and the Singapore also a fusion-style Asian movie. I Production put Film Commission also took part in the official together a Hong Kong director, a Japanese music ceremony of the launch of the agency as observers, director, and Korean actors. In 2006, Taiwan’s it is fair to say that East Asian countries greatly

30 FALL 2012 JIN & LEE expanded their cooperation to share and exchange Contributing Factors for Cultural Co-Productions in information, manpower, and finance for films while Asia promoting the sales of films in the region. Through the AFIN, Japanese production companies, Toho, There are several dimensions to the rise in co- Kadokawa, and Nippon TV, and the Korean media productions in East Asia: diverse product sourcing, company, CJ Entertainment, also co-produced economic and technological exchange, change a horror movie titled One Missed Call: Final in in media policies, and the cultural proximity of 2006. This movie was directed by Manabu Asou, a East Asia are just a few. As a reflection of this Japanese director; however, it cast actors from both complexity, co-productions utilize production sites Japan and Korea, and was shot mainly in Korea. and creative labour from one another, lessen the Film festivals and forums have also played a financial burden, and increase the products’ appeal significant role in the process of co-production in the regional market.34 Through co-production, of films. In 2006, for example, the Hong Kong- local film companies and broadcasters can receive Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) selected 25 funding and support for the distribution of their projects to be presented at the co-production programs in other countries, while learning about maker held in March at the same year. HAF’s goal the advanced technologies of their counterparts.35 was to bring together filmmakers and financiers East Asian producers also can develop better to encourage co-productions and co-ventures. programs than before, thanks to the cooperation The co-production market expected to attract five amongst them. hundred film insiders, ranging from financiers, Historically, co-production practices in the bankers, and producers, to buyers, film funding cultural sector, in particular, filmmaking, developed groups and distribution companies.30 In 2005, as a solution to the impossibility of securing large HAF successfully finished seven co-production budgets for films made in smaller countries.36 projects, including three which were in production Pooling of financial resources is undoubtedly as of January 2006. From TV dramas to films, East the major reason for the large number of co- Asian producers have experienced a huge scale of productions that many countries, including the co-productions, appealing not only to local and Eastern European countries after the Berlin national audiences, but also to regional viewers. Wall, came to be involved with in the 1990s.37 Finally, several projects teaming up companies Increasingly, producers are unable to raise the funds of the two countries are in the pipeline, and even necessary for a world-class production from the Amuse Pictures of Japan has opened a Korean domestic market. However, an international joint subsidy to handle its slate of Korean pictures.31 venture generates this level of funding through the Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) of financial contribution from a foreign partner. Japan established its co-production joint venture As in the case of Battle of Wits, which was with Hun Long Film Digital Production, a unit of produced by four countries, the most significant China Film Group (CFG), in 2004. CFG will hold reason for co-production has been commercial a 51 percent interest in the joint venture, and it will profits. The production cost of $16 million for focus on producing high-definition TV dramas the program was one of the largest in East Asia; and digital films, while looking for distribution therefore, film companies wanted to reduce the opportunities in international markets.32 Hong risk by dividing the cost evenly while expanding Kong’s e-Sun Holdings and Singapore’s expected profits by distributing the film in the East MediaCorp also packed in a $28.6 million at the same time.38 As Hoskins points out,39 they joint venture in a giant step towards achieving needed co-production because local producers leadership in Pan-American film in 2001. e-Sun were unable to raise the funds necessary for a Holdings, one of Hong Kong’s leading multimedia world-class production from the domestic market companies, planned to invest 50 percent in a new in order to compete effectively with the global production company.33 From the change of talents majors. and actors to joint ventures, collaboration for co- As another form of financial pooling, for local productions is on the rise in East Asia. producers, foreign stars can attract audiences and

FOLLOW THE MONEY 31 THE BIRTH OF EAST ASIA financing from abroad.40 Increasing the exchange conception to its consumption. Many broadcasters of actors and actresses is certainly a good strategy and film firms are seeking synergy effects through to appeal to regional audiences, from a financial collaboration or cultural convergence. Access to perspective. For Jan Dara, the first Hong Kong- a partner’s market is likely to occur, because the Thailand co production movie, screened in 2001, it foreign partner is likely to have better knowledge was the creative casting choice that made the film regarding the distribution process in his/her Pan-Asian. The Hong-Kong based film production domestic market and better connections to key company, Applause Pictures, convinced the Thai players.44 director to use a movie star from Hong Kong, Of course, pooling of financial resources is Christy Chung, because of its possible contribution not the only major factor. The reasons are political to the international sale of the film. Applause as well as economic. The recent boom of co- Pictures believed that the film received ten times productions in East Asia could be understood more attention than it would have without Chung, within the overall regional politics rooted in because people in Asia are quite unfamiliar with Asian countries. Most of all, co-productions are the Thai language, but might be familiar with the useful means to resolve program quotas in several Chinese language, although it is not guaranteed.41 countries. As is well known, terrestrial television In addition, talent can be found cheaply in places networks are usually under governmental control in other parts of East Asia. For example, as of 2001, and bound by strict restrictions regarding television a director of photography charges $5,000 for two programs. Considering the social and cultural months’ work in China and Thailand, fifteen times impact of broadcasting services, various regulations less than the going rate in Hong Kong.42 Indeed, have been imposed on content aspects. The stated the co-production strategies among East Asian aims of content regulations are generally related to broadcasters and film studios have been a new culture and program standards. Content regulation source of product sourcing, because these joint- has also been used to support the development of products appear to have significant profit potential national programs and to place limitations on the for these cultural industries. use of foreign programs.45 Many countries around Co-productions also allow companies to keep the world, therefore, impose a quota requirement the costs of sales and transactions low, in that for domestic programs on broadcasting services. the co-produced programs sell productions to However, the changing policies of each one another and thus do not have to go through government in the broadcasting sector to a more bidding procedures and can have smaller sales deregulatory mood have played a key role in and accounting departments. In other words, low spreading foreign programs in East Asia. As in production costs in cheap places provide the right many parts of the world,46 several Asian countries incentives to relocate the production of the movies have program quotas in order to support the and TV programs.43 This enables them to absorb national broadcasting system and to maintain the costs involved in introducing new products, cultural identity. Due to the quota system, it is which smaller firms cannot do, and therefore to difficult to penetrate the local market; however, compete more effectively in the emerging global co-production programs are considered domestic market. programs in most countries. In Asia, Vietnam TV In addition, co-productions also permit must air at least 40 percent of domestic programs market control in the sense that a corporation, in its national broadcasting; however, the country which owns its own production companies and considers co-productions as domestic programs. movie theatres or television networks, is guaranteed Vietnamese broadcasters use co-productions to simultaneously a source of supply for its outlets and resolve the quota issue while learning production the exhibition/ broadcast of the output it produces. technique and saving production costs through As in the case of the joint-venture between SPTI co-productions with other Asian countries.47 In in Japan and CFG in China, co-productions lead Korea, films jointly produced by Korea and Japan to the consolidation of corporate control over also automatically have qualified for local screening the market from the moment of the product’s since the late 1990s.48 Where quotas are in effect, a

32 FALL 2012 JIN & LEE treaty co-production enables the project to qualify the 1980s. The Korean Wave has in particular as a domestic product.49 As La Peikang, proxy contributed to change the degree of collaboration of China Film Co-production Corp., said, “One among East Asian producers. Long accustomed of the benefits is that the co-production can be to its status as East Asia’s foremost and somewhat released in China as a domestic film, so it doesn’t insular movie nation with by far the biggest have to be restricted by the quota system.”50 market at its disposal, Japan was not interested in Moreover, it is essential to understand that co-productions in the film sector with other parts co-productions have been made possible because of the region.53 The situation has changed with several East Asian countries have lifted the ban the Korean Wave. Domestic films and Korean against other countries, particularly Japan. Due audiovisual products such as television programs to its historical legacy of Japanese imperialism in and music have gained popularity as a cultural the early twentieth century, Taiwan, Korea, and commodity in several parts of Asia. Korean pop China had not allowed Japanese cultural products idols are as successful in Japan as at home, and until the 1990s.51 With a few exceptions, there some Korean films, such as Shiri and JSA, have was no ground to co-produce TV programs, been major box office successes in Japan. Japan films, and music in the region. However, these has shown its interest in film co-production with countries have changed their cultural policies. Korea since then. Co-productions with Korea’s The Taiwanese government lifted the ban against booming film industry have now almost become Japanese television programs at the end of 1993, routine for many Japanese film producers. and Korea followed in the middle of the global Countries in East Asia are ready to collaborate deregulation trend. These new cultural policies in and integrate with other parts of the region the 1990s became turning points of cultural flows because they have developed their own cultural in the region as a form of export and import of characteristics differentiating them from others. cultural products, and in recent years, as a form of Without first establishing their own unique co-production. The changing cultural policy made cultural identity, they couldn’t easily be partners East Asian broadcasters collaborate to produce with other countries. Of course, this doesn’t mean cultural goods on different levels. the accomplishment of cultural regionalization Finally, cultural factors play a key role in in content. Although East Asia has shown its co-production strategies in East Asia. Cultural unique co-production strategies toward cultural elements emerge as factors of comparative regionalization, the complexities and ambivalence advantage in building up the Asian markets for of lives in East Asia have been hurdles to audiovisual products. There are emerging domestic integration of the content of co-produced cultural media companies in various parts of the world, products. The next section therefore discusses in particular, for the same region or for the same the way in which East Asian cultural producers ethnicity, due in large part to similar language and have developed cultural proximity as part of the similar cultural backgrounds, such as companies in integration of content, and whether their strategies Mexico, Brazil, and Hong Kong. Media scholars as have successfully attracted regional audiences. well as local distributors in East Asia commonly claim that the most important factor behind Narrative Strategies of Co-Produced Dramas: the popularity of Japanese and Korean cultural Emerging Conventions and Dilemmas products in China and Taiwan since the early 1990s has been the similarity of these countries’ Making Co-Produced Dramas cultures.52 The production of cultural products, in general, As for cultural co-productions in East Asia, is always accompanied by financial risks and the it is essential to understand that they are on the considerable uncertainties of a successful reception. rise in the midst of the Korean Wave symbolizing Thus, producers and directors tend to make every the rapid penetration of Korean cultural products effort to reduce these risks and uncertainties into Asia over the past several years, as well as a in production procedures, and consciously well known Japanese cultural penetration since and unconsciously depend upon conventions.

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These conventions include reproducing familiar Jihoon (Won) overcome all misunderstandings characters and plots, installing popular stars and and difficulties and, finally, carry forward their producers, relying upon well-known formats, “true love” across national borders. While Tomoko genres, and cultural codes, and so on.54 is a heroine who begins to live an active life after Although internationally co-produced dramas, she meets Jihoon, he is a manly but sensitive hero which are usually promoted for market expansion, who realizes his dream of becoming a film director can use various resources, they face challenges from as he falls in love with her. To set up its dramatic their expanded scale beyond national boundaries. conflict,Friends employs a double love triangle: the To please larger-scale audiences and obtain Japanese heroine and the Korean hero are loved by popularity, these dramas try to use narratives that a Japanese man and a Korean girl, respectively. The can be shared internationally. At the same time, cultural barrier, the foremost element to trouble they try to remain sensitive to their participants’ the heroine and hero, is often expressed in the form distinctive cultural resources, which help draw the of love-triangles. These love-triangles generate audience’s attention. Compromising cultural “odor” misunderstandings and hinder the transnational and cultural “odorlessness,” in Iwabuchi’s terms,55 love relationship between the Japanese heroine and is a great challenge for producers and directors the Korean hero. In the end, the heroine and hero who participate in international co-productions. are never distracted by their national counterparts, To cater to Asian tastes and, furthermore, and the drama has a happy ending. It highlights to global ones, East Asian co-producers have youngsters’ pure love beyond national boundaries searched for “narrative transparency,” to use and cultural differences. Olson’s term,56 to serve the capitalist logic of the In characterization and plot structure, market and to avoid cultural discounting. That is, the drama intimately intertwines images of they have looked for narratives that are universal nationality and sexuality. While the Japanese enough to elicit transnational appeal. To compete heroine gets closer to a Korean man rather than with local as well as global cultural products, these a Japanese man, the Korean hero is attracted narratives should have their own attractions and at to the Japanese heroine’s feminine virtues. the same time, allow comfortable, pleasant viewing She is contrasted with the Korean girl, who is positions for Asian viewers from different cultural selfish, dominating, and sometimes immoral. backgrounds and historical specificities. The co-producers have employed the gendered To understand how co-production projects characterization to appeal to the audiences in driven by a great expectation for a pan-Asian both Korea and Japan, especially Koreans who market have materialized and how their end have collective memories as victims of Japanese products have attempted to attract transnational imperialism. By designating a Japanese as the audiences, this study analyzes two cases, Friends and heroine, the drama tries to avoid any controversial The Promise. As mentioned, Friends is a television image that can be associated with historically mini-series co-produced by Korean and Japanese sensitive issues between the two countries; broadcasters, and The Promise is a film made with for example, the representation of a Japanese a multi-national cast. Through each case’s narrative hero and Korean heroine would have brought strategies, with a focus on theme, characterization, up unpleasant historical memories of Korean plots, and generic forms, this study takes a look at “comfort women” during the Pacific War and the characteristics of co-produced television and the “kisaeng (courtesans) tour” during the 1970s film dramas in the region. and 1980s. Moreover, as the drama foregrounds the lives of youngsters in the two countries and Romancing the Other: Friends (2002) focuses on their unconditional love, it deliberately Friends is a four-part television mini- leaves out subject matters related to the older series featuring the Korean star, Won Bin, generation’s experiences. Thus, it provides a and the Japanese idol, Kyoko Fukada. It tells a transnational love fantasy of the youngsters, contemporary romantic story in which the Japanese which avoids evoking any possible controversies heroine Tomoko (Kyoko) and the Korean hero associated with historical bitterness.

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Friends follows the conventions of the so-called renowned production staff and multi-national cast, trendy drama, which portrays the urban lives and the film tries to deliver its mythological epic tale of loves of the young generation with stimulating fate and love. It tells the story of a love quadrangle audio-visual language. Since the late 1980s, the among Quingcheng (Cecilia Cheung), Kunlun dramas geared to the cultural tastes of the youngsters (Dong-Kun Jang), Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada), have been produced first in Japan, and later in and Wuhuan (Nicholas Tse). By portraying Korea.57 By putting the globalized consumer culture Quingcheng, the king’s consort, as the object of of the youngsters at the center of their attractions, affection pursued by the three male lead roles, the trendy dramas have appealed to young audiences in film sets up a tragic love story in which no one can many parts of Asia. Like many other trendy dramas, realize their love, as Quingchen has once accepted Friends represents the youngsters’ pure love and a deal from the goddess, Manshen, through which cultural appetite with style. In addition, it provides she can have lifelong comfort, wealth, and fame in visual scenes in which its spatial settings frequently return for the “small sacrifice” of losing everyone she cross national boundaries. Tomoko and Jihoon first loves. The story shows the misunderstanding, lies, meet in Hong Kong, where they are dislocated from obsession, fear, and betrayal among the four lovers, their own nations’ territorial boundaries and put entrapped by the goddess Manshen’s prediction. into a de-nationalized urban space. They often travel However, it doesn’t remain a mere love story. While to their partner’s country in their pursuit of love. The Quingchen and Guangming are trapped by the aesthetically constructed imagery of these multi- tragic destiny predicted by Manshen, and Wuhuan national spaces often becomes the site of spectacles, cannot get over his childhood trauma caused by and thus, the audiences can enjoy seeing each Quingcheng’s betrayal, Kunlun challenges his life country’s landscape through the eyes of tourists. path as a slave who is always under his master’s The narrative framework set up by Friends control. By contrasting those who are caught by has been reproduced in the following Korean- their own destiny with those who carve out a life Japanese co-produced dramas: Sonagi: Malice After through awareness of their own strengths, the film the Rain (November 2002) and Star’s Echo (2004). focuses on the Taoist theme of being the master Although Sonagi takes a slightly different generic of one’s fate. That is, it tells a philosophical story form (romantic thriller), they both convey a that portrays the transience of life and the freedom transnational romance between a Japanese heroine of self-enlightenment. Thus, Kunlun is not a and a Korean hero. Along with the youngsters’ love romantic hero who gets through all his difficulties story, the co-produced dramas employ cultural and finally takes Quingcheng in his arms. His similarities and differences between two countries ultimate role is to bring Quingcheng back to the as their subject matters. They also insert scenes of time when she can have another chance — or to local cities and landscapes, which are displayed as the place where the story began — rather than if to revive the sights of the tourist guide book, to to consummate his love with her. As the theme add appeal to the audiences. Not only reproducing of transcendental enlightenment overpowers the the gendered representation, but also adhering to mundane love relations, the film’s love story loses the universal love-fantasy and the imagery with its dramatic liveliness and tension, and falls into trendy audio-visual language, these co-produced being a “flat” story covered by dazzling visuals. dramas have stayed away from any controversies While the film casts stars from different involving sensitive issues between Japan and countries in East Asia, it assimilates them into Korea, and have been promoted to the broader the Chinese-speaking people of a “kingdom” in Asian market, targeting young audiences. a mythic era, rather than assigning them roles that correspond to their national and cultural Creating a “Transparent” Fantasy: The Promise identities. As opposed to considering how it (2005) could portray these multi-national characters, The Promise is a pan-Asian film directed by it simply takes off their nationalities by placing Chen Kaige, director of the acclaimed Farewell them in a mythic world before history. Setting My Concubine (1993). With an internationally the story in a time when “gods and men lived side

FOLLOW THE MONEY 35 THE BIRTH OF EAST ASIA

Pan-Asian co-production, The Promise by side,” it consciously dodges issues of historical Since the film’s success in the West, projects that authenticity or the constraints of the real world, transform the martial arts genre into a global or as well as the cultural implications which would pan-Asian cultural product have been continued. be carried by actresses and actors. Moreover, it is Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002) and House of Flying hard to locate the exact sources of the settings and Daggers (2004), He Ping’s Warriors of Heaven and props; they resemble those from China, Japan, and Earth (2003), Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords (2005), other cultural sources — even medieval, chivalric Jackie Chan’s The Myth(2005), and Jacob Cheung’s Europe. By hybridizing and exaggerating various Battle of Wits (2006) are examples. Chen Kaige’s material styles from Asia, the film provides a world The Promise also exemplifies the trend of a large- of “simulacra,” in Baudlliard’s term, filled with scale production which appropriates a martial art signifiers that have some vague oriental quality. genre to appeal to pan-Asian and global audiences. With its ahistorical and stateless spectacles, the By placing multi-national stars in the aesthetic film tries to appeal to pan-Asian audiences. space of a mythic world, it tries to provide eye- Although it choreographs some swordplay, catching spectacles and a “transparent” narrative following the genre of martial art films, the film’s accessible to pan-Asian audiences. As it creates main interest is in providing spectacles of fantasy. a decontextualized and ahistorical fantasy which Rather than staging the swordplay and its related depends on computer-generated effects, visual stories at its center, it merely appropriates the spectacles, and multi-national stars, it obscures any generic convention of martial art films, which indicator of cultural particularity and historical creates spectacles through glittering movements specificity. Its excessive styles and overt emphasis of swords. It is not interested in the traditional on fantasy sacrifice in-depth characterization and themes of patriotism, heroism, or hierarchy of dramatic probability. artistry, either. Rather than delineating the mental world of swordplay, it emphasizes one’s will to Limits of Transnational Imaginations change destiny through self-enlightenment. This is The co-produced dramas have tried to not an offensive will to exercise justice or to pursue create “image spaces” that transcend traditional a sense of selfhood, but a defensive one to resist cultural and national boundaries. Friends depicts a one’s predestined fate. transnational romance between a Japanese heroine With The Promise, Chen Kaige, one of the and a Korean hero, while The Promise provides a leading members of the “Fifth Generation” of mythic fantasy where everyone struggles with his mainland Chinese filmmakers, shifts his filmic or her own destiny. Through a decontextualized interest to the martial arts genre. In gaining love fantasy and an ahistorical and stateless epic strong support from multinational investors as fantasy, they deliver universal subject matters that well as the government, he joins the new trend of stay away from any sensitive issues in the real making martial arts films, which was started by world. They reconfigure the conventions of popular the critical and worldwide box-office success of drama genres, such as “trendy” dramas and martial Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). art films, with their multi-national casting and

36 FALL 2012 JIN & LEE larger-scale spectacles. Especially by representing and national particularities determine cultural characters of different nationalities and by casting consumption even less.58 Throughout East Asia, multi-national stars, they attempt to increase their multidirectional popular culture confluences appeal to pan-Asian markets. have been rapidly penetrating markets and However, it seems to be difficult to find a encompassing local consumers.59 successful pan-Asian narrative that meets the Based on the increasing collaboration among expectations of diverse local audiences. Multi- regional producers, a few characteristics of East national casts and larger-scale productions haven’t Asia’s cultural regionalization can be discerned. automatically guaranteed the films’ popular Most of all, cultural regionalization in East Asia is reception throughout Asia. For example, while a multidimensional process of an emerging region. Friends moderately succeeded in drawing attention The financial factor is one of the most significant from Japan and Korea, its successors didn’t get much aspects leading to the cooperation and integration attention. Although The Promise was a box-office of East Asia. However, the pooling of financial hit in China, it was not well-received in Korea. resources parallels political and cultural factors. Many Korean fans expressed their dissatisfaction, Alongside the significance of economic and especially with Dong-Kun Jang’s Kunlun, which political factors, cultural values are indeed crucial in clashed with his previous charismatic characters determining the regionalization trend, particularly shown in Korean films. While multi-national in East Asia, as evident from the unique history casting would enhance the film’s attraction, it could of the region. As Joseph Straubhaar points out, also be a pitfall if the characters did not meet the for understanding the regionalization of television expectations of local audiences. Local audiences programs across multi-country markets, several have shown different receptions and preferences. factors, such as geography, language and culture, The co-produced dramas have tended to purposely must be considered in the study of cultural avoid sensitive sentiments or issues related to globalization and/or regionalization.60 cultural and national identities that would affect Cultural regionalization in East Asia has been the local audience’s viewing practices. However, unique because of its historical and interdisciplinary their deliberate pursuit of transnational fantasies perspectives. Several East Asian countries have have often failed to get the pan-Asian popularity shown strong antagonism towards one another’s they expected. It is still a great challenge for co- cultural products, particularly to Japanese cultural producers to create the transnationally acceptable products, over the last several decades, mainly narratives that have the least cultural discounting. due to their experience of Japan’s colonialism and military occupation. However, they have finally Conclusion and Discussion begun to overcome this historical hurdle. Cultural integration and cultural disintegration processes The first part of the twenty-first century has which take place not only on an inter-state level witnessed a number of border crossings in all but processes which transcends the state-society spheres of cultural co-production in East Asia. unit and can therefore be held to occur on a trans- Many attempts at collaboration have taken national or trans-societal level.62 place, and regional collaborations between media Moreover, cultural regionalization in companies and promoters have created alliances East Asia has developed in the midst of that have had a strong impact on the East Asian globalization, emphasizing global integration regional market. The number of dramas and and interconnectivity. The U.S. has maintained films whose nationality is difficult to determine the leading position in the TV program and film is growing, and once again, this is particularly trade in the world for several decades. The global evident if one looks at co-productions in East export market of television programs and films Asia. A variety of collaborative artistic projects was the provenance of a handful of mostly U.S.- have brought together previously isolated spheres. owned or U.S.-based production and distribution The filmmaking and TV programming processes firms. However, regional cultural industries have are no longer confined within national borders, produced national and regional cultural products,

FOLLOW THE MONEY 37 THE BIRTH OF EAST ASIA and these countries have developed cultural co-productions are offering greater international collaborations in the same region. Emerging local, financing opportunities for film producers. commercial interests, sometimes combined with Finally, Japan, which has not been too eager about state-affiliated broadcasting and film services, international co-productions, has shifted its gear have been both substantial and significant in East towards co-productions in the past several years. Asia since the early 1990s. Globalization and Backed by the Japanese government and NHK, regionalization are complementary processes, given a major Japanese broadcaster, Japanese film and regions are important sites where the contending television producers have rapidly increased their forces of global integration and local autonomy co-production strategies with Korea and China.64 converge.63 Regardless of several challenges, including The trend for international co-production of linguistic barriers, casting choices and forced films and television programs in East Asia has plots, East Asian countries are developing and become increasingly popular since the craze for increasing their co-productions of films and Korean films and television programs began in television programs, which are crucial for cultural Asia. In the early 21st century, there have been three regionalization in East Asia. major new trends in co-productions in East Asia, To conclude, co-productions are cumulatively primarily based on changing government policies creating conceptual spaces for the birth of East and financial collaboration. First, the international Asia. Regardless of some difficulties in integrating co-production of films between Hong Kong and the content of co-products programs to appeal to other Asian countries has increased since the East Asian audiences overall, co-production in Closer Economic Partnership Agreement signed East Asia is now on the rise; and consequently, by Hong Kong and China in 2004. This treaty cultural regionalization, which emphasizes allowed the entry of Hong Kong films to China collaboration and integration between countries without being restricted under the import quota in East Asia, is on the increase. The East Asian on film. As movies of any country could enter region is attempting to create regional cultural the Chinese film market through co-production commonalities, as in Latin America and with Hong Kong, co-production between Hong Europe, although it needs more time to create Kong and other countries has increased. Second, transnationally acceptable narratives, which the number of co-production projects between will develop the construction of a shared Asian Korea and China is increasing because qualified consciousness.

Dal Yong Jin is Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He finished his Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His major research and teaching interests are globalization and Asian media, political economy of culture and media, game studies, and social media. He is the author of two books entitled Korea’s Online Gaming Empire (MIT Press, 2010) and Hands On/Hands Off: The Korean State and the Market Liberalization of the Communication Industry (Hampton Press, 2011), and his recent work has appeared in several scholarly journals, including Media, Culture and Society, Telecommunications Policy, International Communication Gazette, Games and Culture, and Television and New Media.

Dong-Hoo Lee is Associate Professor in the Department of Mass Communication at University of Incheon in Korea. She received her doctorate from the department of culture and communication at New York University. She has published articles on transnational program adaptation and new media culture in Korea. Her research interests include media flow in the age of globalization, the cultural consequences of new communication technology, and medium theory.

38 FALL 2012 JIN & LEE Endnotes

1 Gregory Beals, “The Birth of Asiawood: Juggling Actors, Locales, even Screenplays without Regard to Nation, the New, New Wave is Pan Asian,” Newsweek (May 21 2001): 54. 2 Ibid., 56 3 Philip Schlesinger, “From Cultural Defence to Political Culture: Media, Politics and Collective Identity in the European Union,” Media, Culture & Society 19.3 (1997): 372. 4 Harold Adams Innis, The Bias of Communication (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964), 132. 5 Joseph Straubhaar, “Brazil: The Role of the State in World Television,” in Media and Globalization: Why the State Matters, eds. Nancy Morris and Silvio Waisbord (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), 133-134. 6 Colin Hoskins, Stuart McFayden and Adam Finn, “International Joint Ventures in the Production of Australian Feature Films and Television Programs,” Canadian Journal of Communication 24. 1 (1999): 127-129. 7 Carmelo Garitaonandia, “Regional Television in Europe,” European Journal of Communication 8. 3 (1993): 280-286 ; Joseph Straubhaar, 1999; Leo Ching, “Globalizing the Regional, Regionalizing the Global: Mass Culture and Asianism in the Age of Late Capital,” Public Culture 12. 1 (2000): 233-257; John Sinclair, Elizabeth Jacka, and Stuart Cunningham, New Patterns in Global Television: Peripheral Vision (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). 8 Koichi Iwabuchi, Recentering Globalization: Popular culture and Japanese transnationalism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002); Long Pao Jin, “The Pan-Asian Co-production Sphere: interview with Director Peter Chan,” Harvard Asia Quarterly 6.3 (2002): 13, 23. 9 John Langdale, “East Asia Broadcasting Industries: Global, Regional, and National Perspectives,” Economic Geography 73 (1997): 305; Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin, “Cultural Commodities and Regionalization in East Asia,” Contemporary Southeast Asia 27. 3 (2005): 507-509. 10 John Sinclair, Elizabeth Jacka, and Stuart Cunningham, 2002, 3-4. 11 Michael Schulz, Fredrik Soderbaum, and Joakim Ojendal (eds.), Regionalization in a Globalizing World: A Comparative Perspective on Forms, Actors and Processes (London: Zed Books, 2001), 304. 12 Daya Thussu,International Communication: Continuity and Change (London: Arnold, 2000): 184. 13 Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin, 2005, 590-591. 14 Andrew Gambie and Anthony Payne (eds.), Regionalism and World Order (London: Macmillian, 1996), 2. 15 Dan Schiller, “Digital Capitalism: A Status Report on the Corporate Commonwealth of Information,” in A Companion to Media Studies, ed. Angharad Valdivia (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003), 140. 16 Bjorn Hettne, “Globalisation and the New Regionalism: The Second Great Transformation”, in Bjorn Hettne, Andras Inotai, and Osvaldo Sunkel (eds.), Globalism and the New Regionalism (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999); Michael Schulz, Fredrik Söderbaum and Joakim Öjendal (eds.), 2001, 304. 17 Soo Kyung Kim, “MBC Aired a Co-production Drama ‘Friends’,” Dong-A Ilbo (14 February 2002), 19. 18 HanKook Ilbo, “Korea-Japan Makes the Second Joint-Product Drama,” (11 July 2002), 21. 19 Munhwa Ilbo, “Korea-China Drama Co-production,” (30 April 2002), 23. 20 Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin, 2005, 509. 21 Yu Jin Jang, “Overcome the Anti-Korean Wave through Regionalization,” Tomorrow News (15 March 2006), 20. 22 Dong Hoon Shin, “Korean Drama- Made in China Era,” Chosun Ilbo (10 May 2006), 37. 23 Yu Jin Jang, 2006, 20. 24 Mie Young Kim, “Revival of Korean Wave via Co-productions,” Hangherae Shinmun (21 September 2006). 25 Tae Jung Kim, “Co-productions Open Doors to Overseas Market,” The Korea Times (3 January 2005). 26 Lukas Schwarzacher, “Japan looks to neighbors for co-production coin,” Variety (16 September 2002), B7. 27 “Wu Ji” Online. Accessed (15 September 2005). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417976/. 28 Daily Variety, Chou scores Slam, 292. 37 (24 August 2005), 27. 29 Ha Won Kim, “Current State of Asian Film Industry Exchange,” Korean Film Observatory 17 (2005): 13. 30 Vicki Rothrock, “25 pix set for H.K. co-prod market,” Variety (4 January 2006). 31 Lukas Schwarzacher, 2002, B7. 32 Daily Variety, “Sony Treks to China: Joint Venture Plans Digital Pix, HD TV fare,” 285. 40 (29 November 2004): 10. 33 Scott Rosenberg, “Pair Pacts on Asian Pix,” Variety (18 December 2001). 34 Doo Bo Shim, “Globalization and Cinema Regionalization in East Asia,” Korea Journal 45. 4 (2005): 251. 35 Tae Jung Kim, 2005. 36 Colin Hoskins, Stuart McFayden and Adam Finn, Global Television and Film: An Introduction to the Economics of the Business. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 104-106. 37 Dina Iordanova, “Feature Filmmaking within the New EUROPE: Moving Funds and Images across the East-West Divide,” Media, Culture and Society 24. 4 (2002): 518. 38 Soo Uung Eo, “New Korean Wave via Cultural Integration in Asia,” Chosun Ilbo (6 January 2006), 6. 39 Stuart McFadyen, Colin Hoskins, and Adam Finn, “The Effect of Cultural Differences on the International Co-production of Television Programs and Feature Films,” Canadian Journal of Communication 23.4 (1998): 528. 40 Gregory Beals, 2001, 56. 41 Long Pao Jin, 2002, 13.

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42 Gregory Beals, 2001, 55-56. 43 Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin, 2005, 507. 44 Colin Hoskins, Stuart McFayden and Adam Finn, 1999, 127-129. 45 OECD, Communication Outlook 1999 (Paris: OECD, 1999), 112. 46 For example, Canada has established more than 40 international co-production treaties since 1983, and such co-production treaties, while arranging for tax and financing incentives, also allow international productions to be considered local programming. This is significant in markets such as Canada and France, where local production quotas are a factor in obtaining airtime (Shawn Shimpach, “The Immortal Cosmopolitan: The International Co-production and Global Circulation of Highlander: the Series,” Cultural Studies 19. 3 (2005): 346-347. 47 Dae Hyun Lee, “Korean Wave in Vietnam,” HanKook Ilbo (2 June 2003). 48 Yong Shik Choe, “Japanese Films to Be Allowed,” The Korea Times (21 October 1998), 1. 49 Colin Hoskins, Stuart McFayden and Adam Finn, 1999, 127-129. 50 Clifford Coonan, “Chinese Finding a Way around Quotas,”Variety (15 December 2005). 51 Koichi Iwabuchi, “Japanese Popular Culture and East Asian Modernities,” Media Development 48 (2001): 25-30. 52 Koichi Iwabuchi, 2001, 25-30; Dal Yong Jin, “Japanization vs. Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Empire in East Asia,” paper presented at National Communication Association, November. San Antonio, Texas (2006). 53 Lukas Schwarzacher, 2002, B7. 54 David Hesmondhalgh, The Cultural Industries(London: Sage, 2002), 21. 55 Koichi Iwabuchi, “Becoming ‘Culturally Proximate: the Ascent of Japanese Idol Dramas in Taiwan: The A/Scent of Japanese Idol Dramas in Taiwan,” in Asian Media Productions, ed. Brian Moeran (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 2001), 55. 56 Scott R. Olson, Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999), 17-19, 87-113. 57 Dong Hoo Lee, “Cultural Contact with Japanese TV Dramas: Modes of Reception and Narrative Transparency,” in Feeling Asian Modernities, ed. Koichi Iwabuchi (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004), 251-274. 58 Dina Iordanova, 2002, 534. 59 Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin, 2005, 517. 60 Joseph Straubhaar, 1999. 61 Dan Schiller, E. Bonus, M. Maguire and L.Taub, “International Communications and the Struggle for Competitive Advantage in East Asia,” in International Communications in North-East Asia. ed. Hyeon-Dew Kang (Seoul: Nanam, 1994), 60. 62 Mike Featherstone, “Global Culture: An Introduction,” in Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization, and modernity, ed. Mike Featherstone (London: Sage, 1990), 1. 63 Leo Ching, 2000, 244. 64 Steven Schwankert, “China-Korea-Japan Ready ‘Yang Gui Fei’ for November Shoot” The Hollywood Reporter (October 7, 2011).

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