Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:59:49.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Masculinized China vs. the Feminized West: Musical Intertextuality and Cultural Representations in Once Upon a Time in China I and II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2018

Extract

This article is an ethnomusicological inquiry into music in Chinese martial arts film. Film is a form of cultural performance in modern society. It conveys codified cultural messages, transforms social values, dramatizes myths, and comments on social conflicts. Film also engenders discourse that facilitates the building or rebuilding of personal and collective identities. As an ethnomusicologist, I am interested in the ways in which film music, like music in cultural performance, reflects the modern needs and desires of people crossing geographical and cultural boundaries. To study music in global cinema is to study how a modern form of performance interacts with its cultural heritages and contemporary sociocultural changes. Furthermore, the study of Chinese martial arts film music is an attractive topic in that it allows interdisciplinary dialogues among scholars in ethnomusicology, film studies, cultural studies, and Asian studies.

Abstract in chinese

Abstract in Chinese

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the International Council for Traditional Music

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Booth, Gregory D. 2008 Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mo, Chen 1996 Dao guang xia ying meng taiqi: Zhongguo wuxia dianying lun [Chinese wuxia cinema]. Beijing: Zhongguo Dianying Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Mo, Chen 2005 Zhongguo wuxia dianying shi [History of Chinese wuxia cinema]. Beijing: Zhongguo Dianying Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Houyong, Gao and Li, Zhou 1989 “On Qupai.” Asian Music 20/2: 420.Google Scholar
Gorbman, Claudia 1987 Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Gorbman, Claudia 2007Auteur Music.” In Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music in Cinema, ed. Goldmark, Daniel, Kramer, Lawrence, Leppert, Richard, 149–62. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hesse, Barnor 2000 Ed. UN/Settled Multiculturalisms: Diasporas, Entanglement, Transruptions. New York: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Qiuping, Hua and Zitong, Hua 1819 Pipa pu [Anthology of pipa music]. In Xuxiu siku quanshu bianzuan weiyuanhui 2002:293364.Google Scholar
Hwang, Ange 1998The Irresistible: Hong Kong Movie Once Upon a Time in China Series—An Extensive Interview with Director/Producer Tsui Hark.” Asian Cinema 10/1: 1024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leilei, Jia 2005 Zhongguo wuxia dianying shi [History of Chinese wuxia cinema]. Beijing: Wenhua Yishu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Jones, Stephen 1995 Folk Music of China: Living Instrumental Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kato, M. T. 2007 From Kung Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution, and Popular Culture. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Lau, Frederick 2008Nationalizing Sound on the Verge of Chinese Modernity.” In Beyond the May Fourth Paradigm: In Search of Chinese Modernity, ed. Chow, Kai-Wing, Hon, Tze-ki, Ip, Hung-yok, and Price, Don C., 209–26. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Yam, Lau 2012About Chu Yu-Chai.” In Mastering Virtue: The Cinematic Legend of a Martial Artist, English edition, ed. Fung, Pu and Yam, Lau, 9395. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive.Google Scholar
Fangyuan, Li 1895 Nanbeipai shisantao daqu pipa xinpu [New anthology of thirteen daqu from northern and southern schools]. In Xuxiu siku quanshu bianzuan weiyuanhui 2002:383414.Google Scholar
Kwai-cheung, Lo 2006Knocking Off Nationalism in Hong Kong Cinema: Woman and the Chinese ‘Thing’ in Tsui Hark's Films.” Camera Obscura 21/3: 3761.Google Scholar
Louie, Kam 2002 Theorising Chinese Masculinity: Society and Gender in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lui, Bill 2002Sprinkling a Few Leaves of Licorice Root: An Art Director Contemplates the Magic of Tsui Hark.” In The Swordsman and His Jiang Hu: Tsui Hark and Hong Kong Film, ed. Ho, Sam and Wai-leng, Ho, 112–15. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive.Google Scholar
Wei, Luo, Lee, Bruce, Miao, Kexiu, and Yi, Yi 2005 Jingwumen [Fist of fury]. Directed by Luo Wei. Hong Kong: Golden Harvest. Distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. DVD. (Orig. release 1972).Google Scholar
Wei, Luo, Chow, Raymond, Lee, Bruce, Yi, Yi, Tien, James, and Miao, Kexiu 2005 Tangshang Daxiong [The big boss]. Directed by Luo Wei. Hong Kong: Golden Harvest. Distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. DVD. (Orig. release 1971).Google Scholar
Yongxian, Luo, Liu, Xuan, Huang, Zongze, Ma, Guoming, Chen, Fala, Jiang, Dawei, Yue, Hua, Lin, Jiahua, and Huang, Haoran 2011 Nüquan [Grace under fire]. Hong Kong: Television Broadcasts. Distributed by Tai Seng Entertainment.Google Scholar
Sheng-mei, Ma 2005Kung Fu Films in Diaspora: Death of the Bamboo Hero.” In Masculinities and Hong Kong Cinema, ed. Pang, Laikwan and Wong, Day, 101–18. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Myers, John E. 1992 The Way of the Pipa: Structure and Imagery in Chinese Lute Music. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.Google Scholar
Laikwan, Pang, and Wong, Day 2005 Ed. Masculinities and Hong Kong Cinema. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Xiuwen, Peng, Cai, Huiquan, Liu, Tieshan, Mao, Yuan, Zhu, Jian'er, Cheng, Yun, Shi, Wanchun, Ren, Guang, Huang, Yijun, and Nu'ermaimaiti, 1992 General's Command: Chinese Orchestral Works. Hugo Productions (HK) Ltd., HRP 760–2. 1 compact disc.Google Scholar
Fung, Po 2010 “Hongfei nade jidongxi: Huang Feihong dianying dezhuanbian licheng” [Would a goose care for directions while flying? The process of change in Huang Fei-hong movies]. In Dianguang yingli zhan chunfeng—Pouxi wuxiapian de lili mailuo [Cutting spring breeze within the screen: Analysing the texture and network of martial arts movies], 4661. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Films Critics Society. Po Fung and Lau Yam 2012 Ed. Mastering Virtue: The Cinematic Legend of a Martial Artist. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive.Google Scholar
Zhai, Rong 1814 Xiansuo beikao [Anthology of string ensemble music]. In Xuxiu siku quanshu bianzuan weiyuanhui 2002:67292.Google Scholar
Said, Edward. 1978 Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Slobin, Mark 2008 Global Soundtracks: Worlds of Film Music. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Tagg, Philip, and Clarida, Bob 2003 Ten Little Title Tunes: Towards a Musicology of the Mass Media. New York: The Mass Media Music Scholar’ Press.Google Scholar
Teo, Stephen 1997 Hong Kong Cinema: the Extra Dimensions. British Film Institute.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teo, Stephen 2009 Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hark, Tsui, Chow, Raymond, Yuen, Kai-chi, Leung, Yiu-ming, Cheung, Tan, and Tang, Pik-yin 2003 Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy, Part I and Part II. Directed by Tsui Hark. Hong Kong: Star TV and Entertainment. Distributed by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. DVD. (Orig. released 1993).Google Scholar
YehYueh-Yu, 2002Wall to Wall: Music in the Films of Tsui Hark.” In The Swordsman and His Jiang Hu: Tsui Hark and Hong Kong Film, ed. Fung, Po, 7883. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive.Google Scholar
Mu-yun, Yu 1996 Ed. Renzhe wudi: Huang Fei-hong xinshang [The invincible one of virtue: the appreciation of Wong Fei-hung movies]. Hong Kong: Urban Council.Google Scholar
Siu-Wah, Yu 2001 Le zai dian cuo zhong: Xianggang y a su yinyue wenhua [Out of chaos and coincidence: Hong Kong music culture]. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Siu-Wah, Yu 2012The Music of Wong Fei-hung Films in the 1950s and the Historical Music Culture Within.” In Mastering Virtue: The Cinematic Legend of a Martial Artist, English edition, ed. Fung, Pu and Yam, Lau, 6777. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive.Google Scholar
Siu-Wah, Yu 2013The Making of a Cantonese Popular Song amidst National Crisis in China: From Jiangjun Ling to ‘Once Upon a Time in China.’” In Natural Disaster and Reconstruction in Asian Economies: A Global Synthesis of Shared Experiences, ed. Shuk-ting, Yau, 151–72. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Jing, Wang, Zhang, Weijian, Chen, Wei, Lin, Zicong, Kong, Lin, Zheng, Xiaodong, and Wen, Songxian 2008 Renzhe Huang Feihong [Huang Feihong: the person with benevolence]. Beijing: Beijing Fuyuan Shixian Yinshi Wenhua. Distributed by Tai Seng Entertainment.Google Scholar
Wenli, Wang 1992 Chun dao Qingjiang [Spring comes to Qing River]. Recorded in 1986. Hugo Productions (HK), LT4007–2. 1 compact disc.Google Scholar
Wong, James 2002I Love Him and I Hate Him: James Wong on Composing for a Truly Creative Mind.” In The Swordsman and His Jiang Hu: Tsui Hark and Hong Kong Film, ed. Fung, Po, 122–27. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive.Google Scholar
Xuxiu siku quanshu bianzuan weiyuanhui [Committee of the editorial board of compilations of literatures in addition to the Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature] 2002 Xuxiu Siku Quanshu [Compilations of literatures in addition to the Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature]. 1800 volumes. Vol. 1096. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zanger, Anat 2006 Film Remakes As Ritual and Disguise: From Carmen to Ripley. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar