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  3. Brushed in Light: Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema

Brushed in Light: Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema

Markus Nornes
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Drawing on a millennia of calligraphy theory and history, Brushed in Light examines how the brushed word appears in films and in film cultures of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and PRC cinemas. This includes silent era intertitles, subtitles, title frames, letters, graffiti, end titles, and props. Markus Nornes also looks at the role of calligraphy in film culture at large, from gifts to correspondence to advertising. The book begins with a historical dimension, tracking how calligraphy is initially used in early cinema and how it is continually rearticulated by transforming conventions and the integration of new technologies. These chapters ask how calligraphy creates new meaning in cinema and demonstrate how calligraphy, cinematography, and acting work together in a single film. The last part of the book moves to other regions of theory. Nornes explores the cinematization of the handwritten word and explores how calligraphers understand their own work.
  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1. Shufa/Seoye/Shodo
  • Chapter 2. Transformations
  • Chapter 3. Defining Calligraphy
  • Chapter 4. Force and Form
  • Chapter 5. A Prop Unlike Any Other
  • Chapter 6. The Shimmering Smudge
  • Conclusion: Brushed in Light
  • Bibliography
  • Index
This open access version made available by the University of Michigan, TOME initiative.
Citable Link
Published: 2021
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-90243-9 (open access)
  • 978-0-472-13255-3 (hardcover)
Subject
  • Asian Studies
  • Media Studies

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Vertical calligraphy of the author’s name with a red seal from the artist in the bottom right.

Frontispiece

From Front Matter

Calligraphy with rough edges.

Introduction Title Image

From Introduction

A color photo of a city street focused on numerous signs with calligraphic text.

Fonting the City (Zì li chengjian, 2015)

From Introduction

Figure 0.1. Calligraphic writing is ubiquitous in the daily life and built spaces of East Asia and has been for millennia. In contemporary cities, most of this carved calligraphy was replaced by photographic enlargements, neon, and lettering mimicking the calligraphic. Wallace Chan’s Fonting the City (Zi li chengjian, 2015) is a lovely documentary about the gradual displacement of hand-brushed signs by digital fonts in Macao.

A Japanese gravestone with a calligraphic character carved into it. Many bottles and containers of alcohol are placed in front of it.

Grave of Ozu Yasujiro

From Introduction

Page 4 →Figure 0.2. The famous grave of Ozu Yasujiro has only the single calligraphic character 無, or “nothing.” It is surrounded by calligraphy one encounters in daily life, as in films, from the prayers on wooden strips to the labels on the offerings of sake.

Two images, with the smaller foreground image on the right displaying white calligraphy on a multicolored background. The larger background image, to the left, shows similar black calligraphy on a white and patterned background.

People Whose Work is Necessary Murder (Hissatsu shigotonin, 1972-)

From Introduction

Figure 0.3. Itomi Keinan’s famous calligraphy for People Whose Work Is Necessary Murder (Hissatsu shigotonin, 1972) and the scroll painting a friend gave me, evidencing the iterability built into calligraphy. A wedding present, Itomi left out the characters for “necessary murder”; however, the vigorous movement of Itomi’s body during the act of inscription is viscerally palpable and points to the show’s violence.

A montage of film title screens using calligraphic and stylized text.

Titles by Akamatsu Hikozo

From Introduction

Figure 0.4. Titles by Akamatsu Hikozo include (starting from upper left): Fireworks (Hanabi, 1997), Face (Kao, 2000), Dolls (2002), Water Boys (Wata boizu, 2001), Hikari (2017), The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine (Kiku to girochin, 2018), This Road (Kono michi, 2018), One More Time, One More Chance (Tsuki to kabetsu, 1996), The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (Yuki yukite shingun, 1986), Zen (2009), Sekigahara (2017), International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo saiban, 1983), The Eel (Unagi, 1997), Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Seiei o mamoribito, 2016), and Kids Return (1996), and An Artist of the Floating World (Ukiyo no gaka, 2019).

Black calligraphic writing on a white sheet, with an ink-covered chopstick beneath.

Akamatsu Hikozo’s beloved writing instruments

From Introduction

Figure 0.5. A disposable chopstick, one of Akamatsu Hikozo’s beloved writing instruments, sits on the original calligraphy for Brother (2000). Its tips are bulbous from layer upon layer of dried ink.

A film still of red calligraphic text over the background of an empty four lane street.

Akamatsu Hikozo’s beloved writing instruments

From Introduction

Figure 0.5. A disposable chopstick, one of Akamatsu Hikozo’s beloved writing instruments, sits on the original calligraphy for Brother (2000). Its tips are bulbous from layer upon layer of dried ink.

Two images, with the larger image on the left showing dense, white calligraphy above white roman text, on a black background. The smaller image on the right shows three, white calligraphic characters arranged vertically on a black background.

Examples of the pictographic qualities of the Chinese character calligraphy

From Introduction

Figure 0.6. These examples capitalize on the pictographic qualities of the Chinese character. The intertitle writer for Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Minato no Nihon musume, 1933) uses lettering to turn the character for mountain (山) into a pictograph of three peaks. On the left, calligrapher Tong Yang-tze uses calligraphic techniques to bring out the pictographic character for “face” 臉 for Tsai Ming-liang’s 2009 film.

A film still of white calligraphic text over the background of two people standing on a hill overlooking a hilly, rural landscape.

Genealogy (Jokbo, 1979)

From Introduction

Figure 0.7. Many Korean films use the hangul for “end” (끝) rather than the Chinese character. This is from Genealogy (Jokbo, 1979) by Im Kwon-taek, one of the directors in Asia that deeply cared about the calligraphy in his films.

A film still with white calligraphic text in the center, inside a white circle, with vertical lines of calligraphic text on the left and right side.

The Water Magician (Taki no shiraito, 1933)

From Introduction

Figure 0.8. The end title for Mizoguchi Kenji’s The Water Magician (Taki no shiraito, 1933) uses cursive calligraphy and is ornamented with ioriten, the squiggly lines framing text which indicate period and invoke the narratives of traditional theater and song.

A film still of white calligraphic text over the background of a man lying on his back, with blood on his face.

Afraid to Die (Karakkaze yo, 1960)

From Introduction

Figure 0.9. With delicious irony, the vanquished character in the yakuza film Afraid to Die (Karakkaze yaro, 1960) played by Mishima Yukio stares at “the end” title.

A film still of white calligraphic text over the background a man touching his face. The calligraphic text covers his eyes and much of his face.

Face of Another (Tanin no kao, 1966)

From Introduction

Figure 0.10. The main character in Face of Another (Tanin no kao, 1966) spent much of the film with bandages wrapping his face. At the end, his face is still covered, this time by calligraphy—his eyes peeping out of two holes in the character.

A film still of red calligraphic text (vertical) and red roman text (horizontal) over the background of an ornate courtyard and entrance, with two men fighting unarmed.

Warriors 2 (Zan xian sheng yu zhao qian hua, 1978)

From Introduction

Figure 0.11. The contrast between the calligraphy and the English typeface is striking at the end of Sammo Hung’s Warriors 2 (Zan xian sheng yu zhao qian hua, 1978).

A stylized portrait of an ancient Chinese man, with long hair and a beard. He is depicted with four eyes, with one set placed above the other. There is vertical, black calligraphic text on the upper right and left of the image.

Portrait of Cang Jie

From Introduction

Figure 0.12. Cang Jie is the mythical creator of Chinese characters. His monstrous appearance hints at the unique visuality of the Chinese character—its wonderful multidimensionality. The first input method for Chinese computing was named for him.

Black calligraphic text with rough edges.

Chapter 1 Title Image

From Chapter 1

Two film title screens with white roman text on black backgrounds.

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) and Faust (1926)

From Chapter 1

Figure 1.1. Blackletter calligraphy in the silent films Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) and Faust (1926).

Two film title screens with roman text and sepia coloring.

Intolerance (1916) and Christopher Columbus (1949)

From Chapter 1

Figure 1.2. Intolerance (1916) and Christopher Columbus (1949) use variations of a humanistic hand, the latter with illuminated letters and the appearance of vellum.

A film still of a man dressed in formal clothes, in between two curtains, with vertical calligraphic text over the left and right edges of the image.

The Cheat (1915)

From Chapter 1

Page 20 →Figure 1.3. Native speakers clearly wrote the calligraphy for The Wrath of the Gods (1914). The medallion on the right says “Ince” in katakana, and the left has the characters for “company.” In contrast, most Western films use faux calligraphy for East Asian writing.

Two film stills, with the one on the left showing a schoolroom of young boys giving the Nazi salute, with white roman text at the bottom. The image on the right shows a book, with roman and calligraphic text on the cover.

Why We Fight: Prelude to War (1942)

From Chapter 1

Figure 1.4. America’s two enemies are othered through a calligraphic strategy in the propaganda classic Why We Fight: Prelude to War (1942), using blackletter for the Nazis and faux calligraphy for the Japanese.

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