Jason McGrath | University of Minnesota (original) (raw)
Papers by Jason McGrath
In the rst book written in English on Chinese cinema, Jay Leyda asserts of Chinese silent lm star... more In the rst book written in English on Chinese cinema, Jay Leyda asserts of Chinese silent lm star Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉 that "any one of her lms, even one of her worst, will support my opinion that here was one of the great actresses of lm history, as perfectly and peculiarly adapted to lm as we recognize Greta Garbo to be. " 1 Many of Ruan's contemporaries, including actors and directors with whom she worked closely, had similar views that Ruan embodied the essence of great cinematic acting. 2 But what exactly does it mean to describe a performance style as being perfectly adapted to the medium of lm? What constellation of ideas about art, performance, medium, and modernity led to the standards by which Ruan's peers in the 1930s-as well as Western lm scholars decades later-evaluated her work so highly? If Ruan represented great cinematic acting, what performance styles were not felt to be appropriate to lm, and why? In particular, how was lm acting related to stage acting? An exploration of these questions will prompt a discussion of both the claims for an intrinsic realism of cinema, made by both Western lm theorists and their Chinese counterparts, and the much broader discourses of realism in Republican China. e cinematic medium will be seen not as provoking entirely new ideas about the nature of representation, but rather as uniquely embodying new ideologies of mimesis, objectivity, and scientism circulating in Chinese culture at the time. ese issues are evident in what is generally considered to be the rst work of Chinese lm theory, the April 1921 introduction to the inaugural issue of Motion Picture Review , or literally "shadowplay magazine" (影戲雜誌 ; see g. 21.1). e Chinese word for lm used here-yingxi 影戲 or "shadowplay"-alerts us to the fact that the "prehistory" of cinema varies across cultures because of di erent preexisting dramatic forms and optical entertainments (including, in China, shadow puppetry), and the intermedial relationships that result may vary accordingly. e word shadowplay was a shortening of two earlier terms for cinema-Western shadowplay and electric shadowplay-and lm commentators in China tended to see lm both as an extension of existing dramatic : forms and as a signi cant departure from them. In fact, as in the West, early Chinese lm theory o en revolved around the question of just how lm distinguished itself from theater, and arguments for cinema's medium speci city served to justify both its artistic value and its wider social function. e introduction to Shadowplay Magazine (I use the more literal translation of the journal title to underscore the connotations of the original), written by chief editor Gu Kenfu 顧肯夫 , a drama actor who would soon go into lm production, describes the "raw materials" of cinema as being of three types: technique, literature, and science. Under the rubric of technique, Gu emphasizes performance style, and while in some passages he treats cinema as simply another form of drama, a er a discussion of how the dominant trend in "world drama" is the "realist school" (寫實派), with its emphasis on being "true-to-life" (逼真), he asserts that lm is the dramatic art most capable of verisimilitude. 3 Traditional dramatic forms such as Beijing opera (京劇) are particularly decient in this regard, especially in comparison to cinema. Gu describes Beijing opera as "stylized" (圖案式的), and lm in contrast is perceived as "lifelike" (寫生式的), without any "exaggerated expression. " 4 Gu illustrates the problem of China's tradition of exaggerated or overly stylized acting through the speci c example of the Beijing opera e Drunken Concubine (貴妃醉酒), in which the main character acts out intoxication in an acrobatic manner, striking the pose known as the "reclining sh" (臥魚 ; see g. 21.2). Gu complains that, no matter where one is in the world (and the global consciousness here is signi cant), in real life one will never nd anyone who acts drunk in this particular manner. He goes on to list several other standardized Beijing opera conventions that he. Shadowplay Magazine cover. Chinese opera encyclopedia entry on "reclining sh" pose
The China Quarterly, 2008
... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called &am... more ... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called ''temporary migrants'' have become de facto urban residents ... I agree that human experience is important, and the long legacy of socialism in China demands to be seen as more than just a ...
The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at …
... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called &am... more ... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called ''temporary migrants'' have become de facto urban residents ... I agree that human experience is important, and the long legacy of socialism in China demands to be seen as more than just a ...
Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Jan 1, 2005
The Opera Quarterly, Jan 1, 2010
Books by Jason McGrath
Chinese Film: Realism and Convention from the Silent Era to the Digital Age is a history of mainl... more Chinese Film: Realism and Convention from the Silent Era to the Digital Age is a history of mainland Chinese fiction film focusing on the various claims for cinematic realism made over a century of cinema in China. It describes a historical dialectics of realism and convention, in which realisms define themselves both through and in opposition to conventions of various sorts, whether those of indigenous Chinese drama, classical Hollywood cinema, melodrama, socialist realism, neorealism, or contemporary blockbuster cinema. The book not only traces a historical narrative of Chinese film history but also contributes to the theory of cinematic realism by parsing the differences between ontological, perceptual, fictional, social, prescriptive, and apophatic conceptions of realism as they played out in specific landmark films over the Republican, Maoist, and post-socialist eras.
In the rst book written in English on Chinese cinema, Jay Leyda asserts of Chinese silent lm star... more In the rst book written in English on Chinese cinema, Jay Leyda asserts of Chinese silent lm star Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉 that "any one of her lms, even one of her worst, will support my opinion that here was one of the great actresses of lm history, as perfectly and peculiarly adapted to lm as we recognize Greta Garbo to be. " 1 Many of Ruan's contemporaries, including actors and directors with whom she worked closely, had similar views that Ruan embodied the essence of great cinematic acting. 2 But what exactly does it mean to describe a performance style as being perfectly adapted to the medium of lm? What constellation of ideas about art, performance, medium, and modernity led to the standards by which Ruan's peers in the 1930s-as well as Western lm scholars decades later-evaluated her work so highly? If Ruan represented great cinematic acting, what performance styles were not felt to be appropriate to lm, and why? In particular, how was lm acting related to stage acting? An exploration of these questions will prompt a discussion of both the claims for an intrinsic realism of cinema, made by both Western lm theorists and their Chinese counterparts, and the much broader discourses of realism in Republican China. e cinematic medium will be seen not as provoking entirely new ideas about the nature of representation, but rather as uniquely embodying new ideologies of mimesis, objectivity, and scientism circulating in Chinese culture at the time. ese issues are evident in what is generally considered to be the rst work of Chinese lm theory, the April 1921 introduction to the inaugural issue of Motion Picture Review , or literally "shadowplay magazine" (影戲雜誌 ; see g. 21.1). e Chinese word for lm used here-yingxi 影戲 or "shadowplay"-alerts us to the fact that the "prehistory" of cinema varies across cultures because of di erent preexisting dramatic forms and optical entertainments (including, in China, shadow puppetry), and the intermedial relationships that result may vary accordingly. e word shadowplay was a shortening of two earlier terms for cinema-Western shadowplay and electric shadowplay-and lm commentators in China tended to see lm both as an extension of existing dramatic : forms and as a signi cant departure from them. In fact, as in the West, early Chinese lm theory o en revolved around the question of just how lm distinguished itself from theater, and arguments for cinema's medium speci city served to justify both its artistic value and its wider social function. e introduction to Shadowplay Magazine (I use the more literal translation of the journal title to underscore the connotations of the original), written by chief editor Gu Kenfu 顧肯夫 , a drama actor who would soon go into lm production, describes the "raw materials" of cinema as being of three types: technique, literature, and science. Under the rubric of technique, Gu emphasizes performance style, and while in some passages he treats cinema as simply another form of drama, a er a discussion of how the dominant trend in "world drama" is the "realist school" (寫實派), with its emphasis on being "true-to-life" (逼真), he asserts that lm is the dramatic art most capable of verisimilitude. 3 Traditional dramatic forms such as Beijing opera (京劇) are particularly decient in this regard, especially in comparison to cinema. Gu describes Beijing opera as "stylized" (圖案式的), and lm in contrast is perceived as "lifelike" (寫生式的), without any "exaggerated expression. " 4 Gu illustrates the problem of China's tradition of exaggerated or overly stylized acting through the speci c example of the Beijing opera e Drunken Concubine (貴妃醉酒), in which the main character acts out intoxication in an acrobatic manner, striking the pose known as the "reclining sh" (臥魚 ; see g. 21.2). Gu complains that, no matter where one is in the world (and the global consciousness here is signi cant), in real life one will never nd anyone who acts drunk in this particular manner. He goes on to list several other standardized Beijing opera conventions that he. Shadowplay Magazine cover. Chinese opera encyclopedia entry on "reclining sh" pose
The China Quarterly, 2008
... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called &am... more ... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called ''temporary migrants'' have become de facto urban residents ... I agree that human experience is important, and the long legacy of socialism in China demands to be seen as more than just a ...
The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at …
... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called &am... more ... they now represent the bulk of the urban workforce and, consequently, that many so-called ''temporary migrants'' have become de facto urban residents ... I agree that human experience is important, and the long legacy of socialism in China demands to be seen as more than just a ...
Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Jan 1, 2005
The Opera Quarterly, Jan 1, 2010
Chinese Film: Realism and Convention from the Silent Era to the Digital Age is a history of mainl... more Chinese Film: Realism and Convention from the Silent Era to the Digital Age is a history of mainland Chinese fiction film focusing on the various claims for cinematic realism made over a century of cinema in China. It describes a historical dialectics of realism and convention, in which realisms define themselves both through and in opposition to conventions of various sorts, whether those of indigenous Chinese drama, classical Hollywood cinema, melodrama, socialist realism, neorealism, or contemporary blockbuster cinema. The book not only traces a historical narrative of Chinese film history but also contributes to the theory of cinematic realism by parsing the differences between ontological, perceptual, fictional, social, prescriptive, and apophatic conceptions of realism as they played out in specific landmark films over the Republican, Maoist, and post-socialist eras.