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Brushed in Light: Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema
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.
Figure 2.19. Die Bad (Jukgeona hokeun nabbeugeona, 2000); this poster design, with flourishes mimicking the spitting blood, marks a turning point in Korean title design.
Figure 2.20. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksuneun naui geot, 2002)—the final character’s spike was designed to work against the knife in the film’s poster. Courtesy of CJ.
Figure 2.21. Choi Ji-Woong modeled his calligraphy for Kim Ki-Duk’s Pieta (2012) on a logo for Jane Eyre (1943), which he found on a flyer from his personal collection. Courtesy of Propaganda and Kim Ki-Duk.
Figure 2.23. Rubbing of a stele with calligraphy for “A Poem for General Pei” by Yan Zenqing’s (709–785), one of the most famous calligraphers in history. A designer borrowed the character for “war” (戦; bottom middle) for the logo of Red Cliff 2 (Chi bi Part II: Jue han tian xia, 2009; fig. 2.22). Courtesy of the Taito City Calligraphy Museum.
Figure 2.24. Johnny To’s Drug War (Du zhan, 2012) combines the same Yan Zenqing character for war with the character for “poison” brushed by Yuan Dynasty scholar and calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322; upper left). The animated sequence (clockwise from upper left) shows a blood vessel crystalizing into cocaine and sprinkling into the shape of the film’s title.
Figure 2.25. An animated calligraph (生) by calligrapher Sisyu and Team Labo appears out of the ether, then slowly spins from winter, through spring to summer.
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