Chinese Glamour
From Glamour Lives, in Chinese Films (NY Times reg. req'd.):
KS readers will know that I'm a bit of a film buff. This came about as a result of sharing an apartment with a bunch of film majors as an undergraduate. KS readers will also know that I'm no fan of the Red Chinese government. I am, however, a big fan of Chinese culture and of Chinese film. My attraction to the latter came about as a result of seeing Zhang Yimou's Da hong deng long gao gao gua (1991), aka "Raise the Red Lantern," in Buffalo's historic North Park Theatre in the early 1990's. Few films have left a stronger impression on me.
It's good to see that glamour* lives. While it defintely has potential to promote emptiness and vanity, at its best, glamour is a celebration of beauty, class, and culture. As a Catholic, I'm no Puritan Calvinist and beauty does not repulse me.
I don't watch many current Hollywood films these days, but it seems that glamour is dead and buried. The current crop of actors and actresses seems crass and vile, as evidenced by the "clothes" that many of them wear to award ceremonies. They don't realize that not revealing is much more alluring than baring all for the public. A few stand out, though. Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Denzel Washington, and George Clooney are four that come to mind as having something of the old Hollywood in them.
* The word "glamour" has a "Konglish" (English loanwords used incorrectly in Korean) meaning: big-breasted. This is, of course, not what I'm writing about.
From Glamour Lives, in Chinese Films (NY Times reg. req'd.):
From left, Shu Qi, Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li. The actresses have helped restore a sense of glamour to the movie.
ONCE upon a time in Hollywood, the stars shone with a radiant glamour; in Chinese film they still do. In movies from Beijing to Hong Kong, actresses like Zhang Ziyi and actors like Tony Leung Chiu-wai fill the screen with heart-skipping beauty and charm....
These days no one does glamour better than Chinese filmmakers... Much as it was in old Hollywood, glamour in contemporary Chinese film is a device and a disguise, but it's also a luminous end in itself....
American screens are now awash in interchangeable blonds with hungry mouths and empty eyes, but in the 1930's and 1940's movie stars were divine, agleam with enchantment. By the end of the 1950's, glamour was as eroded as the studio system. No-holds-barred rock 'n' roll and foreign-language cinema did their part to kill glamour, as did Dr. Kinsey, by taking the mystery out of sex and leaving less and less to the imagination. By the time Marilyn Monroe laid down her peroxide head for good in 1962, glamour was a goner.
KS readers will know that I'm a bit of a film buff. This came about as a result of sharing an apartment with a bunch of film majors as an undergraduate. KS readers will also know that I'm no fan of the Red Chinese government. I am, however, a big fan of Chinese culture and of Chinese film. My attraction to the latter came about as a result of seeing Zhang Yimou's Da hong deng long gao gao gua (1991), aka "Raise the Red Lantern," in Buffalo's historic North Park Theatre in the early 1990's. Few films have left a stronger impression on me.
It's good to see that glamour* lives. While it defintely has potential to promote emptiness and vanity, at its best, glamour is a celebration of beauty, class, and culture. As a Catholic, I'm no Puritan Calvinist and beauty does not repulse me.
I don't watch many current Hollywood films these days, but it seems that glamour is dead and buried. The current crop of actors and actresses seems crass and vile, as evidenced by the "clothes" that many of them wear to award ceremonies. They don't realize that not revealing is much more alluring than baring all for the public. A few stand out, though. Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Denzel Washington, and George Clooney are four that come to mind as having something of the old Hollywood in them.
* The word "glamour" has a "Konglish" (English loanwords used incorrectly in Korean) meaning: big-breasted. This is, of course, not what I'm writing about.
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
<< Home