CINEJ Cinema Journal
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Symbolic Metaphors of Film Epidemic Narratives: A Comparative Study of Chinese and Foreign Epidemic Disaster Films
Full text linkEpidemic disaster films take epidemics as the core of their narratives and involve a symbolic system with multiple metaphorical meanings. This study focuses on analysing 45 epidemic disaster films from China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the US. It is found that the medical symbols in Chinese and foreign epidemic disaster films that best characterise the epidemic narrative have referential meanings related to three main aspects, namely the occurrence of epidemics, the treatment of epidemics, and the public health system. Their direct and derived meanings provide cognitive information about mass infectious epidemics and methods of treatment and prevention. By integrating medical and non-medical symbols in the films, social and cultural symbols rich in metaphorical meanings are formed. “Tracing the origin of disease” involves a cultural metaphor that goes beyond medicine; “Responding to the crisis” involves a political metaphor of quarantine, rescue, and destruction; and “Rescue from the disaster” involves the human nature related metaphor of dilemma. Comparatively, the medical symbols and metaphors of epidemics in Chinese and foreign epidemic disaster films have more similarities than differences, while the socio-cultural symbols and their metaphors have more differences than similarities
Review of Contemporary Art Cinema Culture in China
Full text linkThis paper reviews the book Contemporary Art Cinema Culture in China by Xiang Fan
Deconstructing Japanese Romance Films through the Lens of Wabi-sabi, Mono no aware, Yūgen, and Kawaii (1990-2010)
No full textThis study takes a close look at Japanese romance films made between 1990 and 2010, examining them through both traditional and modern Japanese aesthetic ideas such as Wabi-sabi, Mono no aware, Yūgen, and Kawaii. By connecting this age-old aesthetics with today\u27s pop culture, the research reveals how these varied principles create a distinctive cinematic language. By analysing films like Love Letter and Sky of Love, this study highlights the dynamic interaction between ancient philosophies and modern storytelling methods, showing how Japanese aesthetics have deepened and evolved in today\u27s cinema. The study offers fresh insights into the cultural and artistic importance of Japanese romance films, providing a deeper understanding of their emotional impact and lasting charm
Queer Cinema and Melodrama: A Perspective from Queer Directors
Full text linkThis article examines the relationship between queer cinema and melodrama through the works of queer directors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Todd Haynes, and Ümit Ünal. It explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, and queer identities, focusing on conflicts between feminist and queer theories. The study examines the historical context, aesthetic elements, and evolution of melodrama in relation to queer cinema. Through case studies and qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and document analysis, the findings reveal how melodrama highlights queer experiences, critiques social norms, and serves as a transformative force in queer cinema
Breaking the Power Dynamics Behind the Scenes of Turkish Cinema: A Head-count Research
Full text linkIn this research, gender representation and equity in the Turkish cinema industry are investigated through a comprehensive analysis of the top 99 films based on ticket sales, utilizing data from Box Office Turkey. Drawing upon Foucault\u27s concepts of power dynamics and discourse, Althusser\u27s notion of ideological state apparatuses, and Laura Mulvey’s concept of the “male gaze,” the research compiles and categorizes the set crews of these films based on roles such as director, producer, and art director. By examining the gender composition of set crews across various departments, the study aims to illuminate patterns of representation and identify areas for improvement in fostering inclusivity and diversity within the Turkish cinema industry. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of gender dynamics in Turkish cinema and provide insights for shaping future policies and initiatives to promote gender equality and equitable opportunities for all genders, aligning with an emphasis on power relations and ideological reproduction within societal institutions. The study comprehensively analyzes the gender imbalance within the Turkish cinema industry and emphasizes the need to address systemic barriers and promote inclusivity to enrich storytelling and contribute to broader social justice and equality efforts
Singin’ in the Cave: Singin’ in the Rain and Hollywood’s Sparkling Shadows
Full text linkThe cinema, the seventh art, offers a reliable representation of reality more than any other art form. However, the cinematic image is created with the mediation of an always present mechanism. In other words, the promise of fulfilling the Aristotelian aspiration for mimesis (imitation of life), can be reached only with the use of artificial machinery. Following that, this article discusses the cinematic medium with the analysis of the film Singin’ in the Rain (Donen & Kelly, 1952) using the writings of Plato, Jean Baudrillard and Christian Metz. It raises insights regarding the dialectics between silent and talking films, the musical as a cinematic genre, the role of sound and music in the cinematic medium, the gap between the image shown on screen and the reality that it wishes to reflect and the significance of the cinema and the influence it has on its viewers
Review of Exposing Vulnerability: Self-Mediation in Scandinavian Films by Women
Full text linkThis review assesses Adriana Margareta Dancus’s Exposing Vulnerability (Intellect, 2019), which argues that first-person filmmaking by Scandinavian women mobilises vulnerability as an aesthetic, ethical, and political force, cultivating spectatorship that oscillates between intimacy and distance. Through close readings of Good Girl, The Reunion, Ida’s Diary, Sami Blood, and Fragility, Dancus links formal strategies—collage, haptic visuality, long takes—to consent, care, and circulation across public spheres. The review credits the book’s careful mapping of self-mediation as public address and its nuanced account of exposure becoming ethical encounter, while noting limits around audience heterogeneity and Scandinavian scope. Overall, it offers a teachable framework for courses on documentary ethics, feminist media, and Nordic cinema
Remembering The Civil War in Today’s Lebanese Cinema
Full text linkIn the aftermath of the civil war, memory and trauma are a prominent thema in Lebanese cinema. This study aims to explore how the civil war is remembered through cinema in contemporary Lebanese cinema, based on an analysis of the films Where Do We Go Now?, Tramontane, The Insult and Memory Box. These films, selected from among the films made in Lebanon after 2010 by Lebanese directors and dealing with the civil war, were analysed through descriptive analysis under the themes of past, identity, trauma and space. The films under scrutiny serve as conduits for the articulation of remembrance, both as a means of confronting past traumas and of reflecting upon the present. The act of remembering the past and confronting traumas is rendered through the medium of personal recollections by the directors, thus creating a narrative of collective memory. When the subject of the civil war is represented in films, it is commonly remembered as “the past in the present”
The Deconstruction of Patriarchal Honor in Turkish Cinema: An Analysis Of Female Characters Resisting Patriarchy Across Three Genres
Full text linkIn Turkish society, as in all patriarchal communities dominated by an honor culture, the concept of honor, while holding different implications for men and women, is largely reduced to the strict control of women’s bodies. This article examines examples of feminist cinema that challenge the stereotypical portrayal of honor in popular Turkish cinema, which mirror the androcentric values of society. The fiction film Mine (1982), the short film Derin Nefes Al (Take a Deep Breath, 2012), and the documentary Bekleyiş (Expecting a Grain of Sand, 2021) were selected through purposive sampling for inclusion in this study. The study employs qualitative content analysis to examine the female protagonists who resist patriarchal honor codes in the selected long fiction, short fiction, and documentary films produced across different periods
Silent Frames of Social Realism: Exploring Economic Disparities, Urban Life, and Ethical Concerns in Pushpak Vimanam
Full text linkThis paper analyses the movie in terms of Realism theory with the particular emphasis on the portrayal of economic variance that existed in India in the early 1980\u27s. Realism in cinema is one of the attempts to show life as it is, without any exaggeration and over dramatization. In addition, Pushpak Vimanam follows this theoretical framework by using a non-verbal narrative to portray concrete societal issues such as unemployment, greed, and interpersonal relationships. The research is on how the lack of dialogue contributes to a higher level of realism through making emotions and conflicts accessible to all, thus breaking language barriers. This study also delves into the visual depth and cinematic liberty to show the contrast between the rich and poor society, culture and life. The cinematic work provides sophisticated social critique by using everyday environments, familiar characters, and silent film techniques that make the movie exciting with its storyline