Chi-Yun Shin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099722
- eISBN:
- 9789882207028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099722.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines the “Asia Extreme” label of London-based Tartan Films and its relation with recent East Asian horror films. It examines Tartan's marketing strategies and its aspiration to ...
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This chapter examines the “Asia Extreme” label of London-based Tartan Films and its relation with recent East Asian horror films. It examines Tartan's marketing strategies and its aspiration to expand to global markets including the U.S. It focuses on its horror titles, not only because they have become the most prominent and leading examples of the label, but also because the rise of Asia Extreme has coincided with the phenomenal success of “Asian horror” with branches such as “J-horror” and “K-horror,” which have been celebrated as producing the most original and innovative horror movies of the last decade. It examines the critical reception of the most “notorious” Asia Extreme titles —Audition, The Isle, and Oldboy in the UK and the US to understand the different discourses through which the Asia Extreme films are evaluated and mediated.Less
This chapter examines the “Asia Extreme” label of London-based Tartan Films and its relation with recent East Asian horror films. It examines Tartan's marketing strategies and its aspiration to expand to global markets including the U.S. It focuses on its horror titles, not only because they have become the most prominent and leading examples of the label, but also because the rise of Asia Extreme has coincided with the phenomenal success of “Asian horror” with branches such as “J-horror” and “K-horror,” which have been celebrated as producing the most original and innovative horror movies of the last decade. It examines the critical reception of the most “notorious” Asia Extreme titles —Audition, The Isle, and Oldboy in the UK and the US to understand the different discourses through which the Asia Extreme films are evaluated and mediated.
Daniel Martin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780748697458
- eISBN:
- 9781474412179
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748697458.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book explains and analyses the unprecedented rise in visibility of ‘cult’ Asian cinema in the UK, especially between the years 2000 and 2005. Considering multiple factors behind the cultural, ...
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This book explains and analyses the unprecedented rise in visibility of ‘cult’ Asian cinema in the UK, especially between the years 2000 and 2005. Considering multiple factors behind the cultural, critical and economic success of Asia cinema in the West, this book focuses specifically on the hugely influential and pioneering (if deeply problematic) Tartan Films (formerly Metro-Tartan) Asia Extreme brand. This book is structured as a series of case studies, examining different films, filmmakers and distribution events in order to sketch an historical overview of this developing film cycle, paying attention primarily to the marketing and critical reception of these films. The Asia Extreme brand incorporated multiple genres – primarily horror, action, and erotic thrillers – and also elided the differences between various national cinemas. The role of Orientalism in both the marketing and reception of films from Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea is also examined in detail.Less
This book explains and analyses the unprecedented rise in visibility of ‘cult’ Asian cinema in the UK, especially between the years 2000 and 2005. Considering multiple factors behind the cultural, critical and economic success of Asia cinema in the West, this book focuses specifically on the hugely influential and pioneering (if deeply problematic) Tartan Films (formerly Metro-Tartan) Asia Extreme brand. This book is structured as a series of case studies, examining different films, filmmakers and distribution events in order to sketch an historical overview of this developing film cycle, paying attention primarily to the marketing and critical reception of these films. The Asia Extreme brand incorporated multiple genres – primarily horror, action, and erotic thrillers – and also elided the differences between various national cinemas. The role of Orientalism in both the marketing and reception of films from Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea is also examined in detail.
Aaron Kerner and Jonathan Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474402903
- eISBN:
- 9781474422000
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474402903.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Extreme Cinema surveys post-millennial trends in transnational cinema—particularly in its highly stylized treatment of explicit sex and violence. In many cases these cinematic embellishments skirt ...
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Extreme Cinema surveys post-millennial trends in transnational cinema—particularly in its highly stylized treatment of explicit sex and violence. In many cases these cinematic embellishments skirt narrative motivation or even impede narrative progression, favoring instead the possibility to elicit an affective response in the spectator: physical sensation separate from cognition and emotion. As a result, in many instances extreme cinema is not governed according to narrative conventions (narrative arcs driven by character motivation), and instead emphasizes spectacles. If not episodic in structure, then, extreme cinema might host abrupt ruptures in the diegetic narrative—experiments in form and/or composition (editing, extreme close-ups, visual disorientation, sounds that straddle the boundary between non-diegetic and diegetic registers), the exhibition of intense violence and pain, acute intimacy with bodies in the throes of sex. In more episodic films, like the musical, or pornography, extreme cinema frequently showcases set cinematic numbers that flood sensory channels with auditory and/or visual stimulus. Extreme cinema wields the potential to manipulate the viewing body (as demonstrated by “reaction” videos posted on hosting sites such as YouTube). Crucially, the affects and emotions prompted by these films can vary wildly: abjection, disgust, arousal, laughter. Films considered include those of the American torture porn genre, as well as films that other scholars and marketers have classified as “New French Extremity” and “Asia Extreme.” While content is assuredly a concern, what Extreme Cinema explores, above all, is the importance of cinematic form.Less
Extreme Cinema surveys post-millennial trends in transnational cinema—particularly in its highly stylized treatment of explicit sex and violence. In many cases these cinematic embellishments skirt narrative motivation or even impede narrative progression, favoring instead the possibility to elicit an affective response in the spectator: physical sensation separate from cognition and emotion. As a result, in many instances extreme cinema is not governed according to narrative conventions (narrative arcs driven by character motivation), and instead emphasizes spectacles. If not episodic in structure, then, extreme cinema might host abrupt ruptures in the diegetic narrative—experiments in form and/or composition (editing, extreme close-ups, visual disorientation, sounds that straddle the boundary between non-diegetic and diegetic registers), the exhibition of intense violence and pain, acute intimacy with bodies in the throes of sex. In more episodic films, like the musical, or pornography, extreme cinema frequently showcases set cinematic numbers that flood sensory channels with auditory and/or visual stimulus. Extreme cinema wields the potential to manipulate the viewing body (as demonstrated by “reaction” videos posted on hosting sites such as YouTube). Crucially, the affects and emotions prompted by these films can vary wildly: abjection, disgust, arousal, laughter. Films considered include those of the American torture porn genre, as well as films that other scholars and marketers have classified as “New French Extremity” and “Asia Extreme.” While content is assuredly a concern, what Extreme Cinema explores, above all, is the importance of cinematic form.
Robert Hyland
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099722
- eISBN:
- 9789882207028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099722.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines the origins of extreme cinema as a politicized cinema, which uses an extreme aesthetic as a single aspect of its radical politics. It also examines the violence in Miike ...
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This chapter examines the origins of extreme cinema as a politicized cinema, which uses an extreme aesthetic as a single aspect of its radical politics. It also examines the violence in Miike Takashi's Audition and links the violence within “Asia Extreme” films to a politics of excess. It argues that “Asia Extreme” cinema is an overtly political cinema and that the films of Miike Takashi represent a challenge to the complacent cinema of the studio system, especially through an aesthetic of “excess” and “a politic of aggression.”Less
This chapter examines the origins of extreme cinema as a politicized cinema, which uses an extreme aesthetic as a single aspect of its radical politics. It also examines the violence in Miike Takashi's Audition and links the violence within “Asia Extreme” films to a politics of excess. It argues that “Asia Extreme” cinema is an overtly political cinema and that the films of Miike Takashi represent a challenge to the complacent cinema of the studio system, especially through an aesthetic of “excess” and “a politic of aggression.”
Aaron Michael Kerner and Jonathan L. Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474402903
- eISBN:
- 9781474422000
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474402903.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The end of the book posits that recent trends towards the extreme do not constitute a cinematic style as such, but rather an international explosion of stylized cinema. There is, however, a genuine ...
More
The end of the book posits that recent trends towards the extreme do not constitute a cinematic style as such, but rather an international explosion of stylized cinema. There is, however, a genuine risk that such an endeavour might encourage spectators to lose sight of the unique cultural context from which it comes, in favour of a trendy cinematic lingua franca. In the Asian context in particular the London-based DVD label Tartan distributed a line of Asian films under the banner of “Asia Extreme.” While Extreme Cinema acknowledges that this is a perilous tightrope, what the book finally wants to call attention to is the expansive nature of extreme cinema that can be found in nearly every corner of our global media culture.Less
The end of the book posits that recent trends towards the extreme do not constitute a cinematic style as such, but rather an international explosion of stylized cinema. There is, however, a genuine risk that such an endeavour might encourage spectators to lose sight of the unique cultural context from which it comes, in favour of a trendy cinematic lingua franca. In the Asian context in particular the London-based DVD label Tartan distributed a line of Asian films under the banner of “Asia Extreme.” While Extreme Cinema acknowledges that this is a perilous tightrope, what the book finally wants to call attention to is the expansive nature of extreme cinema that can be found in nearly every corner of our global media culture.
