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Brushed in Light: Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema

Markus Nornes

Open Access

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.

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)

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A montage of film stills showing film credits, with repeated but unique calligraphic characters on a greenish-yellow background.

Credits for The Human Promise

From Chapter 7

Figure 7.5. Then as the credits for The Human Promise proceed, the character 人 (human) repeats on every single frame; in the manner of a signature, every iteration of the character—like every human in history—is the same but slightly different.

A film still of a white calligraphic character on an complex design against a black background.

End Title Image

From Chapter 7

A photo of a man standing at a wooden doorway, alongside a vertical nameplate with calligraphic text.

Photo of the author

From Chapter 7

Page 160 →Markus Nornes is Professor of Asian Cinema at the University of Michigan, where he specializes in Japanese film, documentary and translation theory. He has done extensive programming on the international film festival circuit, especially at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. He has written books on Japanese documentary, City of Sadness, film translation, and a critical biography of director Ogawa Shinsuke. Nornes has also co-directed a number of films, including The Big House (2018). He is currently working on a biography of filmmaker Adachi Masao.

The first line is the title, in blood-red calligraphy on a black background. Below it is the subtitle in yellow typeface. The middle characters of the main title are the word for suicide, or 自決 (_jiketsu_). The film depicts the seppuku and beheading of novelist Mishima Yukio. The two "ones" in the date are perfect renditions of the Chinese character for "one," only sideways.

11:25 The Day He Chose His Own Fate, 11・25自決の日三島由紀夫と若者たち 11.25, Jiketsu no hi: Mishima Yukio to wakamonotachi Image 1

From Digital Corpus

Three samurai stand atop a fortress. The middle figure holds up a scroll to an evil prince, who chopped off the arms and legs of the woman who painted the calligraphy. She held the brush in her mouth, and tears of blood stained the painting. It says, "Kill them all." The English subtitle says, "Total Massacre."

13 Assassins, 十三人の刺客, Jusannin no shikaku Image 1

From Digital Corpus

A single line of white titles calligraphy, in black-and-white cinematography, fills the height of the frame. The titles are superimposed over a ship's hull, within the frame of the rivets running along the edges and over a line of rivets running vertically through the center of the entire frame. The paint is roughly textured. Some strokes indicate the painting is calligraphic, but the blocky effect evokes lettering.

18 Who Cause a Storm, 嵐を呼ぶ十八人, Arashi o yobu juhachinin Image 1

From Digital Corpus

The sign above a factory entrance combines calligraphic style on the left with a blocky, font-like "24 City" on the right.

24 City, 二十四城记/二十四城記, Er shi si cheng jì Image 1

From Digital Corpus

Foggy skyline view featuring trees and an apartment building under construction. Like the factory in the film, the sign atop the building combines calligraphic style on the left with a blocky, font-like "24 City" on the right.

24 City, 二十四城记/二十四城記, Er shi si cheng jì Image 2

From Digital Corpus

Black titles in black-and-white cinematography superimposed in 5 columns on a bird's eye view close-up of shimmering water. White, calligraphic credits are superimposed on the water.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 1

From Digital Corpus

A rock landing peirces into the foreground, surrounded by water in the midground and hills and sky in the background. A white intertitle is superimposed over this screenscape.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 2

From Digital Corpus

Two women sit on the floor around a short table, with shelves behind them. White calligraphy is painted vertically along the room's entrance frame.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 3

From Digital Corpus

A large white piece of paper fills almost the entire frame, diagonally laid. They are calligraphic practice sheets for calligraphy. Circles over the four characters indicate the teacher's grades.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 4

From Digital Corpus

Empty desks create the foreground. Two people are in the corner of an empty room with one light shining towards them and paper chains draping above them. One person stands behind a podium and the other sits directly in front of the podium. Calligraphy hangs on the wall above them.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 5

From Digital Corpus

The foreground is filled with the backs of elementary school pupils looking at their instructor. The instructor faces them next to a chalkboard. Text is written on the board with chalk. There are calligraphic strips of paper near the ceiling in the background.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 6

From Digital Corpus

Two people greet one another in front of a building with a sign above the entrance that indicates that there is rice for sale, which is piled high in a cart in front of the building. The angle is low, which shows the entire building facade as well as a mountain in the background.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 7

From Digital Corpus

White calligraphic text revealing the Manchurian and China incidents have occured are superimposed over a house and fruit-bearing tree in a field.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 8

From Digital Corpus

A woman sits on a semi-sunny ledge next to a teapot and three cups, and with her are two people standing and overlooking a large body of water with mountains and trees in the far background. There is a sign for an inn between the seated woman and the standing people.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 9

From Digital Corpus

Calligraphic signs over a public street, on which families and other passersby are strolling. In the foreground there is a stack of cans.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 10

From Digital Corpus

Two women sit and one stands, smiling, in a restaurant. They are the only people in view and there are empty tables behind and in front of them. Menu items for this restaurant are tacked on the walls, and a calligraphic noren in white is visible across the street.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 11

From Digital Corpus

Calligraphy is written on a wooden stake outdoors, zoomed in with a mountainous background.

Twenty-Four Eyes, 二十四の瞳, Niju-shi no Hitomi Image 12

From Digital Corpus