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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)

Subject

Resources

After the opening titles, the place and time "Varanaras—1920" are introduced in both the original Bengali and in English transliteration. This is over a screenscape of a river.

Aparajito, অপরাজিত,Aparajito Image 3

From Digital Corpus

In black and white cinematography, a teacher stands in front of a classroom chalkboard with "metonymy" and "synecdoche" written on it in white English. The chalkboard's edges are covered in half-way erased marks leftover from previous writings.

Aparajito, অপরাজিত,Aparajito Image 4

From Digital Corpus

A letter is written in closeup in black Bengali by a pen entering frame at the bottom edge, about holidays and exams. It is accompanied by a white subtitle at the bottom of the frame.

Aparajito, অপরাজিত,Aparajito Image 5

From Digital Corpus

End title written in calligraphic Bengali, using white lettering over a black background.

Aparajito, অপরাজিত,Aparajito Image 6

From Digital Corpus

The brushed title of "Apocalypse Now," white letters on a black background, evokes East Asian calligraphy.

Apocalypse Now, Apocalypse Now Image 1

From Digital Corpus

In black and white cinematography, a close-up of a graphic shows a man's hand holding a knife at the beginning of the film. There is calligraphy on the knife, reading katakana カオ at the end of the shaft. The hand is wearing a ring with the Japanese Imperial Flag.

Appointment in Tokyo, Appointment in Tokyo Image 1

From Digital Corpus

In black and white cinematography, a close-up of a graphic shows a man's hand stabbing the Phillipine Islands on the map at the beginning of the film. There is calligraphy on the knife, reading katakana カオ at the end of the shaft. The hand is wearing a ring with the Japanese Imperial Flag.

Appointment in Tokyo, Appointment in Tokyo Image 2

From Digital Corpus

In black and white cinematography, the title is written in white handwriting in English superimposed over a warship in the Pacific Ocean.

Appointment in Tokyo, Appointment in Tokyo Image 3

From Digital Corpus

In black and white cinematography, the producer's credit is written in a combination of styles in English over a screenscape of a boat on the ocean. One of the styles is modelled on handwriting.

Appointment in Tokyo, Appointment in Tokyo Image 4

From Digital Corpus

Profiles of a criminal are written in multi-colored chalk on an underlit wall next to a series of photographs, including a series of photos of a man burned alive sitting in a chair.

Arang, 아랑,Arang Image 1

From Digital Corpus

Black writing is scribbled on a white, rust-stained wall in pencil, probably by the ghostly victim of the crime.

Arang, 아랑,Arang Image 2

From Digital Corpus

Black calligraphy is painted vertically on white paper. This title calligraphy is written with a curiously light load of ink.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, ある映画監督の生涯溝口健二の記録,Aru eiga-kantoku no shōgai Image 1

From Digital Corpus

Black calligraphy on a wooden sign explaining the history of a temple in Kyoto.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, ある映画監督の生涯溝口健二の記録,Aru eiga-kantoku no shōgai Image 2

From Digital Corpus

Mizoguchi Kenji's gravestone, with his calligraphic name carved into the surface.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, ある映画監督の生涯溝口健二の記録,Aru eiga-kantoku no shōgai Image 3

From Digital Corpus

A piece of paper with writing sits on a black background; the writing is messy, witht the columns overlapping in places. In the tradition of Buddhist disciples capturing the moment of death of their master through calligraphy on the page, the great director Mizoguchi Kenji wrote this on his death bed for his staff: "The chill autumn air has already arrived. I want the pleasure of working with all of you at the studio." On the lower left above the seal it says, "Mizoguchi Kenji's last writing (_zeppitsu_); recorded by Yoda Yoshikata." The seal has the crushed character for 義, the third character in Yoda's name. The writing is nearly illegible, so white typographic characters are superimposed over the image.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, ある映画監督の生涯溝口健二の記録,Aru eiga-kantoku no shōgai Image 4

From Digital Corpus

A piece of paper with writing sits on a black background; the writing is messy, witht the columns overlapping in places. In the tradition of Buddhist disciples capturing the moment of death of their master through calligraphy on the page, the great director Mizoguchi Kenji wrote this on his death bed for his staff: "The chill autumn air has already arrived. I want the pleasure of working with all of you at the studio." On the lower left above the seal it says, "Mizoguchi Kenji's last writing (_zeppitsu_); recorded by Yoda Yoshikata." The seal has the crushed character for 義, the third character in Yoda's name.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, 「ある映画監督の生涯」, Aru eiga kantoku no shogai Image 5

From Digital Corpus

"The End" is painted on white paper with slightly thin ink.

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, ある映画監督の生涯溝口健二の記録,Aru eiga-kantoku no shōgai Image 6

From Digital Corpus

On the far left side of the frame, a yellow neon imitates calligraphic writing. Next to it is a red, typographic credit for director Wong Kar-wai.

As Tears Go By, Wang Jiao ka men Image 1

From Digital Corpus

Wildly written calligraphy is framed on the wall of a billiard's hall where street gangs meet.

As Tears Go By, Wang Jiao ka men Image 2

From Digital Corpus

Highly stylized lettering of the title is superimposed on a close-up of an asphalt tamper. It is in white, block letters with ragged edges.

Asphalt, Image 1

From Digital Corpus