Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI: Popular Film, (Musical) Theatre, and TV Drama​ [1st ed.] 9789811572968, 9789811572975

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Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI Popular Film, (Musical) Theatre, and TV Drama Iris H. Tuan

Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI “Iris Tuan’s book is wide ranging in scope and diversity, examining theatre, music, film and television productions from both Western and Asian countries. Tuan also surveys an extensive range of critical and theoretical perspectives, especially from performance studies and popular cultural studies, to offer context for her descriptions of the many different works. Some of her examples are well-known (Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, Disney’s The Lion King) while others little known outside their place of origin (such as the Hakka Theatre of Taiwan)—all are approached by the author with enthusiasm.” —Susan Bennett, Professor of English, University of Calgary, Canada “Tuan takes us through multiple examples of contemporary popular performance in theatre/film/TV ranging from “high” art sources (Shakespeare or Journey to the West in films, Hirata’s robotic theatre experiments) to “low” (Taiwanese TV soap operas Hakka Theatre: Roseki and Story of Yangxi Palace, Korean film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds). The reader moves at a speed-dating pace through contemporary culture production and interpretive theories, encountering significant works, controversies (i.e., yellow face), and conundrums selected from China, Korea, Japan and the U.S. and filtered through a Taiwanese female gaze.” —Kathy Foley, Professor of Theatre Arts, University of California Santa Cruz, USA

Iris H. Tuan

Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI Popular Film, (Musical) Theatre, and TV Drama​

Iris H. Tuan National Chiao Tung University Jhubei, Taiwan

ISBN 978-981-15-7296-8    ISBN 978-981-15-7297-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5 © The Author(s) 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Donald Iain Smith This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-­01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

This monograph is dedicated to my parents Father Tuan Shi-Ge (1924–2004) Mother Yang Shu-Yu (1938–2002)

Acknowledgements

Due to COVID-19, on my Sabbatical, I cannot travel but stay indoors to do research and write this monograph. As the lyrics in the song You Raise Me Up: “When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary,” I have been oppressed 8 years in pain and suffering from 2012 to 2020 by those colleagues who have plagiarism evidences but wrongly sued me with no merits and blocked my way for promotion. Their jealousy and pettiness block my way for awarding as Distinguished Professor or Chair Professor. Their evilness and infringement of my image and reputation caused me to lose a lot of money, time, and priceless damage. Thanks God, I have legally won the lawsuits. “I am still and wait here in the silence,” keeping working hard alone in solitude. Fortunately, in the very last minute, just 6 weeks before the deadline of submitting this monography manuscript, until a little yellow golden bird from heaven, a friend in need is a friend indeed, came and gave me a valuable advice. I feel deeply gratitude toward Distinguished Professor Ta-Sung Lee, Dean in Office of Research and Development at National Chiao Tung University. Thanks to NCTU’s policy of encouraging international academic publication, Dean Lee on behalf of National Chiao Tung University provides me with the research subsidies for international publication of this monograph published by the branch Springer in Singapore. Springer Nature, headquarter of Springer in Singapore, combining Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media, and Nature Publishing Group, is the leading global research, an outstanding educational and professional publisher which also publishes the prestigious journals, such as Nature and Science. Special thanks go to Sara vii

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Crowley-Vigneau, Editor, Connie Li, Editorial Assistant Palgrave Macmillan, Ruby Panigrahi, Coral Zhou, Hua Bai, and Leana Li, the Production Team, Publishing, and everyone else at Springer Nature to make this monograph possible. The approval, recommendation, and suggestions made by readers for Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature of the initial proposal were indeed very helpful. For providing a vital audience for, and first critique of, my ideas, my thanks to all scholars and experts in the theatre, film, visual culture international conferences, journal editors and reviewers, as well as my undergraduate students and my graduate advisee. I appreciate my RA Edison Li’s efficient and excellent assistance from April 15, 2020 to June 30, 2020 in acquiring the images permission request forms, putting my manuscript documents in order in the whole compressed file, and applying for reimbursements. Special thanks to those who help get and agree to give the image permission. I am deeply grateful to the generosity for their offering the images for free, including the famous Asian American playwright David Henry Hwang, Japanese Playwright and Theater Director Oriza Hirata of SEINENDAN Company, DVD Along with the Gods Well Go USA Entertainment, and National Theater and Concert Hall. Thanks to those who kindly allow me to buy the very expensive films and Broadway musical images at the academic rate (though still expensive to cost a lot of money). Thanks also to Director & Producer Yu Zheng and CEO Coco Yang at Huanyu TV Company who agree to give the image permission to benefit cultural interaction. Thanks to Zhu Xinchen and many people who helps contact to get the images of Chinese TV Drama “Story of Yanxi Palace.” I receive the good news when this monograph manuscript (after numerous revisions, polish, and assessment) is going to be moved to production. The COVID-19 Center Big Project (which I participate in, working as a sub-project PI) collaborated by National Chiao Tung University (which is going to be combined with) National Yang-Ming University, aided by Taipei Veterans General Hospital, is passed. I appreciate the project funds sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan. The Project number: 109-2321-B-010-007. However, the international Distinguished Professors and I are still waiting for the positive review of the Summit Project sponsored by MOST. Hope our Summit Project entitled “Transnational Performance Studies in Theater, Film and Literature” can be passed as well. So we can do more and better international project

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

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for several years in the soon future to achieve great research results to educate, entertain and benefit more people in the world. Last but not least, the sustainable support and encouragement from my friends, family and relatives is highly appreciated. Especially, I am grateful for my daughter Angela who has accompanied me to stay up late doing research and writing at nights for so many years. Sometimes, I have to make myself feel better by thinking in an alternative positive way that maybe those bad people’s oppression and obstruction in the past is another way to push me to go forward to continue to make significant progress. Except continuously doing deep research on my fields of theatre performance studies, film studies, and cultural creative industry, I have also learned law, passed, and got the law courses credits certificates. Listening and singing the song You Raise Me Up, I express my gratitude to thank God, Buddha, heaven and all of you, for “you raise me up: To more than I can be.” To be the light of the world!

Contents

1 Introduction: Popular Visual Culture in Film, Theatre and TV Drama  1 Introduction   1 Synopsis of Each Chapter   2 Theories and Methodology   2 Theories of Popular Culture and Visual Culture   2 Works Cited   6 Part I Literature, Film, and Theatre   7 2 Shakespeare and Popular Culture: Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music  9 Shakespeare and Popular Culture   9 Pop Culture and Young Audience   9 Literature Reviews  10 Pop Music  11 Authenticity and Appropriation  12 Shakespeare also as a Methodology  12 Theories of Popular Culture and Cultural Theory  13 Canon, Kitsch, Simulacra, Classics, Representation  13 (1) The Musical Film West Side Story on Race 14

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(2) Film Director Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet (1968) Stars the Teenagers’ Chemistry Cast to Add Freshness 16 (3) Directed Baz Luhrmann’s Film Romeo + Juliet (1996) on Postmodern Spectacles and Hyper-Reality 17 (4) Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013), Classical Juxtaposition with La Pietà, the Sculpture by Michelangelo 23 Comparison and Commentary on Shakespearean Films  26 Shakespeare and Pop Music  26 (5) Taylor Swift’s Pop Music “Love Story” 26 (6) “The Late Late Show with James Corden”: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Emily Blunt 31 Conclusion  32 Works Cited  37 3 Represent Afterlife and Replay Habitus: Performance via Spectacle in the Korean Film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds 41 Introduction: From Hollywood to Korea  41 Background of Korean Films  42 Research Value  42 Cultural Production with Spectacle  43 Adaptation from Webtoon  44 Theoretical Perspective of Pierre Bourdieu’s “Habitus in Every Day”  45 3D Special Effects Represent Visual Spectacle  46 Theory of Guy Debord’s “Spectacle”  47 Pierre Bourdieu’s Theoretical Notion of “Habitus”  48 Mundane Life  49 Seven Trials Shown by Cinematic Special Effects and Extraordinary Visual Effects  49 1st Trial: Kill Anyone?  49 2nd Trial: Make Use of Each Day?  51 3rd Trial: White Lie  53 Spectacles from the 4th Trial: Crime of Violence to the Final Verdict  53 Film Studies: Body in Close Shots  54

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Special Effects by 3D and 4D Film Technology  55 Heteroglossia and Spectacles  56 Conclusion: From Aristotle’s Cave Metaphor to Mimicking Real Life Behaviours via Cinematic Technology  57 Ready Player One  58 Cinematic Effects  58 Audiences’ Response  59 Works Cited  62 4 Myth and Levi-Strauss: Taiwan Musical The Classic of Mountains and Seas & Chinese Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women 65 Introduction  65 Myth by 3D and CGI  66 Adapt Myth to Retheatricalize Theatre and Film  67 Levi-Strauss’ Myth and Meaning  68 Musical Theater Classic of Mountains and Seas  68 Literature Review  70 Creative Design  71 Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women  72 Love Poetry Song with Buddhist Philosophy  74 Film Cinematography  76 Comparison with the Original Novel  77 Theatricalize the Film via Special Effects of Cinematography  78 Conclusion  78 Works Cited  80 Part II Asian American Play, Asian Theatre, and Musical Theater  83 5 Face, Race, and Performance: Arousal by Face and Identity Transformation 85 Introduction  85 Identity and Performance  86 Humanity to Animality via Makeup  86 Face, Race, and Performance  87 (1) Miss Saigon Dispute and Yellow Face 88

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(2) The Lion King, Cats, and War Paint 96 (3) Jekyll & Hyde & So On102 Conclusion 108 Works Cited 111 6 Dance Tango and Sing for Revenge in Chicago and The Visit113 Introduction 113 Chicago: Female Stars Dance and Sing for Revenge 114 The Visit: “Love and Love Alone” 115 Argument and Exploration 116 Chicago: Mocks on Murder 118 The Visit: Grotesque Parable of Revenge 119 Chicago: Vaudeville Show 120 The Visit: A Satire on Justice 122 Literary Reviews and Comments 123 Chicago: From Vaudeville to MTV by Film Editing to Sing Victory 123 Chicago: Dia-Chronicle Dynastic History 124 The Visit: Can Justice Be Got Without Money? 125 Conclusion 127 Works Cited 130 Part III TV Drama, Robot Theatre and AI Films 131 7 Theatre, Performance, and Popular Story of Yanxi Palace133 Theories of Performance Studies, Feminism, and Popular Culture  133 Synopsis: Speak Out in the Popular TV Drama 133 Popular Culture, History, Self-Referentiality 134 Adaptation, not an Authentic History, but a Hyperreal 136 Comparison with Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace 137 Performance of Chinese Beijing Opera and Ritual 138 Practice of Everyday Life in Performance Studies and Cultural Studies 140 Power and Surveillance 141 Popular Music and Catharsis 142 Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure 143 Post-Dramatic Theatre and Self-Reflexivity 144

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Post-Feminism and Pop Culture 144 Conclusion: Popularity in Performance and Popular Culture 146 Works Cited 148 8 Hakka Theatre: Roseki Taipei Singer149 Introduction: Hakka Theater Roseki 149 Play-Within-the-Play 149 Lyuu’s Brief Bio 150 Theories & Post-colonialism 150 The Protagonist Lyuu Heh-Ruo 151 One Actor Plays Multiple Roles 151 Lyuu’s Life and His Literature Works Are Inter-twined 152 Lyuu’s Novels and Short Stories 154 Play-Within-the-Play, Multiple Roles 156 The Other and Abjection 157 Postcolonial Feminism 157 Stage Design of Minimalism 158 Worse Exploitation and Oppression 159 Music, Songs, Stage Design 162 Conclusion 163 Works Cited 164 9 Robot Theatre and AI Films167 Introduction 167 Development of Humannoids in Performance 168 AI Trend and AI Policy 169 Robot Theater Performance: Metamorphosis: Android Version 169 Development of the Geminoids 172 The Theory of Uncanny Valley 173 “Robot Actor Project” 174 Android-Human Theatre 174 Some Robot Performances 175 Three Sisters and the Other Robot Theater Performances 175 Robot Theater Performance Sayonara 177 Human Actors Play the Roles of Robots 179 Humans Accept or Reject AI Robots? 179 AI Robots Films 179 Simulacra, Cloning, Film Comments 186

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Simulacra in AI Robot Films 187 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 190 AI with No Alluring Female Body but Voice 190 Image Synthesis 191 AI Holographic Simulacra 193 Conclusion 194 Works Cited 196 10 Conclusion199 Main Points in Each Chapter 200 Future Research Plan 205 Works Cited 206 Index207

About the Author

Iris H. Tuan  is Professor at National Chiao Tung University, was Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. Among numerous publications, Tuan is the author of Translocal Performance in Asian Theatre and Film and co-­editor of Transnational Performance, Identity, and Mobility in Asia. Tuan was conferred the Ph.D. in Theater from UCLA.

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List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2

Fig. 2.3 Fig. 2.4 Fig. 2.5 Fig. 2.6 Fig. 2.7 Fig. 2.8

Adapting from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story (1961) contains the race conflicts. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) 14 The musical film West Side Story (1961) was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer star in this film. The two protagonists sing the theme song “Tonight.” (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) 15 Romeo and Juliet. Olivia Hussey as Juliet, and Leonard Whiting as Romeo makes the movie a huge hit and becomes a classic. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) 16 Romeo and Juliet (1996) contains with postmodern collage, spectacles and hyper-reality. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest)18 Romeo and Juliet (1996) presents the postmodern spectacles, full of fetished images, carnival vulgarity, and hyper-reality. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest) 19 Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet (1996) playfully converts Juliet into Romeo’s “bright white beautiful angel.” (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest) 20 Romeo and Juliet (1996). Romeo (plays by Leonardo DiCaprio) loves Juliet at the first sight. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest) 21 Romeo and Juliet (1996). Juliet (plays by Claire Danes), an innocent beauty, while she looks, under the male gaze, is also a pleasure to be looked at. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest)22

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Fig. 2.9

Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013) stars Douglas Booth as Romeo and Hailee Steinfeld as Juliet. (Photo: Courtesy of Relativity Media/Photofest) 24 Fig. 2.10 Romeo and Juliet (2013) imbues the classical milieu. (Photo: Courtesy of Relativity Media/Photofest) 25 Fig. 3.1 Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (starring Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-­hyun, Ju Ji-hoon, and Kim Hyang-gi). In the beginning of the film, Director Kim Yong-hwa designs the protagonist as a firefighter who dies for saving a young girl falling from the high building. His soul is welcomed by the two messengers/attorneys from Hell to accompany him to pass through the trials before ascending to Heaven. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) 45 Fig. 3.2 The three messengers/attorneys from Hell accompanies the protagonist to conquer the dangers that they didn’t expect to encounter for the protagonist’s soul is a rare saint. The extraordinary spectacle of the seven-layer judgments and punishments in Hell, such as the big fire everywhere on the Rocky Mountains, is shown in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) 46 Fig. 3.3 The extraordinary spectacle of the seven-layer judgments and punishments in Hell is shown in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. (Photo: Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment) 50 Fig. 4.1 In the scene of the musical Classic of Mountains and Seas, Huangdi and Chiyou had war in the battle of Zhuolu. (Photo: Courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University) 69 Fig. 4.2 The film poster of the Chinese Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (2018). (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) 73 Fig. 5.1 The makeup, animality, and costumes in the musical stage performance Cats. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography)87 Fig. 5.2 Playwright David Henry Hwang (at left) won his third Obie Award in Playwriting& Francis Jue (at right), an American actor and singer, got the acting Obie Award for his role in Yellow Face at the Public Theater (2008) at the Obie. (Photo: Courtesy of Playwright David Henry Hwang) 90 Fig. 5.3 The Asian American actor and the white American actress play to present the issue of race in Yellow Face. (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus. Courtesy of Playwright David Henry Hwang) 92 Fig. 5.4 In the scene, the trio play to show the complexity of face, race, and politics in Yellow Face. (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus. Courtesy of Playwright David Henry Hwang) 95

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Theater Director & Costume Designer Julie Taymor in The Lion King in 1997 the premiere performs visual culture about makeup, masks, and headdresses, combining human acting and animality theatricality in the musical. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 5.6 The stage design and costume design of using the pink and white colors are to show the cosmetics brands of Elizabeth Arden and the cosmetics products of Helena Rubinstein for packaging and marketing by the pink and white colors separately. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography) Fig. 5.7 The noble woman visits her fiancée, Dr. Jekyll, in his lab. His assistant stands on the up left stage on the stairs. Stage design with the stairs to present the two floors and the top roof (with the two musicians playing the live music) vertically to show the three performing space. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall) Fig. 5.8 Actress Yuka plays the role of Dr. Jekyll’s fiancée and Actor Takashi Fujii plays the role of Mr. Hyde in Jekyll & Hyde & So On. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall) Fig. 5.9 With sexual arousal, the actress uses the special makeup, including the black dark patches under her eyes, the black necklace and the costume for performing to show the exaggerative animal sexual instinct inhibited by the social morality and the noble aristocracy high-class norm. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall) Fig. 5.10 After the arousal of the magic portion and brainwash, the actress (who sits on the comic actor who plays the role of Mr. Hyde) transforms from the timid noble lady into the wild girl taking the active aggression with strong sexual arousal. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, ZhenZhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall) Fig. 5.11 The Japanese director particularly designs to let the actress and the actor add the dialogue “fried bread stick” (油條) in Chinese pronunciation customized for the local audience members in Taiwan. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall) Fig. 6.1 Chita Rivera, Broadway musical star, in The Visit (2015), plays the role of Claire Zachanassian, one of the world’s wealthiest women. Claire, a superrich widow, sings with her Eunuch

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Fig. 7.1 Fig. 7.2 Fig. 7.3 Fig. 7.4

Fig. 7.5 Fig. 7.6

Fig. 7.7

servants. Including the song “Eunuch’s Testimony,” she expresses her purpose of the visit, that is, in exchange for rescuing the poor town people’s bankruptcy from financial calamity, she asks for the life of Anton Shell. Because Anton betrayed her while she was young and pregnant with his child, but he abandoned her to marry another woman. So she sings the song “Winter” for revenge. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography) 115 In Cabaret, Composer John Kander and Lyrist Fred Ebb by the metaphor of the nightclub comment on the politics and also chide the Nazi’s controlling of the legal system, the media, and entertainment show business in ferocious political developments in Germany in the late Weimar Republic period. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography) 120 DVD cover of Chicago (starring Renee Zelwegger, Cetherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere). The success of Chicago’s resurrection of the film Musical also makes a lot of money in DVD product market. (Photo: Courtesy of Books.com.tw. Product Info: https://www.books.com.tw/products/ D020038242)123 The main characters in the popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 134 Imperial Consort Gao in red costume symbolizes her high position when she is so adored by the Emperor. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 135 (Left) The protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s photo in the TV drama and the painting of Imperial Honored Consort Ling in the history (Right). (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 136 In this TV drama, Imperial Consort Gao performs Chinese Beijing Opera several times to express the stylization, performing arts of singing and dancing. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 138 The Shaman’s ritual dance expresses the origin of theater performance is ritual. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 139 Wei uses the traditional myth to let the 1st Empress wear the costumes she made, in aid to the makeup, and hairdo, and perform the Goddess of Lou River dance to attract the Emperor’s attention. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 140 Wei, Yin-Luo walks by Fucha Fuhen, the man who breaks her heart and then she moves on, without looking at the man, to go toward her future on her own with resolution and perseverance. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) 143

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The success of Story of Yanxi Palace creates the color fashion. Wei dresses in pink as a young maid in the palace in the beginning, which is in comparison with the 2nd Empress’ dressing in dark blue. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) Fig. 7.9 The female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s different costumes colors. “This Chinese TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace is acclaimed for its costumes design in High-End Gray Color” (莫蘭迪色). (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) Fig. 7.10 Wei has her unique way to get noticed by the Emperor and quickly climbs up the social class ladder to be promoted higher first as imperial concubine, and eventually imperial Honored Consort Ling wearing in the colors symbolizing high position. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV) Fig. 8.1 The protagonist Lyuu, Heh-Ruo (played by Actress Mo, Tzu- Yi) performs German and Italian opera singing as a vocalist Tenor in Zhong Xian Hall in Taipei. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 8.2 The protagonist Lyuu, Heh-Ruo and his wife Lin (played by Supporting Actress Yang, Shiao-Li). (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 8.3 Lyuu and his mistress Su (played by Lead Actress Huang Peijia) are on bed. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 8.4 Due to the shortage of the budget, Director Lo Lou, Yi-An and Stage Team Crew use simple stage and props to show the characters’ hard working in the rice field to grow crops on the stage. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 8.5 American planes throw bombs on Taiwan under Japanese colonialization to try to defeat Japan during World War II. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 8.6 Episode 10 shows the young Taiwanese doctor’s helplessness while drinking in the disturb era of turbulent unsettlement under Japanese colonialization. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 8.7 Actor Mo, Tzu- Yi in the role of Lyuu Heh-Ruo plays the piano. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council) Fig. 9.1 2015 Taipei Arts Festival. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama) Fig. 9.2 The cast (the European actor and actresses and the Japanese robot) stands with the stage design added by the lighting design. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University

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Fig. 7.8

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Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama) Fig. 9.3 The European actor who plays the role of Gregor’s father) reads the newspaper to his robot son at the beginning of finding his son’s strange situation. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama) Fig. 9.4 The European actress (who plays the sister role) accompanies her robot brother who is lying on the bed, unable of moving. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama) Fig. 9.5 The cast actors and the female Geminoids on the wheelchair. 2013 Taipei Arts Festival. Three Sisters (2012, Taipei: Wellspring Theater) (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Tsukasa Aoki) Fig. 9.6 Three Sisters, including the youngest one who is replaced by the female robot Geminoid F sitting on the wheelchair. 2013 Taipei Arts Festival. Three Sisters (2012, Taipei: Wellspring Theater) (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Tsukasa Aoki) Fig. 9.7 Not just the nine actors have to match with the Geminoid F to perform on stage, but also another robot, Wakamaru Robovie-R3, often move from here to there on the stage to participate in Three Sisters directed by Oriza Hirada. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Tsukasa Aoki) Fig. 9.8 The film poster of Artificial Intelligence. (2001) The AI robot boy eagers to acquire the adopted human mother’s love, yet in vain. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.9 The film poster of The Terminator (1984). Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the character of the Terminator, a cyborg assassin who was sent back from 2029 in the future to 1984 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.10 In The Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), the AI robot killing machine role (which Schwarzenegger plays) changes to be a hero from the future to save and protect 10-year-old John Connor at that time and his mother. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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Fig. 9.11 Director Tim Miller’s The Terminator 6: Dark Fate (2019), a direct sequel to be included in the franchise, reunites the actors after 28 years, including starring Linda Hamilton returning in the role of Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising the role as a T-800 Terminator yet now aging. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.12 Bicentennial Man (1999) presents the nice AI robot housekeeper Andrew with creativity and craftsmanship would rather become a real man than have immortality. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.13 Nicole Kidman stars The Stepford Wives (2004) to expose the secret of the men’s club in the small town in the film. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.14 In Ex-Machina (2014), Eva, the female advanced humanoid AI robot, is Turing tested by the program engineer to evaluate her (its) human qualities. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.15 In the film Her (2013), the man can even loves the AI virtual female voice who does not have a female sexy body. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.16 In the Simone (2002), the fans in the world are infatuated madly with the charms of the unreal false image synthesis. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.17 The beautiful woman in Simone (2002) actually does not exist, but is created by the director by the marvelous computer program to be presented by the holography. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.) Fig. 9.18 Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is the sequel of Blade Runner (1982). Blade Runner 2049 (2017) stars Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling. The director is Denis Villeneuve, and the producer is Ridley Scott. The AI replicant blade runner (stars by Ryan Gosling) loves the fictional holographic simulacra. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Popular Visual Culture in Film, Theatre and TV Drama

Introduction Facing the pandemic thread of COVID-19 in 2020, most people in the world nowadays since March are asked by their governments to stay at home being locked down. How do people, while trying to survive, keep healthy and safe, find something meaningful to do, and make progress without feeling bored to death? Without the burden and pressure of the sophisticated advanced scholarly complex theories in the higher education, more and more people choose to enjoy Shakespeare, history, religion, literature and philosophy through seeing films, theater performances, and TV drama. This interdisciplinary monograph, walking out from the academic Ivory Tower, leads you to the fascinating and intriguing world of popular film, (musical) theatre, and TV Drama. This interdisciplinary, well-crafted monograph leads you to the fascinating and intriguing world of popular film, (musical) theatre, and TV Drama. This monograph is in the international field of Performance Studies and Film Studies, in arenas ranging from theatre, film, literature, TV drama, and AI, to theories of culture, humanities and media, inspiring the readers to know the scholarly exchange between the East and the West and bring the populace critical thought. Each chapter contains its issues, and all connects with the common thematic vein of performance practice in life represented via theatre and films. You’ll find contemporary and classical literature works, Eastern and Western, adapted, represented and

© The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_1

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transformed into interesting artistic media in films, performances, TV dramas, musicals, Robot theatre and AI films.

Synopsis of Each Chapter Featuring examples as well as the insightful perspectives, you will be enriched with the useful theoretical knowledge in Chap. 1 of the methodology and theories of Popular Culture, Visual Culture, Shakespearean research, Performance Studies, Feminism, and Film Studies. Chapter 2 entices you to compare the famous films adapted from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Chapter 3 lets you enjoy the spectacles of the Korean film Along with the Gods. Chapter 4 applies Anthropology (Myth and Levi-­Strauss) within the mythological structure to interpreting the original musical in Taiwan and the Chinese film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women. Chapter 5 explores the arousal by face and identity transformation in the analysis of Miss Saigon dispute and the five cases, including Asian American play Yellow Face, the musicals Cats, The Lion King, War Paint, and the Japanese stage performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On (2018) staged in TIFA in Taiwan. In Chap. 6, let’s see the sexy cast dance Tango and women sing for revenge in the musical film Chicago and the musical The Visit. Chapter 7 attracts you to watch the popular Chinese TV Drama to understand how to struggle to fight to win in the end as the heroine Wei, Yin-Lo in Story of Yanxi Palace (2018). Chapter 8 examines the colonial and postcolonial history via Taiwan Hakka Theatre: Roseki TV Drama. Chapter 9 comments on Japanese Director Oriza Hirata’s two robot theatre performances (produced by Seinendan Theater Company collaborated with Japanese Professor Hirosi Ishiguro whose expertise in Robotics at Osaka University) and the eleven popular AI films. Chapter 10 makes a conclusion to illustrate the international appeal of popular visual culture in film, TV drama, and theatre manifested by human and AI.

Theories and Methodology Theories of Popular Culture and Visual Culture For the academia theory lovers, this monograph also provides you with plentiful theories and criticisms as methodology for you to get addicted to it. “Performing Shakespeare in Digital Culture” as W. B. Worthen indicates in the chapter of the book Shakespeare and Popular Culture edited by Robert Shaughnessy:

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“Not only is our access to Shakespearean mediated by digital technology (even in live performance, where computers operate most theatre systems), our imagination of Shakespearean drama is shaped by the forms and moods of digital culture: the “penny dreadfuls” of Julie Taymor’s Titus, Ethan Hawke’s editing and re-editing of his pixelated experience in Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet, the animated clouds in the storm scene of Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, to say nothing of the thoroughgoing impact of digital editing in all three films” (2007: 228).

Not just Shakespearean drama is mediated by digital technology to be imagined, but also performing arts knowledge and history can be absorbed via theater, films and TV drama, especially manifested in popular culture. This monograph applies the theories of Popular Culture, Performance Studies, Film Studies, Shakespearean Research, Visual Culture, Modern Culture, Media Studies as methodologies to exploring Miss Saigon Disputes and the total 31 cases. There are 10 chapters arranged in the three parts in this monograph—Part I Literature, Film, and Theatre, Part II Asian American Play, Asian Theatre, and Musical Theater, and Part III TV Drama, Robot Theatre and AI Films. In Chap. 2 Shakespeare and Popular Culture: Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music Shakespeare’s drama Romeo and Juliet is represented in the popular modern and postmodern four films and the adaptation lyrics is heard in the pop songs two music cases in Chap. 2. In Chap. 2, applying the ideas of Raymond Williams’ book article “The Analysis of Culture,” Angela McRobbie’s book Postmodernism and Popular Culture, Marjorie Garber’s book Shakespeare and Modern Culture, Douglas Lanier’s Shakespeare & Modern Popular Culture, Julie Sanders’ Shakespeare and Music, etc. to interpreting Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet in the popular four films, Taylor Swift’s MV song “Love Story,” and The “Late Show with James Corden” performing the soundtrack with Emily Blunt. In Chap. 3 Represent Afterlife and Replay Habitus: Performance via Spectacle in the Korean Film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds Theories of Guy Debord. The Spectacle of the Society, Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “habitus” in “Structures and the Habitus” in Outline of a Theory of Practice, Suk-Young Kim’s Illusive Utopia about public spectacle, film, and visual media in the Korean context, Ju Yon Kim’s concept of “everyday mundane” in The Racial Mundane, etc. are applied to interpreting this Korean film on the theme of spectacle and habitus. In Chap. 4 Myth and Levi-Strauss: Taiwan Musical Classic of Mountains and Seas & Chinese Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women

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Claude Lévi-Strauss’ discourse on the aboriginal’s primitive way of life and the related myth thinking logic in Myth and Meaning are applied to the interpretation of Film Director Soi Cheang’s film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (2018) and Theater Director Liang, Chi-Ming’s musical The Classic of Mountains and Seas (2017). The latter is inspired from the Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian’s the same title novel The Classic of Mountains and Seas. In Chap. 5 Face, Race, and Performance: Arousal by Face and Identity Transformation This chapter is complex to cover the 3 areas, 6 topics. 1. Miss Saigon Dispute and Yellow Face 2. The Lion King, Cats, and War Paint 3. Jekyll & Hyde & So On I argue that makeup breaks the liminal space to link from the real performers’ face to show the identity in Yellow Face and make the animals life alive and vivid in Cats by makeup and The Lion King by masks with theatricality. Supporting literature reviews and the related theoretical ideas in face makeup as Hana Worthen indicates that “(t)racing the posthuman turn in the humanities” (2018: 187) in the book review Performing Animality: Animals in Performance Practices. Moreover, Jennifer Parker-­ Starbuck’s analysis of taxidermy as “the liminal space between the animal’s life and death” (2015: 151) also shits from “theatrical” to “performative taxidermy” (2018: 186). In Asia, Jekyll & Hyde & So On, Japanese Director Koki Mitani and his Japanese cast successfully transform the western tragic thrill novel to be a comedy stage intercultural performance. I argue that face makeup can show the arousal and identity transformation. The chapter on Jekyll & Hyde in Daphne Brooks’s Bodies in Dissent, and Mel Chen’s Animacies can be referenced. Mansfield’s Hyde evokes the dark deviant, freak, grotesque body is corporeal deformity contorted into animality. However, Jekyll & Hyde & So On is bizarre and hilarious by way of makeup to have the identity transformation. In Chap. 6 Dance Tango and Sing for Revenge in Chicago and The Visit This chapter examines the musical film Chicago (2002, Miramax Motion Picture) and the musical The Visit (2015), collaboratively done by Composer John Kander and Lyrist Fred Ebb. In Chicago, after the women committing homicide of the men for their lies, cheating and betrayals, the

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women ask for not guilty, expressed by the sexy Tango dance song “Cell Block Tango.” In The Visit, the song “I Would Never Leave You & One Legged Tango” sung and danced by the character Chaire Zachanassian’s entourage, her Butler and two Eunuchs and danced together by Claire also shows the same spirit of female revenge. As Michael Foucault’s The History of Sexuality points out pleasure and power, K&E’s marvelous melodic musicals Chicago and The Visit use unconventional controversial themes to represent anti-heroic femmes fatales and women avengers. They have the ability in undermining the superficial law and fake order. All of these express American society’s and the public’s attitude change from morality and conservatism in the 1970s to worship celebrity and fortune since 1990s up to the present. Concerning of TV Drama, in Chap. 7 Theatre, Performance, and Popular Story of Yanxi Palace and Chap. 8 Taiwan Hakka Theatre: Roseki TV Drama, the concept of Christine Geraghty’s book chapter “Soap Opera and Utopia” provides the lens for exploring the hit popular TV Chinese soap opera Story of Yanxi Palace (70 episodes, 2018) and Taiwan Hakka Theatre: Roseki TV Drama (14 episodes, 2018). Although Utopia imagination from the rural to urban, from the past to the present, is similar yet changing. By the training of Feminism, you can see the influence of Feminism on interpreting and doing critique on these cases. For example, the female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s candid and brave (post)feminist fighting spirit in Story of Yanxi Palace. In Hakka Theatre Roseki, the Hakka women’s piteous marginal situation of “The Other” and “the abject” is scrutinized in the perspective of Post-colonial feminism. Julia Kristeva’s Psychoanalysis and Feminist theory of “abjection,” Hakka women are “abjected” by the ethnicity discrimination as “The Other.” Taiwanese people are oppressed by politics under colonialization and post-colonialization. In the perspective of Performance Studies, (Post)-Feminism, and Popular Culture, Chap. 7 employs the popular Chinese TV drama soap opera Story of Yanxi Palace to explore Chinese Beijing opera and ritual dance. Theoretical ideas also include Angela McRobbie’s book Postmodernism and Popular Culture, and so on. The two TV drama adaptations are both compared with historical documents. Jean Baudrillard’s article “The Precession of Simulacra,” Michel de Certeau’s book chapter “The Practice of Everyday Life,” and Ien Ang’s “Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure” also offer the insights in the politics of popular culture. Besides, in Chap. 8 Hakka Theatre: Roseki TV Drama, Homi Bhabha’s post-colonial theory is suitable to be applied to interpreting Taiwanese

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Writer Lyuu’s daily lives and literature works under Japanese colonization in the 1940s and Chinese General Chen-Yi’s corruption rule in Taiwan from 1945 to 1950, especially the controversy 228 Event in 1947. Lyuu, with the intellectual’s political ideal of trying to improve Taiwanese poor people’s lives in the society under Japanese colonialization, World War II, and Chinese Chen Yi government’s corruption, he attended the revolution to be a victim of Luku Incident1 in 1951. All of these can see the ambiguity of national identity and the difficulty of Taiwan’s political situation. In Chap. 9 on Robot Theater and AI Films, there are the 2 robot theater and the 11 fantastic popular films interpreted by theories. For instance, the theory of “Simulation” and “Simulacra” in Jean Baudrillard’s article “The Precession of Simulacra” is applied for elaboration the case studies. Moreover, Michel de Certeau’s book chapter “The Practice of Everyday Life,” and “Theory of Uncanny Valley,” and many scholars’ theories and related concepts offer the insights for probing into the fascinating films, theaters, and TV drama in this monograph. Chapter 10 draws the conclusion. Hope you, my dear readers, enjoy reading this monograph, including the valuable 65 images (of the films, musicals, theatre performances, TV drama programs) all in color. Let’s start the reading journey together.

Notes 1. On Dec. 28th, 1952, in the largest political event in Taiwan during the White Terror Era, while trying to remove the communists, in the Luku village of Shiding District, hundreds of innocent people were arrested, and many people were falsely imprisoned and executed.

Works Cited Parker-Starbuck, J. 2015. Animal Pasts and Presents: Taxidermied Time Travellers. Performing Animality: Animals in Performance Practices. Ed./Lourdes Orozco. Palgrave Macmillan, 150–167. Worthen, H. 2018. Book Review “Performing Animality: Animals in Performance Practices.” In Theatre Topics, ed. Lourdes Orozco and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, 28 (2): 186–187. Worthen, W.B. 2007. Performing Shakespeare in Digital Culture. In Shakespeare and Popular Culture, ed. Robert Shaughnessy. New  York: Cambridge University Press.

PART I

Literature, Film, and Theatre

CHAPTER 2

Shakespeare and Popular Culture: Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music

Shakespeare and Popular Culture Shakespeareans also follow cultural critics by replacing the term “mass culture” with “popular culture” (Williams 1976; Hebidge 1979; Ross 1989; Strinati 1995; Penley 1991; Frecerro 1999) as Richard Burt in his edited book Introduction “To E or Not to E? Disposing Schlockspeare in the Age of Digital Media” mentions (2002:3). Therefore, the importance of Shakespeare and popular culture is necessary for us to scrutinize. As Angela McRobbie’s book Postmodernism and Popular Culture argues the importance and the need for feminists to ask questions concerning of the significance of theory of Feminism in a postmodern society. Her book “engages with post-modernity as a space for social change and political transformation.” McRobbie assesses the contribution of Susan Sontag, Walter Benjamin, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and examines the youth, media, postmodernity and popular culture.

Pop Culture and Young Audience Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel in the book article “The Young Audience” notice the growth of the media and the change in the ‘teenage’ adolescent attitudes. They ask us to pay attention to the popular entertainment for young people, and deal with the “complex interaction between the attitudes of the young and what is provided for their consumption—by the world of commercial entertainments” (Ed. John Storey 2009:45). Thus, © The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_2

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it is suitable for this chapter to explore Shakespeare and Popular Culture, giving the six examples of the four films and the two pop music adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, the legendary story of star-crossed teen lovers. (1) Film Director Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ musical film West Side Story (1961) transforms the background to be on ethnic immigrants’ racial struggle in America in the 1960s. (2) Director Franco Zeffirelli’s film Romeo & Juliet (1968) starring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, the teenagers’ natural chemistry adds freshness to Shakespeare’s tragedy. (3) Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) is on spectacle and hyper-reality. (4) Italian Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013) comparatively new film has a classic aroma. Moreover, (5) Taylor Swift’s MV song “Love Story” modernizes Shakespeare by pop music. Furthermore, (6) the “Late Late Show with James Corden” performing the soundtrack with Emily Blunt, covering 14 songs, 7 sets, one take, is humorous and interesting. In addition, in the Notes giving the lyrics of the 20 pop songs related to Romeo & Juliet have contemporary meanings. This monograph chapter explores the significance of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet adapted and represented in the films and pop music. Why should we change our attention from Shakespeare’s sixteenth century plays to the connection between Shakespeare and popular culture? First, we live nowadays in the twenty-first century and enjoy the pop music in the era with popular culture. Secondly, we make research on liveness of theater performance studies and film studies, and also concern about the populace (young) people’s popular interests. Thirdly, films and performing arts, such as pop music and photography, have already broken the boundary between the leisure entertainment and the academic scholarship. Thus, we see the importance of doing Shakespeare research in the area of popular culture.

Literature Reviews As Shakespeare is omnipresent in popular culture; for example, films, pop music, musicals, television, advertisements, radio, fiction, comic books, children’s books, toys, computer games, stage performances, etc., it is important for us to explore Shakespearean adaptation or allusion in popular culture. Before commenting on the five cases of the four films and Taylor Swift’s pop song “Love Story”, this chapter addresses some relevant works in the field, such as Douglas Lanier’s book

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Shakespeare & Modern Popular Culture, Marjorie Garber’s book Shakespeare and Modern Culture, Adam Hansen’s book Shakespeare and Popular Music, and the other Shakespearean scholars’ journal papers about Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet and the related issues. Lanier in Shakespeare & Modern Popular Culture argues that “what is often dismissed as Shakespearian kitsch ought to be taken seriously as an object of study” (2002:3). According to Lanier, It’s obvious that Shakespeare is everywhere in popular culture. Movies, television, radio, pulp fiction, musicals, pop music, children’s books, advertisements, comic books, toys, computer games, pornography: nearly every imaginable category of contemporary pop culture features examples of Shakespearian allusion or adaptation. (2002:3).

Lanier’s argument strengthens the point of this chapter on exploring Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet represented in film and pop music. Moreover, Marjorie Garber in the Department of English at Harvard University in her book chapter “Romeo and Juliet: The Untimeliness of Youth” in Shakespeare and Modern Culture begins with discussion the film Shakespeare in Love (screenplay writers: Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard). It connects Shakespeare’s secret muse who inspires him with writing Juliet’s speech in the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet: “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep” (2.1.175–76), and later the nightingale-and-lark aubade (Act 3, Scene 5). But Garber wonders “perhaps of more central interest, in the interactions between Shakespeare and modern culture, is the question of how “Romeo and Juliet” became the unquestioned modern cultural shorthand for romantic love” (2009:35). This can make us think about the theme of romantic love in the films and the pop song lyrics in pop music echoing later in this chapter in the aspect of popular culture.

Pop Music In terms of pop music, Adam Hansen in Shakespeare and Popular Music covers the types of popular music, from Hip-Hop, Jazz, Country, Folk and the mainstream pop. Hansen analyzes the pop song lyrics in the 1960s and compares the Beatles and the Bard, acknowledging the work of Douglas Lanier, Wes Folkerth and Stephen Buhler. Hansen makes use of David Lindley’ work on ballads and Bruce Smith’s notions of “acoustic

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landscapes” in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and also deploys Theodor Adorno’s concept of “fragmentation and repetition” to the characteristics of pop music.

Authenticity and Appropriation Representing Shakespeare by adaptation, and considering the questions of authenticity and appropriation are the contemporary trends. Balz Engler in the journal article “On Gottfried Keller’s A Village Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare Adaptation in General” published by Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation acknowledges the notions of adaptation by the works of Linda Hutcheon (2006), Hutcheon and O’Flynn (2013), Julie Sanders (2005), Alexa Huang and Elizabeth Rivlin (2014). Daniel Fischlin’s “A Note on Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet” (2007) indicates that both Shakespeare and Keller “draw on a shared myth” and their versions contain “all kinds of artifacts” (2008:1). Moreover, Peter Holland indicates in the book chapter “Shakespeare Abbreviated” in Shakespeare and Popular Culture edited by Robert Shaughnessy, “The Animated Tales seek to present Shakespeare, to educate their audience into an appreciation and love of Shakespeare, out of a conviction of Shakespeare as a cultural artifact available to all, not restricted to a narrowly defined social or educated class nor to a narrowly defined form of performance” (2007:44). This chapter also supports representing or adapting or even appropriating Shakespeare by films and pop music in popular culture to make Shakespeare popular for all.

Shakespeare also as a Methodology We can take Shakespeare not merely as a topic, but also as a methodology. Alexa Huang (Alexa Alice Joubin) in the journal article “Global Shakespeare as Methodology” published by Shakespeare: Journal of the British Shakespeare Association suggests that seeing global Shakespeare as a methodology “rather than appendages of colonialism, as political rhetoric, or as centerpieces in a display of exotic cultures” (2013:273). Performing global Shakespeare through films, stage performances, festivals, I think, also aided by pop music, can make cultural fluidity to travel from the native habitat to transcend the limitation.

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Theories of Popular Culture and Cultural Theory Before exploring Shakespeare and popular culture, let us understand what is culture and popular culture. Giving the three categories in the definition of culture, first, the ‘ideal,’ second, the ‘documentary,’, third, the ‘social,’ explaining by the example of the play Antigone written by Sophocles, Raymond Williams in the book article “The Analysis of Culture” in the book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader (edited by John Storey) analyzes culture. Borrowing William’s analysis of culture, I think that one of the reasons of connecting Shakespeare with popular culture (or called pop culture) is that, even the traditional culture of a society, as William said, “always tend to correspond to its contemporary system of interests and values” (2009:39). Thus, with the crisis of young college students’ ignorance of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry, facing the tradition of Shakespearean research, we need to change to correspond to contemporary readers’ popular interests and interpret Shakespeare’s plays according to the values nowadays in the rise of popular culture. Popular culture or mass culture, used interchangeably, the former, culture “made by the people,” and the latter, culture “imposed on the people.” Richard Halpern defines mass culture as “a set of global conditions reorganizing the totality of cultural production and consumption in modern culture rather than a specific class culture” (1997:54). I think that Halpern means historically accumulated massification reorganizes different class cultures. Therefore, Shakespeare’s plays exemplified Romeo and Juliet can be represented by popular culture for the mass in different classes to be more accessible, easier, and popular.

Canon, Kitsch, Simulacra, Classics, Representation In Shakespearean studies, Richard Burt’s edited book Shakespeare After Mass Media argues that Shakespeare in mass media, especially film, video and television, is the “hottest, fastest growth research agenda” (2016 Book Introduction). Film, pop music video and TV drama opera are in the category of the “cultural industry” as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer in ideologies critiques called (1972, 2002) or the “creative industry” or the “cultural creative industry” as other scholars call nowadays in England, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.  Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

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Within the six examples above, the chapter mainly interprets the three examples: (1) Film Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (starred by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes), (2) Italian Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013), and (3) pop music in Taylor Swift’s music video “Love Story.” I argue that Shakespeare needs popular cultural elements to innovate and attract contemporary audiences. (1) The Musical Film West Side Story on Race Director Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story (1961) is a successful musical film inspired from Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. This musical film transforms the background to be on ethnic immigrants’ racial struggle, a gang rivalry of street teenagers between the Jets (the white gang) vs. the Sharks (consisted of Puerto Rico immigrants) in New York City in America in the 1960s (Fig. 2.1). The musical film with the book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and music by Leonard Bernstein. In West Side Story, the

Fig. 2.1  Adapting from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story (1961) contains the race conflicts. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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musical film changes the protagonists’ names in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to be Tony and Maria, and adds the issues on race, teenager struggle, immigration problems, and cultural shock. In the famous balcony scene, the New York musical adaptation did a bravo theme song “Tonight” (published in 1956), a duet sung by Tony and Maria (Fig.  2.2). The music is composed and written by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The lyrics, such as “see you”, are realistic, in physical action, they touch each other. In light design, with dim streetlight, to show love via music with the 1960s style music. Stephen M.  Buhler’s book article “Reviving Juliet, Repackaging Romeo: Transformations of Character in Pop and Post-Pop Music” in the book Shakespeare After Mass Media examines the musical film West Side Story. Buhler indicates that this film presents the identification with youth and the subculture attributes “through music” (2002:243). Therefore, we can feel the young lover’s love through music and understand the importance of choosing the title leads.

Fig. 2.2  The musical film West Side Story (1961) was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer star in this film. The two protagonists sing the theme song “Tonight.” (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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(2) Film Director Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet (1968) Stars the Teenagers’ Chemistry Cast to Add Freshness Director Franco Zeffirelli’s awesome enthusiastic engaging in a worldwide search for the suitable teenage actors to play the two title roles and great choice of Olivia Hussey (16  years old) as Juliet, and Leonard Whiting (17 years old) as Romeo at that time, makes the movie a huge hit with young viewers. Beautiful Hussey and Handsome Whiting’s natural chemistry adds charming freshness to Shakespeare’s sad and tragic love story (Fig.  2.3). Director Franco Zeffirelli is smart to hide the two teenager actors’ weakness by trimming Shakespeare’s long speech lines, and show their strength by emphasizing reaction shots. Even Rotten Tomatoes gave good positive reviews including “the solid leads” and “the arresting visuals” make Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet “the definitive cinematic adaptation of the play.” In the YouTube, this music video put the important moments in the scenes from Romeo and Juliet (1968) with the song “What is a Youth.”1 The impact of Film Director Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968) film

Fig. 2.3  Romeo and Juliet. Olivia Hussey as Juliet, and Leonard Whiting as Romeo makes the movie a huge hit and becomes a classic. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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version is so influential in the popular culture, not only in films and pop music, but also in comic books and Manga. D. Lanier in the journal paper “Recent Shakespeare Adaptation and the Mutations of Cultural Capital” (2010) in Shakespeare Studies finds Igarashi Yluniko’s Manga Classics Romeo and Juliet from UDON Entertainment is indebted to Film Director Zeffirelli’s film in terms of costume and setting. (3) Directed Baz Luhrmann’s Film Romeo + Juliet (1996) on Postmodern Spectacles and Hyper-Reality Though most viewers feel Film Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet postmodern version audacious (Lehmann 2001:189; Welsh 1997:152), Luhrmann’s adaptation can fully reflect Shakespeare in popular culture epitomized in film as a cultural product in the Age of Media (Fig. 2.4). As Peter S. Donaldson’s book article “‘In Fair Verona’: Media, Spectacle, and Performance in William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet” discusses mass media, advertising, religious and queer kitsch, and finds Film Director Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation version as Shakespeare’s play converged in the Age of Media. Donaldson reads Verona filmed by Luhrmann as surreal, the boundary between the events and their replications are interrelated in the ubiquitous media as Guy Debord called the regime of “the Spectacle” where fetished images replace reality, and other theorists call hyper-reality (Burt 2002:9) (Fig. 2.5).  ostmodern Culture by Digital Technology P No doubt, Baz Luhrmann’s film William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) contains postmodern2 culture by digital technology. Just as W. B. Worthen also indicates in the book article “Performing Shakespeare in Digital Culture” that: Not only is our access to Shakespearean drama mediated by digital technology (even in live performance, where computers operate most theatre systems), our imagination of Shakespearean drama is shaped by the forms and moods of digital culture: the “penny dreadfuls” of Julie Taymor’s Titus, Ethan Hawke’s editing and re-editing of his pixelated experience in Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet, the animated clouds in the storm scene of Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, to say nothing of the thoroughgoing impact of digital editing in all three films (2007:228).

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Fig. 2.4  Romeo and Juliet (1996) contains with postmodern collage, spectacles and hyper-reality. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest)

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Fig. 2.5  Romeo and Juliet (1996) presents the postmodern spectacles, full of fetished images, carnival vulgarity, and hyper-reality. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest)

The cinematography of Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet imbues the film with the tempestuous storm, eye-catching, and postmodern collage and pastiche. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet represents Shakespeare by digital technology in digital culture. Although many viewers enjoy seeing the 1996 movie by Director Baz Luhrmann’s visual gorgeous yet radical script adaptation version, C.  Lehmann in the journal paper “Strictly Shakespeare? Dead Letters, Ghostly Fathers, and the Cultural Pathology of Authorship in Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo +Juliet” in Shakespeare Quarterly comments that Film Director Baz Luhrmann’s camera “fails to commodify and consume Shakespeare’s verse” and “at the Capulet ball, Luhrmann playfully converts Juliet into Romeo’s “bright angel” (Fig. 2.6). Director Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation film version Romeo & Juliet is full of spectacles as Lehmann indicates: “True to postmodern form, Luhrmann introduces us to William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet in a

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Fig. 2.6  Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet (1996) playfully converts Juliet into Romeo’s “bright white beautiful angel.” (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest)

manner wholly attuned to a ‘consumers’ appetite for a world transformed into sheer images of itself and for pseudo-events and ‘spectacles’”3 (2001:192). To realize Director Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet (1996) in the contemporary system of interests and values, we can take the reference of the interviews and the related papers. Robert Knope in the book article “Shakespeare in the Cinema: A Film Directors’ Symposium” in Theater and Film: A Comparative Anthology keeps the record of the interviews with the eight famous directors, including Peter Brook, Sir Peter Hall, Richard Loncraine, Baz Luhrmann, Trevor Nunn, Oliver Parker, Roman Polanski, Franco Zeffirelli who have ever directed film on Shakespeare’s plays. Among them, I’d like to take Director Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet (1996) starring by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, for my case studies to explore Shakespeare and popular culture in terms of film (Figs. 2.7 and 2.8).

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Fig. 2.7  Romeo and Juliet (1996). Romeo (plays by Leonardo DiCaprio) loves Juliet at the first sight. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest)

 irector Baz Luhrmann’s Philosophy D To answer Gary Crowdus’ question: “What is your own philosophy or strategy for making cuts, for updating antiquarian or obscure words, or for rewriting or rearranging scenes?” Director Baz Luhrmann answers: Our philosophy in adapting Romeo and Juliet for the screen was to reveal Shakespeare’s lyrical, romantic, sweet, sexy, musical, violent, rude, rough, rowdy, rambunctious storytelling through his richly invented language. Consequently, our specific strategy was to avoid changing or adding words. We were adamant that we should maintain the colour and taste of the actual words even to the extent of the “thee” and “thou” (Knope 2005:268). Director Luhrmann employs colorful images to express Shakespeare’s language. The themes in Shakespeare are not only universal, but also multicultural. As Dennis Kennedy in the Foreword “The Future is Fusion” in Shakespeare in Culture notes that:

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Fig. 2.8  Romeo and Juliet (1996). Juliet (plays by Claire Danes), an innocent beauty, while she looks, under the male gaze, is also a pleasure to be looked at. (Photo: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox/Photofest) In English, Baz Luhrman’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (USA, 1996) set a widely seen marker for a multicultural approach, so much so that Chee Kong Cheah’s Chicken Rice War (Singapore, 2000, in English and Chinese) uses the earlier film as a frame for its own version of the play set among the “hawker food” stalls of Singapore (2012a, b:10).

The impact of Baz Luhrman’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet is so influential not only in the English world, but also in Asia, as a multicultural approach to theater. From multi-culture to popular culture, to echo to my focus on Shakespeare in film and pop music in the popular culture, Director Baz Luhrmann also points out the importance (I think for both Shakespeare at his time and for us nowadays) of using popular song (pop music) to serve the ultimate goal of aiding Shakespeare’s strong storytelling (Knope 2005:269). To sum up, Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996)

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is invigorating full of energy to make people still feel fresh about Shakespeare’s play. (4) Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013), Classical Juxtaposition with La Pietà, the Sculpture by Michelangelo After the popular movie hits as Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film with the super classical 16-year-old teenage beauty Olivia Hussey as Juliet, Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film with Leonardo Dicaprio as Romeo in the spectacle of images, and the 2011 animation film with garden Gnomes, how can one transcend the previous masterpieces to make the viewers still feel new and splendid? In 2013, Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013) gave a try to star Douglas Booth as Romeo and Hailee Steinfeld as Juliet (Fig.  2.9). Both title leads I think are cute and also including the fast-rising stars in the cast, such as Ed Westwick and Paul Giamatti. Besides, Carlei’s film script gets Julian Fellowes who has done Downtown Abbey successfully to adapt Shakespeare’s play into the film script. My Comments La Pietà Director Carlei’s film has merits, in my perspective, in representing the grandiose nobles’ houses like a palace (Fig. 2.10). The historical sixteenth century classical milieu is presented by the long deep shots, gorgeous costumes, in the shining crystal decoration with the sponsorship of Swarovski, embellishments of sculptures, paintings, arts, architectures, and gardens. Besides, the whole film actions and camera shots flow to tell the story with speed. Moreover, Director Carlo Carlei’s filmic shooting cooperated with Julian Fellowes’ script adaptation, though follow Shakespeare’s play, yet some details are different from Shakespeare’s original play. For example, Director Carlei in his film changes to let Juliet wake up at the moment when Romeo just drinks the poison drug to say “Thus with a kiss I die” (Act V. Scene III, Line 120). In my view, this design in this film version along with the messenger’s failure of delivering Friar Laurence’s letter to Romeo earlier in time all contribute to make the movie viewers feel more regrets about God’s arrangement, time and coincidences. Furthermore, Director Carlei’s camera shot is unique to picturesque frame Juliet after suicide by using Romeo’s dagger. Juliet says:

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Fig. 2.9  Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (2013) stars Douglas Booth as Romeo and Hailee Steinfeld as Juliet. (Photo: Courtesy of Relativity Media/Photofest)

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Fig. 2.10  Romeo and Juliet (2013) imbues the classical milieu. (Photo: Courtesy of Relativity Media/Photofest) “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! [Snatching Romeo’s dagger] This is thy sheath; [stabs herself]; there rust, and let me die. [Falls on Romeo’s body and dies.] (Act V. Scene III, Lines 167–170)

Again, Director Carlo Carlei’s filmic shooting changes. Instead of abiding by Shakespeare’s line description “Falls on Romeo’s body, and dies” (Act V. Scene III, Line 170), I find that Director Carlei employs his cinematic camera to let Juliet embrace Romeo in her arms. And that camera frame, in my observation, is similar to the image of Saint Mother Maria in the posture of painfully losing her beloved dead son Jesus and holding him in La Pietà, the sculpture by Michelangelo and in the religious painting. In Carlei’s film camera, the background with the painting of Cupid and angels flying in the tomb vault to present this tragedy as if a memorable romantic drama painting which makes not only Friar Laurence in this play who sees this tragic sight cry, but also the viewers weep.

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Comparison and Commentary on Shakespearean Films In a comparison of the four films above, although I like this classical and lyrical film, however, Carlei’s stiff film (2013) version does not receive more positive reviews than Luhrmann’s postmodern spectacles burst out (1996) version. In terms of acting and leads cooperation, Romeo and Juliet’s first passionate love cannot be plentifully expressed by Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld’s fine combination, I think, compared with Franco Zeffirelli’s film (1968) starring Leonard Whiting and beautiful Olivia Hussey’s innocent passion; and Baz Luhrmann’s (1996) film starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Danes’s wildfire love. Therefore, we expect another vital powerful interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the future while we listen to the pop songs that relate to Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet in popular culture.4

Shakespeare and Pop Music (5) Taylor Swift’s Pop Music “Love Story”5 In Pop culture, McRobbie notices that (young) women are now “experiencing the full force of a backlash led by the emergent ‘new right’ and moral majority movements” (1994:157). I discover the notion of “changing modes of femininity” (mentioned in the book chapter “Shut Up and Dance: Youth Culture and Changing Modes of Femininity” written by Angela McRobbie) is similar and still suitable for describing the circumstance of the teenager subculture and the star icons today, such as Taylor Swift in her song “Love Story.” McRobbie’s use of the phrase “changing modes of femininity” means, “How fluid gender practices and meanings structures are” (1994:157). This contemporary love song is shot in the university campus to mirror Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet in the seventeenth century in a classical castle milieu, but imbues with the new fashion popular culture romantic atmosphere. The setting changes to be in the contemporary era in the university campus, grass, young college students’ daily life studying and strolling in the campus. The balcony scene changes to let Taylor Swift wear as if classical white long Victorian gown, singing the solo (Soprano) about both Shakespeare’s Juliet’s voice and Swift’s contemporary ideas toward love.

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I ntertextuality of Literature and Pop Music In the literature tradition of the canons and the classics, the signification and representation of Shakespeare’s plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, may change variously nowadays. Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in the balcony scene (Act 2 Scene 2), Juliet’s monologues express her regret about the feud between her family The Capulet and Romeo’s family The Montague, and her naïve longing: Here is the song example of Franco Zeffirelli’s film to illustrate Romeo’s listening to Juliet’s young innocent wish. Juliet: ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, Nor arm nor face, [nor any other part] Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself. (II. ii. 38–48)

Pop music transforms Shakespeare’s stage lines into Swift’s song lyrics. As Raymond William indicates, in the “selective tradition,” some change break or re-draw existing lines as a “radical kind of contemporary change” (2009:39). In the contemporary change epitomized in pop music in popular culture, adapting from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Taylor Swift’s pop song “Love Story” is also full of girls’ dream about romantic love. In the lyrics below1: We were both young when I first saw you. I close my eyes and the flashback starts I’m standing here On a balcony in summer air.

Literature Intertextuality Taylor Swift put the famous balcony scene (Act Two Scene 2) in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into her song “Love Story.” She retells Romeo and Juliet’s love encountering difficulties:

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Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter And my daddy said stay away from Juliet

Taylor Swift not only puts Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet’s plot in her lyrics, but also with the literature intertextuality refers to American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel Scarlet Letter with the letter “A” which represents the novel female protagonist Hester’s sin and adultery, and here symbolizes the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet. Eventually Swift rewrites Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet to be a happy ending in her pop music love song with the lyrics below: Marry me, Juliet You’ll never have to be alone I love you and that’s all I really know I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress It’s a love story, baby just say yes.

Like a fairy tale, Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet in the seventeenth century transforms into a romantic love story shot in the Youtube film with a happy ending in the contemporary pop music video. In popular culture, the young audience and the viewers may appreciate Shakespeare’s tragedy to be transformed into romance with happy ending like a wedding with girl’s white dress.  ood Girl & White Authenticity G Taylor Swift’s pop songs not only invoke her fans’ fantasy about the image of “good girl”, but also the controversy over “white authenticity.” Rachel E. Dubrofsky in the journal paper “A Vernacular of Surveillance: Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus Perform White Authenticity” examines Taylor Swift’s music video “Shake it Off” and Miley Cyrus’s video “We Can’t Stop” to argue “self-reflexivity marks their performing behavior as distinct from their authentic self” (2016:184). To connect Shakespeare and popular culture, in terms of critical race studies and feminist media studies, I think that white authenticity exists in pop music and films even under the surveillance of society, the male gaze, and the voyeurism of camera. Moreover, in the connection of Shakespeare with pop culture and pop music, we can associate the lyrics in Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop”—“It’s our party we can love who we want”—to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in

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which teenagers met in the dance party and wanted to do what they want and love whom they desire.  ove Song in the Balcony Scene L Though most adaptations keep Shakespeare’s original monologues and dialogues, the music and scene design (garden, climbing the balcony, trees, flowers, mise-en-scène, camera shooting, framing, shots, tunes, lyrics, etc.) are different to represent distinctive specific characteristics. For instance, in a comparison between Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” in the French musical Roméo et Juliette (presented by Géraro Louvin), the love song “Le Balcony” is romantic, and the lyrics are poetic. Furthermore, the love song in the balcony scene is so famous that every films, musicals, and even the pop music and the fictitious balcony in the architecture building wall in Verona in Italy (where Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet sets the place of the story was happened) has been built to attract the tourists in the real world. S ong Reprise and Set Design Many pop songs in popular music adapt from Shakespeare’s canonic monologues and dialogues into song lyrics. In West Side Story, there is a stop in the middle of the song, which I guess to symbolize the obstacles between the lovers. The lyrics are written by Stephen Joshua Sondheim. In West Side Story, in the song “America,” the men and the women of the immigrants express their different attitudes toward America. Reprise, repeat to sing twice, is often used in pop songs, yet in different tones and emotions. Reprise in the song “Tonight” uses a motif to reconstruct the things. The women are waiting for their lovers tonight, which is showed by a vocal quartet quartette of the four lovers (2 couples) singers. In set design, the space, compared with the balcony scene in the French musical Roméo et Juliette and Taylor Swift’s MV song, the escape stairs in NYC building in the musical film West Side Story is narrower and realistic. I dentification in Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” To analyze Taylor Alison Swift’s songs, we can take the reference of her fans’ reactions and Adriane Brown’s comments in the journal paper “She Isn’t Whoring Herself Out Like A Lot of Other Girls We See’: Identification and “Authentic” American Girlhood on Taylor Swift Fan Forums.” Brown examines the two websites forum sections to explore Taylor Swift’s fandom. Brown indicates that although Swift’s fans assert they “know” her

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through her music and media persona, however, Swift’s “positing as an “authentic” American girl subject is wholly tied to her status as a white, middle-class, heterosexual, normatively feminine girl” “and questions her fans’ insistence that she is a ‘good’ girl” (2012:161). I agree with Brown’s view and further argue that since the construction of femininity in the 1990s in the U.S., the mainstream culture propelled by media are replete with the fragments of ‘information’ and even reconstruction of ‘fake news’ about the fans’ fantasies of the images of their “ideal” “dreamlike” favorite popular music stars, film superstars, and TV celebrities. We can notice Taylor Swift’s change—some of Swift’s love song lyrics change from the earliest first stage of country music, such as the albums “Taylor Swift” and “Fearless.” The early songs show her innocent good girl image. Later her style expands and transforms into “Speak Now” and “Red” with more Taylor Swift style. Recently she has released more pop music albums in “1989” and “Reputation.” Taylor Swift’s daring attitude “no need to mind what others say” in the song “Shake Off” gets 27 million visibility in YouTube. ‘It even connects to Swift’s many lovers in the songs, including “Dear John,” “We are never getting back together,” “I knew you were trouble,”’ and so on. After all, how can the image of a good white, middle-class blonde beautiful girl without sex? I con, Femininity, and Romance To explore Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet represented in the youth culture and pop music, giving the example of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”, I relate the fans’ fantasy about the good girl star icon image to the feminist academics’ expectation about femininity. However, I also doubt with self-­ reflexivity as Angela McRobbie in the book chapter “Shut Up and Dance: Youth Culture and Changing Modes of Femininity” in her book Postmodernism and Popular Culture questions: If feminist academics (see, for instance, Radway 1984; Modleski 1982) have done a great deal to restore the status of romance by reclaiming it as a hidden pleasure of femininity, how historically specific is this pleasure? Do girls now simply have to look elsewhere for romantic narratives? Or do they no longer need them? Do these narratives no longer serve a useful as well as a pleasurable function? I agree with McRobbie, my feeling is that romance has indeed been dislodged from its place of cultural pre-eminence (McRobbie 1994:167). The fans project their fantasy and feelings unto their star icons to fill in the pleasure and the gaze. That is, in the song lyrics they search for the

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romantic narratives as the previous old generation look for the romance in Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet. In my view, the subculture of the teenager and the youth culture is the epitome of the commercial cultural products provided by the media. Social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Line, WeChat, and so on, form the network of communication, and the raw materials for chatting show the youth spirit in this Age of Media. (6) “The Late Late Show with James Corden”: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Emily Blunt In the Age of Media, the U. K. TV Station Program “The Late Late Show with James Corden” online in Youtube broadcasts the soundtrack to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Emily Blunt.6 There are 14 Songs, 7 Sets, One take. It is humorous and fascinating to link the crucial moments of the plot in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Moreover, in the pop song “A Day to Remember—You Had Me at Hello,” the lyrics are like foreshadowing Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love story: “I’m missing you so much, I’ll see you die tonight.”  imeline in Shakespeare’s Play T Shakespeare propels the timeline in this play to make all the events happen within the five days. On Sunday morning, Romeo has lovesick for Rosaline who rejects him. On the same Sunday evening, Shakespeare sets the young teenager lover’s encounter at the party, Romeo after seeing beautiful Juliet; he forgets Rosaline and immediately changes to love Juliet. Romeo and Juliet fall in love at the first sight. On Sunday night, in the balcony scene they swear love to each other and decide to get married. The next day on Monday early afternoon, rapidly they are married by Friar Laurence, with the marriage ceremony witnessed by Juliet’s old nanny Nurse. Monday late afternoon Tybalt is killed. Monday early evening Romeo fights to kill Tybalt to revenge for Mercutio. On Monday night, Prince of Verona banishes Romeo from Verona. On Monday night, Romeo (by Juliet’s Nurse’s help) climbs into Juliet’s bedchamber as Juliet’s husband to spend the night together. On Tuesday morning, Juliet refuses her father’s will to marry Count Paris. On Tuesday afternoon, Juliet “agrees” to marry Paris after taking Friar Laurence’s advice. On Tuesday night, Juliet takes the poison to have a fake death. Due to the messenger’s coincident mistake of failing to deliver Friar Laurence’s letter to Romeo in time, Romeo learns Juliet’s death, decides to return to Verona to see her

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dead body, and plans to commit suicide. On Thursday evening, Romeo sees Juliet’s body in her coffin. Paris challenges Romeo to fight and Paris is dead. Romeo takes the poison just as Juliet is about to awake. Juliet commits suicide by Romeo’s dagger. On Thursday evening the Montague and the Capulet families, both losing their only child, finally end their feuds to end this tragedy. Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet begins on Sunday morning and ends on the following Thursday evening, within 5 days. Shakespeare designs everything all of the action, events to begin, rise up to the climax, falling down to denouncement to end within 5  days from Sunday to Thursday. Romeo and Juliet’s fast falling in love and making love is somehow similar to the fast food nightclub one-night stand in the current society.  elated Pop Songs R Many pop songs can support my points.6 Ariana Grande—“Right There” ft. Big Sean is a good example. This pop music song is highly related to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It has the ball dance party. There are the Juliet-like and Romeo-like protagonists in the Renaissance period princess and prince costumes among the crowd, and the balcony scene. It adds the contemporary swimming pool scene with the water ballet girls performing in the swimming pool. Numerous pop songs can be given to strengthen the argument of the importance of renovating and innovating Shakespeare by popular culture such as pop songs.7

Conclusion In the contemporary popular culture, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is also restaged to include the race problem in the theater performing arts. For example, in 2018, there is the RSC version Romeo and Juliet: Celebrating Diversity, which shows the issue of race by assigning the role of Romeo to be played by the black actor Bally Gill and the role of Juliet to be played by the white actress Karen Fishwick. Moreover, this 2018 RSC Erica Whyman’s production also uses the contemporary costume and props with the minimalism setting design. Let the cast wear modern casual clothes, such as Juliet in her modern sleeping sports short pants with the comforters barefoot on her bed, others in sneakers or barefoot, etc. The audience members feel close to their contemporary daily lives. In the

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interview by DESLblitz, Gill and Fishwick talk about diversity in theatre and playing such iconic roles on stage to the viewers.8 I suggest that we can do research and teach Shakespeare’s plays related to popular culture in the Age of Media by using films, pop music and YouTube. C.  Desmet describes the benefits of using YouTube to teach Shakespeare in the journal paper “Teaching Shakespeare with YouTube.” According to Desmet, “the ease of repetition (Replay is only a click away) coupled with the length limitations imposed by YouTube focus viewers’ attention sharply and thus promote close analysis” (2009:65). It is effective and convenient for us to teach Shakespeare by using popular films, pop music, and YouTube for free. Especially during the peak of COVID-19, the theater performances are all stopped. So we are encouraged to watch the performances online. Furthermore, as I argue that maintaining Shakespearean research as an everlasting research topic by way of alive popular culture to keep the contemporary viewers’ interests. As the book Orson Wells, Shakespeare, and Popular Culture written by Michael Anderegg indicates: What made the culture of the 19th century America—including the plays of Shakespeare—at all “popular” was the interaction between production and reception, actor and audience, speaker and listener. (1999:165)

Shakespeare can be popular not just in the past, but also nowadays in the contemporary twenty-first century to the whole world. After Shakespeare had passed away for more than 400 years, Shakespeare’s plays and poetry have become the public intellectual property to be able to be used and adapted for free without the limitation of the Intellectual Property Law. All forms of mass communication in the Age of Media, including film, pop music, radio, newspapers, television, magazines, recordings, etc. are useful channels for us to make Shakespeare more easily accessible for the readers, theatergoers, and viewers in popular culture. Respond to Lanier in Shakespeare & Modern Popular Culture who indicates that Shakespeare “symbolizes high art in general, the distinction between ‘Shakespeare’ and ‘popular culture’ epitomizes one of the great divides in the culture of the last century, the division between highbrow and lowbrow” (2002:3). However, with times’ change and progress, nowadays we can interpret the recent cases of Shakespearean adaptation, allusion, inspiration, or radical deconstruction in popular culture, not only for the few elite high class intellectuals to understand, but also for all to enjoy

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Shakespeare at least by the significant and entertaining films and nice pleasant pop music. Romeo and Juliet have become the lovers as love paradigm. As Marvin Carlson points out in the book article “Daniel Mesguich and Intercultural Shakespeare” that theater director Daniel Mesguich’s Romeo and Juliet (Paris, 1985) put intertextuality as a major principle to organize the interpretation. And the script adapter Gervais Robin in a program note spoke of the universality of Shakespeare’s original story. Robin suggests that Romeo and Juliet have become “paradigmatic loves” “haunt our theatres, our films, our books” (Carlson 1993:217). The universality of paradigmatic love between Romeo and Juliet also haunts in pop culture and pop music. As Garber finds the untimely love of Romeo and Juliet is so impressionistic, “so poignant, so “modern”, and so timely” due to the “youth culture” (2009:61); remembering Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel also figure out the teenage sub-culture and media in “The Young Audience,” this chapter seeks to contribute to something timely to the study of popular Shakespeare in the theoretical perspective of cultural theory and popular culture, acknowledging directly related scholarships works, interpreting Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s recent film Romeo & Juliet (2013) and Shakespeare in pop music, focusing on Taylor Swift’s MV “Love Story” (2009). Translocal interdisciplinary combination areas of films and pop songs by focusing on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet shown in pop culture, this chapter offers the insight of comparison with Michelangelo’s La Pietà in the film and analyzing the contemporary “Love Story” of Taylor Swift among the twenty pop music songs whose lyrics are inspired from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Notes 1. Romeo and Juliet (1968)—What Is A Youth (Music Video) https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=zCQMlyXMRJE 2. Jameson, “Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” 74. 3. Recent Indian Adaptation Film https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=oYnJq-AcKJE This 2014 Indian musical comedy film Romeo and Juliet is full of Bollywood dance and singing style, which is extremely radically adapted or we shall say just inspired from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. So this Indian film is not included to be explored in this article. The

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modern Indian Bollywood comic musical film stars by Jayam Ravi & Hansika is directed by Lakshman. In music design, D. Imman scores hummable & groovy songs for this relaxing film for entertainment in the pop culture. They twist Shakespeare’s tragedy into finding out what love is all about nowadays as a funny comedy in this cosmopolitan world. 4. The lyrics of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” can be heard in https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E 5. That show clip can be found in the Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=H1obijnKoIQ 6. Modern Songs That Relate to Romeo & Juliet (1)  “Early Mourning—Alesana” This song gives you the feeling about the end Romeo’s depression when he sees his beloved Juliet dying in the tomb belonging to the Capulets in the churchyard in Act V Scene III. The lyrics of the song are as follows: “Why not one more night? Our last kiss goodbye… My sweet love tonight” “I hope the stars Still spell out your name… Where you are…” “Kiss my closing eyes.” Through this song, the strong impact of the sorrowful emotion of Romeo can touch your heart. (2)  “Hey There Delilah-Plain White T’s This song describes the situation that the lovers in a distance cannot be together. It is similar to Romeo’s situation after his banish punishment, he and Juliet who are deeply in love but they cannot see each other. “In the distance… Close your eyes… Oh. What’s to the meaning?”

(3)  “I Miss You (Acoustic)-Incubus”

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This song sounds like something the characters in Shakespeare’s play would be thinking, that kind of “AWWW love struck feeling throughout the play. The lyrics below: “In your dream… That I cannot explain… I miss you….” 7. 15 Modern Songs That Relate to Romeo & Juliet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ujaVN2vQw (1) “Bad Blood—Bastille” (2) “A Thousand Years”—Christina Perri

“I love you for a thousand years.

(3) “Red”—Taylor Swift

“Legend…let him be red”

(4) “They Don’t Know About US”—One Direction

“They don’t know that I love you.”

(5) “Love Don’t Lie”—The Fray (6) “The Distance”—Hot Chelle Rae (7) “Alright” —Hot Chelle Rae

“You hear everything is great. But fade…” “So would you come back in the middle of the night… Everything is gonna to be alright.”

(8) “Storm Warning”—Hunter Hayes (9) “Half a Heart”—One Direction

“I am half a heart if without you.”

(10) “Enchanted”—Taylor Swift

“All I say is that I am enchanted from you.”

(11) (12) (13) (14) (15)

“Long Live”—Taylor Swift “I Won’t Give Up”—Jason Mraz “Sad Beautiful Tragic”—Taylor Swift “Thinking of You”—Katy Perry “If I Die Young”—The Band Perry

8. The Youtube film of DESLblitz can be seen https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tV1s3StTgco Retrieved on April 24, 2019.

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Works Cited Anderegg, Michael. 1999. Orson Wells, Shakespeare, and Popular Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Brown, Adriane. 2012. ‘She Isn’t Whoring Herself Out Like A Lot of Other Girls We See’: Identification and “Authentic” American Girlhood on Taylor Swift Fan Forums. Networking Knowledge 5 (1): 161–180. Buhler, Stephen M. 2002. Reviving Juliet, Repackaging Romeo: Transformations of Character in Pop and Post-Pop Music. In Shakespeare After Mass Media, ed. Richard Burt, 243–264. New York: Palgrave. Burt, Richard. 2002. Shakespeare After Mass Media. New York: Palgrave. Carlson, Marvin. 1993. Daniel Mesguich and Intercultural Shakespeare. In Foreign Shakespeare: Contemporary Performance, ed. Dennis Kennedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Desmet, C. 2009. Teaching Shakespeare with YouTube. English Journal 99 (1): 65–70. Donaldson, Peter S. 2002. ‘In Fair Verona’: Media, Spectacle, and Performance in William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. In Shakespeare After Mass Media, ed. Richard Burt, 59–82. New York: Palgrave. Dubrofsky, Rachel E. 2016. A Vernacular of Surveillance: Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus Perform White Authenticity. Surveillance & Society 14 (2): 184–196. Engler, Balz. 2018. On Gottfried Keller’s A Village Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare Adaptation in General. The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation XI (2, Spring): 1–11. Fischlin, Daniel. Web. 2007. A Note on Adaptations of Romeo and Juliet. Accessed 9 December 2017. Frecerro, Carla. 1999. Popular Culture: an Introduction. New York: NYU Press. Garber, Marjorie. 2009. Romeo and Juliet: The Untimeliness of Youth. In Shakespeare and Modern Culture, 33–61. New York: Anchor Books, A Division of Random House, Inc. Hall, Stuart, and Paddy Whannel. 2009. The Young Audience. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, 4th ed. London: Pearson Education Limited. Halpern, Richard. 1997. Shakespeare among the Moderns. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. Hansen, Adam. 2010. Shakespeare and Popular Music. New York: Continuum. Hebidge, Dick. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London/New York: Routledge. Holland, Peter. 2007. Shakespeare Abbreviated. In Shakespeare and Popular Culture, ed. Robert Shaughnessy, 26–45. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Horkheimer, Max. and Adorno, Theodor W. 1972. In Dialectic of Enlightenment, Ed. Gunzelin Schmid Noerr. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. California: Stanford University Press. Huang, Alexa. 2013. Global Shakespeares as Methodology. Shakespeare: Journal of the British Shakespeare Association 9 (3): 273–290. Huang, Alexa, and Rivlin, Elizabeth. 2014. Shakespeare and the Ethics of Appropriation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Hutcheon, Linda. 2006. A Theory of Adaptation. London/New York: Routledge. Hutcheon, Linda, and Siobhan O’Flynn. 2013. A Theory of Adaptation. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. Jameson, Fredric. 1991. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press. Keinänen, Nely. 2018. The Pleasures of Recognition: Two Recent Finnish Appropriations of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare 15 (2): 176–187. Keller, Gottfried. 2008. A Village Romeo and Juliet. Translated by Paul Bernard Thomas. New York: Mondial,. Kennedy, Dennis. 2012a. The Future Is Fusion. In Shakespeare in Culture, ed. Bi-Qi Beatrice Lei and Ching-Hsi Perng. Taipei: National Taiwan University Press. ———. 2012b. Foreword. In Shakespeare in Culture, ed. Bi-Qi Beatrice Lei and Ching-Hsi Perng. Taipei: National Taiwan University Press. Knope, Robert. 2005. Shakespeare in the Cinema: A Film Directors’ Symposium. In Theater and Film: A Comparative Anthology. New Haven/London: Yale University Press. Lanier, Douglas. 2002. Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture. Oxford Shakespeare Topics. General Editors. Peter Holland and Stanley Wells. Oxford/ New York: Oxford University Press. ———. 2010. Recent Shakespeare Adaptation and the Mutations of Cultural Capital. Shakespeare Studies 38: 104–113. Lehmann, Courtney. 2001. Strictly Shakespeare? Dead Letters, Ghostly Fathers, and the Cultural Pathology of Authorship in Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo +Juliet. Shakespeare Quarterly 52 (2, Summer): 189–221. McRobbie, Angela. 1994. Postmodernism and Popular Culture. London/New York: Routledge. Modleski, Tania. 1982. Loving with a Vengeance. : Mass-Produced Fantasies for Women. London: Methuen. Penley, Constance. 1991. Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Study of Popular Culture. In Cultural Studies, Eds. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson and Paula Treichler, 479–500. London/New York: Routledge. Radway, Janice. A. 1984. Reading the Romance, Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

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Ross, Andrew. 1989. No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture. London/New York: Routledge. Sanders, Julie. 2005. Adaptation and Appropriation (The New Critical Idiom). 1st Edition. London/New York: Routledge. Shakespeare, William. 1973. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In The Riverside Shakespeare, 1055–1099. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Strinati, Dominic. 1995. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London/ New York: Routledge. Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor. 2005. William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Welsh, Jim. 1997. Postmodern Shakespeare: Strictly Romeo. Literature/Film Quarterly 25: 152–153. Williams, Raymond. 1976. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, 198–199. London: Fontana. ———. 2009. The Analysis of Culture. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, 4th ed. London: Pearson Education Limited. Worthen, B.W. 2007. Performing Shakespeare in Digital Culture. In Shakespeare and Popular Culture, ed. Robert Shaughnessy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cinematography Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet (Echo Lake Entertainment and Swarovski Entertainment/ Icon Productions, Entertainment Film Distributions (UK), Relativity Media (US), 2013). Romeo & Juliet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. (BHE Films/Paramount Pictures, 1968). West Side Story. Dir. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. (The Mirisch Company/ United Artists, 1961). William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann (Buzmark Productions/20th Century Fox, 1996).

CHAPTER 3

Represent Afterlife and Replay Habitus: Performance via Spectacle in the Korean Film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

Introduction: From Hollywood to Korea As Guy Debord in The Spectacle of the Society points out that “(t)he spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as instrument of unification. As a part of society, it is specifically the sector which concentrates all gazing and all consciousness” (1994: 3). Spectacle, getting people’s attention nowadays in the society, though identified by Aristotle as the last of the six dramatic elements, plays a central role in the Korean film, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. Following the tradition of the Hollywood blockbuster, the Korean film industry since 1990, due to the cessation of showing foreign films at the certain period of time, has experienced tremendous change. This has forced the Korean film industry to cope with great pressure from abroad, especially concerning importing Hollywood films for distribution in Korea. In order to compete with Hollywood spectacle blockbusters, such as the Marvel superheroes series, Korean films, most depending on major domestic production companies, have attempted to imitate Hollywood films to produce films characterized by spectacle in order to attract movie theatre viewers. Among such successful blockbusters, the South Korean box office success, Along with the Gods (budget US 18.3 million), deserves scholarly attention for not only its outstanding financial performance at the box office (US 108.2 million in South Korea, in addition to commensurate box office

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revenue overseas), but also its aesthetics and use of CGI to create a large-scale spectacle, which is comparable to that success found in current Hollywood blockbusters.

Background of Korean Films Shiri (1999) was the first Korean film (about politics between North Korea and South Korea) to achieve visual effects on part with those produced by Hollywood. Indeed, the Korean film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) has become the second highest-grossing film in South Korea so far and received acclaim from the international media. The Korean film, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, successfully combines local and global elements, i.e., a Korean myth of Hell combined with universal/Hollywood fantasy elements and special effects. For example, in the film, one character, a messenger from Hell, wields a sword of light, which is similar to the lightsabers used in the Star Wars franchise. The film also features hellish creatures that resemble some of the monsters in The Lord of the Rings (2001). The choreography and special effects of the film’s dynamic fight scenes are also reminiscent of The Matrix (1999), DC’s and Marvel’s cinematic adaptations, such as Wonder Woman (2017), Aquaman (2018), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). In the history of cinematic special effects, this film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) and its sequel Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018) constitute a new milestone in Asian cinema.

Research Value Although the issue of spectacle in Korean animation, drama, and action films is both timely and significant, it has largely been ignored by academics. According to the editor of a special section of the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, Dr. Jinhee Choi, the journal’s editor, states, “changes and transformation of scholarship on Korean cinema, focusing on […] an emergent area in Korean language film studies (colonial cinema), and a neglected area of study (Korean animation)” (2018: 77). Daniel Martin, in the article “South Korean Animation Today: National Identity and the Appeal to Local Audiences”, published in the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, adds “In the renowned 10 years of the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, only one article has been published on the topic of South Korean animation, a statistic that speaks to the urgent need for

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more scholarly work in the area” (2018: 92). Outside of the realm of Korean cinema, spectacle, performance studies, and the importance of special effects have received substantial scholarly attention, such as Richard Schechner on restored behavior (2004), Barbara Kishenhlatt-Gimhlett (2004: 43), and Marvin Carlson on spectacle performance (2013: 117–122). Those interested in recent film scholarship on special effects can refer to Lisa Bode’s work on visual and special effects in Hollywood cinema, for example, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (2010), in her book Making Believe: Screen Performance and Special Effects in Popular Cinema (2017). Similarly, Sean Cubitt, in The Cinema Effect (2004), working from a digital perspective, explores the uncanny effects produced by cinematic images, for instance, in his examination of the “states of schizophrenia” (2004: 4), “cinematic movement” (2004: 5), and “image and transport technology” (2004: 6). Apparently, no such study of cinematic spectacle yet exists in the Korean context. Consequently, one of the contributions of the present study is that it fills some of this gap in the extant literature.

Cultural Production with Spectacle Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is a cultural production that includes spectacle, and is an example of success in a niche market. The Korean Wave, as Woongjae Ryoo argues, is a “sign of how a country considered ‘in-between’ (sub-periphery) can find a niche and reposition itself as a cultural mediator in the midst of global cultural transformation” (2009: 137). In the era of visual culture in the twenty-first century, Korean culture has gradually become dominated by spectacle and intense imagery, which can also be found broadly in South Korean film and North Korean political propaganda. UCLA Professor Suk-Young Kim, in her book Illusive Utopia (2010), explores public spectacle, film, and visual media in the Korean context, and supports the present study’s interpretation of spectacle in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. Indeed, in this film, cultural and national identity can be seen by means both familiar and strange, as well as what German playwright Bertolt Brecht refers to the “Alienation Effect.” Moreover, in the context of South Korean film history and the related literary review, Jieun Lee’s book review (published in the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema) of “Korean screen cultures: interrogating cinema, TV, music and online games” (written by Andrew David Jackson,

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Colette Balmain, Bern, Peter Lang) states, “Chi-Yun Shin writes about South Korean filmmaker E J-yong’s cosmopolitanism in his films about Korean characters who reject being confined to their restrictive ethnic, cultural and/or national identities” (2017: 82–83). Therefore, I also assert that the characters in Along with the Gods can be analyzed through the lens of transcending the restrictive limitations of pseudo-morality and the blurring of ethnic condemnation. For instance, the protagonist firefighter’s failed attempt to kill his mother when he was a young boy is not, as it initially appears, a matricidal crime, but rather was forced by a crushing financial burden and illness. In this context, what he did as a young boy (considering his father was absent and no money then) could be forgiven, because his sole motive was to release his family members from the tortuous pain caused by his mother’s serious illness lying on bed and poverty.

Adaptation from Webtoon Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, was adapted from a webtoon1 of the same title, inspired by the universal Asian concept of Buddhism and descriptions contained in major Buddhist scriptures. It then utilizes special effects to present a spectacular seven-layer Korean version of Hell. Directed by Yong-hwa Kim and adapted from the popular Korean comic created by Ho-min Ju, the plot follows the firefighter Kim, Ja-Hong, through the afterlife following his heroic death (Fig.  3.1). In this afterlife, he passes through seven trials in Hell with the assistance of the three guardians. Buddhism indicates that humans are vulnerable in the bitterness of the Earth. This is supported by Nan Kim in “The Colour of Dissent and a Vital Politics of Fragility in South Korea”, published in the Journal of Asian Studies, in which Kim speaks of “public evocations of human vulnerability” (2018: 971). This agrees with the film, which also evokes human vulnerability, focusing on the hardships and injustices of the protagonist firefighter’s everyday life before his untimely death. The main plot is also intertwined with the subplot, which concerns his younger brother’s daily lives as a soldier and accidental death. Both plots reveal the truth of a cruel reality involving human vulnerability, and presented through spectacle.

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Fig. 3.1  Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (starring Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-­ hyun, Ju Ji-hoon, and Kim Hyang-gi). In the beginning of the film, Director Kim Yong-hwa designs the protagonist as a firefighter who dies for saving a young girl falling from the high building. His soul is welcomed by the two messengers/attorneys from Hell to accompany him to pass through the trials before ascending to Heaven. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

Theoretical Perspective of Pierre Bourdieu’s “Habitus in Every Day” Daily life is visually represented by cinematic spectacle and special effects in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, which is related to Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical notion of “habitus practiced in every day.” Specifically, the characteristics of Buddhist concepts of Hell, Heaven, reincarnation, the good will receive rewards and the bad will receive punishments in the Last Judgment, etc., are all represented via cinematic animation and special effects. In doing so, they appeal to universality, morality, and popular culture through education and entertainment. Stylistically, this film is well-­ suited to the moral lesson of Korean myth by the cinematic narrative and spectacle. The fragments of the protagonist’s daily life prior to his heroic death are chosen to prove his innocence at crucial moments, and therefore avoid punishment during his seven trials in Hell.

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3D Special Effects Represent Visual Spectacle This fantasy adventure film combines elements of the mystery and tragic-­ comedy genres and the visual spectacle of 3D special effects. After his heroic death, the protagonist (played by Tae-hyun Cha) Kim, Ja-Hong (a firefighter who sacrifices his life to save a little girl) needs to pass the seven trials in Hell so that he can be reincarnated. Three infernal guides (Kangrim (played by Jung-woo Ha), Haewonmaek (played by Ji-hun Ju), and Dukchoon (played by Hyang-gi Kim) assist the protagonist in his journey (Fig.  3.2). They do, however, hope to be rewarded in return for their assistance by being permitted to enter Heaven. Aspects of the main plot and the subplot are presented using special effects. For example, the phantom ghost flees, and appears as flashing lights, to escape arrest by Hell’s lawyer. The tornado is represented by spectacle and post-edited by the film’s special effects team. It is used to visually show the ghost’s anger after he sees his mother asking for justice for her younger son’s disappearance—actually, being murdered.2 Between

Fig. 3.2  The three messengers/attorneys from Hell accompanies the protagonist to conquer the dangers that they didn’t expect to encounter for the protagonist’s soul is a rare saint. The extraordinary spectacle of the seven-layer judgments and punishments in Hell, such as the big fire everywhere on the Rocky Mountains, is shown in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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Heaven and Earth, the spectacle in this film shows the seven courses of frightening scenes in Hell through which the protagonist Kim must pass. Numerous examples of spectacular illustrations of this journey in the film can be identified. For example, cinematic scenes show: the danger of falling to the depths of an inferno to be eternally burned; being frozen in an enormous ice-cube forever; being strangled by winding branches; and being swallowed by many monstrous fish. Moreover, there are spectacular effects of light from an electrical flint caused by the ghost’s fighting and chasing. It is also worth noting that these effects were created through collaborations between Korean film producers, international technicians, and cinema special effect post-­ production teams. Supported by the above examples of spectacular cinematic shots, this chapter argues that the performances (by way of theoretical perspective of Pierre Bourdieu’s “habitus” practiced in daily life and rehearsals) reproduce the everyday life of the protagonist through the utilization of cinematic technology and special effects.

Theory of Guy Debord’s “Spectacle” In terms of spectacle, Guy Debord’s theoretical notion of “spectacle” in his influential book, The Society of the Spectacle, is suitable to be applied to interpreting Along with the Gods. According to Debord, “spectacle is not the collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images” (1994: 12). In other words, characters’ actions and social relationships are enhanced and projected onto the large screen. The protagonist Kim’s dramatic, heroic action to save a young girl’s life by leaping from a high building and using his body to cushion her fall is presented to the maximum cinematic extent. Indeed, it not only conveys the specific act, but also the culmination of Kim’s righteous social relations. In addition, reproduction of capitalist oppression can be seen in this scene, i.e., the terms of class in urban society, in which humanity can be epitomized as a social spectacle. In contemporary capitalist society, which Debord terms the “capitalism spectacle society,” capitalist oppression can be reproduced by way of moulding urban society. For example, oppression can be resisted by the populace’s actions in their daily lives.3 In the film, Along with the Gods, the examples of spectacle and performance are the horrible torments and monsters from Hell, such as volcano magma, water falls, infernos, zoomed-in images of the elongated tongues of sinners who told lies, etc., all created by CGI to fill movie-goers with awe and emotion. The

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vividness of these effects can also be multiplied by wearing Google 3D Glasses while viewing the film.

Pierre Bourdieu’s Theoretical Notion of “Habitus” Through applying the theoretical notion of the “habitus” provided by the French sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002), we can examine the material practices of everyday culture in this Korean film. Bourdieu’s concept of “habitus” in “Structures and the Habitus” in Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977) defines habitus as follows: The habitus, the durably installed generative principle of regulated improvisations, produces practices which tend to reproduce the regularities immanent in the objective conditions of the production of their generative principle, while adjusting to the demands inscribed as objective potentialities in the situation, as defined by the cognitive and motivating structures making up the habitus. (Bourdieu 1977: 78)

Indeed, “Habitus”, borrowed from the Roman language and defined by Bourdieu, is the key to people’s action in society. Habitus, however, does not purely refer to habits. Specifically, it is not just a reflexive habit, but a kind of habitus that has been practiced for a very long time in one’s life and is now taken for granted. The protagonist’s daily life is working hard day and night, with two side-jobs working in a restaurant in the evenings and driving a taxi at night, with no holidays. He writes letters that contain small “white lies” in order to bring comfort to the people that he cares about. This is a manifestation of practicing principles and behaviours within the social structure that he has accumulated over a long time. According to Bourdieu, “(t) he habitus is the universalizing mediation which causes an individual agent’s practices, without either explicit reason or signifying intent, to be none the less ‘sensible’ and ‘reasonable.’” (Bourdieu 1977: 79). Thus, Kim’s habitus accumulated via historical social construction and cultural practices and habits practiced in his mundane daily lives are sensible within a social structure that rewards hard work, a good heart, and kindness.

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Mundane Life Through spectacle and performance, Along with the Gods not only shows afterlife trials, but also actions in mundane life. Concerning the everyday mundane, Ju Yon Kim at Harvard University in her book The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday argues that “(t)he body’s uncertain attachment to its routine motions promises alternately to materialize racial distinctions and to dissolve them” (2015, Book Introduction). Kim’s study explores the “interface between racialized bodies and everyday enactments to reveal new and latent affiliations” (2015, Book Introduction). Viewers can also see habitual behaviours differently, for example, taking a superficial approach to the heroic protagonist’s habitual hard work, and his underlying motivation to help his family. Kim’s The Racial Mundane, combining race, performance and the everyday, reflects on “how and to what effect perfunctory behaviours become objects of public scrutiny” (2015, Book Introduction). Indeed, we see the heroic protagonist’s behaviours while he was alive on Earth, subject to public scrutiny under the seven judges’ judgements in Hell, before determining if he will be allowed to enter Heaven be reincarnated.

Seven Trials Shown by Cinematic Special Effects and Extraordinary Visual Effects 1st Trial: Kill Anyone? Is the protagonist, Kim, a “paragon’? Through an analysis of the film’s plot and narrative, I argue that performing everyday life in this film is theatrically represented by cinematic special effects to achieve spectacle, and the truth is deep beneath the surface (Fig. 3.3). In the context of standards of spectacle in Asian films, compared with the Japanese film, Shin Gojira (2016), the visual effects in Along with the Gods are extraordinary, especially in representing passing the seven trials within 49  days in the seven layers of the Hell. The purpose of the first trial is to judge if the dead before death had killed anyone while (s)he was alive living in the world. If yes, the punishment is to be burned by a raging hell fire, illustrated by vibrant special effects that fill the entire screen. Two executioners describe what occurred in the everyday life of the protagonist before he passed

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Fig. 3.3  The extraordinary spectacle of the seven-layer judgments and punishments in Hell is shown in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. (Photo: Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment)

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away to the seven judges. Instead of explaining the events in words, they replay film clips of significant life events with large mirrors. The extraordinary visual effects and spectacle achieved are reproduced in the post-editing film production process.4 Using the large cinematic screen to reflect the protagonist’s deeds before his death, to the audience’s surprise, Kim did accidentally kill someone. To be specific, he did not save a co-firefighter in time when together fighting a fire, but this was because his co-worker asked him to save the other residents in the fire first. When the protagonist returned, it was too late. Although it could be argued that he was non-intentionally responsible for his colleague’s death, the three defending messengers/attorneys point out that the protagonist saved eight lives during fighting that fire. Therefore, he passes the barrier of the first judgment without being punished in the horrible Hell illustrated with special effects to arouse the viewers’ “pity and fear” (as Aristotle’s Poetics states about tragedy). 2nd Trial: Make Use of Each Day? The second trial aims to determine if the dead made good use of each day prior to death. The female young messenger lawyer replays part of the protagonist’s life to demonstrate that he worked very hard day and night every day. However, the judge asks if the protagonist did this in an effort to worship the fake God of Money. Presented by cinematic special effects, the punishment is that the guilty person is hurled into a large river and waterfall, in which enormous monstrous fish devour the guilty. The scene is terrifying, replete with danger, and represented by tremendous spectacle.5 Then, when taking the boat along the river, they unexpectedly encounter many evil monsters which want to hurt them, shown with special effects. The three messengers (also serving as his lawyers) wonder how this situation could occur in the life of a “paragon”, i.e., a righteous person, after death. This takes place when someone in the dead’s family is killed unjustly on Earth. So, the ghost suffering in injustice is in turmoil in the world. S ubplot Is Intertwined with the Main Plot Here, the subplot is intertwined with the main plot, both of which are illustrated with the aid of spectacle and special effects. Through zooms-in, zooms-out, fades-in, fades-out, and rapid scene changes, the messenger

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team leader travels from underground to the world on Earth to investigate the truth. He discovers that the heroic protagonist’s younger brother was accidentally gunshot by a rookie in the army. He lost his consciousness and was intentionally murdered by the First Lieutenant (who is afraid that this scandal might destroy his opportunity to be promoted to Captain) to be cruelly buried to death underneath the dirt while he was still alive struggling in vain under the earth hardly breathe for another torturous 24 hours before he really died. That is why the ghost feels so unfair to die injustice that his soul cannot rest but run away in the world. Thus, the messenger team leader hunts for the ghost, but the special effects and technology of cinematography show that the ghost (who can run and disappear almost instantaneously) is too skilled to be caught. Finally, the ghost compromises and returns with the messenger team leader after the team leader agrees to break the rule by using his magic power (represented via cinematic spectacle) to intervene into earthly affairs in order to save the rookie (who feels sorry) from committing suicide by hanging himself.  ultural Studies: Everyday Life C From the perspective of Cultural Studies, John Fiske in the journal article “On the Oppositional Practices of Everyday Life” notes that The habituses subordinated by our current social hierarchy a legitimacy equivalent to those of a more dominant habitus” and calls for establishing “relatively more reciprocal relationships” between the involved fixed sediment static habituses so that our critical and explanatory perspective of viewing the other can function in a “bottom-up direction as well as a top-down” one (165).

Fiske suggests that we adopt a more flexible point of view to criticize and explain the other, and both ways (from bottom-up and top-down) can function reciprocally. In Fiske’s perspective, on the one hand, we can examine habitus in everyday life in the protagonist’s hard work from the bottom-up. Specifically, he is attempting to assuage his guilty consciousness from previously attempting to kill his sick mother in order to save his entire family when he was a teenager. On the other hand, from the top-down, in the case of the seven judges’ examination in Hell, this film communicates to the viewers that it is not sufficient to engage in superficial examination, rather, it is necessary to

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delve much deeper to find the truth. At this point, the messenger guide, Kangrim (played by Jung-woo Ha), from Hell, according to the law, cannot be involved with the earthly affairs of the living. When he is begged by the ghost (who was murdered), in order to save the rookie’s life, the messenger guide’s action can be regarded as a flexible method to work reciprocally to solve problems both in the mundane world and after death in order to achieve justice. After making the ghost cooperate, the ghost’s elder brother, i.e., the protagonist, can finally proceed to face the third trial, and avoid the evil monsters’ attacks intensified by the spectacle of the flocking beasts, as shown with CGI special effects. 3rd Trial: White Lie As previously mentioned, the special effects and spectacle of afterlife expressed in the zoom-in of the elongated tongues of the sinners who told lies is shown in the third trial. The third trial aims to determine if the dead had ever lied. If affirmative, the punishment is for the sinners’ tongues to be pulled out to be tortured enlarged to be painfully got cattle carriages run over. The prosecutors use the large mirror to replay the protagonist’s everyday behaviour of writing white lies in letters to his dead co-firefighter friend’s little girl daughter and his sick elderly mother in order to bring comfort to them.6 Spectacles from the 4th Trial: Crime of Violence to the Final Verdict Through the spectacle of the huge mirror, the judge in the fourth trial of violence replays a time in the protagonist’s life when he attempted to suffocate his infirm mother with a pillow, which was stopped in time by his younger brother. The protagonist is also accused of violently beating his younger brother (who suffers from insufficient nutrition). Although he did not kill his mother and brother, he, feeling ashamed, ran away from home for a decade. He was unable to return home to face his mom and younger brother and ask for their forgiveness. Accordingly, the judge threatens to punish the protagonist to be blown by a violent infinite hell wind, shown from above with special effects. It is difficult to explain for his deeds. Fortunately, the team leader uses the cinematic big screen to ask for waiting until the final verdict sentenced later by taking the natural bonds

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and ethical relationships between members of a family all together into account. In the spectacle of the canyon scene, the trial judge accuses the protagonist of not only committing the crime of violence, but also seriously damaging his ill mother’s heart. A close shot of her face with tears is shown. She is waking up from unconsciousness and becomes aware of his attempt; she decides to remain still and silent, and accept whatever her son intends to do. By pretending to remain asleep, she expresses that she wants to comfort her son’s conscience. She knows; she understands the hardship, so she accepts whatever her son is forced by reality to do, no matter what. Film Studies: Body in Close Shots Concerning the effect of film and film movement, Walter Benjamin in The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproducibility writes about “the tactile quality of film.” Benjamin criticizes its rapidity for impairing not only comprehension, but also participation. Some Soviet filmmakers, such as Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Kuleshov, and Vertov, also prefer to put the central character’s body in the frame to arouse the viewers’ response to the mirror effect. This can explain why the characters’ faces and bodies are frequently seen in close shots in Along with the Gods. Shocked to see the truth replayed on the huge mirror, the protagonist cries abashedly. The judge blames the protagonist for not fulfilling his filial obligations. At this time, on Earth, the rookie, who has an uneasy conscience, finally gives the protagonist’s mother a map which shows where he and the First Lieutenant buried the body of the protagonist’s younger brother, i.e., the ghost who had been treated and murdered unfairly. He was buried alive to be suffocated to death under the dirt hole on the mountain behind the military camp. His mother goes to the military camp to plead to ask for the return of her son’s dead body. The first lieutenant becomes nervous at this, and pushes her forcefully to the ground. She faints. Upon seeing this scene, the unfairly treated ghost (originally ready to go with the team leader underground) was so full of rage that he transforms into a gigantic wronged ghost tornado illustrated by a spectacular special effect. At the moment when he wants to extract revenge on the first lieutenant who murdered him and was violent towards his mother, the ghost raises his head and sees his elder brother facing the final trial need

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help. The male messenger lawyer (who is skilled at combat with the light sword) also hurries to the Earth to help the ghost to calm down. The team leader uses his magic power to send the ghost’s soul into his fainted mother’s dream to explain the reason to their mother (why the protagonist would attempt to kill his sick mom in order to release all of their burden due to poverty).7 In Hell, the chief judge hears the keyword “forgiveness”, and thus announces the final verdict that the protagonist is exonerated. Overall, as long as he receives understanding from those who have been hurt by him, he is not guilty. Therefore, the protagonist, Kim, eventually passes all of the trials, his soul ascending to heaven, and achieves reincarnation. The first part of this film ends when the team leader prepares to take the protagonist’s younger brother’s soul to face the trials in Hell for his chance of reincarnation also represented by a lot of spectacles. Special Effects by 3D and 4D Film Technology In contemporary 3D and 4D film technology, immersion and physical involvement of intense eye-contact exists in special effects and animation films. In the case of this Korean spectacle film, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is enhanced by not only multisensory relations between the film representation and the spectators, but also emphasizes the extraordinary terror and horror scenes of the imaginary Hell by reinventing the fictional hero’s everyday life, which indeed might be regarded as ordinary until it is shown with the effect of resonance. It echoes the human brain’s rational ideal and emotional longing for reincarnation and reproducing a better life in the next lotus leaf in Buddhism. It also elicits a strong physiological stimulus, which proves the current study’s contention that cinematic performance can reproduce life and everyday performance in this film by showing the hero’s afterlife trials in Hell, as represented by special effects. The court judgments also resonate with mundane worldly affairs, as well as the Last Judgement described in the Holy Bible. Regarding 3D film and cinematic effects, Brendan Rooney and Eilis Hennessy in the journal article “Actually in the Cinema: A Field Study Comparing Real 3D and 2D Movie Patrons’ Attention, Emotion and Film Satisfaction”, indicate that new 3D technology (e.g., computer-generated imagery, surround sound, high frame rate, high definition8) realism in cinema advances previous empirical exploration of knowledge-based realism

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to focus on the stereoscopic 3D effects on apparent realism, and not relative realism (2015: pp. 441–444). Heteroglossia and Spectacles This cinematic technology plays a supplemental role to tell stories in a superior way. In literary theory, in the paper “Discourse of the Novel,” in researching Dostoevsky’s long novel, Mikhail Bakhtin proposed the theoretical concept of “heteroglossia,” i.e., multiple voices of the narrators. He also offers audiences’ interpretations according to different characters’ perspectives, some of which are in conflict. In this film, for example, the seven Hell judges and the two bad prosecutors (Oh Dal-su and Im Won-­ hee during the seven trials) are responsible for announcing the indictments, while the three good messengers/attorneys defend the hero to be not guilty. These three groups possess different perspectives, and this is revealed in the film. The seven trials shown by the spectacle in Hell are as follows: First, Hell of Murder is led by Byeonseong (God of Murder Hell) (played by Cheng, Hai-Jin). He makes the judgement to see if the dead is guilty of committing murder(s). If yes, the punishment is to be burned in a fire pond, represented by special effects. Secondly, Hell of Indolence is the domain of Chogang (God of Indolence Hell) (played by Kim, Hai-Shu). He makes the judgement to decide if the dead person was lazy prior to death. If yes, the punishment is to be forced to keep running forward by the giant wheel. Otherwise, CGI shows that the guilty will be run over by the giant wheel or thrown into the Styx River to be eaten by large, hell fish, represented by spectacle. Thirdly, Hell of Lies is led by Taesan (played by Kim, Hsiu-An). He makes the judgement to decide if the dead person lied. If yes, then the punishment is to tie the guilty onto a tree trunk in the Sword Forest and remove her or his tongue, as shown by special effects. Fourth, Hell of Unrighteous is the domain of Ogwan (Great King of the Senses) (played by Lee, Jin-Jung). He is responsible of making the judgement on unrighteous behaviours. If the dead performed such behaviours, the guilty person’s punishment is to be frozen in ice cubes in an ice canyon, represented by spectacle. Fifth, Hell of Betrayal is led by Songje (God of Betrayal Hell) (played by Kim, Ho-Na). He makes the judgement to decide if the dead betrayed others. If affirmative, the punishment is to force the guilty to be frozen in

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a mirror box in the Mirror of Heaven and Earth, and then to be broken to pieces. Sixth, Hell of Violence in the Vacuum Deep Cave is led by Jingwang (God of Violence Hell) (played by Chang Kuang). He makes the judgement to decide if the dead exhibited violent behaviour. If yes, the punishment is to put the guilty in a forceful wind to be hit by stones, which is terrifyingly illustrated by spectacle. Seventh, Hell of Filial Piety is the domain of Yeomra, Yamaraja (King of All Hell Gods) (played by Lee, Cheng-Zhi). Projecting Yeomra in the scene of the Everlasting Desert, by cinematic spectacle, he makes the judgement on the natural bonds and ethical relationships between members of a family to see if the dead was disobedient toward her or his parents. Brecht’s theory of the “Alienation Effect” and the Epic Theatre can also ring true in this film to put the universal familiar motif in an estranged aesthetic distance to make the spectators think critically.

Conclusion: From Aristotle’s Cave Metaphor to Mimicking Real Life Behaviours via Cinematic Technology Performance reproduces life and reinvents the characters’ everyday daily lives. The behaviours of daily lives are replayed in the film, Along with the Gods, by cinematic spectacle. The cast’s extraordinary performance shows guilt, filial piety, human nature, revenge, forgiveness, and poetic justice. The pathos, sorrow, and hardship in the everyday mundane mirroring the pain, terror, and suffering in Hell are represented by technology and cinematic special effects. The ideas of terror, judgements, and torture after death in Hell can be traced back to 1800 B.C. in ancient Persia. The origin was documented in Buddhist scriptures, first in India and western Asia, travelled to Europe before the Middle Ages, and then gradually adopted by major religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Judaism, certain sects of Christianity, Islamism, etc. In a comparison, Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia describes Hell, Inferno, and Heaven. The Korean cartoon published online from a webtoon is an obvious epitome of ideas about Hell and teaching moral lessons in Asia, that is, doing good deeds in our daily lives. Cinematically reinventing Kim’s hard-working day and night, with no rest on holidays, and his younger brother’s daily life serving in the army

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and accidental murder prior to their deaths reveal the truth of reality. Aristotle in Poetics puts “spectacle” as the last of the six essential elements that constitute a drama. However, spectacle has gradually played a major role, especially in the twenty-first century with rapid advancements in science and technology, manifested in 3D and 4D cinema special effects, AR and VR, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence (AI). Ready Player One In terms of chronicling progress of special effects in cinema, the recent science-fiction film, Ready Player One (2018), inserts iconic images in tribute to many of Steven Spielberg’s spectacular previous films, such as the gigantic King Kong in the film King Kong and hundreds of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Many other well-known old films are also referred to, for instance, Back to the Future, Batman, 007, Star Wars, DC comic films, The Lord of the Rings, The Shining (adapted from the novel written by Stephen King), etc. Moreover, pop culture is interweaved throughout, such as the computer games, Dungeons and Dragons, Mortal Kombat, and representative game avatars, in the virtual reality world of this new film. Similar to the Korean fantasy adventure film of focus in the present paper, via cinematic special effects, Ready Player One, combining fiction and reality, fantastic illusion, and cruel reality in 2045 (in which the future world has experienced climate change, diseases, poverty, and a power deficiency crisis), is in ashes, with nothing left but despair and escape for all of the people to immerse themselves in the virtual world of Oasis. At the bottom of society, the protagonist, just as the others, puts on goggles to choose whatever avatar he or she likes to play, race cars, and go on adventures to seek an Easter egg to gain fortune and fame in the real world by killing enemies and monsters in the online game Oasis in the virtual reality world. Taking this recent Western film as an example, it can be seen that the Hollywood film industry has fully developed mature cinematic special effects and virtual reality. Cinematic Effects The achievement of the film in the history of special effects in film transcends the spectacle level of the previous films of Spielberg and surpasses most current Asian films. In comparison, in Korean and Asia in general, this film shows the development of advanced special effect technology

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teams to produce truly awe-inspiring cinematic effects. This constitutes the major achievement of this Korean film. Another unique accomplishment is that the film prompts viewers to seek the truth underneath the white lies of the letter written by the protagonist, which actually encourage the little girl and bring comfort to the protagonist’s ill mother, to identify a primary good intention. Audiences’ Response Concerning audiences’ response, from the reviews of online news, this Korean film, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds amazed audiences not only in Korea, but also Taiwan, the United States, and Canada. This film received both critical acclaim and huge box-office success. According to the film’s Wikipedia entry, the film was “pre-sold to 12 countries and regions, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, the U.S., and Canada at the Asian Film Market in Busan.” Furthermore, the film was pre-sold to another 90 countries at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A, increasing the number of countries released to 103 in total. Indeed, the film achieved box-office revenue of US$105 million in South Korea by Feb. 10, 2018, NT$404 million in Taiwan by Jan. 22, 2018, and HK$40 million by Jan. 2018.9 Therefore, if the entire combined box-office in all countries and regions is considered, the total gross of this film may be in billions of USD. In a conclusion, echoing to the theme of “habitus” in this chapter, as Bourdieu notes, The objective homogenizing of group or class habitus which results from the homogeneity of the conditions of existence is what enables practices to be objectively harmonized without any intentional calculation or conscious reference to a norm and mutually adjusted in the absence of any direct interaction or, a fortiori, explicit co-ordination” (Bourdieu 1977: 80).

In Post-modernism, even with the presence of indirect interactions and implicit collaboration between the human brain and eyes, film’s cinematic special effects successfully help viewers to comprehend moral lessons in a homogenized social group, class difference, taste distinction via habitus practiced in daily lives. Audiences learn moral lessons through watching the many terrifying images of Hell created by CGI. Through performance

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which reproduces life and replays the everyday through mimicking real life behaviours and daily lives activities by CGI spectacle and special effects, we are able to discern the life philosophy of the real via simulation of the cinema. In this way, truth, as shown in Plato’s cave metaphor, may be glimpsed through the representation of cinematic special effects to show the light of Heaven and the terrors of the fires of Hell. Although Aristotle put “spectacle” as the last element of the six elements constituting a drama, I discover that actually in the twenty-first century, spectacle plays a major and influential role in Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds.

Notes 1. In terms of adaptation, the major differences between the comic book digitally published online in Line Webtoon and the film adaptation are as follows: First, in the comic book, the protagonist’s occupation is as a commercial company employee who works diligently in the daytime, but also drinks alcohol in the evenings with clients in order to secure business deals. In this way, he sacrifices his health and drinks himself to death. In comparison, in the film, the protagonist’s main occupation is a good firefighter in the daytime, with two side jobs in the evenings: working at a BBQ restaurant and driving a taxi. He works very hard, day and night, seven days a week, with no holidays. As a firefighter, he is heroic in a mission to save a girl by jumping from a high building to the ground, and sacrifices his life. Secondly, the film adapts the comic book to let three messengers from Hell who announce the protagonist’s death to also work as his lawyers to help him pass the seven trials in Hell. Third, in the comic book, on the train to Hell after midnight, the protagonist in the main plot meets a runaway ghost (who was murdered and died unfairly). In comparison, in the film adaptation, the screenwriter adapts this subplot, intertwined with the main plot, to make the murdered ghost be the heroic protagonist’s younger brother, who was accidentally shot by a rookie in the military on the night shift, and was then buried alive. 2. The ghost experiences injustice, because he is to be buried alive. The chief military officer is afraid that this scandal may hinder his promotion, and so he orders the rookie to hide the body by secretly burying it in a hole that they dug on a remote mountain without revealing the truth or holding a proper funeral ceremony. During the burying process, he was awakened from unconscious, but the chief military officer, instead of saving him, continues to order the rookie to tie his hands and make him kneel down in preparation to be buried alive. He suffered for a long time under the dirt. It was only after 24 hours that he could no longer breathe and expired. Because he died so unfairly, in secret and without respect, he feels great injustice.

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3. As Judith Butler points out, gender identity comprises daily practices as a “stylized repetition of acts” in Gender Trouble. London and New  York: Routledge, 1990. 4. After his heroic sacrifice to save the little girl in the fire by jumping from the high building, the three good messengers working as his lawyers escort him to experience the obstacles and trials from the seven judges in Hell, presented with the aid of CGI special effects, such as the animation of the monsters chasing them in Hell. To make the plot more complicated, two bad prosecutors (played by Oh Dai-su and Im Won-hee), also playing clown roles, block the three good messengers’ way in helping the heroic firefighter’s reincarnation. The first judge decides that one cannot be reincarnated if she or he killed a person while she or he was alive on Earth. 5. In danger when the protagonist on the raft is going to be thrown under the waterfall to be eaten by hundreds of fish, the two male messenger lawyers jump into the river to save the protagonist. They assert that the protagonist made money in order to earn a living for his sick elderly mother and his younger brother, who was studying without the capability to earn money. He is described as a poor person who was a slave to money until death set him free. The judge agrees that the protagonist works hard not for money, but for his family, and made excellent use of each day and night. Consequently, he is determined not to be guilty. He is then allowed to go on, and take the boat to the next trial. 6. In the letters, he pretended that he was her father, and was still alive, but is working far-away and unable to go home. However, he states that he loves her deeply and encourages her to study hard and live in an optimistic way. The protagonist is also accused of lying to his own mother by stating that he is married, has a child, and is living happily. Of course, he is actually single and working incredibly hard day and night. The female lawyer immediately contends that the protagonist’s white lies help the little girl to grow up optimistically without feeling lonely, and also help his mother to feel better and recover enough to leave the hospital. Therefore, the protagonist’s everyday behaviours are motivated not by lies, but by love. So, the judge hands down a not-guilty verdict. The protagonist and his lawyers are then allowed to continue their journey and face the next challenge. 7. This was many years ago, when she was ill and they did not have money to live. Consequently, the protagonist had no way out, but felt devastated to be forced to think that it might be the only way for their suffering to end. However, he felt so ashamed, and left home to work hard day and night for more than 12 years to make money, and send it to his mother and younger brother to compensate for his wrong-doing. Although he has been making up to them for his wrong-doing for so many years, he still felt ashamed not to be able to see them again. After listening to this, their mother not only

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forgives him, but also apologizes, and declares that it is her fault that she is sick and unable to take care of her children and be a good mother. 8. Recently, two-time Academy Award Winning Director, Ang-Lee, directed the 4D film Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, in which 4D high definition technology is employed. 9. News report (blockbuster, reviews) evidence can be found, such as the Wikipedia entry of the introduction to the film—https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Along_with_the_Gods:_The_Two_Worlds

Works Cited Benjamin, Walter. 2010. The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproducibility. (First Version). Grey Room Journal. The MIT Press. 39 (Spring): 11–38. Bode, Lisa. 2017. Making Believe: Screen Performance and Special Effects in Popular Cinema. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. “Structures and the Habitus” in Outline of A Theory of Practice. Trans. Richard Nice. Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, ed. Ernest Gellner, Jack Goody, Stephen Gudeman, Michael Herzfeld, and Jonathan Parry. New York: University of Cambridge Press. Carlson, Marvin. 2013. Performance: A Critical Introduction. London/New York: Routledge. Certeau, Michel De, Fredric Jameson, and Carl And Lovitt. 1980. On the Oppositional Practices of Everyday Life. Social Text 3 (Autumn): 3–43. Choi, Jinhee. 2018. In Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 10 (2): 77–78. Chung, Kelly I. 2017. Book Reviews: “The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday”. Text and Performance Quarterly 37 (3–4): 281–283. Cubitt, Sean. 2004. The Cinema Effect. Boston: The MIT Press. Debord, Guy. 1967. The Society of the Spectacle. Trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith. New York: Zone, 1994. Fiske, John. 1992. Cultural Studies and the Culture of Everyday Life. In Cultural Studies, ed. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, and Paula A.  Treichler, 154–173. New York/London: Routledge. Gallese, Vittorio, and Michele Guerra. 2012. Embodying Movies: Embodied Simulation and Film Studies. Cinema 3: 183–210. Hanich, Julian, and Eyal Peretz. 2018. The Off-Screen: An Investigation of the Cinematic Frame. Screen 59 (1): 136–140. Hillyer, Minette. 2018. Formulas for the Interior: Home Movies, Television and the Mediated Experience of Everyday Life. Screen 59 (1): 1–20.

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Iversen, Mosberg Sara. 2014. Paradox and Pleasure: Play with Everyday Life in a Ludic Simulation. Journal of Media and Communication Research 56: 100–116. Kiishenhlatt-Gimhlett, Barhara. 2004. The Performance Studies Reader. London/ New York: Routledge. Kim, Suk-Young. 2010. Illusive Utopia: Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Kim, Ju Yon. 2015. The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday. New York: New York University Press. Kim, Nan. 2018. The Color of Dissent and a Vital Politics of Fragility in South Korea. Journal of Asian Studies 77 (4): 971–990. Lee, Jieun. 2017. Book Review. “Korean Screen Cultures: Interrogating Cinema, TV, Music and Online Games”. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 9 (1): 82–84. Martin, Daniel. 2018. South Korean Animation Today: National Identity and the Appeal to Local Audience. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 10 (2): 92–97. Parc, Jimmyn. 2017. The Effects of Protection in Cultural Industries: The Case of The Korean Film Policies. International Journal of Cultural Policy 23 (5): 618–633. Rooney, Brendan, and Eilis Hennessy. 2015. Actually in the Cinema: A Field Study Comparing Real 3D and 2D Movie Patrons’ Attention, Emotion, and Film Satisfaction. Media Psychology 16 (4): 441–460. Ryoo, Woongjae. 2009. Globalization, or the Logic of Cultural Hybridization: The Case of the Korean Wave. Asian Journal of Communication 19 (2): 137–151. Schechner, Richard. 2004. The Performance Studies Reader. London/New York: Routledge.

CHAPTER 4

Myth and Levi-Strauss: Taiwan Musical The Classic of Mountains and Seas & Chinese Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women

Introduction Apply the related myth thinking logic, in Lévi-Strauss’ discourse on the aboriginal’s primitive way of life, I interpret Film Director Soi Cheang’s film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (2018) and Theater Director Liang, Chi-Ming’s musical The Classic of Mountains and Seas (2017) inspired from the Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian’s novel The Classic of Mountains and Seas. This chapter is new in interpreting myths in these two cases, especially the latest film that I have not commented before, and elucidating the two cases by the theoretical perspective of Levi-Strauss’s Myth and Meaning. There are plentiful myths in both musical and film cases. As I wrote about several Chinese musicals in the book chapter “Spectacle, Adaptation, and Sexuality in Chinese Musicals” in the book Translocal Performance in Asian Theatre and Film, including the theater review on Liang’s The Classic of Mountains and Seas, this piece is an original splendid rock & roll musical which rebuilds myth and history by spectacle. This performance intermingles the ancient and the contemporary, via retheatricalization. It represents Chinese mythology and legendary stories, such as Nuwa patched up the sky, Houyi shot nine suns down, Chang-Er flied to the Moon, Houyi had sex love lingering with Goddess Luo River, Bird Jingwei tried to fill the sea, Emperor Yu the Great tamed the floods, Huangdi and Chiyou had war in the battle of Zhuolu, etc. (Tuan 2018: 133).

© The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_4

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The myth is also reconstructed, in a contrast to the patriarchal society in the film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women. For example, in the film full of myths, men and women can all be pregnant to give a birth of a daughter by just drinking a drop of water from the Children Mother River. By this mythic way of reproduction, there are only women, no man, living in this unique nation ruled by all female kinship in the Kingdom of Womanland. How to visualize the ancient book, marks, pictures, totems, masks, structure, language, and the Monkey King in Chinese mythology to be imagined and rebuilt as well, to present the fictional history in the cinematography? Qitiān Dasheng (齊天大聖) (Meaning “Great sage equal of Heaven”), Sun Wukong, assists Buddhist Monk Xuanzang (602–664) of the Tang Dynasty in the tough and dangerous journey to the West to acquire the Buddhist scriptures so as to help the common people to tide over the Sea of Bitterness. In their pilgrimage, by way of stopping by the Kingdom of Women in Western Liang in the mythic ancient China, the film represents Monk Xuanzang, as a man, facing the dilemma, struggling between human being’s true loves vs. his dedication to Buddha, how does he “let down neither the Rulai Buddha nor you (the beauty)” (不 負如來不負卿)?

Myth by 3D and CGI Myth, as a kind of metaphor language, has the function of cultural archetype. Myth is important for our comprehension about the history no matter facts or fiction are entwined with the real historical documents. Using the real historical documents written by the ancient reliable historians, this recent Asian film also adds the contemporary imagination for adaptation representation aided by modern cinematic 3D special effects and advanced CGI technology. This monograph chapter adopts the methodology of using the theoretical Structuralism frame of Anthropology, focuses on analyzing, interpreting and commenting the two cases by Performance Studies and Film Studies. In the perspective of Levi-Strauss’ ideas about myth, I argue that the mythical reconstruction, cultural interpretation, plot complexity and story suspense are represented and strengthened via theatrical spectacles and cinema special effects.

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Adapt Myth to Retheatricalize Theatre and Film “Myth” in anthropology works to interpret theatre and film. As Siyuan Liu in “The Great Traditional/Modern Divide of Regional Chinese Theatrical Genres in the 1950s” published by Theatre Journal indicates, “(a)s identified by anthropologists Richard Bauman and Charles Briggs, purification and hybridization are “two very different modernities, produced by two very different ideologies of language” that they trace, respectively, to John Locke and Johann Gottfried Herder” (2018: 153). In this chapter, the two case studies is about the myth of the Monkey King’s may provide another view for the development from purification to hybridization, by myth as another metaphorical language. “Myth is language,” proclaimed by the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009). In Myth and Meaning, Lévi-Strauss suggests that myth can be approached like language by structuralism. I apply Claude Levi-Strauss’ Structuralism, Mythologiques, and the concepts in Myth and Meaning that Levi-Strauss proposes to explore the issue of myth in the two cases—theater Performance The Classic of Mountains and Seas (or Shan Hai Jing), adapted from the play of Gao Xingjian, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, and the film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women. This chapter examines two case studies, the theater Performance Classic of Mountains and Seas (premiered 2013, restage May 2017, Taipei), and the 3D fantasy & adventure film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (Feb. 2018, Taipei). I argue that myth imagination helps rebuild the true language construction of knowledge epistemology, fill in the gap between fiction and history, and enrich the complex stories. I apply the related myth thinking logic, in Lévi-Strauss’ discourse on the aboriginal’s primitive way of life, to interpreting the film and the same title theater performance inspired from the Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian’s Classic of Mountains and Seas. The background of the two theatre and film cases both sets in the mythic pre-historical time in ancient China. The background of the theatre performance The Classic of Mountains and Seas is in the mythical ancient time in the beginning of the creation of the world. The background of the film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women is about the myth of the Monkey King’s Journey to the West in Tang Dynasty.

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Levi-Strauss’ Myth and Meaning No words documented in the primitive societies, Levi-Strauss provides the view for us to comprehend the primitive society where the symbols, such as sounds, furs, textures, tastes and smells, etc. serve as a sensual awareness of the elements in the primitive society as the conceptual logical imagination. In Myth and Meaning, Levi-Strauss answered the questions raised by Orr Jerome, such as “What is the relationship between myth and music?” Levi-Strauss from his memoir ethnography about his fieldtrip in Brazil to Mythologiques, the myth quartet,1 to Myth and Meaning in which he maps the non-literate societies. My argument can be supported by Levi-Strauss’ view that is “so-called ‘primitive’ thought was characterized by a heightened sensual awareness of the sounds, textures, tastes and smells that littered a given indigenous group’s natural environment” (1978. Reprint. 2014: xi). Levi-Strauss in “The Structured Study of Myth” indicates that: mythology reflects the social structure and the social relations; but should the actual data be conflicting, it would be readily claimed that the purpose of mythology is to provide an outlet for repressed feelings. Whatever the situation may be, a clever dialectic will always find a way to pretend that a meaning has been unraveled. (Levi-Strauss 1955: 429)

Mythology is the expression of social sub-consciousness. Although the meaning of the myth is hidden to be unraveled and obscured; however, I think that the unraveled obscured meaning of the myth aptly leaves the open space for interpretation. Before the vogue of Post-structuralism and Derrida’s Deconstruction, Levi-Strauss’ ideas of Anthropology, Structuralism, and his theories which replies in a rough chronical order in his book Myth and Meaning are the suitable theoretical perspectives for interpreting the issues of myth in these two theater and film cases.

Musical Theater Classic of Mountains and Seas In the musical theater Classic of Mountains and Seas, this original splendid rock & roll musical rebuilds myth and history by spectacle. This Asian performance intermingles the ancient and the contemporary, via retheatricalization. It represents Chinese mythology and legendary stories, such

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as Nuwa patched up the sky, Houyi shot nine suns down, Chang-Er flied to the Moon, Houyi had sex love lingering with Goddess Luo River, Bird Jingwei tried to fill the sea, Emperor Yu the Great tamed the floods, Huangdi and Chiyou had war in the battle of Zhuolu, etc. (Fig. 4.1). To do interdisciplinary research on Asian theatre and Asian film, according to Iris H.  Tuan in her new book Translocal Performance in Asian Theatre and Film, Asian theater and Asian film are like twins, one in theater performance studies and the other in the film cinema studies, both in Asia. Chinese modernities, in terms of the translocal, can be explored in avant-garde Asian diaspora and transnational relocation. In Ungrounded Empires, edited by Aihwa Ong and Donald M. Nolili, their chapter on “Chinese Transnationalism as an Alternative Modernity” try to associate the “Chinese transnational experience as an alternative to modernity” (p. 12). (Martin Albrow’s book review p. 1451). Chinese modernities can be achieved through translocal experiences. In transnational capitalism, Asian theater and Asian film, while originally imagined as the Other in world theater and film history, can be mobilized through media studies” (Tuan 2018: 12).

Fig. 4.1  In the scene of the musical Classic of Mountains and Seas, Huangdi and Chiyou had war in the battle of Zhuolu. (Photo: Courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University)

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Therefore, different media mediated by theater performances and films make the mythic story-telling plentiful images. Asian performance Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Asian film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women both serve as a kind of myth. They can be another mimicry of imagination about the ancient everyday lives of those mythic figures, deities, and monsters in the genre of Chinese Fantasy Literature.

Literature Review Gao Xiangjian (1940~), a winner of Nobel Prize in Literature, left China in 1987 after his suffering during Cultural Revolution to be in exile to France. Gao has become a citizen of France in 1997. I read most of his books, and I think Gao’s novels are better than his plays, because his novels, especially his semi-autobiographical novels Soul Mountain, and A Man’s Bible, have more touching emotions, deep sorrow and unbearable pain according to his life experiences, which can touch the readers’ hearts. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praises Gao’s works with universal value, deep insights, and the plentiful wits in language. Moreover, not a scholar in the academia, as an artist who paints and writes novels and plays, Gao’s essay anthology Withoutisms expresses his creative ideas with no theoretical frame and pressure. Transcending ideology with hybridity, similar to Post-dramatic Theatre, crossing the limitation of national ideology, he pursues for beyond the boundary of aesthetic and particular cultural norms. However, Gao’s plays compared with his novels (which I evaluate have higher literature value) are plainer, such as Bus Station, The Other Shore, Snow in August, etc. with less dramatic conflicts. In a comparison with Shakespeare’s plays, Gao’s plays have less dramatic conflicts, murders, sex, wars, love, hatred, revenge, but more philosophical waiting similar to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot as an Absurdist. Less dramatic, but Post-dramatic, as Mary Mazzilli in her book Gao Xingjian’s Post-exile Plays: Transnationalism and Postdramatic Theatre argues about the style in Gao’s plays. Inspired from the book Postdramatic Theatre written by Hans-Thies Lehmann, the German theatre scholar, Mazzilli provides the term “postdramatic transnationalism” for us to criticize Gao’s works. As Tarryn Li-Min Chun’s book review published by Asian Theatre Journal on Mary Mazzilli’s book Gao Xingjian’s Post-exile Plays: Transnationalism and Postdramatic Theatre points out, the goals of Mazzilli’s monograph are:

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twofold: first, to demonstrate the connections between Gao’s dramatic work and that of other contemporary European playwrights, and second, to show how this reconsideration of Gao reshapes our broader understanding of transnationalism and of postdramatic theatre. (2017, 239)

The works of Gao, as a Chinese born French citizen living in France since 1988, have transcultural and transnational elements. Similarly, Anne Birrell in the 47-page paper entitled “Gendered Power: A Discourse on Female-Gendered Myth in the Classic of Mountains and Seas” analyzes the female characters in this classic. Birrell indicates that by using Hélène Cixous’ proposal of the male and female attributes in the hierarchical opposition, she finds a wide gender roles and function in the Chinese literary work Classic of Mountains and Seas. Therefore, Birrell confirms Margaret Mead’s theory of the existence of the “extraordinary diversity” of gender roles in human cultural history. Birrell borrows Jacques Derrida’s theoretical concept of “the feminine-as-alternative” logic to explore the symbolic gender structure and the language in this Chinese myth (2002: 2). In the myth of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Chang-Er (嫦娥) after drinking the drug of immortality to arise to the Moon, as Ever Sublime, accompanied with the pet white rabbit, is alone with regrets with the poets’ literature imagination. In Cultic practices, such as sacrificial slaughter and butchering, the male deities have the brutal bloody wars (27). All of these can be exemplified by the numerous wars between Huangdi (黃 帝) and Chiyou (蚩尤), especially in the last big bloody battle of Zhuolu in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Huangdi won to begin the dynasty documentation of the history in China. However, as Engles said, women’s status is not subordinate to men’s (28). Even in this history full of men’s wars, women still occupy the important status.

Creative Design Fusing the myth in the classical Chinese literature and modern elements, the performance Classic of Mountains and Seas (June 28–30, 2013 Premiered in National Theater in Taipei, restaged 2018 at NTUA in Taipei) directed by Liang, Chi-Ming is a rock-and-roll musical. Music composer & Music Director is Chris Babida (1951~), active in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, is noteworthy for his excellent plentiful music works for those famous singers’ albums, the film industry and his collaboration with

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Director Liang of Godot Theatre. According to Director Liang in the interview by the newspaper, “rock & roll musical can fully express the desires and feelings in the ancient China.”1 Playwright Gao boldly in the script adaptation changes the pre-historical ancient Chinese emperor Huangdi to be a manipulative character seizes the throne from the former old Emperor Yan and uses tricks, including murdering the two ancient powerful mythical magical huge animals. By the scheme, he gets their Bull bones to make the magical big bell and sticks for the magnificent loud sound to win the wars against Chiyou. Moreover, Houyi, after Gao’s script adaptation, after his shooting the nine suns, becomes the tragic hero to be killed by the mobs on earth afterwards. In theatre review, stage designed by Wang, Shi-Hsin, and the stage space is fully used not only in the National Theater in 2013, but also in the performing hall at National Taiwan Normal University in 2018. The backstage, the front stage and the rotating stage are all employed in the scene changes, which are more than 40 times. Costume design by Lin, Heng-­ Zheng is full of fashion and avant-garde. As for the cast, in the 2013 Premiere performance in National Theater, Director Liang invited the three professionals to play the three main characters. Chu, Lu-Hao, who has Peking Opera training, plays the role of Emperor Huangdi. Singer Sop Ho, Kan-Ting plays the role of Nuwa. In addition, the idol singer Tuan, Hsu-Ming, graduated from Shanghai Theatre Academy, plays the role of Houyi. Singer Tuan is kidding that he is the perfect one to play the role of Houyi (who shoots the nine suns down to leave only one sun and one moon), because his Chinese family name has the meanings of the Sun, the Moon, and bright light. (ibid). A big 50-actor cast (by the graduate students whose expertise in acting, singing and dancing in the MFA Performing Arts Master Program of NTUA) support and make the entire performance vigorous.

Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women From Asian Taiwan theater to Asian Chinese film, regarding of myth, in a contrast to patriarchal society, the myth is also reconstructed in the film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (Male lead Li Ronghao, Female lead Jane Zhang). (Fig. 4.2) For example, in the unique nation with all women, no men, women can get pregnant without having sex to give a birth of a daughter by just drinking Children Mother River there in reproduction. In terms of “gendered liminality” (Birrell 2002: 3), I argue that

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Fig. 4.2  The film poster of the Chinese Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (2018). (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

the indeterminate gender binary opposition is broken by the role of the River God played by Lin, Chi-Ling, who is praised as “Taiwan No. 1 Female Model.” Lin’s female pretty face is synchronized by the cinematic animation effect to incorporate with a young man’s naked upper body, as an androgyny. The River God is deeply in love with the role of the Women

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Kingdom Master, the lead young female ruler’s teacher (played by the famous singer Liang, Yuon-Chi), who has helped rule the kingdom so she refused to elope with the River God. The River God has been waiting for so many years besides the kingdom wall without going toward the sea. This kind of obsession, love with no return, finally arouses the River God’s rage to cause the Tsunami floodwaters catastrophe created by CGI effects near the end of the film. As for the functions of setting the background of The Kingdom of Women in the mythical ancient remote China, I agree with Anne Birrell’s idea of “gendered power,” not only have exoticism, but also imbue the metaphorical construction of fertility, power, etc. (Birrell 2002: 21). After all, for a long time, women were excluded in canonical literature (Birrell 2002: 25). In the canonical literature Journey to the West, the tale is mainly about the Tang monk and his male disciples. Qitiān Dasheng (齊天大聖) (Meaning “Great sage equal of Heaven”), Sun Wukong, assists Buddhist Monk Xuanzang (602–664) of the Tang Dynasty in the tough and dangerous journey to the West to acquire the Buddhist scriptures so as to help all beings tide over the Sea of Bitterness. This Chinese film adaptation focuses on the episode of Kingdom of Women in Western Liang. In their pilgrimage, by way of this mysterious mythic Kingdom of Women in the ancient China, the film represents Monk Xuanzang, as a man, facing the dilemma, struggling between human being’s true loves vs. his dedication to Buddha, how does he “neither let down the Rulai Buddha nor you (the beauty)?” As a monk, he falls in love with the beautiful kingdom female ruler who loves him deeply to be willing to give up everything including her kingdom to go with him. We see their tough love story via the fantastic film adaptation mixed with myth, history and fiction.

Love Poetry Song with Buddhist Philosophy In the film The Womanland, there is the theme song, which sounds touching and philosophical, playing in the beginning and near the end. In the beginning of the film, attacked by the River God, the Tang Monk Tripitaka and his three apprentices (Monkey King, Pigsysy, and Friar Sand) try to escape yet accidentally jumping into The Womanland. When the Tang Monk falls down from heaven to earth, he met the most beautiful woman he has ever seen who happens to be the Queen in the mysterious mythic land where only women live, no men. They both fall in love at first sight.

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Even though the Queen is willing to abandon her kingdom to go with the Tang Monk for the sake of seeking for her love, but the Tang Monk hesitates. He has difficulty in the dilemma between his religious belief (his commitment and mission to get the Buddhism scripts in his tough and dangerous journey to the West) and the beautiful woman (as a man’s instinct, human being’s natural love and desire, his physical need). I particularly love the beautiful Chinese poem written by the Tibet Monk Cangyang Gyatso (倉央嘉措). The poem is composed to be a romantic love song in the film. I like the theme song of the film Kingdom of Women. The lyrics majorly based on the Tibetan monk Cangyang Gyatso’s noteworthy love poem are added to be written by Yang Jie and Chao, Yin-Jun. The composers are Hsu, Jing-Qing and Chao, Yin-Jun. The two male and female leads Li and Zhang sing this theme song. To share with you, the lyrics in Chinese written by the Tibet monk poet and the English translation2 are in the following:    INTRO. 男:    世上安得兩全法    不負如來也不負卿    反省凡心損梵行    從來如此莫聰明    既生苦難我西行    何生紅顏你傾城    如何抹去你身影    如同忘卻我姓名 Man: In this world, there is no means by which to satisfy both sides.     Not falling in love, and at the same time, not letting one’s beloved down. Engaging in retrospection regarding fond thoughts of the mundane damages     one’s practice of Buddhism.    It has always been this way; don’t try to be clever in finding a way around it.     Since life is suffering, I travel westward.    In which lifetime do you, in your youthful beauty, bring entire cities to their    knees?     How do I erase your silhouette?     It would be like forgetting my own name.

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    女:     說什麼王權富貴     怕什麼戒律清規     心戀我百轉千回     快帶我遠走高飛     念什麼善惡慈悲     等什麼望穿秋水     任來世枯朽成灰     換今生與你相隨          Why speak of sovereign power, of wealth and status? Why fear of monastic discipline and Buddhist conventions? Your heart has longed for and loved me through innumerable twists and turns. Quickly, take me and let us escape somewhere far away. Why chant about good and evil, benevolence and compassion? Why wait with impatient anticipation? Let the next life wither into ashes, And in exchange, in this life, I will be together with you. Man: Reprise. Woman: Reprise. OUTRO. Reprise. Refrain. (Man and Woman sing together.)

In music composing, this song is comparatively simple with (A, B, Reprise A, Reprise B, Outro with A+B unity) than the usual form in music construction with the eight segments (Intro., Verse, Pre-Chorus (Middle), Chorus, Bridge, Inter., Instrumental Solo, and Outro.). Nevertheless, this movie theme song still has the basic characteristics of repetition, contrast, variety and unity.

Film Cinematography In slow motion, the film uses the 360- degree Bird’s angle high angle shot to present the scene when the Tang Monk falls down from the sky to enter the mysterious land. The film director also employs a low angle shot to shoot when the beautiful woman stands on the mountain looks up in the scene of love at first sight. After Tang monk and his three apprentices are tied to be sent to the mysterious land, it turns out the beautiful woman is the Queen of Kingdom of Women. That is the dilemma for the Tang monk to choose between abiding his Buddhism convention (to be not

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close to women) and feeling the mutual chemistry and attraction (to the young beautiful Queen in the Kingdom of Women). In the sub-plot, I think that it is kind of bizarre to put the cross-species love between the androgyny River God (played by Lin, Chi-Ling, the so-­ called Taiwan No. 1 Model) and the Queen’s Kingdom Master and Step-­ mother (played by Liang Yun- Chi, the singer from Singapore). The scene in which Disciple Pigsy is lustrous to see many (half-nude) young pretty women taking a bath in the brook is adapted from the episode #72 of “Cave of the Silken Web” from the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, written by Novelist Wu Cheng’n (1500–1582). In Wu’s original novel, the Pigsy sees the female spider spirits incarnated in women’s curve nude body figure taking a bath. In my perspective, it is funny, a little weird for the screen playwrights to adapt the original Journey to the West to add the scene of letting Tang Monk, and his two disciples including the Pigsy, except the Monkey King, drink the water from the Daughter-Mother River to be pregnant with big bellies. Tang Monk is not willing to kill the baby in his body. The Monkey King solved the problem by forcing Tang Monk to drink the abortion medicine. In the subplot, as I mentioned earlier, the Kingdom Master has declined River God’s pursuit for so many years for her concentration on raising the baby, who grows up to become the Queen of her kingdom. River God has been waiting for her for 20 years without leaving to flow into the sea. During the catastrophe and love struggling process, eventually the Queen (rescued in the river) put on the kasaya, a patchwork outer vestment worn by a Buddhist monk, for the Tang Monk. It means that she eventually, out of deep love, lets him go to accomplish his dream mission (love not just one woman, but save all the humankind). She helps him solve the dilemma to decide to continue to go westward without her. Therefore, he can dedicate to getting the Buddhist scriptures to save all of the people in the world.

Comparison with the Original Novel In a comparison with the original novel Journey to the West, Tang Monk in fact did not fall in love with the Queen in the Kingdom of Women in West Liang. After the Monkey King solves the pregnancy problem of Tang Monk and his disciple Pigsy who accidentally drink the Son-Mother River, they just pass by the Kingdom of Women in West Liang to ask for the approval of the document (something like a passport nowadays). Yet when

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the Queen sees Tang Monk, she feels Tang Monk is the rare handsome man who they seldom see in the all women country, so she wants to get married with the Tang Monk. It is the reason that those women are just normal nice people, not monsters, so the Monkey King does not use his power to fight and defeat them. On the wedding day, the Monkey King just uses his magic to freeze the Queen and the populace, and get all of Tang Monk and his disciples ascend to the air to be free. By doing so, they pass the Kingdom of Women safely without hurting any normal people in the original novel.

Theatricalize the Film via Special Effects of Cinematography This film visualizes the mythic images, including the ancient book, marks, pictures, totems, masks, structure, language, and the imagined Monkey King in Chinese mythology. This film rebuilds the myth to represent the fiction via the cinematography by way of technology and 3D special effects. Myth, a kind of metaphor, has the function of cultural archetype and the importance of comprehension. Myth is another metaphorical language, imagined construction about the history; no matter facts or fiction or entwined with the real historical documents. Using the real historical documents written by the ancient reliable historians, this recent Asian film also adds the contemporary imagination for adaptation and representation aided by modern cinematic 3D special effects and advanced CGI technology. This article adopts the methodology of using the theoretical Structuralism frame of Anthropology, focuses on analyzing, interpreting and commenting the two cases by Performance Studies and Film Studies. In the perspective of Levi-Strauss’ ideas about myth, I argue that the mythical reconstruction, cultural interpretation, plot complexity and story suspense are represented and strengthened via theatrical spectacles and cinema special effects.

Conclusion This article, by the theoretical methodology of Levi Strauss’ Structuralism, Anthropology, and the idea of myth, analyzes and comments the mythical reconstruction, cultural interpretation, complexity and suspense in the two cases of performance studies in The Classic of Mountains and Seas and

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film studies in The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women. China has developed from the previous period in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, (the ancient mythic classic about the Creation of the World and the beginning of the history), to the present period. According to Siyuan Liu in “The Cross Currents of Modern Theatre and China’s National Theatre Movements of 1925–1926” published by Asian Theatre Journal, The history of modern, Western-style spoken theatre in Asia can be generally divided into four distinct periods: “intercultural adaptation, appropriation and hybridization”; “modernist orthodoxy”; “emergence of nationalistic culture and identity from the sixties to the eighties”; and “contemporary pluralism and theatrical globalism.” (Wetmore et al. 2014: 121–123)

While these trends have already been discussed in Modern Asian Theatre and Performance 1900–2000, we also need to recognize the new recent contemporary Asian theatre and Asian film artistic works to make a scholarly record. Manifested, as it is with contemporary pluralism and theatrical globalism, and translocally beyond of spectacles and technology in visual culture and popular culture. China and Hong Kong together have the ability to produce a special effect film like The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women, (the fictional film mixed with the real religious history about the Tang Monk in Tang Dynasty) to show as the rising power in economics and politics in the world in the reality nowadays in the twenty-first century. George J. Gilboy in “The Myth Behind China’s Miracle” published in The New  York Times warns, “China’s sudden rise as a global trading power has been greeted with a curious mixture of both admiration and fear.” For the U.S. and the rest countries, China might be a potential threat as her rising as a global power. However, every country has its own problems. Just as Gilboy concludes in the news article: “Unfortunately, the burden of a long history of fragmentation and authoritarian rule weighs heavily against China’s successfully completing this final modernization.” It rings true that China does have the burden of a long fragmented history as the numerous episodes of Classic of Mountains and Seas describes. Unlike the current authoritarian political rule, we also praise the three good ancient Chinese mythical sage and legendary emperors’ rule of Zen Let Politics. For Emperor Yao (c. 2200 BC) and Emperor Shun (c. twenty-­ second century BC), instead of letting their sons inherit the kingdom, but

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choose the best among the people to be the leader to rule the country, as Yu the Great (c. 21st century BC) who tamed the floods for the populace. As Levi-Strauss in “When Myth Becomes History” in Myth and Meaning suggests, thus, myth can be restructured to mix fiction imagination and history to retell the stories by theater performance and film production, which have been proved by these two Asian case studies. Unlike Realism, but a “fictive cosmos,” and using mythic images, the theater spectacles and the cinematic technology, visual effects and special effects enforce the monologue, dialogue, and narrative, through the actors’ physical performance and sound effects to amplify the musicality of the literature poem. The self-referentiality and inter-textuality are intertwined to represent the history via the broad fictional imagination to make the myth speak interpreted by Levi-Strauss’ meanings and beyond the spectacle and special effects on stage and in the screen.

Notes 1. Levis-Strauss’ myth quartet includes the petites Mythologiques, the three-­ book footnote to his long thousand-page Mythologiques series. 2. The song MV lyrics with English translation can be viewed via https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=99B3kHwxozY

Works Cited Birrell, Anne. 2002. Gendered Power: A Discourse on Female-Gendered Myth in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Sino-Platonic Papers 120 (July): 1–52. http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp120_female_chinese_myth.pdf Booth, Davies John. 2013. Myth of Addiction. https://googl/g32r4J. Accessed 23 Apr 2018. Chun, Tarryn Li-Min. 2017. Book Review. Gao Xingjian’s Post-exile Plays Transnationalism and Postdramatic Theatre. Asian Theatre Journal 34 (1, Spring): 239–242. Ebrey, P.B., and A.  Walthall 2013. East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. https://goo.gl/AmkRKD. Accessed 23 Apr 2018. Gilboy, George J. 2004. The Myth Behind China’s Miracle. The New York Times, August 17. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cfr/ international/20040701faessay_v83n4_gilboy.html?_r=1&pagewanted=4. Accessed 23 Apr 2018. Lehmann, Hans-Thies. 2006. Postdramatic Theatre. Trans. Karen Jürs-Munby. New York: Routledge.

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Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1955. The Structured Study of Myth. The Journal of American Folklore 68 (270): 428–444. ———. 2014. Myth and Meaning. London: Routledge, 1978. Reprint. https:// goo.gl/1djvZt. Accessed 23 Apr 2018. Lim, D.C.L., and H.  Yamamoto 2012. Film in Contemporary Southeast Asia: Cultural Interpretation and Social Intervention. https://goo.gl/tyjpWu. Accessed 23 Apr 2018. Liu, Siyuan. 2018. The Great Traditional/Modern Divide of Regional Chinese Theatrical Genres in the 1950s. Theatre Journal 70: 153–172. Mazzilli, Mary. 2015. Gao Xingjian’s Post-Exile Plays: Transnationalism and Postdramatic Theatre. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. Tuan, H. Iris. 2018. Translocal Performance in Asian Theatre and Film. London/ New York: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature. Uskul, Ayse K. 2009. A Cultural Task Analysis of Implicit Independence: Comparing North America, Western Europe, and East Asia. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 97 (2): 236–255. Wetmore, Kevin J., Jr., Siyuan Liu, and Erin B. Mee. 2014. Modern Asian Theatre and Performance 1900–2000. New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. Wu Cheng’en. (吳承恩)。2013. 《西遊記》(Journey to the West.) New Taipei City: West North International. 林玥。2019. 《不負如來不負卿:一代詩僧倉央嘉措絕美情詩&傳奇活佛的跌宕 人生》。新北市:野人出版社。

PART II

Asian American Play, Asian Theatre, and Musical Theater

CHAPTER 5

Face, Race, and Performance: Arousal by Face and Identity Transformation

Introduction Face in makeup (design and technique), including stage performances, TV drama series programs, and cinematic silver screen, contribute to arousal. Arousal sometimes can be ignited by face makeup. Moreover, identity transformation can be done by face makeup, costume change, and role-­ playing. As Confucius said: “Eating food and having sex are both human nature” as well as what Freud and Lacan in Psychoanalysis proclaim that sexual desire is the essential basic impulse of human nature. Thinking and writing about the erotic and sexuality is always the key to arouse the audiences’ and readers’ interests and attention. To arouse the audiences’ desire and keep the spectators’ interest to pay attention to watch the performance, not to mention there is the need for new makeup materials and skillful techniques to be advanced with the progress of cosmetic beauty industry and biomedical technology. In Stage Makeup the book written by Richard Corson, James Glavan, and Beverly Gore Norcross, the authors practically illustrate the principles of designing and applying stage makeup, including three-dimensional makeup, prosthetic makeup, beards and mustaches, hair and wigs, fashions in makeup, etc. to offer the material history of stage makeup to let us know how faces are perceived and represented. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “Theatrical makeup: Theatrical makeup is the practice of painting, enhancing, or altering the face, hair, and body of the actor with cosmetics, plastic materials, and other

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substances.”1 Theatrical makeup help audiences see actors’ facial expressions more obviously and recognize the characteristics.

Identity and Performance This chapter provides an impetus to revisit the authentic dilemma and the artistic implications in theatre and performance studies. Setting the stage for face, makeup and costume, by social and historical studies, I find Miss Saigon disputes feature the issue of identity. Theoretical inquiries analyze dramatic text and production in Yellow Face. This chapter also offers production reviews on Cats and The Lion King. As Kevyn Aucoin in the #1New York Times Best-Seller Book Making Faces believes, makeup can give everyone power to transform and changes personas. By the way of applying different full-color cosmetics makeup (plain as the office ladies’ or exaggerate as the thriller or scientific future films) after step-by-step makeup instructions, the perception of the ordinary and the extraordinary can be perceived obviously. Makeup perpetuates and reinforces ideas of “Otherness” by putting on different drawing lines, such as eyebrows in the Vamp, colorful cosmetic paints, glamorous brush and final touches in the Temptress, etc. Makeup and some modes of facial design help create a sense of national identity, for example, painting a certain national flag on someone’s face, which is obvious shown in many international sports occasions, such as Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, Universiade, etc.

Humanity to Animality via Makeup Makeup can be enforced to show not only national identity, but also can be extended to go across the boundary from humanity to animality; as Cats and The Lion King blurs the limitation between animal nature and human features to combine the two with makeup, costume, and headdresses (Fig. 5.1). The important agendas in this chapter encompass: Miss Saigon disputes, Yellow Face, makeup in Cats and masks in The Lion King, racial representation, and the dilemma between authentic vs. artistic; arousal in Jekyll & Hyde & So On, etc.. Supporting evidence in face makeup as Hana Worthen indicates that “(t)racing the posthuman turn in the humanities” (2018: 187) in the book review Performing Animality: Animals in Performance Practices. Moreover, Jennifer Parker-Starbuck’s analysis of taxidermy as “the liminal space between the animal’s life and death” (2015: 151) also

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Fig. 5.1  The makeup, animality, and costumes in the musical stage performance Cats. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography)

shits from “theatrical” to “performative taxidermy” (2018: 186). I argue that makeup breaks the liminal space to link from the real performers’ face to show the identity in Yellow Face and make the animals life alive and vivid in Cats by makeup and The Lion King by masks with theatricality.

Face, Race, and Performance To start with the question of race and performance, in the 1990 Miss Saigon dispute, Actor’s Equity Association protest the white actor’s “painted yellow” in playing the leading Asian role in the cast of Miss Saigon from London to Broadway. David Henry Hwang’s play Yellow Face, which uses the 1990 Miss Saigon casting public controversy as the major event, to explore race and performance. In addition to Cats, the example in Julie Taymor’s The Lion King is also convincing in visual culture about makeup, masks, and headdresses, which manifests different faces in playing roles in terms of acting and theatricality in performance.

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The focus on face change and identity transformation within the field of stage makeup (design and technique) in the East Asian performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On (March 30–April 1, 2018) is a good case study for the balance between the subtle and the theatrical. (1) Miss Saigon Dispute and Yellow Face The Miss Saigon Dispute in Casting the Vietnamese Pimp Role Unlike the latest 2018 Hollywood film Crazy Rich Asians which has the whole Asian cast after 25 years in the film Joy Luck Club (1993), it is rare for Asian actors to be able to play the lead authentic Asian role in the four well-known musicals (Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Cats, and Les Misérables) in Broadway. The dramatic tension arises from the 1990 Miss Saigon Dispute, in which David Henry Hwang attended to protest the white British actor Jonathan Pryce who was selected by the British Producer Cameron Mackintosh to play the Asian role of a Vietnamese pimp in Broadway’s Miss Saigon. Although Pryce played the Eurasian role in London hit, in New York City, the Big Apple in the U.S. where multi-­ racial people stay and live, the Actor’s Equity Association in New  York City protested that there are only a few Asian leading roles in the successful and prominent musicals. So why not that particular role to be reserved for an Asian actor who can do it? However, not selecting the capable actor from the Asian pool, the British Producer Cameron Mackintosh and the U.K. part defended that they prefer to choose the best actor who has proved that he can do the acting job well by just make-up to paint yellow in London hit to continue to perform that role in New York. Authentic vs. Artistic is the core of the early 1990s Miss Saigon controversy as well as the unresolved dilemma in the similar casting situation nowadays. Producer Mackintosh’s position was strong; he would rather cancel the production without taking the show from London to New York than replacing Mr. Pryce by the other Asian actor. Producer Mackintosh spoke for money from his satisfying London experience, “business is business” to insist on using the star due to no time for the creative cast to make such a change. Actually the tickets were all pre-sold out, the audiences did not care too much who really plays the Eurasian pimp role. Therefore, nobody would not want to make such huge money and nobody could bear the loss. Besides, talents and suitability are what Producer Mackintosh cared about the cast. In New York Times, Alex Witchel posted that

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Producer Mackintosh attacked Actor’s Equity Association and David Henry Hwang’s complaint of “equal racial opportunity” as a “one-way street to curb the actor’s craft”—actually a “hypercritical” “case of double standards” (1990). Eventually, the production went on and Mr. Pryce proved that he is a star who’s qualified for playing the Eurasian role to be able to win the prize. In this case, the artistic ability wins over the racial authentic.  ellow Face: Face and Race, Intertwined with Reality and Fiction Y Artistic vs. Authentic. More than authentic, there is the question of role-­ playing and cultural identity. On the one hand, the above is the U.K. producer Mackintosh’s concern. On the other hand, Yellow Face can provide us with the other perspective of Asians’ authentic race claim. Mounting his own 1993 play Face Value, in this semi-autobiographical play Yellow Face (2009), which intermingles historical fact and imaginative fiction, intertwined with reality and fantasy, David Henry Hwang’s play explores the questions of race, yellow skin, face, acting, protest, “yellow peril” hysteria, and the interaction of media and politics. This play shows David Henry Hwang’s strength in presenting emotional arguments in cultural authenticity and the Utopian Dream that include people of all ethnicities. In the character “Marcus Gee,” David Henry Hwang stirred the questions about cultural identity. Although the characters in Yellow Face are not so strong complex delineated to depth as in his Pulitzer Prize finalist play M. Butterfly, the characters and the issues of identity politics and race are delicately explored in Yellow Face. David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face, supported by the Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts at Stanford University, and originally was developed in the Lark Play Development Centre in New York City. Directed by Leigh Silverman, Yellow Face (premiered in May 2007 in Los Angeles’s Centre Theatre Group in Mark Taper Forum) was staged in the association with East West Players in Los Angeles and the Public Theater in New York City. David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an Obie Award winner in Playwriting. Not just the stage performances but also Youtube films are produced in the social media digital e-era (Fig. 5.2).  nline Youtube Films and Broadway Stage Performance O 1988 Tony Award Winner David Henry Hwang, after his great play M. Butterfly, wanted to fix his previous failure play Face Value, describe his

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Fig. 5.2  Playwright David Henry Hwang (at left) won his third Obie Award in Playwriting& Francis Jue (at right), an American actor and singer, got the acting Obie Award for his role in Yellow Face at the Public Theater (2008) at the Obie. (Photo: Courtesy of Playwright David Henry Hwang)

play Yellow Face as a ‘mock stage documentary.’ In the latest YouTube film Yellow Face (2013), Jeff Liu adapted and directed this play, produced by the YOMYOMF Network who invited Playwright David Henry Hwang to give introduction in the beginning of both Part 1 and Part 2 of the two parts of the films. David Henry Hwang praised the YouTube Yellow Face production, and said to the viewers to ask them to “be Kind.” David Henry Hwang, as a role model of Asian Americans, is the mainstream playwright recognized in the U.S.  According to Esther Kim Lee in the book The Theatre of David Henry Hwang, Lee points out that Hwang “found his unofficial role as an Asian American spokesperson uncomfortable. He also recognized the irony of being pigeonholed and labelled as ‘an Asian American playwright’ while having written plays (such as Bondage and Face Value) questioning that very label” (2015: 107). Hwang explains how he used the two public events—the 1990 Miss Saigon dispute and the charges against his father in the late 1990s to write this play Yellow Face. To express his mock of racial politics and multiculturalism, he explained his ideas in his interview with Jack Viertel:

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I’d been wanting to fix my play Face Value for the past 17  years, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Then I started thinking about the stage documentary form – making it a mock stage documentary that would poke fun at some of the absurdities of the multicultural movement. It seemed easiest to poke fun at myself, since that way I would be offending only me. Then I figured the play would begin and end with two fairly public events – the Miss Saigon thing … and the charges leveled against my father in the late ‘90s. (2008: 60)

Hwang’s Yellow Face starts with his uncomfortable forced involvement with the protest of the casting controversy in the musical Miss Saigon in 1990–1991. There is a connection with Hwang’s father’s agreement with the poor girl in Miss Saigon who committed suicide but gave her son to his American father to let the child have a better life in America. Hwang depicts about some Asians’ and Asian Americans’ common “American Dream” by using his father’s experience. Concerning of media and politics, he also wrote about his father’s being investigated for the campaign donation to the former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s re-election and his father’s banking business across China and California. During the process and near the end of the play, those important questions are being kept raising—who are you? Where are you from? What are Asian Americans? What is racial identity?  istory, Politics, Race and Face H David Henry Hwang writes the history of “Yellow peril” hysteria in 1990s U.S., including the true person We Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist in Los Alamos, who was accused of espionage. In addition, Asian American political donation contributors, including Hwang’s own father, the Los Angeles banker Henry Y.  Hwang, were under investigation in the Washington Witch Hunts during the former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign. ‘Yellow peril’, racial politics are seriously affected in the U.S. even though the play Hwang’s Yellow Face contains some comical segments. The two acts in Hwang’s Yellow Face, as Lee indicates, “together present different aspects of racial politics in the United States: one is absurd, artificial and farcical, while the other entails dire consequences, including charges of treason” (2015: 108). Absurd and ugly politics intertwined with real people’s stories are depicted in this play. The words like ‘Asian’ and ‘America’ are mess up by David Henry Hwang to mock the ugly politics about nation, race and face.

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Intriguing Issues Many sharp and deep dialogues about race, racial discrimination, intriguing issues of media and politics, face, yellow face, losing face, etc. are plentiful in this play (Fig.  5.3). For example, in the audition scene of Yellow Face in which the playwright DHH, as a dramatic alter hubris ego of Hwang, auditioned the white actor but wrongly chose the Caucasian appearance actor Marcus G.  Dahlman to play the Asian American lead character in his play-within the play Face Value. To confront with the white collaborative producer Stuart’ disagreement that Marcus looks white and is white, DHH at one point says about the race: “nowadays, it’s so hard to tell.” Stuart: But guys, does he--? Does he look Asian to you? DHH: What do you mean, “look Asian”? Stuart: Well, he doesn’t seem to possess—any Asian features. . . at all. ……

Fig. 5.3  The Asian American actor and the white American actress play to present the issue of race in Yellow Face. (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus. Courtesy of Playwright David Henry Hwang)

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DHH: I have to cast this in a way that feels right to me. And I can tell an Asian when I see one. (Kindle Version e-book 29%–31%) However, this is very ironic when DHH later, out of his shock, knows that Marcus G. Dahlman is actually a 100% white, told by the other white actress after the successful premiere celebration cocktail party. DHH gets the advice from the legal institution that he cannot fire Marcus G. Dahlman because of his real race. He can hire an actor for his race, but just because of Actor’ Equity Association rules, he cannot fire that actor for the same reason! DHH can only find an excuse/tell the lie that Marcus G. Dahlman’s father is from Syria to hide the embarrassing fault or let Marcus G. Dahlman reveal his true race by himself. After his persuasion of Marcus G. Dahlman into changing his name to be Marcus Gee, Marcus pretends that he is a Eurasian. Then in the scene where both of them attend the event at the Asian American Resource Center in a college campus, Marcus escapes from the Asian American students’ question about Marcus’s ethnicity by DHH’s explanation that Marcus is a Eurasian from Siberia with his ancestors as ‘Russian Siberian Asian Jews.’ Later to DHH’s surprise, Marcus emerges with the Asian American community by smartly answering what the Asian Americans want to hear about his feeling a sense of community with them and his racial identity with Asian Americans. In Act Two, I think the dialogues between Marcus and DHH about politics, face, and Asian American racial identity are kind of absurdity. Marcus: It’s a chance for APAs to gain some real clout—by leveraging our donations to the presidential campaign. DHH: I can’t believe this! Marcus: They’re honoring me next week in D.C. We could really use your support. DHH: I was an Asian American role model back when you were still a Caucasian! Marcus: David, c’mon—is this a popularity contest? DHH: No, I am not in a popularity contest with you. Marcus: This is about collective empowerment, agreed? DHH: Fuck. That’s so easy for you to say. Marcus: What? DHH: You come in here with that, that face of yours. Call yourself Asian.

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Everyone falls at your feet. But you don’t have to live as an Asian—every day of your life. No, you can just skim the cream, you, you, you ethnic tourist! Marcus: You’re right. I don’t have to live Asian every day of my life. I am choosing to do so. DHH: Funny thing about race. You don’t get to choose. If you’d been born a minority, you’d know that. (Kindle Version e-book 59%–60%) In my perspective, here DHH is sharp to point out the pain that the minority is forced to be that race without any choice. In a contrast, the white, as a strong majority, can choose to be fake to pass on any race by makeup and putting on the racial face(s) he likes. It is not the American Dream about racial equity, but another kind of white power. After talking about race, Marcus and DHH talk about face. Marcus: David, are you familiar with the Chinese concept of “face”? DHH: Am I--? Of course—It’s, it’s you know. . . Marcus: Basically, it says that the face we choose to show the world— reveals who we really are. DHH: I knew that. Marcus: Well, I’ve chosen my face. And now I’m becoming the person I’ve always wanted to be. (Kindle Version e-book 60%–61%) This dialogue raises the questionable concept about the face. Can one really choose what kind of racial face to live? Near the end, Marcus has an Asian American girlfriend who was DHH’s ex-girlfriend, and really wants to be part of Asian Americans to make his life live better. DHH struggles in perpetuating the lie of Marcus’s pass as an Asian in order to save face, yet DHH also disgusts about his hypocrisy of deceiving Marcus’ fakeness (Fig. 5.4). Marcus tells DHH: “Look at me, I imagined myself as something completely different from what I was.” Furthermore, he constructed that new Asian American identity “through sheer will and determination.” Therefore, I wonder perhaps Marcus’s weird self-invented racial identity can be another kind of gender opposition of M. Butterfly, serving as a reverse of DHH’s father HYH’s American Dream.

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Fig. 5.4  In the scene, the trio play to show the complexity of face, race, and politics in Yellow Face. (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus. Courtesy of Playwright David Henry Hwang)

 evenge by Writing the Play to Retell History by His Story R HYH’s American Dream (as a successful hero loving his immigration country the U.S.) is broken when he was old but to be wrongly accused of even treason. To get a revenge upon the New York Times (also targeted David Henry Hwang for having served on the board of his father’s bank in his real life), David Henry Hwang in Yellow Face also used the scene to tell the reporter: “You know, you’re going to make a fascinating character” (61). David Henry Hwang fights against the racism of the newspaper reporter who had attacks on his father. Being wrongly accused of aiding the Chinese government and deceiving the United States, HYH feels his faith shattered and being betrayed by the adopted country, he had loved all of his life. HYH is died after FBI’s investigation for accusations (including “money-laundering, violation of campaign finance laws, aiding a foreign power, possibly even complicity in espionage”), realizing that real life in America is not like what Jimmy Stewart movies he likes as he was a child

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in China. After the disillusionment, DHH faces Marcus’s request to ask the playwright to reveal that actually he is a character, created by the playwright to fulfill DHH father’s dream that as long as the person identifies with the race, his/her skin color and face is not the problem. Therefore, the white can be Asian American as long as he identifies with the Asian American and finds the community home. Just as the character Marcus G. Dahlman in the end of the play is being sent to China after his request of asking the playwright to let him have a happy story ending. Marcus G. Dahlman is content in the remote China where he feels home. DHH’s deceased father appears to put the Chinese long robe on Marcus G.  Dahlman and Marcus is joyous in echoing to the Chinese folk song with the mountain background in China. DHH says: “It’s a new world out there.” Perhaps as Yellow Face suggests, we really do not know what “Asian” and “American” really mean anymore. As DHH says, “The demographics of this country are changing so fast—and sometimes we think it’s only white people who gotta adjust. But we’ve gotta start thinking differently, too.” In the end of this semi-autobiographical play, David Henry Hwang cleverly designs the plot by responding to the 1990 Miss Saigon Dispute, the argument between artistic freedom vs. blood authenticity, and the racial identity. Added by media and politics, semi-autobiography, intermingled with history, truth, fiction, and play-within-the-play. The meta-­ theatre design (about the fictional white character Marcus G) even deconstructs everything in the end. Yellow Face makes all of the issues of race and politics intertwined more complex, nuanced and exquisite. (2) The Lion King, Cats, and War Paint  he Lion King: Masks and Race T I argue that yellow face can work as a mask for someone like the white character Marcus G. Dahlman by acting to put on. Masks as well as makeup can be like another face to put on and look at in the performances, such as the masks, makeup and costumes in The Lion King created by Julie Taymor and makeup designs by Karen Dawson, Nancy Powell, and Candace Carell in Cats. The supporting ideas can be provided; for instance, in the case of Julie Taymor’s The Lion King, Sarah Begley in Times also points out that “Ultimately, the unique blend of puppetry and masks used in the production ended up being one of its most lauded elements” (2015). The effect

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Fig. 5.5  Theater Director & Costume Designer Julie Taymor in The Lion King in 1997 the premiere performs visual culture about makeup, masks, and headdresses, combining human acting and animality theatricality in the musical. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

of blending the masks and puppetry are extraordinarily great to achieve a milestone in the theatre history (Fig. 5.5). Each frame in the films and every still tableau on stage in Julie Taymor’s works, I think, can find her careful designed visual presentation. Supporting evidence as Julie Taymor said: “since I’m a painter and a visual artist, every single shot was carefully composed” (2005: 298). Besides, Taymor in the interview by Stephen Pizzello in “A Conversation with Julie Taymor” in Theater and Film: A Comparative Anthology tells us about her directing and choreography ideas in her works, including her films adapted from Shakespeare’s plays. Taymor enjoys playing with lighting effects. Taymor also said that she is a person “of this day and age,” so her approach to the

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material is “quite naturally influenced by all of the movies, plays, books, and paintings” she has absorbed (2005: 300). Taymor’s success results in her uniqueness of absorbing the visual arts in both film and theatre. Inspiration from Asian Theatre Tradition By her creative huge headdress animal masks, Julie Taymor used Disney’s animation film prototype to create her own deeper human + animal combination. Taymor’s multi-artistic genre absorption can also be described by the YouTube film in which she talked about her experiences in East South Asia during her studying period for her to learn the puppetry from traditional Asian theatre tradition. She admits that those intercultural theater experiences in Asia and in the other part of the world helps her do the masks, props and costumes in The Lion King. Seeing the representations reflects racist stereotypes in The Lion King, Georgia Valetta’s essay focuses on “the way notions like femininity and masculinity appear in the film, on what the film tells us about sexuality and how gay audiences are represented and finally on the different representations of race, which is primarily black people” (2). For Vraketta, the film The Lion King shows homosexuality, such as Scar is the gay figure, and the racial stereotypes, especially the black. Janet Wasko also points out that “during the last few decades increasing attention has been focused on racial stereotypes, as well as Disney’s portrayals of race in particular” (2001: 139). While patriarchy and masculinity dominate in Disney’s film The Lion King, the three black actors portray the African Americans’ racial stereotypes; the hyenas are represented as being “slobbery, mangy, stupid poachers” and at the “bottom of the food chain” (Byrne and McMullan 1999: 86). By bullying and frightening Simba and others, Edgerton and Jackson (1996) indicate that the film made the characters “look like hooligans,” with references to “Black, Hispanic cultures and ghetto” (Valetta 5). In my view, in the female director & Choreographer Julie Taymor’s musical The Lion King, those uncomfortable feeling about the patriarchy’s ruling the world and the bad guys are all played by particular skin color people who are pressed away by the huge masks. The dark skin cast with the masks put on Disney’s light songs and dance African plantation, celebrating “The Circle of Life.” No doubt, the race problem is diminished by using the masks, makeup and costumes to be presented as another visually extraordinary body in Julie Taymor’s feminine way. Taymor’s The Lion King also has influence on dramatizing the human representation of animals in performance further to demonstrate the interplay of sympathy and empathy in the musical War Horse.

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 ut the Racism Song in Cats C Face and race are intermingled in the performance. For example, in the latest 2016 Broadway revival Cats, one of the songs “Growltiger’s Last Stand” is cut due to racism. In the song “The Growltiger’s Last Stand,” it does sound racist in the lyrics: “The Gilbert gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde/With a frightful burst of fireworks, the Chinks they swarmed abroad.” The lyrics contain the issue of race: But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed To cats of foreign name and race no quarter was allowed The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear.

The song includes the line, “With a frightful burst of fireworks the Ch–ks they swarmed aboard,” which had previously been changed to “With a frightful burst of fireworks the Siamese they swarmed aboard.” The musical Cats is aware of different races although most of the performers are the Caucasian White. I also found the masks might help the actors with the abilities good enough from different racial backgrounds to get the roles. For example, in the ExitLeft Productions in 2007, in the scene when the roles of the sampans, Growltiger’s foes, are played by the children actors wearing the masks. Makeup and masks might solve some racial problems and the dilemma between authentic and artistic. Identity Politics and the Dilemma The mis/interpretations of these trends/techniques/uses in makeup cause rupture to performance when those traditions are incorporated into contemporary performance. I suggest that the makeup of Cats and the masks of The Lion King both allow for escape from issues of race in portrayals of animal characters. The video on YouTube where it looks like the makeup artist is saying: “The optical illusion is that the human face disappears and the flat cat face appears.”2 I argue that as long as the actor/ actress is outstanding in the artistic skills, by makeup, for example, in Cats, and the masks, for instance, in The Lion King, (s)he can play the role, ideally regardless of her/his race. Makeup and masks can help color-blind casting. It is good for makeup and masks to highlight a particular social or historical context to bring the audiences to the particular time era and the certain situation to feel the milieu. For example, the makeup in the

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eighteenth century in France, human actors by makeup playing as cats in Cats. However, it is not suitable for makeup/masks to constrain to a particular social or historical context without being universal. It is not proper to have no new change. The trends/techniques/uses in makeup in Cats still help interpret the distinctive characterization of cats, which go toward for the application of the other theatrical innovation.  akeup Cosmetic War in War Paint M Makeup objects (manuals, tools, cosmetic colors, and formulations, etc.) reveal users’ biases about faces and bodies, and those biases materially linked to the cultures of design and production of that particular moment in history. As I mentioned earlier, take the makeup objects, cosmetic colors and tools in the musical War Paint as an example to reveal users’ biases about faces and bodies. It is significant to notice that those biases materially linked to the cultures of Elizabeth Arden’s pink color and Helena Rubinstein’s white color design and the theatrical production to represent that particular moment in the twentieth century in history (Fig.  5.6).

Fig. 5.6  The stage design and costume design of using the pink and white colors are to show the cosmetics brands of Elizabeth Arden and the cosmetics products of Helena Rubinstein for packaging and marketing by the pink and white colors separately. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography)

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“They change the face of a nation” proclaimed and advertised by the poster of the musical War Paint (2016), which is about the cosmetics wars between the lives of and rivalry between twentieth-century female entrepreneurs Elizabeth Arden (real name: Florence Nightingale Graham, 1878–1966) and Helena Rubinstein (1872–1965). Pink vs. White The manuals, tools, cosmetic colors, and formulations, etc. reveal the two cosmetics company business superwomen’s power in influencing users’ biases on the aesthetics and preferences for faces and bodies. For example, one woman Elizabeth Arden likes to use pink color to decorate, package and market the cosmetics to create the romantic love aroma milieu; and the other woman cosmetician Helena Rubinstein likes to use white color to symbolize the pure and clean medical hospital-like atmosphere. On stage in the musical performance (which I saw in the Goodman Theater in the premiere in Chicago, July 2016; Broadway 2017), the makeup is particularly chosen to let the chorus girls (playing the employees working for Elizabeth Arden’s Cosmetics Inc.) wear in cute pink short skirts in the salon shops and make-up their eyeshadows in pink. While War Paint gets the chorus girls (playing the employees working for Helena Rubinstein (played by Patti Lupone)) in the stage performance wear the white doctor-­ like uniforms to present the professional medical beauty clinic image. Those biases materially linked to the cultures of design and production of that particular moment in history in the way the two big cosmetic companies design and market the products in the twentieth century in the U.S. and Europe. In the cultures of design and production, the musical War Paint shows the number “Pink” to focus on the pink color, which has been highly influenced users’ preferences in the cosmetic beauty industry in buying in the business consumption economics since the twentieth century until now. Girls and women’s non-stop craziness about pink, which phenomenon manifests in the brand Victoria’s Secret nowadays. In the song “Pink,” the actress Christine Ebersole (who plays the role of Elizabeth Arden) sings: “What I never am tired is the color” to claim the legacy of choosing the color pink to package her cosmetic products. The color of pink in various pink color from shallow to deep differences in the cultures of cosmetic and theatrical design to represent in the production on stage arouse the users’ desire for consumption and the audiences’ recognition of the brand.

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Makeup and Surgery The use of makeup in drag performance shows what I watched in the rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Premiered Off-Broadway 1998; a licensed piece of the Korean cast adaptation, restaged in Taipei mid-­ August 2018). The failure of Hedwig’s transsexual surgery can have the association with aggressive cosmetic surgery. In addition to makeup and cosmetics, I think cosmetic surgery, as part of the performance, can be a factor into arousal. For instance, Orlan’s cosmetic surgeries also trigger the research done by Kathy Davis’ journal paper “‘My Body is My Art’ Cosmetic Surgery as Feminist Utopia.” Orlan’s dispassionate speech before the bloody terrible surgery projection terrifies some audiences. However, Orlan’s daring cosmetic surgery performance, on and off stage, also evoke some audiences’ emotions and inflame some scholars’ research interest. The use of makeup in racial productions can be exemplified as blackface in the Ministry shows, in which the white actors put makeup to make their face dark black like the black and paint big mouth in white for caricature. The use of makeup also presents in the racialized incarnations of Asian pimp character in some of the Miss Saigon productions. For example, the dramatic tension arises from the 1990 Miss Saigon Dispute, in which famous Asian American playwright David Henry Hwang attended to protest the white British actor Jonathan Pryce be selected by the British Producer Cameron Mackintosh to play the Asian role of a Vietnamese pimp in Broadway’s Miss Saigon. Moreover, the use of makeup is special in animal makeup, such as Cats and The Lion King. Furthermore, similar to cosplay, there is the actress’ sudden swift makeup and dress change to show different role-play character identity in the performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On (Taipei 2018). (3) Jekyll & Hyde & So On  rousal by Face and Identity Transformation in Global Asia A The focus on face change and identity transformation within the field of stage makeup (design and technique) in the East Asian performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On (March 30–April 1, 2018) uses the exaggerate makeup to transform the original thrill tragedy into a theatrical comedy. Koki Mitani, a Japanese well-known playwright/director whose works can be seen in cinema, TV, and theatre in Japan, directs this production. Invited

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by National Performing Arts Center in Taiwan, Director Mitani stages his new production in 2018 TIFA (Taiwan International Festival of Arts) in Taipei. Compared with Asian Theatre, such as Peking Opera, Noh, and Kabuki, the use of cosmetics on European and American stage is subtler, and in some cases more natural. This comedy performance is directed by Japanese Director Koki Mitani to be staged in the National Theater in Taiwan. Mitani’s comedy is an adaptation inspired by the Gothic Novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886, with Stevenson’s debt to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Ben D.  Fuller in the journal paper “The Anxiety of the Unforeseen in Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” indicates that “in the novella, there are two women – one sweet innocent high-class lady for Dr. Jekyll, and the other low-class woman for Mr. Hyde” (2016: 5). I compare this with the comic adaptation in the Japanese Director Mitani’s theatre work in which the only actress plays the two female roles (good and degenerated) (Fig. 5.7). The opposition of human beings’ good nature vs. human beings’ evil nature echoes to the novelist Stevenson’s agnostic sensitivity and religious belief in Romanticism (Stevenson 857). Double personality is satirical to link ugliness with immorality. Hyde, according to Stevenson, is “a strong feeling of deformity” (836). At the same time, Dr. Jekyll shows the sublime, while the ghastly undesirable ugliness of Hyde also reveals the intrinsic evilness. It reflects people’s interests change from the enigmatic natural power to science in the Victorian era background. In a comparison, in Mitani’s comedy performance, the only actress plays the two female roles (noble and degenerated), changing identity transformation, switching from reserved coyness to lustful arousal. The erotic female body is strengthened by makeup and cosmetics showing the libidinous arousal of the female face and the lascivious face of Mr. Hyde. Assumed to drink the portion, the opposition between good vs. evil is transformed into the woman’s appeal to the aggressive male, sex impulse arousal. Bizarre and Hilarious Jekyll & Hyde & So On, this sensual performance, represented by bizarre yet hilarious performativity, drives arousal, motivating the audience members’ impulses and desires. Director Koki Mitani uses three Japanese actors including Ainosuke Kataoka and Takashi Fujii, one Japanese actress

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Fig. 5.7  The noble woman visits her fiancée, Dr. Jekyll, in his lab. His assistant stands on the up left stage on the stairs. Stage design with the stairs to present the two floors and the top roof (with the two musicians playing the live music) vertically to show the three performing space. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall)

Hanzawa Naoki, Yuka, and two Japanese musicians in this performance. The Japanese actor who used to perform the formal serious Kabuki plays the protagonist Dr. Jekyll. Therefore, his particular comic performing style catches the audiences’ eyes. Director Mitani combines the entertainment media, including theatre stage performance and TV sit-com (Fig. 5.8). Exaggerated Makeup Yuka, the Japanese actress, who used to be an AV adult porn actress, transforms her image into the role of Dr. Jekyll’s innocent pretty fiancée, nurtured to be a decent lady by her father, the noble Academy Member. However, in fact, in Psychoanalysis her inner self is adventurous to look for sexual passion, yet constrained by social construction and class limitation. Yuka’s exaggerate funny performing way, including stressing on her facial expression by makeup and cosmetics adding the black dark pads

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Fig. 5.8  Actress Yuka plays the role of Dr. Jekyll’s fiancée and Actor Takashi Fujii plays the role of Mr. Hyde in Jekyll & Hyde & So On. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall)

under her eyes (probably to show her sleepless sexual desire). Her makeup of big heavy black eyebrows, exaggerated long eyelashes, and dark brown eyeshadows on her face, gives the hint of desire, sex potency, and emotional turmoil (Fig.  5.9). The excessive strong characteristics show the vulgar behaviors, and changing the red costume aids her identity transformation into another intriguing self. After the arousal of the magic portion and brainwash, the actress (who sits on the comic actor who fakes to play the role as if Mr. Hyde) transforms from the timid noble lady into the wild girl taking the active aggression with strong sexual arousal (Fig.  5.10). She puts on the particular makeup, especially the noteworthy black dark patches under her eyes and the black power and eyeliner to show the sleepless sexual desire and the hidden sexual instinct underneath obviously.

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Fig. 5.9  With sexual arousal, the actress uses the special makeup, including the black dark patches under her eyes, the black necklace and the costume for performing to show the exaggerative animal sexual instinct inhibited by the social morality and the noble aristocracy high-class norm. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall)

Symbol of Sex Employing the actress’ face, makeup, and costumes in changing between the two female naive and wild roles, either covering or revealing her body can not only arouse the male gaze and the fetishizing gaze from the audiences but also link to the biases materially in the cultures of costume design at the particular moment in theatre history. The actress’ makeup and costumes can drastically transform the performer’s appearance, and these identity transformations are linked to pleasure and pain, especially her black leather boots and tight Corset to show her cursive body shape associated to Sadomasochism and Erotics. Corset (in Latin meaning: body) is popular in the Victorian Era in Europe, France, and England. Arousal and/as power-play is performed by the female role who asks her fiancé, Dr. Jekyll, to drink the potion to let Mr. Hyde show up to flirt and play with her. The symbol of material history epitomes the manifestation

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Fig. 5.10  After the arousal of the magic portion and brainwash, the actress (who sits on the comic actor who plays the role of Mr. Hyde) transforms from the timid noble lady into the wild girl taking the active aggression with strong sexual arousal. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall)

of sex potency, strong desire and passion. The adaptation and reception of western canon in East Asia are popular.  rousal and Audience Response A Reflections not only on the change of interest from enigmatic natural power to hard Science that accompanied the Victorian Era in different histories but also on the monstrous arousal of the erotic attraction to the constrained lady by the face arousal and the identity transformation. Director Koki Mitani’s choice of the actress (who was used to be an AV adult movie actress)’ makeup in the dark big heavy eyebrows can contribute to our conversation about arousal. The symbol of material history can be detected by the manifestation of makeup and cosmetics to show sex potency, strong desire, and erotic passion. East Asian performance arouses not just fear and curiosity, but also desire and humanity. This East Asian performance case signifies an Orientalist arousal.

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In terms of audience response, after watching the performance, I attended the Interview Q &A held by the National Theatre in Taipei to listen to Director Kobi Mitani’ answers to the audiences’ questions. Director Mitani said that he first chose the actress, and then chose the actors. Playwright & Director Mitani’s working process is to put the cast’s photos in front of his desk, thinking of the script. Director Mitani has sympathy toward the actor who had come to say Goodbye to leave Tokyo for no suitable job. Thus, he let him play the role of Victor (the person who is hired by Dr. Jekyll to play his evil self, Mr. Hyde, to cover his unsuccessful science portion experiment to pretend it works) in this new theatre production. Director Mitani admires Hanzawa Naoki; Yuka’s pose some gestures to break her own limitation. The Japanese director particularly designs to add the dialogue “fried bread stick” (油條) in Chinese pronunciation customized for the local audience members in Taiwan (Fig. 5.11). Creative Process Playwright & Director Mitani answered that he spent two months in finishing writing the play, yet actually he spent 1 month+3 weeks in thinking and used the last week in finishing writing the script. When he did not have an inspiration, he went to take a shower to dip and soak in a bathtub. When he dries off his body, he often gets the inspiration. The director’s answer ignites another kind of arousal—physically and intellectually. He emphasizes the language dialogue tempo and rhyme. In stage design, Director Mitani employs a small space and later adds the vertical stairs space for climbing up and down on the stage. He is also flexible to add the actors’ funny improvisation gestures and body wave movement. The two musicians’ live music playing some instruments accompaniment make a lot of various music and sounds. It is a small cast consisting of the three actors and one actress, added by the two musicians’ live music on the top roof of the stage indoor building; there are total six performers in this performance (invited by offering plentiful monetary rewards).

Conclusion In the brief discussion on makeup in terms of animal and racial other (Cats or The Lion King, a minstrel show, or even Miss Saigon).” The chapter on Jekyll & Hyde in Daphne Brooks’s Bodies in Dissent, and Mel Chen’s Animacies can be referenced. Brooks’s text points out the racialized

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Fig. 5.11  The Japanese director particularly designs to let the actress and the actor add the dialogue “fried bread stick” (油條) in Chinese pronunciation customized for the local audience members in Taiwan. (Rehearsal News Conference. Photo Credit: Chang, Zhen-Zhou. Courtesy of National Theater and Concert Hall)

valences of Hyde in the Victorian context, and the ways animality was invoked in bodily performance; and Animacies discusses, too, the gradations from animal to human. According to Daphne A. Brooks, “‘Dressed up’ in Gothic drag and under the “cover” of both Jekyll and Hyde, Mansfield recovers white mastery of the performing body, even as his act recalls and embodies the deviant codes of Post-Reconstruction blackness” (2006: 64). Mansfield’s Hyde evokes the minstrelsy show with the white & black racial issue and the dark deviant, freak, grotesque body is corporeal deformity contorted into animality. However, in this Asian performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On, there is no racial problem but genre change from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic horror novel in 1886 to be a twenty-first-century comedy on stage, with all Asian yellow faces makeup while in Western Victorian costumes. Mel Chen’s Animacies interrogates the distinction and beyond the human and animal. In this perspective, in the comedy performance Jekyll & Hyde &

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So On, the contrast between Jekyll (as a nobleman) versus Hyde (as a man with the animal’s sexual instinct) is represented by the two Japanese actors’ body performance. The Japanese actress’ makeup, such as her heavy eyebrows and dark eyelashes, etc. shows the nuances between the symbol of the angel vs. the whore. The agenda still lingers on even nowadays—shall the Asian roles be reserved to be played by the Asians or those who have the greatest ability and talent to play it by means of makeup? This article explores Miss Saigon disputes, Yellow Face, makeup and masks in The Lion King to examine the argument about racial representation and the dilemma between authentic vs artistic. I suggest Cats makeup is similar to The Lion King masks in allowing for some escape from issues of race in portrayals of animal characters. I argue as long as the actor/actress is outstanding in the artistic skills, by makeup, for example, in Cats, and the masks, for instance, in The Lion King, (s) he can play the role, ideally regardless of her/his race. Makeup and masks can help color-blind casting. In the examples of Yellow Face, Cats, and The Lion King, makeup reveals the actor’s facial expressions, emphasis on his eyes, nose, lip, eyebrows; and also masks the actor so as to give the character’s role identity. Moreover, I would propose to think about the other category of theater performances in which human actors put on the masks to play the robot roles as another kind of makeup and mask making, which I will elucidates in Chap. 9 on “Robot Theatre and AI Films.” To sum up, face, race, masks, and makeup, as well as extraordinary body, are the appearance that cannot really cover or hide the racial discrimination and politics of identity. Racism and the dilemma over Authenticity vs. Artistic still linger on in the history and criticism on The Miss Saigon dispute, Yellow Face, and the musicals The Lion King and Cats to retrieve the significance of face, race and performance. To conclude, linking to 2018 ASTR theme “Whether or not our arousal is explicitly sexual, it is sensual, erotic, cognitive, and embodied,” I argue that arousal by face and identity transformation can be epitomized by the cases of the Broadway musical War Paint in which the materiality of the cosmetics and colors are manifested. In addition, face and identity transformation in the East Asian comedy performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On (which embodies the brains and spirits, good and evil human nature) switch back and forth and the desire is awaken by the magical sexual arousal.

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Notes 1. https://www.britannica.com/art/stagecraft/Theatrical-makeup 2. Cats The Musical Makeup Tutorial ♡ Broadway Musical Theatre. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2DWKARavMI

Works Cited Aucoin, Kevyn. 1997. Making Faces. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Begley, Sarah. 2015. Julie Taymor on The Lion King and Her Creative Process. Time, October 9. http://time.com/4065287/julie-taymor-creative-process/. Retrieved on October 4, 2017. Brooks, A. Daphne. 2006. Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850–1910. Durham: Duke University Press. Byrne, E., and M. McMullan. 1999. Deconstructing Disney. London: Pluto Press. Chen, Y. Mel. 2012. Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect, Perverse Modernities. Durham/London: Duke University Press. Corson, Richard, James Glavan, and Gore Beverly Norcross. 2016. Stage Makeup. 10th ed. London/New York: Routledge. Davis, Kathy. 1997. ‘My Body is My Art’ Cosmetic Surgery as Feminist Utopia. European Journal of Women’s Studies 4: 23–37. Edgerton, G., and K.M.  Jackson. 1996. Redesigning Pocahontas. Journal of Popular Film &Television 24 (2). Fuller, D. Ben. 2016. The Anxiety of the Unforeseen in Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Inquiries Journal: Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts 8 (11): 1/1. Hwang, David Henry. 2009. Yellow Face. New  York: Theatre Communications Group. Kindle Version e-Book. Lee, Esther Kim. 2015. The Theatre of David Henry Hwang. London/New York: Bloomsbury. Orozco, Lourdes, and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, eds. 2015. Performing Animality: Animals in Performance Practices. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Stevenson, Robert Louis. 2012. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In The Norton Anthology of English Literature, ed. Stephen Greenblatt, vol. 2, 9th ed., 832–874. New York: Norton. Print. Taymor, Julie. 2005. Interview by Stephen Pizzello in “A Conversation with Julie Taymor”. In Theater and Film: A Comparative Anthology, ed. Robert Knopf. New Haven/London: Yale University Press. Viertel, Jack. 2008. Fun with Race and the Media: An Interview with the Playwright. American Theatre 25 (4): 60. Vraketta, Georgia. 2014. The Representations of Gender, Sexuality and Race in Disney’s The Lion King. www. Academia.edu, July 6. Wasko, Janet. 2001. Understanding Disney. Cambridge: Polity Press.

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Witchel, Alex. Actors Equity Attacks Casting of ‘Miss Saigon’. The New  York Times. Posted July 26, 1990. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/26/theater/actors-equity-attacks-casting-of-miss-saigon.html. Retrieved on October 3, 2017. Worthen, Hana. 2018. Book Review. “Performing Animality: Animals in Performance Practices”. Theatre Topics 28 (2): 186–187.

Cinematography According to The Sun, the line in Cats has been changed in some more recent musical productions since the first debuted in London in 1981. Retrieved on October 5, 2017. http://fortune.com/2016/08/04/cats-broadway-revival/ Make-up in Cats Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= r2DWKARavMI. Retrieved on October 5, 2017. The Lion King on Broadway—Masks and Puppets. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=uy0MJsRFy_0. Retrieved on October 5, 2017. The pink & white color contrast is shown in the YouTube film of the musical War Paint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXz54Z5k7jw. Retrieved on October 5, 2017. The roles are played by the children actors wearing the masks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTvRJg3ngE. Retrieved on October 5, 2017. Yellow Face. Part 1. YouTube Films. The YOMYOMF Network. Published on June 8, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krlv9cyn9Hc. Retrieved on October 3, 2017. Yellow Face. Part 2. YouTube Films. The YOMYOMF Network. Published on June 9, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at8wAKlZEeg. Retrieved on October 3, 2017.

CHAPTER 6

Dance Tango and Sing for Revenge in Chicago and The Visit

Introduction As Michael Foucault in The History of Sexuality indicates that “(p)leasure and power do not cancel or turn back against one another; they seek out, overlap, and reinforce one another. They are linked together by complex mechanisms and devices of excitation and incitement” (1978: 48). Pleasure and power enhances mutual recipicidiously. This chapter explores women’s revenge power, pleasure, and the dark side of humanity greed expressed in Composer John Kanderand Lyrist Fred Ebb’s collaborative musicals Chicago (2002, Miramax Motion Picture) and The Visit (2015, Lyceum Theater) in Broadway.1 Just as Chicago, Kander and Ebb’s musicals often take place in a theatrical show business milieu. In the small stage and the dark setting of Chicago on the Broadway stage2 which I saw several years ago in New  York, in my view, the non-linear, conceptual approaches are different from Steve Sondheim’s concept musical like Sunday in the Park with George. K & E’s storytelling is more dramatized in the musical theatre piece and more theatricalized in the 2002 musical film version. I argue that the sexy Tango dance song “Cell Block Tango” in Chicago asking for not guilty shows women’s revenge and power after committing homicide of the men who have betrayed them. While in The Visit, the music and rhythm of the song “I Would Never Leave You & One Legged Tango” are not like the hot Argentina passionate Tango dance movement and skilled superb steps in the musical film Evita (1996). However, in 2015 in Broadway in The Visit, radiant Actress Chita Rivata © The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_6

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at age 82 and the supporting cast sing and dance in an aloof, cynical high-­ class waltzes full of Swiss European formality style. It shows K&E’s various ingenious intriguing musicals with vitality echoing to the unconventional theme of Broadway musicals on revenge.

Chicago: Female Stars Dance and Sing for Revenge The revival of 1996 Chicago: The Musical surpassed the modest success of its 1975 original production of Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville. The audiences and critics of the Post-Watergate era think the American justice system and the entertainment industry are cynical as Chicago highlight. With John Kander’s music, Fred Ebb’s lyrics, and Ebb and Bob Fosse’s Book, only few changes in the revival huge success signal the societal attitude to appreciate the dark sardonic subject matter. Set the background in the 1920s the Jazz Age with decadence and opulence, the story of satire is on the corruption in the administration of justice, and the cynical criticism on the entertainment industry, by the cases of the two murderesses Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly who commit homicides. They are defended by the greedy lawyer Billy Flynn (played by the famous Hollywood movie star Richard Gere in the musical film Chicago (2002)). The greedy lawyer manipulates the media and the public debates to make them become the celebrities, wining the societal sympathy, to be not guilty. The musical film Chicago (which wins the Best Picture Academy Award) is starring by Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, etc. Fame kind of becomes the most celebrated virtue in American society manifested in the theme of Chicago, the tactics of the musical & film entertainment industry, and the cast’s stardom guarantee box-office success. The female stars in the musical command success and power. As Michael Charlton in the journal paper “Performing Gender in the Studio and Postmodern Musical” points out: the “‘star performance’ of a female star, particularly one by an actress playing a performer within the narrative itself, represents a combustible mixture of assumptions about gender, power and identity” (2012: 13).

The female stars such as Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the famous female movie stars in the musical film Chicago (2002), and Chita Rivera, the female Broadway musical star, in The Visit (2015), employ their glamour to dance and sing for women’s power in revenge (Fig. 6.1).

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Fig. 6.1  Chita Rivera, Broadway musical star, in The Visit (2015), plays the role of Claire Zachanassian, one of the world’s wealthiest women. Claire, a superrich widow, sings with her Eunuch servants. Including the song “Eunuch’s Testimony,” she expresses her purpose of the visit, that is, in exchange for rescuing the poor town people’s bankruptcy from financial calamity, she asks for the life of Anton Shell. Because Anton betrayed her while she was young and pregnant with his child, but he abandoned her to marry another woman. So she sings the song “Winter” for revenge. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography)

The Visit: “Love and Love Alone” Based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1956 satirical play Der Besuch der alten Dame about greed and revenge, premiered in the Goodman Theater in Chicago in 2001, with the book of The Visit written by Terrence McNally. After 14 years, this musical The Visit directed by John Doyle comes back to Broadway in 2015. I watched the musical The Visit in Chicago where it first tested the water temperature, the audience response and the critics’ reviews before it gets acclaim to move to be staged in New York. In this Broadway musical The Visit, Kander and Ebb’s long-time collaboration famous actress Chita Rivera (who plays the role of Claire Zachanassian,

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one of the world’s wealthiest women, who returns to her financially depressed hometown and offers its residents a new lease on life in exchange for the death of Anton Schell, (who abandoned her years ago) (played by Roger Rees in the Lyceum Theater in New York in 2015). Costume designer Ann Hould-Ward shows the sharp contrast between poverty vs. wealth. In contrast to the town folks’ baggy clothes, resplendent Claire arrives at the town station, in a fur-trimmed white traveling suit. She wears the white gracious gown decorated with luxurious jewelry, including the obvious big red necklace. In sardonic smile, she sings “I married very often, and I widowed very well.” She sings the song “Love and Love Alone” beautifully full of emotions and feelings. She also dances gracefully in straight-backed stillness with her young self, playing by the pretty young dancer (played by Michelle Veintimillia, also in a white costume dress, but soft and suitable for dancing). The female protagonist Claire Zachanassian, the richest woman in the world, comes back to her hometown after many years to ask for justice and revenge. Chaire can save the town by huge donations and give each person handsome money in exchange for Anton’s life. Anton, her lover and only reprieve from persecution (when she was 17 as an illegitimate half-Jewish gypsy), abandoned her when she was found pregnant and married another woman to get her father’s shoe shop. Clair was forced to run away and be a whore. After so many years, as a rich widow, by the power of wealth, she comes back to the small town in property by offering to give the bankruptcy town people a lot of money, symbolizing by the yellow shoes as materials bribes. In the song “Yellow Shoes,” metaphor of greed and the color of gold, the poor town people’s attitudes change from rejection at the very beginning of this performance when hearing Chair’s offer, to public agreement in waiting game during the process, to be the whole town community’s execution and consensus of Anton’s death in the end.

Argument and Exploration To repeat and add the details for emphasis, I argue the sexy Tango dance song “Cell Block Tango” in Chicago (sung, danced and performed by the six gorgeous female dancers and actresses) asking for not guilty, shows women’s revenge and power after committing homicide of the men for their lies, cheating and betrayals. With the lyrics: “And now, the six merry murderesses of the Cook County Jail in their rendition of the Cell Block

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Tango”, the sexy women dance Tango, sing for revenge, ask for not guilty. As they defense and perform: He had it coming He had it coming He only had himself to blame If you’d have been there If you'd have seen it I betcha you would have done the same! Pop, six, squish, uh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz

They explain that if you were in their shoes, you would have done the same thing to get revenge upon those people who betrayed you and broken your heart. With the music and the rhythm speed up, they with chorus dance and sing: They had it coming all along (they took a flower in its prime) I didn't do it (and then they used it) But if I'd done it How could you tell me That I was wrong?

Each one, by dancing passionate Tango mixed with Jazz, Modern Dance, and Ballet techniques, they sing their anger and the reason of murder to get revenge upon those bad men’s laziness, lies, cheating, infidelity, and having sex with other women. The six female murderesses with different race and vocation represent the women who are betrayed by those bad men to be forced to do it. K&E’s music composition and lyrics ingeniously weaves the six different yet similar universal motif upon women’s revenge by the musical film’s editing and shifting between the 6 murder stories retelling via performing Tango and the reality through the protagonist Roxie Hart’s eyes of imagination as the audience as us. Also dancing Tango, in a comparison, in The Visit, the song “I Would Never Leave You & One Legged Tango” sung and danced by Chaire Zachanassian’s creepy entourage, her butler (played by Tom Nelis) and two Eunuchs (played by Chris Newcomer and Matthew Deming) who swear fealty to her and danced together by Claire (played by 82-year-old Chita Rivera in 2015). Even though the music and rhythm are not like the hot Argentina passionate Tango dance movement and skilled superb dance steps in the musical film Evita (1996) sung, danced and played by

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Madonna and commented by Ché (played by Antonio Banderas), I think that Rivata at such an age can still perform on stage to sing and dance with the supporting cast is amazing. Her performing way is not like the passionate Tango in Evita and sexy Tango in Chicago, but an aloof, cynical and delightful bourgeois high-class waltzes. Her style is in a Swiss formality style, European taste. It shows K&E’s collaboration in Broadway musical which tributes to its European musical legacy. K&E can work together to compose the music and write the lyrics for various intriguing musicals with subtlety and vitality. K&E’s marvelous melodic musicals Chicago and The Visit use unconventional controversial themes to represent anti-heroic femmes fatales and woman avenger whose ability in undermining superficial law and fake order express American society’s and the public’s attitude change from morality and conservatism in the 1970s to worship celebrity and wealth since 1990s up to the present.

Chicago: Mocks on Murder The story of Chicago is from the real court cases and real newspapers reports. The musical and film of Chicago is adapted from the court cases and news of the murderesses Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, both of them killed the bad men who lied and cheated them. They paid the lawyer who manipulated the newspapers to get the people’s sympathy, so they escaped from the death gallows in Chicago in 1920s. Both of the musical and the musical film use Tango dance and songs to tell the story of women’s revenge. By way of theatrical musical and film adaptation, mixing the reality and the fiction, the stage and the silver screen retell the women’s fighting for fame from notoriety. Raymond-Jean Frontain in the Encyclopedia article “Kander, John and Fred Ebb” comments: The stage (and, in two cases, subsequent film) versions of their commercially successful and critically lauded Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman glorify the creativity inherent in sexual ambivalence and celebrate the social renewal fostered by unorthodox forms of political action. (2015)

The sexual ambivalence and unorthodox political action are emergent due to the chaos of economics and morality at that time, especially in the 1930s in Chicago. Unconventionally, prison is a metaphor used for K&E in both Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The protagonists in both

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Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman have fantasies and imaginations; on stage and in the film screen, the narratives and images jumping from the illusions to the reality. And those fantasies, imagination and illusions, I argue, serve not just as an escape as Harper’s drug hallucination unbelievably encountering with Prior’s dream in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, but aid the hints, satires and undertones to tell their life stories in the reality where the protagonists Roxy Hart in Chicago, the homosexual criminal named Luis Molina (Oscar-Winner: William Hurt), and the political prisoner in the film Kiss of the Spider Woman live and face.3 K&E’s musical film and Broadway musicals use women’s bodies and selling sex in the show business to laugh at the greedy corruption and the legal system’s collusion with the sensational media to entertain the viewers. K&E use their collaborative musical songs to protest social corruption. In Chicago, the corruption of power is lampooned in the songs such as “When You’re Good to Mama” and the greedy lawyer’s ruthless manipulation of the American legal system ironically by its supposed protectors like the press in “Razzle Dazzle.” Celebrity and social respectability is simply a method of controlling and spreading of gossips. K&E in the song “Jailhouse Rag” in Chicago mock the American legal system’s collusion with the media. K&E also chide the Nazi’s controlling of the legal system and media in the song “Don’t Tell Mama” in Cabaret. The club in Cabaret functions as a metaphor for ferocious political developments in Germany in the late Weimar Republic period (Fig. 6.2).

The Visit: Grotesque Parable of Revenge Like Chicago, The Visit is also about women’s revenge upon bad men. Supporting my argument on women’s revenge, according to the theater critic Jonathan Mandell in his review “The Visit Broadway Review: Chita Rivera in Kander and Ebb’s grotesque parable of revenge,” this 2015 production at the Lyceum Theatre is: a grotesque parable of greed and an odd look at love. Filled with mordant humor and haunting melodies, it depicts a grim Brecht/Weill world of misery and corruption. At its best, the musical provokes some disturbing questions, and offers a kind of gruesome, Expressionist beauty—with its maleficent ruin of a railway station designed by Scott Pask, merciless lighting by Japhy Weideman, and class-conscious costumes by Ann Hould-Ward (posted in DC Theatre Scene).

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Fig. 6.2  In Cabaret, Composer John Kander and Lyrist Fred Ebb by the metaphor of the nightclub comment on the politics and also chide the Nazi’s controlling of the legal system, the media, and entertainment show business in ferocious political developments in Germany in the late Weimar Republic period. (Photo: Courtesy of Joan Marcus Photography)

Coming back for vengeance, Chaire orders her macabre entourage to carry a lot of luggage and a gleaming black coffin, which is the key prop foreshadowing her strong will for revenge. David Rooney’s theater review on The Visit: “It’s unsurprising that American musical theater’s most Brechtian double-act was drawn down this dour road of revenge to explore the ravaged soul of humanity” also serves as a booster supporting for my argument about revenge in K&E’s these two musicals.

Chicago: Vaudeville Show The musical (original 1975 and numerous long running revival since 1996) and the 2002 musical film theatricalize Maurine Dallas Watkin’s 1926 play Chicago, (the story based on her reports about the two real murder cases while she worked for the newspaper Chicago Tribune),4 in the play ironically turned the criminal into celebrities, which resulted in

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collusion with the American criminal justice system and the press. K&E’s musical Chicago mocks the journalism. According to James Leve in his book Kander and Ebb, in Chicago the musical uses sarcasm to comment on the collusion between the American criminal justice and the press, in which the reporters exploit Roxy Hart to secure the readership. Just to sell as it is in the show business. Mockery of the media’s “Razzle Dazzle” image of murder, also via vaudeville show, from stage to screen, Film Director Rob Marshall is ingenious to shot and edit back and forth between the show business and the reality. Adapting K&E’s dark and cynical musical, trying to make another success peak done by Musical Theater Bob Fosse, Film Director Marshall shots through the leading character Roxy Hart’s eyes (Sulock 2012: 2). Roxy imagines that she could be a vaudeville star on the stage in the theatre. The scene “Razzle, Dazzle” in which the Opportunistic lawyer, publicity-­savvy Billy Flynn shows Roxy Hart the tricks he manipulates the jury and the press by telling her what to say and do like a puppet doll. Probably from the last line Roxy said in Watkins’s play: “I’m not washed up. I will be a Vaudeville star,” Fosse and Ebb structures the whole musical as a bill, Vaudeville show, songs and vignettes, each well-known vaudeville act including such as ventriloquism, “The Dumb Show” or a particular performer, such as “When You Are Good to Mama”, etc. to win the justice and the jury (Leve 2009: pp. 79–80). The song “When You Are Good to Mama” is designed for the performer Queen Latifa in the 2002 musical film who sings and performs well to tell about the bribes in the prison. Rebecca Koblick in the journal paper “Privileging Music in Recent Books on The Broadway Musical: A Bibliographic Essay” gives a book review on James Leve’s book entitled Kander and Ebb: unique in several respects. John Kander and Fred Ebb are, to date, the only songwriting team addressed by the Yale Broadway Masters series, and Kander is the only living American composer the series has covered. The book boasts forty-four musical examples, the largest number to appear so far in any of the series’ volumes. With the exception of their own oral-history memoir, Kander and Ebb is the first book-length treatment of their career. It is also the most political of the books discussed in this article, and the most heavily steeped in academic jargon, particularly that of queer theory (2010: 11).

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Chicago, a little like the thriller in Sweeney Todd, the protagonists are not like the simple good, innocent or heroic characters as they are in Cinderella and Spider Man. Instead, the characterization is more complicated in Chicago than in the above fairy tales musicals and the supermen series musicals. Kander and Ebb “negotiated difficult subjects” and “this embrace of camp is in itself a political choice” (2010: 11). They dare to touch unconventional subjects, such as corruption, collusion between justice system, media, and revenge.

The Visit: A Satire on Justice Claire’s revenge upon the man who betrayed and abandoned her can be displayed by her returning to Brachen (“a small poor bankruptcy town somewhere in Europe”), some half century after she was scorned, “half-­ Jewish, half-gypsy, 100% illegitimate,” driven away, impoverished, and forced into prostitution. But, as she explains in the clever song “I Walk Away” (one of 21 songs in the show), “I married very often, and I widowed very well.” Armed with the power from wealth, Claire offers: She will donate billions to the town, and to each citizen in it. “On one condition….I want the life of Anton Schell.” Although Claire and Anton both are still in love with each other, which can be epitomized by the duet dance of their young selves (Young Anton and Young Claire (portrayed by John Riddle and Michele Veintimilla) expressed by erotically tinged ballets choreographed by Graciela Daniele, Claire nonetheless wants Anton dead to fulfill her revenge upon his betrayal and abandoning her. He married the other woman in the town for getting her father’s shop so many years ago. In a sinister tone, the passivity of all the institutions, including government, police, church, education, family, is represented the ensemble, as each one bends to accept the grotesque mockery of justice. So Kander and Ebb have a satire on justice which can be manipulated by the greedy lawyer and the media in Chicago and bribed in The Visit.

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Literary Reviews and Comments Chicago: From Vaudeville to MTV by Film Editing to Sing Victory Kander & Ebb’s golden collaboration works, including Chicago, make the history (Fig. 6.3). As Michael M. Kennedy in his MA Thesis “Isn’t It Swell . . . Nowadays?”: The Reception History of Chicago on Stage and Screen indicates that The record-breaking run of Chicago’s Broadway revival currently has no end in sight. With its production costs being significantly lower than most Broadway musicals because of minimal sets, costuming, and staging, the show only requires a relatively small stage crew. Thus, the production does not experience the typical financial pressures that other Broadway musicals endure. … In contrast, Barry and Fran Weissler produced Chicago’s Broadway revival at a capitalization of only $3 million (2014: 106–107).

Fig. 6.3  DVD cover of Chicago (starring Renee Zelwegger, Cetherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere). The success of Chicago’s resurrection of the film Musical also makes a lot of money in DVD product market. (Photo: Courtesy of Books.com.tw. Product Info: https://www. books.com.tw/ products/D020038242)

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The producers frequently recruit celebrities in the replacement cast to keep attracting the audience members for box-office sales success. The result is satisfactory—“organic and seamless” work of K&E’s golden collaboration. Ebb implicitly links the parasite tawdry press to the corruption of the American criminal justice system, K&E use the performance to link it to everyday (Leve 2009: pp. 80–82). Chicago: Dia-Chronicle Dynastic History From everyday to the new digital music technology in the twenty-first century employed in the musical film, Vagelis Siropoulos in the journal paper “Historicizing Chicago’s Resurrection of the Film Musical, or, Thinking in Fragments, from Vaudeville to MTV” points out the fragmented MTV music style employed in the musical film Chicago to resurrect Vaudeville entertainment form in the past and go toward the 21st digital era (2009: 83). So Chicago creates a dia-chronicle dynastic history which bridges a music history of the fragment about the pop culture linked from the twentieth century to the current iCloud Big Data era. With each song and dance piece is presented by dynamic cinematic language, the whole sequence like each short film within the big whole drama film, the cut of this musical film Chicago is so dramatic, flow, and editing obeying the rhythm of the music. Fragmented aesthetic MTV form, such as TV commercials and video clips, in this musical film, attract the post-­ modern viewers. Chicago renovates Vaudeville act, the previous entertainment form, like Burlesque, Cabaret and Moulin Rouge in the twentieth century, and enhances the postmodern MTV fragmentation and the industrialization of entertainment for the contemporary spectators in the twenty-first century. However, unlike the other Hollywood films which separate the fantasy and the real, Chicago oscillates between the two, blurring the imagination and the reality, the virtual and the real, by the same music rhythmic editing, those people surrounding Roxy are like characters playing their parts in the show, including her pathetic husband becomes a victim tragic clown, the ruthless matron in the prison serves as the street-wise Red Hot Momma, teaching her how to get what she wants. Even her trial becomes a circus puppet show, displayed by her lawyer’s manipulation of the press and transforming her into his mouthpiece a ventriloquist act. As Siropoulos notes:

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the film musical was the first Hollywood genre that fully embodied capitalism’s promise to create a totally aestheticized society; a promise, that as Benjamin showed, was first articulated in the late-nineteenth century, when the modern cityscape started morphing into a phantasmagoric stage upon which the spectacle of consumer capitalism was enacted. (2009: 94)

Finally Roxie fulfills her dream to get rid of the role of a boring housewife which she has been tired of, as she fantasized to dress in Velma’s costume to perform in the beginning of the movie. By way of getting the attention from the public and the media, Roxie is set free, not guilty, rid of the murder crime. Roxie gets the fame, so in the end of the film, she becomes the Vaudeville star on stage. Roxie sings the finale “Nowadays” in the duet show with Velma, both carrying the guns to shoot, which symbolize their revenge and victories. The Visit: Can Justice Be Got Without Money? Although The Visit has merits, it’s impossible to be perfect so there are still flaws. The flaws of The Visit, according to Jonathan Mandell, “much of the show seems slowed down, dirge-like; a stylized, symbol-laden horror story at a funereal pace.” In the end of the review, Mandell wonders “(t)he questions that The Visit inspires leave us uneasy. Can justice be bought – and if so, is it really justice? Are principles a luxury reserved for the poor? Even: What is love?” I think that these questions are still unresolved and not easy to answer. After all, the human nature is not all good, and money makes the evil talk. Money makes the world go round. Money makes people kill and steal. So what is justice? Can justice be got without money? In my view, ideally, justice cannot be bought by money; realistically, justice is hard to get. Therefore, if one can afford to buy justice, then why not? As Stephen Collins’ review points out the truth and justice beneath the surface: In a surface way, Claire represents the past catching up with the present; but the truth is more intriguing. She and her almost military retinue embody Justice. Like all forms of justice, Claire’s visit with reverberating consequences. She might be dressed in all white, but her purpose in making this visit is to reveal the true colors of others” (2015 Review).

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Claire dresses in white to reveal that the town people in fact in their mind would like to dress in yellow, symbolizing gold and money. I agree with Collins about the truth that both Claire and Anton still love each other; however, this truth cannot stop Clair from asking for justice in her own way by the power of wealth. She seeks for getting revenge upon Anton’s betrayal and abandonment of her and the town people’s scorn of her when she was young, poor and piteous half a century ago. Anton’s abandoning her forced her to leave the town in helplessness and poverty about fifty years ago. In my opinion, the dark eerie milieu in K&E’s The Visit sounds as creepy and thriller as Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. According to the theatre critic David Rooney’s 2015 theater review on The Visit, indomitable Chita Rivera: remains a uniquely steely stage presence at 82—graceful, dignified and commanding.” In a chilly social and political critique, the characterization lacks complexity, no change, no growth. And the performance lacks big action, with a little momentum. The atmosphere is eerie and deadly. Often dark light. (Hollywood Reporter)

Indeed, The Visit sometimes is dull, with no dramatic actions, such as sex, fighting or murder. In terms of Judith Butler’s gender politics, Michael Charlton concludes that “(f)ar from the kind of Butlerian performative parody in which imitation lacks an original, gender performance in the postmodern musical seems to revive the essential truths that its models had questioned” (2012: 13). Moreover, keeping in an aesthetic distance of Bertolt Brecht’s “Alienation Effect,” we might comment on Judith Butler’s theory of “Performativity” practiced in the everyday lives yet performed by the female stars’ sexy and sensual performing styles in the setting in the prison and the Vaudeville stage theater in Chicago. The rich woman Claire’s visit in the small town waiting for revenge actually revives the truths that gender, power, and identity are somehow reinforced by the female lead’s performing style. No doubt, K&E are good at music and songs. Jim Caruso in Theater Mania interviews with some famous musical experts to ask about their favorite songs from K&E’s team collaborations. Some people like the song “Married” in Cabaret, “New York New York”, etc. While Kander and Ebb both like the song ““Love and Love Alone” in The Visit. Composer John Kander said: “Love and Love Alone” from The Visit and “A Quiet Thing”

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from Flora The Red Menace fulfilled our intentions as completely as possible and still make me very content when I hear them.”5 In the end of the same interview, Lyricist Fred Ebb answers: “I happen to like “Love and Love Alone” from The Visit. If you ask me, and you have, I think it’s the very best melody John’s ever written. My lyric? Ehh! But his work is quite wonderful on that song. I like “Marry Me” from The Rink because it’s so simple and it accomplishes what it starts out to say. Of course, I like “The World Goes ‘Round.” That’s a very satisfying song and I get enormous pleasure out of hearing it sung. The philosophy of the song lives on, too.” In my perspective, I think the lyrics and the music in the song “Love and Love Alone” sung by Chita Rivera indeed transmit the life experiences about love. As the lyrics with the tempo go: When you were young, and he’s also strong, what can prove you were wrong? Love and Love alone. When the Sun seems forever bright, What’s the lesson? Love and Love Alone. So be aware! Young love. Lost in a kiss. “ There’s a truth in love. Simple as it is. …

In my view, it is important to cherish each other and make good use of the happy times while the lovers are together. After all, life is short. Carpe diem! When death comes, hope there is no regrets left.

Conclusion In Chicago, the female protagonists get revenge upon the men who broke their hearts, lied and betrayed them by killing the bad men. Just like a reversal as Aristotle’s Poetics indicates in a drama, the two female murderers Roxy and Velma achieve fame to be celebrities who are set to be free. They are able to perform in the entertainment industry in Vaudeville musical theater. The two murderers are being acquitted by the snobbish and mercenary lawyer’s manipulating the news like the satire scene in the Puppets. Chicago actually criticizes the US Justice System and the law are

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as cheap as the fake news to just provide the foolish public with entertainment and gossip. In the last song “Nowadays” of Chicago: The Musical, Roxie and Velma sing the cynical appraisal with the Brechtian postscript: “In fifty years or so, it’s gonna change, you know; but oh, it’s heaven nowadays.” Chicago theatricalized with the real-life two murderesses’ acquittals in the 1920s; setting the story after 50 years, the original production reveals the hypocrisy and corruption of American society in the background of the 1970s US Justice System and Media Industry. Now we are approaching after another 50 years, the audience members still enjoy sex, murder and corruption in the theme of this musical. Why? Is it because we still find the justice system not trustworthy and satisfactory as we expect it to be improved? And the society is still being brainwashed even worse by Internet full of fake news, ugly politics, and the scoop sensational media. As Rebecca Koblick comments on John Leve’s book Kander and Ebb: “Leve credits his subjects with bringing the concept musical to maturity some two decades after the earliest examples of the form appeared, placing Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman into that category and identifying these shows as Kander and Ebb’s most important works” (2010: 12). Even though Broadway Lyricist Freb Ebb (who is well-known for his works Chicago and Cabaret as well as the Big Apple City anthem “New York, New York”) died of a heart attack in 2004, however, with the latest restaging The Visit, K&E’s ghost spirits are still haunting and influential in Broadway musical. Besides, Stephen Collins’ review also supports my argument on women’s revenge. Collins praises Actress Rivera’s acting and comments: “As she slowly but surely reveals the truths and pains that have forged her nature and compelled her visit, Rivera is a study in exacting revenge and balancing scores that puts her Claire shoulder to shoulder with Medea or Elektra.” Collins also values K&E’s works highly: “This is a glorious Kander score, one of his very best. Who else has attempted a Musical Revenge Tragedy and succeeded so well?” That is right. Image if you can like her at 82 to have the ability, courage, and energy to perform on stage. Even by making murderers infamous celebrities, women’s revenge rings true to ask for another justice for the contemporary twenty-first century “Me too” anti-sexual harassment and anti-rape feminist activity. K&E’s Chicago takes the true court cases in the 1920s to mock American criminal justice system in collusion with journalism and media. Chicago mocks on the show-like business in the greedy reality, in which is full of murders,

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sex, violence and money. However, if we take a look at the current situation in terms of the above, we can find now and then, there is no much change and difference. The tendency of making Chicago different versions by the musical or cinema is more and more Razzle Dazzle in media, by showing more spectacles, from stage to screen. The playwright Watkins can rest in her grave for people appreciate her cynical Chicago play, a mockery on the American criminal justice system, the show business media and the sensational journalism in Chicago. Remember the character Claire in The Visit playing by the old musical celebrity star Rivera dancing and singing with the ghost-­ like young Claire. With the past haunting on the stage, women dance passionate Tango and sing for revenge echoing in K&E’s Chicago and The Visit. I agree with Foucault in History of Sexuality, pleasure and power are linked together by excitation and incitement which can also take effect by revenge if the legal mechanism fails to work.

Notes 1. Composer John Kander and Lyrist Freb Ebb had work collaboration for 36 years. Lyricist Freb Ebb died in 2004. 2. If interested, Skala, (2013). Technical direction of “Chicago” can be referenced. https://goo.gl/E44j3U. Retrieved on May 25, 2018. 3. The gay culture can be seen in the successful collaboration of the musical film Chicago. As John M. Clum in Musical Theater and Film notes: “It may be no accident that the recent film of the Kander and Ebb musical Chicago (2002), which has been acclaimed as the best film musical in years, is the product of the collaboration of several out gay men, including director Rob Marshall, screenwriter Bill Condon, and executive producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. All four have spoken of the crucial significance of musicals in their own lives from an early age, almost in the same terms in which gay men and lesbians frequently speak of their early awareness of their sexual difference” (https://ppt.cc/fP5iox). 4. As James Leve indicates in his book Kander and Ebb, published by Yale University Press, Watkin concealed her experience in working for Chicago Tribune to avoid the accusations that Chicago mocks on the journalism (2009: p. 78). 5. https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/in-all-kander-and-ebb_4340.html

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Works Cited Caruso, Jim. 2004. In All Kander (and Ebb). Theater Mania. Retrieved on May 25, 2018. Charlton, M. 2012. Performing Gender in the Studio and Postmodern Musical. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media 3 (Summer): 1–17. Collins, Stephen. 2015. Review: The Visit, Lyceum Theatre. British Theatre. Retrieved on May 25, 2018. Foucault, Michel. 1978. The History of Sexuality—Volume 1: An Introduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Pantheon Books. Frontain, Raymond-Jean. 2015. Kander, John (b. 1927), and Fred Ebb (1932?-2004). Encyclopedia. Reprinted from http://www.glbtq.com Jones, Chris. ‘The Visit’: Chita Rivera Stars in Broadway Musical About Revenge. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on May 25, 2018. Kander, John. & Ebb, Fred. 2002. Music Songs and Lyrics. Chicago. Film Directed by Rob Marshall. Distributed by Miramax Films. Kennedy, M. Michael. 2014. “Isn’t It Swell . . . Nowadays?”: The Reception History of Chicago on Stage and Screen. MA Thesis of Music in Music History, University of Cincinnati. Koblick, Rebecca. 2010. Privileging Music in Recent Books on the Broadway Musical: A Bibliographic Essay. Music Reference Services Quarterly 13 (1–2): 2–15. Leve, James. 2009. Kander and Ebb. New Haven/London: Yale University Press. (I have bought this e-book.). Mandell, Jonathan. The Visit Broadway Review: Chita Rivera in Kander and Ebb’s Grotesque Parable of Revenge. DC Theatre Scene. Posted on April 23, 2015. Retrieved on May 25, 2018. Rooney, David. 2015. The Visit: Theater Review. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on May 25, 2018. Siropoulos, Vagelis. 2009. Historicizing Chicago’s Resurrection of the Film Musical, or, Thinking in Fragments, from Vaudeville to MTV. Image & Narrative 10 (3): 83–96. Sulock, Emily. 2012. Chicago: A Movie Musical Mockery of the Media's Razzle Dazzle Image of Murder. Pell Scholars and Senior Theses. Paper 83, 1–34. Summers, Claude, ed. 2002. The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage. New York/ London: Routledge.

PART III

TV Drama, Robot Theatre and AI Films

CHAPTER 7

Theatre, Performance, and Popular Story of Yanxi Palace

Theories of Performance Studies, Feminism, and Popular Culture In the approach of theoretical methodology, novel/script analysis, performance studies, and media studies, this book chapter explores the main characters’ love, struggle, dance and performance in the popular Chinese TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace (70 episodes), which is Google top 1 search keyword in Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2018 (Fig. 7.1). Theories include Angela McRobbie’s book Postmodernism and Popular Culture, Christine Geraghty’s book chapter “Soap Opera and Utopia,” etc., Utopia imagination from the rural to urban, from the past to the present, is similar. The TV drama adaptation is compared with history. Jean Baudrillard’s Postmodernism article “The Precession of Simulacra,” Michel de Certeau’s book chapter “The Practice of Everyday Life,” and Ien Ang’s “Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure” offer the insights in the politics of popular culture.

Synopsis: Speak Out in the Popular TV Drama The popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace (70 episodes, 2018) reflects the popular culture by representing the complex story full of revenge, struggle, love, hatred, and performance in Qing Dynasty in China. In the contemporary urban society, the viewers admire the female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo in the popular TV drama to deconstruct the convention of © The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_7

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Fig. 7.1  The main characters in the popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

some traditional soap operas by having the courage to dare to speak out. Without speechless silence, Wei fights back for avenging for her dead elder sister’s injustice murder. Wei volunteers to enter the Palace of the Forbidden City to serve as a low maid for the royalty in order to find the truth to regain her dead sister’s reputation and get revenge for her. Climbing the class ladder from low to high to eventually achieve success, Wei has encountered several opponents and enemies, including Imperial Consort Gao who was adorned by the emperor so Gao has the superior position to oppress Wei in the beginning of the story (Fig. 7.2). The popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace presents Imperial Consort Gao’s singing Chinese Opera several times in this long episodes drama. Imperial Consort Gao gives her last alluring dance performance before she dies to let the King remember her as the beautiful image.

Popular Culture, History, Self-Referentiality In popular culture, TV drama plays a major role in media to reflect self-­ referentiality between the real history and the fictional adaptation. As Angela McRobbie in her book Postmodernism and Popular Culture

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Fig. 7.2  Imperial Consort Gao in red costume symbolizes her high position when she is so adored by the Emperor. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

indicates that “Self-referentiality occurs within and across different media forms” (1994: 17). Adapting the historical story of 孝儀純皇后 (hiyouxungga yongsonggo yongkiyaha hvwangheu; 1727–1775), Empress Wei’s story in Qing dynasty into the TV drama in the twenty-first century, we see the self-referentiality within and across history, novel, and TV drama (Fig. 7.3). The actresses and the actors’ performances in playing the roles, such as the protagonists Wei, Yin-Luo, the emperor Qian Long 乾隆帝(Hong Li; 1711–1799), the Empress, Imperial Consort Gao, etc. have new meanings containing self-referentiality. Their complex stories represent the power struggle and complicated human relationship in the society nowadays. Moreover, TV drama can create a utopia for people to escape from the real day-to-day life. As Christine Geraghty in the book chapter “Soap Opera and Utopia” edited by John Storey in the book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader points out that “Entertainment thus offers the experience of a different world, one which is escapist precisely because

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Fig. 7.3  (Left) The protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s photo in the TV drama and the painting of Imperial Honored Consort Ling in the history (Right). (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

it is based on the inadequacies experienced in day-to-day life” (Storey 2009: 217). In the popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace, the lead actress Wu, Jinyan’s excellent performing the role of the character Wei, Yin-Luo (who is successful to be promoted from the maid in the low class in the palace to become the 3rd Empress) provides a beautiful utopia for those who also want to climb the class stairs from low to high to achieve remarkable success to make their dreams come true in the contemporary world.

Adaptation, not an Authentic History, but a Hyperreal Not authentic history, the adaptation TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace shows no longer a historical truth, but, as Postmodernism in Jean Baudrillard’s words, a “referential being or a substance” (Baudrillard 1983: 1; Storey 2009: 409). Baudrillard’s article “The Precession of Simulacra” uses the Borges tale in which the map drawn by the cartographers of the Empire is so detailed that “it ends up exactly covering the territory” as a fable to explain the simulacra and the truth. It goes without saying that although using the background of the Qing Dynasty history of

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Emperor Qian Long (1711–1799), his Empress, Imperial Honored Consort Gao, Imperial Honored Consort Ling, Honored Consorts, and concubines, some stories are fabricated to be intertwined with the history to make a kind of hyperreal. The adaptation of this TV drama can apply the hyperreal theory in Postmodernism. According to Baudrillard, “It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal” (Baudrillard 1983: 1; Storey 2009: 409). For example, in the history, Wei enters the palace as a young girl maid learning the proper behaviors and decorum from the former Empress, the Emperor’s first Empress before she passed away. Wei ascends gradually and then swiftly promotes as Imperial Honored Consort Ling, and her son is chosen to be the next emperor. In a comparison, in the adaptation of the TV drama, the protagonist Wei enters the palace to find the truth of her elder sister’s mysterious death and avenge for her. Therefore, reality and fiction mix together to be a hyperreal, multiple layers of stories dig out from history.

Comparison with Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace Drama script adaptations are totally different in the two TV soap opera drama programs in Story of Yanxi Palace (2018) and Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace (2018). It is even a contrast in the two main characters of the Emperor’s second Empress Ruyi and his third Empress Wei, in the depiction of who is good and who is bad in who’s perspective on the decision of putting who as the lead female protagonist. In the dramatic adaptation, Wei, Imperial Honored Consort Ling, is depicted as a positive brave woman in this TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace. Yet in the other Chinese TV drama Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace starred by Actress Chou Xun as Ruyi, the same character Wei portrayed by another actress Li Chun in the end is punished to be poisoned to die in torture by the Emperor for her killing many people during the process of climbing from a maid to be Imperial Honored Consort Ling. To compare with the history, Story of Yanxi Palace is more accurate than Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace in what the Emperor really have felt and treated the two empresses. Thus, the hyperreal interweaving with history and fiction, by the scriptwriters’ imagination, the totally different adaptations (between the two TV drama soap operas) let us see the simulacra simulating the real history. However, the real is too far away in the

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ancient history to figure out what’s the real true history. As Baudrillard indicates, “without origin or reality: a hyperreal” emerges in these two TV drama cases.

Performance of Chinese Beijing Opera and Ritual Combining theater, performance, ritual and culture, in the TV long-­ episodes drama in Story of Yanxi Palace, Imperial Consort Gao performs Chinese Beijing Opera several times to show the viewers the elegance, performing arts of singing, dancing and stylization of Chinese Beijing Opera (Fig. 7.4). No wonder Gao can win the Emperor’s heart for so many years. She is not just beautiful, but also capable of singing, dancing, and performing Chinese Beijing Opera. In the theory of Performance Studies, this TV drama combines the “performativity” of the exquisite Chinese Beijing Opera with the practices in Imperial Consort Gao’s daily lives and her hobby in the palace.

Fig. 7.4  In this TV drama, Imperial Consort Gao performs Chinese Beijing Opera several times to express the stylization, performing arts of singing and dancing. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

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The origin of theater performance is ritual. There is also the example of the ritual dance in this TV drama. That is, before the Chinese Emperor leads all the royal princes and the generals to worship heaven via eating the raw pork, the Emperor bids the Chinese shaman in the indoors of the royal palace first doing the ritual dance (Fig. 7.5). Besides, interweaving the performance and traditional myth, the 1st Empress (dressed up by Wei as her maid in the positive image in Story of Yanxi Palace) performs the Goddess of Lou River dance to attract the Emperor’s attention. Wei uses the traditional myth about the Goddess of Lou River to let the 1st Empress wear the costumes she made, in aid to the makeup, and hairdo, and perform the Goddess of Lou River dance (Fig. 7.6). This novelty method is successful to arouse the Emperor’s curiosity and sexual desire. The Emperor changes his mind not to have sex with the other new young concubine, but to make love with his beloved beautiful Empress. Wei helps her Empress to keep the Emperor stay to sleep with the Empress so as to gain the chances of being pregnant to give a birth of the royal prince. In so doing, the Empress, the Imperial Consorts, and the concubines promote their positions in the palace.

Fig. 7.5  The Shaman’s ritual dance expresses the origin of theater performance is ritual. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

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Fig. 7.6  Wei uses the traditional myth to let the 1st Empress wear the costumes she made, in aid to the makeup, and hairdo, and perform the Goddess of Lou River dance to attract the Emperor’s attention. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

Practice of Everyday Life in Performance Studies and Cultural Studies Combined with Performance Studies and Cultural Studies, we can see this TV drama contains not just performance, the love stories in Story of Yanxi Palace can also be detected to be practiced in everyday lives. For example, when Wei was young, she fell in love with her first love, Fucha Fuhen (富 查傅恆), 1st Empress’ younger brother, who works as the Emperor’s royal general. Wei weaves the fragrant bag which contains the hot pig’s heart as a gift to keep him warm while he works on duty to stand still outside for the safety of the palace for a long time during cold winter weather. Theories of Performance Studies is suitable for elucidation on this TV drama. I make concise of what Richard Schechner, Professor Emeritus at New York University, wrote in Performance Studies, in Chap. 1 Schechner introduces what is performance studies; in Chap. 2 he explains what is performance; in Chap. 3 he traces rituals; in Chap. 4 he elucidates play; in Chap. 5 he expounds performativity to blend several theories, such as J. L. Austin’s Linguistics, Postmodernism, simulation, Post-structuralism, construction of gender and race, and so on; in Chap. 6 he describes several kinds of acting in performing; in Chap. 7 he clarifies performance

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processes; in Chap. 8 he concludes by bringing in global and intercultural performances (1rd Ed. 2002, 2nd Ed. 2006, 3rd Ed. 2013: vii–viii). Performing in everyday life, quote from Schechner, “some everyday life performances are so subtle and informal that you don’t even know that you are performing” (2002: 174). In the TV drama, Wei’s performance is very natural and subtle to display her love by these considerate behaviors shown in everyday lives. The theory of Performance Studies can also be applied to interpreting the TV drama case, for instance, in the link of performance with rituals and practice of everyday life. According to Richard Schechner, Some rituals are liminal, existing between or outside daily social life. Because of their liminality, ritual performances can produce communitas, a feeling among participants of something greater than or outside of their individual selves. … Most everyday life situations incorporate ritualized elements. (2002: 77)

“Liminal,” the notion from Victor Turner, can be explained as “a period of time when a person is “betwixt and between” social categories or personal identities” (Schechner 2002: 57). Betwixt and between the transition, such as trance, the liminal manifests in the ritual as if performance. In the case of the TV Chinese drama in Story of Yanxi Palace, the Chinese emperor worships the heaven and the deities by asking the Chinese shaman doing the ritual dance.

Power and Surveillance Moreover, the protagonist Wei and her first innocent love is under surveillance (similar to the notion of “Panopticism” in Michel Foucault’s book Discipline and Punish) in the invisible power owned by the emperor’s jealousy and control. The “panopticon,” tower building of power, can also serve as the metaphor of power, prison, and discipline of the society in the Forbidden Palace in the Chinese dynasties. As Michel de Certeau indicates in his book The Practice of Everyday Life, Michel Foucault analyzes: the mechanisms (dispositifs) that have sapped the strength of these institutions and surreptitiously reorganized the functioning of power: ‘minuscule’ technical procedures acting on and with details, redistributing a discursive

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space in order to make it the means of a generalized ‘discipline’ (surveillance). (Certeau 1984: xiii)

The discipline and surveillance that the Emperor gives upon the subordinates surrounding him is the national mechanism enforced surrounding the discursive space in the palace. The emperor forces Fucha Fuhen to marry the other woman he does not love and makes Wei choose either saying that she doesn’t love Fucha Fuhen and she will be all right, or accept the punishment of walking every three steps to kneel down to kowtow in the forbidden palace in the first snow under the frigid cold winter weather. Wei chooses the latter. Wei, as a heroine, is honest to be faithful to her heart no matter what. She is so piteous to be willing to accept the emperor’s punishment due to the emperor’s jealousy. She has to tolerate the physical pain in such a cold snowing weather on the long way. At the moment when she meets Fucha Fuhen and his newly-wed wife, Wei walks by the man who breaks her heart and then she moves on, without looking at the man, to go toward her future on her own with resolution and perseverance (Fig. 7.7).

Popular Music and Catharsis In terms of popular culture, on popular music, the heartbroken moment is emphasized by playing the popular theme song “The Sound of Snow Falling” (〈雪落下的聲音〉). The lyrics, rhythm, music, and the female singer’s voice moves the viewers and the listeners. As Theodor W. Adorno points out in the journal paper “On Popular Music” reprinted and edited by John Storey in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader: The emotional listener listens to everything in terms of late romanticism and of the musical commodities derived from it which are already fashioned to fit the needs of emotional listening. They consume music in order to be allowed to weep. (Adorno 1941; Storey 2009: 73)

This touching theme song and music move the consumers to weep. The viewers and listeners can escape to the Utopia drama world to weep over their own sadness by having the empathy with the characters’ lost love story. As Aristotle in Poetics says, drama can bring the audience Catharsis. Both drama and music bring the audience catharsis. “It is catharsis,” as Adorno concludes, “for the masses, but catharsis which keeps them all the

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Fig. 7.7  Wei, Yin-Luo walks by Fucha Fuhen, the man who breaks her heart and then she moves on, without looking at the man, to go toward her future on her own with resolution and perseverance. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

more firmly in line. … Music that permits its listeners the confession of their unhappiness reconciles them, by means of this ‘release’, to their social dependence” (Adorno 1941; Storey 2009: 74). The listeners who listen to the TV theme songs, including this one, are deeply moved to release their emotions and identify with the heroine protagonist.

Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure According to the survey, most the listeners and viewers of this popular TV drama are women. In Feminism, Ien Ang’s “Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure” comments on Janice Radway’s Reading the Romance which “has argued convincingly that it is precisely a release of tension that makes romance reading a particularly pleasurable activity for women” (Ang 1988: 179; Storey 2009: 581). It also rings true in Story of Yanxi Palace, the 70 episodes TV drama (faithfully presents what the long three volumes novels describe) attract many women readers and viewers to release from the daily lives pressure to escape into the heroine Wei Yin-Luo’s successful palace love story. It allows the viewers to imagine that they can also break through the class difference, get rid of the colleagues’ jealousy and oppression, and fight the power struggles to finally laugh and win in the end.

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Post-Dramatic Theatre and Self-Reflexivity Not just self-referentiality in history, fiction, and the two different TV adaptations as I mention earlier, the popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace is also self-reflexive. In its self-reflexive context, Hans-Thies Lehman’s book Postdramatic Theatre is ubiquitous in its broad scope and applicability. As Marvin Carlson’s book review indicates, Building on the work of philologist Peter Szodi, Lehmann traces a historical shift in theatre ‘away from’ drama, with its emphasis on text and dialogue, and towards more self-reflexive explorations of theatrical form and theatre’s capacity to (re)present sociopolitical content (Lehmann 2006: 27).

This TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace contains not only the text and dialogue adapting from the Chinese history, but also represents the current sociopolitical content. Its capacity to express people’s current mind to address the career bulling and Wei’s courage to oppose the oppression is also the key to its popularity and success.

Post-Feminism and Pop Culture Theories of Post-Feminism and Popular Culture can also be applied to interpreting in this TV drama case Story of Yanxi Palace. What is Post-­ Feminism? Basically, Post-Feminism can be regarded as theoretical terms and concepts forming after a conservative backlash, third wave feminism, and postmodern/poststructuralist feminism. The Girl Power in Post-­ Feminism is more aggressive than it is in Feminism. According to Stéphanie Genz and Benjamin A.  Brabon in the “Introduction: Postfeminist Context” in the book Postfeminism, In popular culture, it has often been associated with female characters like the Spice Girls and Helen Fielding’s chick heroine Bridget Jones, who has been embraced/criticised as the poster child of postfeminism …. (2009: 1).

Born after feminism to be the girl in postfeminism, therefore, in the Chinese TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace in the twenty-first century, the protagonist Wei’s anti-traditional character is unlike those conventional tender and pretty imperial concubines who are not smart enough so as to be killed during the other women’ jealousy and struggle in the palace. On

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the contrary, Wei is clever and brave to dare to fight back to go against with those who are bad to set her up. Moreover, as Genz and Brabon indicates: Propagated in the 1990s by the Spice Girls, Girl Power’s defining characteristic is a re-appraisal of femininity – including the stereotypical symbols of feminine enculturation such as Barbie dolls, make-up and fashion magazines – as a means of female empowerment and agency. (2009, 76)

Remaining her femininity, Wei does not let anyone treat her like a victim. This TV Chinese palace power struggle drama also wins the praise and complimentary for the aesthetics costume and setting design in creating the popular fashion trend so called “High-End Gray Color.” (莫蘭迪色), or called the traditional Chinese painting colors. Wei working from a young maid in the low class, she dresses in pink in the palace in the beginning, which is in comparison with the 2nd Empress’ dressing in dark blue (Fig. 7.8). Instead of speechless, Wei, speaks out and dressed in all kinds of costumes. “The female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo from the low class to the high position wears different costumes colors. This Chinese TV drama

Fig. 7.8  The success of Story of Yanxi Palace creates the color fashion. Wei dresses in pink as a young maid in the palace in the beginning, which is in comparison with the 2nd Empress’ dressing in dark blue. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

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Fig. 7.9  The female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s different costumes colors. “This Chinese TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace is acclaimed for its costumes design in High-End Gray Color” (莫蘭迪色). (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

Story of Yanxi Palace is acclaimed for its costumes design in High-End Gray Color” (莫蘭迪色) (Fig. 7.9). Wei is smart to have her unique way to get noticed by the Emperor. So she can quickly climb up the social class ladder to be promoted higher first as imperial concubine, and eventually imperial Honored Consort Ling wearing in the colors symbolizing high position (Fig. 7.10). In the history, finally Wei after death after her son to be named as the next Emperor, her position went to the top to be the Emperor’s 3rd Empress who can dress in red and Stone Yellow Gold colors like the 1st Empress did symbolizing the supreme royalty. She is no longer suffering in silence. She is candid to speak out. Wei gets revenger for her deceased elder sister and the former 1st Empress. Wei meditates no harm, yet she can also kill those who are evil to torture her. That is Wei’s spicy girl power.

Conclusion: Popularity in Performance and Popular Culture The TV Chinese drama Story of Yanxi Palace (Sep.-Oct. 2018) is very popular not only in China, but also abroad in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and North America (especially for the viewers who understand Chinese) when the drama series showed online to be watched also via Kubo by

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Fig. 7.10  Wei has her unique way to get noticed by the Emperor and quickly climbs up the social class ladder to be promoted higher first as imperial concubine, and eventually imperial Honored Consort Ling wearing in the colors symbolizing high position. (Courtesy of Huanyu TV)

smart phones. The ratio of viewers is Top 1. Regarding of theater and performance, Imperial Consort Gao’s performing Chinese Beijing Opera several times in Story of Yanxi Palace is a good and smart way to fuse the performance, love and memory. Gao gives her last dance before she dies to let the King remember her as the western ballet Swan Lake, the beautiful image. As for the ritual dance, before the Chinese King leads all the royal princes and the generals to worship heaven by eating the raw pork, the Chinese shaman’s doing the ritual dance is another performance combining the tradition. It shows that theater performance originates from rituals. Moreover, the 1st Empress performs the Goddess of Lou River dance to attract the King’s attention is an ingenious design to show the tradition of myth by dance performance in this popular TV drama. Furthermore, in everyday lives, contemporary audiences like the female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s unique candid character as the post-feminist fighter reflecting in the popular culture. The spectators’ viewing psychology reflects the populace’s mind under the career oppression in their real lives. I argue that this fictional drama intertwined with reality and history theatricalizes the performance by post-feminist fighting reflected and interpreted in popular

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culture and popular music as the pop song “The Sound of Snow Falling” is touching to manifest the love of sadness.

Works Cited Adorno, Theodor. 2009. On Popular Music. Studies in Philosophy and Social Science. 1941, no. 9. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader. Ed. John Storey. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Ang, Ien. 1988. Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure. Camera Obscura 16: 179–190. ———. 2009. Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Baudrillard, Jean. 1983. The Precession of Simulacra. In Simulation, 1–30. New York: Semiotext(e). ———. 2009. The Precession of Simulacra. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Carlson, Marvin. 2020. Book Review on Hans-Thies Lehmann’s Postdramatic Theatre. Theatre Research International 45 (1): 86–88. de Certeau, Michel. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life, xi–xxiv. Berkeley: University of California Press. Foucault, Michel. 1995. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage Books. Genz, Stéphanie, and A.  Benjamin Brabon. 2009. Postfeminism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Geraghty, Christine. 2009. Soap Opera and Utopia. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader. Ed. John Storey. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Lehmann, Hans-Thies. 2006. Postdramatic Theatre. Trans. Karen Jürs-Munby. Abingdon/New York: Routledge. McRobbie, Angela. 1994. Postmodernism and Popular Culture. London/New York: Routledge. Schechner, Richard. 2002. Performance Studies: An Introduction. 1st Edition. London and New York: Routledge. Schechner, Richard. Performance Studies: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Media Editor. Sara Brady. London/New York: Routledge, 2013. Storey, John, ed. And Introduction. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2009. 周末·笑臉貓。《延禧攻略》(Story of Yanxi Palace.) 3 Volumes. Taipei: 新經典 文 化, 2018。

CHAPTER 8

Hakka Theatre: Roseki Taipei Singer

Introduction: Hakka Theater Roseki This monograph chapter explores Hakka Theater: Roseki (2018), which were nominated 11 items to get five awards (Drama Program Screenplay Award, Drama Program Actress Award, Drama Program Supporting Actress Award, Lighting Award, and Program Innovation Award) in Taiwan’s 53th Golden Bell ceremony. Exploring this 14-episode TV drama case, Hakka Theater: Roseki played by Hakka TV Station, I focus on the issues of the national identity, love, marriage, affairs, politics, and women’s voice in this Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama which reflects the colonial history in Taiwan under the Japanese colonialization (1895–1945) and Chinese government corruption (1945–1950s). Roseki represents the lives and literature works of Lyuu Heh-Ruo (1914–1951), recognized as “the first gifted scholar in Taiwan” in the 1940s during the Japanese colonialization.

Play-Within-the-Play Director & Playwright Lou, Yi-An and Playwright & Leading Actor Mo, Tzu- Yi use the form of live stage performance “play-within-the-play.” Lou and Mo adapt the short novels of Chang, Wen-Huan’s Capon and Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s six novels into scripts in the total 14 episodes to present the narrative with theatricalization. Various stage designs cooperate with the tones of the literary works. In this chapter, I comment and interpret © The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_8

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the plots of Hakka Theater: Roseki, this TV drama by the theories of post-­ colonialism and postcolonial feminism. I argue that the Taiwanese Japanese writers, such as Lyuu Heh-Ruo, excels in writing and speaking even in the colonizer’s language, still defending the national identity as a Taiwanese during the Japanese colonization and Chinese Chen Yi’s corrupt government from the 1940s to the early 1950s.

Lyuu’s Brief Bio Lyuu, as a talented novelist, playwright, journalist, musician, vocalist (Tenor), music teacher of Taipei First Girls’ High School, the private piano teacher (teaching the first rich businesswoman and Writer Gu Yen Bi-Xia (1914–2000)’s daughter), and a communist who was wanted by the KMT by the anonymous name Roseki, “Taipei Singer.” Besides, in the perspective of Feminism, women’s voice is also heard and spoken by Lyuu’s literature works. Lyuu has strong sympathy toward women’s suffering in the unfair social and traditional system. The characters in Lyuu’s novels and Lyuu’s wife and mistress are all inspired by his works and novels to be adapted, in addition to imagination and fiction, and theatrically represented by Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama to attract the viewers’ interests in the Age of Media and Communication.

Theories & Post-colonialism In the perspective of Post-colonialism, Writer Lyuu Heh-Ruo having the national identity with the local Taiwan, stands up to confront the Japanese and Chinese colonizers in terms of language and mimicry, learning the colonizers’ languages. Homi K.  Bhabha, Frantz Fanon and Ping-Hui Liao, offer the postcolonial theories, such as the theoretical concept of “mimicry” for us to explore this case Hakka Theatre: Roseki. In Homi K.  Bhabha’s “Of Mimicry and Man,” Bhabha indicates the theoretical idea of “colonial mimicry” as follows: Within the conflictual economy of colonial discourse which Edward Said describes as the tension between the synchronic panoptical vision of domination – the demand for identity, status – and the counter pressure of the diachronic of history  – change, difference  – mimicry represents an ironic compromise. […] Colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of difference that is almost the same, but not quite.

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Which is to say, that the discourse of mimicry is constructed around an ambivalence; in order to be effective, mimicry must continually produce its slippage, its excess, its difference. […] The menace of mimicry is its double vision which in disclosing the ambivalence of colonial discourse also disrupts its authority. […] Almost the same but not white: the visibility of mimicry is always produced at the site of interdiction. It is a form of colonial discourse that is uttered inter dicta: a discourse uttered between the lines and as such both against the rules and within them. (Bhabha 1994: 86, 88–90)

According to Bhabha, mimicry and hybridity deal with the ambivalent relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. I think Bhabha’s post-colonial theory can be applied to interpreting Taiwanese Writer Lyuu’s daily lives and literature works under Japanese colonization in the 1940s and Chinese General Chen-Yi’s corruption rule in Taiwan from 1945 to 1950, especially the controversy 228 Event in 1947. The colonized imitate to mimic the colonizer’s language and cultural habits. The colonized are even forced to change their Taiwanese names to be Japanese names, shown in this Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama. Therefore, it is not a simple “blurred copy,” but beyond mockery, to be a parody, irony, and mimicry.

The Protagonist Lyuu Heh-Ruo Lyuu Heh-Ruo, renowned as a literature talent, is a Leftist writer, musician, actor, Shingeki (spoken drama) theater movement pioneer, journalist, vocalist, Taipei First Girls’ high-school music teacher, rich Gu Yen Bi-Xia’s daughter’s piano teacher, and Communist (Fig. 8.1). With intellectual’s consciousness, passion and the political ideal of trying to improve Taiwanese poor people’s lives in the society under Japanese colonialization, World War II, and Chinese Chen Yi government’s corruption, Lyuu attended the revolution to be a victim of Luku Incident1 in 1951.

One Actor Plays Multiple Roles Some main actors and actresses play multiple roles. For example, the lead actor Mo, Tzu- Yi plays the five roles of (1) the protagonist Lyuu, Heh-­ Ruo, (2) the poor ox-cart man Tien-Ding, (3) Teacher Lyuu, (4) the farmer Shui-Mu, and (5) Yao-Xun. The role Yao-Sun has confusion about the national identity and has hesitation to be a doctor (pediatrician) in his

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Fig. 8.1  The protagonist Lyuu, Heh-Ruo (played by Actress Mo, Tzu- Yi) performs German and Italian opera singing as a vocalist Tenor in Zhong Xian Hall in Taipei. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

hometown under Japanese colonialization. Lead Actress Huang Peijia plays the four roles of (1) Su, Yu-Lan, Lyuu’s mistress, (2) A-Mei, the poor ox-cart man’s wife, (3) Miao-Li, the pretty high school student, a middle-class Hakka girl, and (4) Tsai-Fong, the poor red wine prostitute. Supporting Actress Yang, Shiao-Li plays the two roles—(1) Lin, Xue-­ Rong, Lyuu’s wife and (2) Xiao Li (Fig. 8.2).

Lyuu’s Life and His Literature Works Are Inter-twined In the beginning of Hakka Theatre: Roseki, in Episode 1 of this TV drama, the actor Mo, Tzu- Yi plays the role of Lyuu Heh-Ruo who performs western opera singing in Zhong Shan Hall in Taipei. Adapting Lyuu’s diary and his literature works, adding some fiction, this TV drama imbues the characters of the real persons in the history (1940s–1951) with vivid characterization. The plots intertwine with Lyuu’s short yet significant life from his coming back to Taiwan in 1942 after learning vocal singing, music and did drama performance in Japan, dedication to literature and

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Fig. 8.2  The protagonist Lyuu, Heh-Ruo and his wife Lin (played by Supporting Actress Yang, Shiao-Li). (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

performing art in theater and music, writing novels and plays, and pitiful sacrifice for political ideal before his mysterious death in 1951. The literature works are adapted from either novel or drama to be represented on this Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama. Not only Lyuu’s works are represented in this Hakka Theater: Roseki, but also the novel “Capon” written by Novelist Chang, Wen-Huan (Tiunn Bûn-huân) (1909–1978). “Capon” was adapted by Lin, Tuan-Chiu (1920–1998) to be a script to be performed in the Yongle Theater in Taipei shown in this TV drama. In 1943, Lin, after coming back from studying and working in Japan, collaborated with Wang, Jin-Chuan, (the rich restaurant boss sponsor who supported literature and theater), and Chang, Wen-Huan, to establish the theater troupe. Lin as Director & Playwright, staged several performances. Lin’s techniques were mature and the performances were so successful that they got the theater critic’s acclaims to be praised as “the dawn of Taiwan’s New Drama Movement.” Together they made a milestone for opening the new era in Taiwan’s modern drama history. Besides, the play Mountain Ali and the one-act play “Wall” written by Chien Kuo-Hsien (1917–1954) are also mentioned in this Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama. Mountain Ali criticized Japan’s imperial colonial domination and Japanese Imperial People Association’s inference and control

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of Taiwan drama. In the one act scene “Wall” directed and played by Sung Fei-Wo (1916–1992) performing in Taiwanese dialect, represented in Episode 11, the stage design separates the stage space by the stage prop as the middle wall to juxtapose the strong contrast between the poor and the rich. At the stage left, the Taiwanese beggar is poisoning his son and his old mom, and then hitting his head to kill himself. He accuses of the rising price of rice by the greedy rich Chinese businessmen. At the stage right, the greedy rich Chinese businessmen are celebrating to toast their wines and dance with those red wine girls in the party. In the play-within-the-­ play, the audiences, after watching the performance “Wall,” give big applause to express their empathy toward the real ugly politics and bad social situation at that time. By watching this Kakka Theater Roseki, the viewers can learn the importance and development of Taiwan theater history, the modern history between Taiwan, Japan and China from the 1930s to the early 1950s, and those noteworthy persons who have contributed to drama, literature, music, and politics in the important colonial imperial periods. The viewers can also understand the conflicts and controversies which have resulted from the confusing national identities with either the mainland China or the local Taiwan after Japan’s colonization and the KMT’s post-­ colonialization within the Taiwanese people on this island even nowadays.

Lyuu’s Novels and Short Stories The synopsis in each episode (covering Lyuu’s works adapted to be represented in Hakka Theater: Roseki) includes “Ox Cart” and “The Story of the Tempest” (represented in Episode 2–6, played also by Actor Mo and Actress Huang). Besides, Lyuu’s novels “Rurality and Women” (in Episode 7), “The Temple” and “Moon Night” are about Lyuu’s female cousin’s unhappy marriage in the traditional Hakka village in Taichung in the middle part of Taiwan. Lyuu’s novel “The War Event in the Hometown: An Award” is about the American bomb picked up by the honest Taiwanese farmer Shui-Mu in his rice field. According to the Japanese law at that time, Shui-Mu had to bravely carry the bomb to give it to the Japanese police station. Yet he was beat terribly by the terrified Japanese policemen who were afraid of the bomb (Episode 8–9). Moreover, the short story “The Common People” serves as a bridge to connect Lyuu’s mistress Su’s dream in which she was going to give a birth by Lyuu’s wife Lin in the sugar can field in his hometown on the eve of

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Japan’s surrender in Episode 9. Then they talk about the motivation which propelled Lyuu to write the novel “Clear Autumn” which is about Yao-­ Xun, the young pediatrician’s confusion and hesitation (in Episodes 9–10). Furthermore, Lyuu’s novel “Winter Night” written in Chinese in the episode 11–12 about the red wine girl prostitute Tsai Fong whose pitiable fate is torn and destroyed by Japan and then hurt and killed by China. In my view, the woman Tsai Fong’s miserable life serves as a literature metaphor to echo to the colonial and post-colonial fate of Taiwan. In episode 13–14, Hakka Theater: Roseki describes the February 28 Incident.2 Lyuu and many intellectuals were disappointed with the KMT so as to, after Japanese’s colonization, have their conversion of putting their political ideal changing from Chinese KMT to the Chinese communists (by the call for liberation of China and Taiwan). Gradually Lyuu decides to leave the literature creation writing and join the revolution to sacrifice himself for saving the poor Taiwanese common people. And this Hakka Theater: Roseki mainly ends in the corrupted and severe Chen Yi’s Chinese solders’ wanting and chasing him in the Luku Incident.2 Leaving the epilogue after three years Lyuu’s wife Lin and their first eldest son took back his few belongings and they were forced to give up their house property in Taipei and the ownership of Lyuu’s printing shop. At the very last, Director Luo shows the main protagonist Lyuu playing the piano in Zhong Shan Hall in Taipei gracefully yet very sadly. The whole Hakka Theater: Roseki moves the viewers’ emotions and feelings to have tears for not just losing such a talented man, but lament over Taiwan as the political orphan, and the poor and miserable Taiwanese common people. In the issues of love, marriage, and affairs, Director Lou shows the male protagonist Lyuu, already married as a husband and father of many kids, yet bound by the traditional marriage system, inadvertently meets his mistress Su, Yu-Lan, perhaps due to fate. Lyuu and Sue fall in love, break up, reunite, and compromise by Lyuu’s wife Lin, Xue-Rong’s acceptance to let them be together with kids (Fig. 8.3). Lyuu has his wife Lin with three daughters (the youngest daughter died) and four sons, his mistress Su with two children. In the end, this TV drama explains that after Lyuu’s death, his wife Lin on her own raised up eight children while his mistress Su in her rest lifetime suffered from psychological disease due to heartbroken by his death. In career, Lyuu has at least 26 short novels compiled into the two books published by the Ink Press. Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama uses

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Fig. 8.3  Lyuu and his mistress Su (played by Lead Actress Huang Peijia) are on bed. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

theater stage performance and TV film cameras to represent the past sorrowful colonial history of Taiwan by the protagonist Lyuu’s making friends with the other well-known novelists, musicians, art sponsors, journalists, intellectuals, etc., to let TV audiences and online viewers watch and understand the history. One of the reasons to use the special presentation way of theater stage performance in this TV drama, according to the director, is to save money. Because this TV drama only got very low financial budget resources. In the Golden Bell Ceremony, Director Lou accused Lee, Yun-Der, Chairman of Hakka Affairs Council at that time, of exploitation, which is reported in the news.

Play-Within-the-Play, Multiple Roles Intertwined with Lyuu’s life stories full of love, struggle, and politic and Lyuu’s literature works, Director Lou ingeniously links them together by play-within-the-play. Each of the main actors plays multiple roles to vividly play totally different roles with distinctive characterization. Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama interweaves the plots of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s novels and short stories into the script in the total 14 episodes in Hakka Theater: Roseki.

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The Other and Abjection Apply the theories of Post-colonialism and Postcolonial Feminism to interpreting the main point in each episode. In Post-colonial Feminism, incorporating the indigenous and the Third World women’s concerns, reflecting the issues of social class, race and ethnicity in the case of Hakka Theater: Roseki, we see the Hakka women are particularly inferior to be marginalized in the patriarchy, not to mention the social class. For instance, in the episode 1 intertwined with Lyuu’s novel “The Girl in Blue,” the Hakka girl Miao-Li (who is going to be graduated from the senior high school) is forced to accept her father’s arrangement to marry the rich man’s son in the Hakka town. Although she complains about it to her teacher, Teacher Lyuu (played by Actor Mo) and asks him to paint a painting for her for memory. Teacher Lyuu as well as an artist, however, as an outsider, non-Hakka ethnicity, has no power. He is blamed to be warned by the rich and the powerful in the conservative Hakka village in Miaoli, a mountain county in Taiwan. Both the women in the third world and the Hakka minor ethnicity women were oppressed by the class and the patriarchy to be marginalized as “The Other.” And the character Teacher Lyuu, as non-Hakka, I think, borrowing Julia Kristeva’s Psychoanalysis and Feminist theory of “abjection,” is “abjected” by the ethnicity discrimination as “The Other” as well.

Postcolonial Feminism Moreover, compared with Taiwanese men, Taiwanese Hakka poor women’s societal status is worse in terms of class, gender, and economy. For instance, the poor Hakka woman A-May in the episodes 2–6 and Tsai Fong in the episode 12 are forced to be either a prostitute or a red wine girl and then to be prostitute to support their families to earn bread for survival and make a living. In Postcolonial Feminism, as Ethel Crowley points out that “ethnography can be essential to problem solving, and that freedom does not mean the same thing to the all the women in the world” (2014: 8). Therefore, unlike the white feminism in the first world, the third world women’s problem can also adopt Postcolonial Feminism to address. The colonial and imperial situation in Taiwan under the Japan’s colonization especially is suitable for applying the Postcolonial feminism to this

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case of Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama. The theoretical concept of the impact of colonialism on the economic and political situation in Taiwan supports and strengthens my argument that western Feminism may neglect the gender issue in the aspect of the ethnicity in the marginal indigenous Hakka women’s social class. As Edward W.  Said’s book Orientalism indicates, in my view, using the gender metaphor, both Taiwanese men and women are all forced to be feminized by Western’s powerful masculinity in terms of politics, economy and lethal weapons. It is similar that under Japan’s imperialism and colonization, and Chinese KMT General Chen Yi’s corruption ruling from 1945–1950, Taiwanese Hakka women were even more oppressed and exploited than ever before.

Stage Design of Minimalism In terms of stage design, due to the shortage of budget, not sufficient financial sponsorship from the Hakka Affairs Council, this Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama employs a lot of stage performances by the stage design of Minimalism. For example, in Episode 5–6, adapted from Lyuu’s short novel “The Story of the Tempest,” the story depicts the poor couple’s daily lives as the husband was forced to quit his job as an oxcart man under Japan’s “modernization.” The unreasonable oppression policy of road fines tickets forced the character Tien-Ding to have no way out but the jail. He had to let his wife A-May be a prostitute so that they could barely have food to eat to raise their children and saved money to rent the small land from the bad landowner to cultivate the crops for living (Fig. 8.4). The poor farmer Tien-Ding did not know that the bad landowner had raped his wife until she committed suicide after invalid protest. She could not tolerate her husband‘s keeping coward tolerance toward the bad landowner’s increasingly oppressed behaviors, including killing their hen with no compensation fees. The bad landowner even robbed them of their only pig which is the main hope for sustaining their poor family. Eventually, the farmer got revenge to kill the bad landowner, yet with the tragedy leaving their two young sons losing their parents in such an unbearable miserable situation. In the Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama, Lyuu, his mistress Su, and Taipei city residents see American planes in the air and hear the bomb alert warning to ask people to find safe shelters to keep alive (Fig. 8.5). This scene shows the dangerous situation in Taiwan during World War II.

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Fig. 8.4  Due to the shortage of the budget, Director Lo Lou, Yi-An and Stage Team Crew use simple stage and props to show the characters’ hard working in the rice field to grow crops on the stage. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

In Episode 10, Actor Mo plays the role of Yao Xun, a young intellectual man who comes back from Japan to prepare for establishing his clinic in his hometown to be a doctor (Fig. 8.6). However, his way was blocked by the other senior doctors in his small hometown. He has confusion about national identity, self-identity, and doubt of his passion for dedication to be a doctor. Unlike the other senior doctors in his hometown who only want to make money, he has strong sympathy for the poor. Using some stage props, simple paper house design on stage, this TV drama shows the elementary school, Yao Xun’s home, the restaurant, the small houses and the streets of the town.

Worse Exploitation and Oppression From Episode 11 to Episode 14, Hakka Theater: Roseki describes Taiwanese people’s feelings from joy back to the mainland China to be disappointment, and even force some Taiwanese people to have revolution

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Fig. 8.5  American planes throw bombs on Taiwan under Japanese colonialization to try to defeat Japan during World War II. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

(or be called rebellion) in the turbulent historical period on Formosa, the beautiful island Taiwan from 1945 to 1950. At the beginning, when Taiwan was returned by Japan to the mainland China, Taiwanese people were full of joy to feel that they had the national identity no longer with Japan, but with China. After all, Taiwanese and Chinese are all Chinese in terms of Chinese race, Han ethnicity, and the common Chinese cultural legacy. However, after Japan surrendered after World War II in 1945 to finish Japan’s 50-year colonization, Taiwanese people’s economic situation got worse under KMT General Chen Yi’s rude ruling and corruption dominance in Taiwan. In Episode, 11, Lyuu’s wife Lin, Lyuu’s mistress Su, Newspaper Editor Su Xin, Lyuu, Sung, Fei-Zu, the only Taiwanese who worked as the high government educational official at that time, and so on, all represent Taiwanese people’s voice. They wondered how come the price of rice rose so high. As in the Hakka Theater: Roseki, the dialogue

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Fig. 8.6  Episode 10 shows the young Taiwanese doctor’s helplessness while drinking in the disturb era of turbulent unsettlement under Japanese colonialization. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

between Lyuu and his wife Lin, Xue-Rong who cooked and said in their home kitchen: Without wars any more, how come the price of rice, sugar, and groceries for the basic daily lives necessity became more expensive than they were during WWII under Japanese colonization? (Episode 11, TV Film 2: 44–3: 22)

It is because Chinese General Chen Yi got bribes to have serious corruption and he allowed Chinese greedy businessmen, the bad soldiers, the lousy officials, and the mainlanders (called wai xing ren, literally the people from China, out-of the Taiwanese Province) from China to exploit and oppress Taiwanese local people. The local Taiwanese, including the intellectuals and Lyuu, were not satisfied with the political corruption (especially the February 28 Incident in 1947) during the postcolonial period of Taiwan around 1945–1950. Editor Su Xin, Lyuu, and Sung Fei-Zuo (played by Actor Chou Ming-Yu) decided to start to establish the Left newspaper “The People Lead Newspaper” to point out the truth of the political corruption. At that time, no rice to eat for Taiwanese people, which situation was reflected by the scene in which Lyuu’s mistress’s father came to get rice from them,

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so as to make Lyuu’s families and children have no rice to eat. When Lyuu asked for the financial aid from the rich Gu, she advised Lyuu to be careful about what he wrote in the newspaper without making somebody in the high position with money and power angry.

Music, Songs, Stage Design This Hakka TV drama is accompanied with music piano, mixed with yueqin and singing. There are 29 songs, including Lied, art songs, Bel Canto, Taiwanese folk songs, NSO National Orchestra, matching with the plots, full of emotions. Actor Mo, Tzu- Yi in the role of Lyuu Heh-Ruo plays the piano. Actor Mo insisted on no use of the piano hands substitute. Instead, Mo practiced hard on memorizing the piano notes positions by often staying up late without going to bed until the early morning around 4 a.m. So every camera shots can take his own hands and his face playing the piano full of emotional expressions (Fig. 8.7). Women’s voice is connected with Post-colonialism and Postcolonial Feminism. As Post-colonial Feminism and the local critic Wen, Wen-Lung (2006) comments that Lyuu sympathizes with the women’s situation in the feudal patriarchy society. In Lyuu’s novels, such as “The Temple” and

Fig. 8.7  Actor Mo, Tzu- Yi in the role of Lyuu Heh-Ruo plays the piano. (Photo: Courtesy of Hakka Affairs Council)

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“Moon Night,” Lyuu, though as a male writer, speaks for the women who are in suffering. I find that Lyuu’s sympathy with the poor women can also be detected in the episode 11–12 of Hakka Theater: Roseki, Lyuu’s novel “Winter Night” (about the red wine girl prostitute, Jiujianu) written in Chinese is intertwined in the TV drama. The wine woman prostitute Tsai Fong sadly, using the metaphor of “father,” accuses of “the Japanese father robs and kills her husband. And the Chinese father came to cheat her, hurt her and exploit her.” By using the literature metaphor, in gender politics, her pain is like Taiwan’s pain. Camera shooting with diversity shots several settings; for example, the rotating stage in the proscenium stage indoors. Due to the budget shortage, the stage design is simple yet symbolic and realistic at the same time to show the stage settings. For instance, in Episode 13–14 about the poor wine woman prostitute in Lyuu’s novel “Winter Night,” the indoor stage settings change from the Poor’s slum along the Tamsui River in Taipei to the shabby wine shop, and the cheap motel. In Performance Studies, the stage design is simple and minimalist yet realistic full of symbols. The script is full of drama and tension, intertwined with play-within-the-play. The music and singing with Taiwanese folk songs and folk music, German and Italian opera aria, Chinese and western (dance) songs, accompanied by NSC orchestra, etc. the total 29 songs are so plentiful to have very high quality. The costume design, make-up and hair design are excellent to help the cast play multiple roles distinctively with enough vivid characterization differences in Hakka Theater: Roseki.

Conclusion With political ideal for saving the poor Taiwanese people, facing the reality, Lyuu criticized the Japanese colonial ruling power. He was not satisfied with the political corruption (Feb. 28 Incident in 1947) during the miserable postcolonial period in Taiwan around 1945–1950. In this chapter, I analyze and comment on this Hakka Theater Roseki which is performed by multiple languages (Hakka, Japanese, Taiwanese dialect, modern standard Han language). I think that it is a pity for Lyuu, a handsome and talented novelist, playwright, vocalist Tenor, Taipei First Girls High School music piano teacher, journalist, and the printing press shop owner, to die young at 38 years old. Lyuu sacrificed due to his passion of changing the society to be better in order to help the common poor Taiwanese people without the

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oppression by either Japan or China at the difficult up-side down time full of controversial political ideology. However, in my view, no matter what the political regime is or what the political party is, Japan or China, the KMT or the Chinese Communist in the Hakka Theater: Roseki TV drama, they all show the truth that the ruling political corruption, exploitation and oppression make the common Taiwanese people suffer in poverty. The poor have to tolerate with the extreme disparity of the gap between rich and poor. This chapter contributes in, as the first pioneer, interpreting this Eastern Taiwanese Hakka Theatre: Roseki TV drama in English by theater performance studies, and using the western literary theories of Post-colonialism and Post-colonial Feminism. In the retrospective colonial history, this chapter examines this recent case of Hakka Theater: Roseki (2018) TV Drama, which is accompanied with music, singing, and stage performance, aided by the theoretical perspective to comment on the signification of literature, politics, women’s voice, and Asian performance shown by Hakka Theatre in the form of TV Drama.

Notes 1. Concerning of “Luku Incident,” more justice to get even can be found in Zhang Yanxian and Cheng Fenghua. “Sobbings of a Cold Village.” The Luku Incident. Taipei: Taipei County Cultural Center, 2000. 2. Regarding “February 28 Incident,” more details can be checked in https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_28_incident.

Works Cited Bhabha, Homi. 1994. Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse. In The Location of Culture. London/New York: Routledge. Chang, Hsiu-Chun. 1991. Lun Lyuu, Heh-Ruo ji qi bixia de Taiwan nuxing chutan [Exploration of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo and the Taiwanese Women under His Pens]. Shixue [History] (16/17): 165–190. Chen, Wen-Zhou. 1992. Shitan Lun Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo Niuche [Explore Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Novel Ox Cart]. Taiwan Wenyi [Taiwan Literature and Art] (129): 74–80. Chen, Ying-zhen. 1997. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Zuopin Yanjiu [The Study of Lyuu, Heh-­ Ruo’s Works]. Taipei: United Literature. Cheng-hui, Lu. 1995. Xundao zhe-Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo de lishi zhexue ji qi lishi daolu [Martyr-Historical Philosophy and Historical Path in Lyuu,

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­ eh-­Ruo’s Novels]. (Lin, Zhi-jie, Trans.) Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo quanji H [Complete Works of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Novels]. Taipei County, Zhong he City: INK, 569–598. Chu, Jia-Hui. 2000. Liang ge taiyang xia de Taiwan zuojia [Taiwanese Writers under the Two Suns]. Tainan: Tainan City Art Center. Crowley, Ethel. 2014. Third World Women and the Inadequacies of Western Feminism. Global Research. Web. 21 Sep 2015. Huang, Jing-Ya. 1994. Beichuang de chuanqi-Lin, Zhi-jie yinxiang zhong de Lyuu, Heh-Ruo [Pathetic Legend-Lyuu, Heh-Ruo in Lin, Zhi-jie’s Impression]. United Literature (120): 97–101. Liao, Ping-Hui. 1994. Huigu Xiandai-hou xiandai yu hou zhimin lunwen ji [In Retrospect Modern-Postmodern and Postcolonial Papers]. Taipei: Rye Field Publishing. Lin, Ming-De. 1995. Ri ju shidai Taiwan ren zai Riben wentan-yi Yang, Kui Song bao fu, Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Niuche, Long, Ying-Zong Zhi you mugua de xiao zhen wei li [Taiwanese in Japan Literature Field during Japanese Colonial Period-­ Taking the Examples of Yang, Kui’s Newspaper Deliverer, Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Ox Cart, and Long, Ying-Zong’s The Small Town Planted with Papaya]. United Literature (127): 142–151. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo. 1991. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Ji [Works of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo]. Taipei: Avant Guard Books. ———. 2004. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Riji (1942–1944) [Diary of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo (1942–1944)]. Tainan: National Museum of Taiwan Literature. ———. 2006. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo quanji [Complete Works of Lyuu, Heh-­ Ruo’s Novels]. (Lin, Zhi-jie, Trans.) Taipei County, Zhong he City: INK. Peng, Rui-Jin. 1995. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo yu “Fengtou shuiwei” [Lyuu, Heh-Ruo and Hardship]. Taiwan Wenyi [Taiwan Literature and Art] (151): 46–49. Said, Edward. 1979. Orientalism. New York: Vintage. Schechner, Richard. 2002. Performance Studies: An Introduction. London/New York: Routledge. Shi, Shu. 1983. Zuihou de Niuche-Lun Lyuu, Heh-Ruo de Xiaoshuo [The Last Ox Cart-On Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Novels]. Taiwan Wenyi [Taiwan Literature and Art] (85): 7–13. Shi, Kuang-Sheng. 2008. Kua wen hua juchang: chuanbo yu quanshi [Intercultural Theater: Communication and Interpretation]. Taipei: Bookman. Wang, Chien-Kuo. 2002. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo yanjiu yu quanshi [Research and Interpretation of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Novels]. Tainan: Tainan City Library. Wen, Wen-Long. 2006. Shounan nuxing de daiyanren-Lun Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo zhong de nuxing juese [Spokesman for Victim Women-On the Women Characters in Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Novels]. Taiwan Wenyi [Taiwan Literature and Art] (154): 85–95.

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Wu, Yong-Fu. 1991. Lyuu, Heh-Ruo de diandiandidi [Lyuu, Heh-Ruo in Dribs and Drabs]. Wenxue Taiwan. [Literature Taiwan]. First Issue, 13–15. You, Huan. 1992. Maren de hua─ Tan Lyuu, Heh-Ruo Xiaoshuo de yu dian [Curse Words─ Discussion on the Word Dictionary of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo’s Novels]. Mingdao Wenyi [Mingdao Literature and Art] (199): 56–62.

YouTube Films Hakka Theatre: Roseki Taipei Singer. Hakka TV Station. Director & Playwright Lou, Yi-An. Playwright & Leading Actor Mo, Tzu-Yi. 2018.

CHAPTER 9

Robot Theatre and AI Films

Introduction This chapter explores Robot Theater and AI robot films. Robot Theatre includes the analysis on the two performances La Métamorphose Version Androïde (2015 Taipei), and Three Sisters: Android Version (2012 Taipei). To figure out technology and social change, we can scrutinize the robot theater performances and the related issues reflected by the eleven AI robot films. After the evolution of Intercultural Theatre, from the mimicry of colonial imperialism to the intercultural metamorphosis, there is the development of the reflection of human/non-human, and AI, especially on how the robots play the roles in theatre. Japanese Playwright and Theater Director Oriza Hirata of SEINENDAN1 collaborates with Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University (whose expertise in AI Robotics)2 to bring in robots to theatre performances in Taipei Festival. Oriza Hirata (b. 1962), playwright, theater director, theater educator, in 1983 founded his theater company SEINENDAN (meaning: “youth league”). In “Theatre Forms the Core around which Dialogue Develops” the Interviewed by Manabu Noda, Oriza Hirata is known by his colloquial style “coupled with a keen sense of history and occasional magic-realist twists.” (2014)3. Hirata recently was appointed by Tokyo University of Arts as Project Professor. In Hirata’s Robert Theater, the script in the first case La Métamorphose version Androïde (Metamorphosis: Android Version) is adapted from Franz Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis. Most of the stage lines are translated from Kafka’s original novel in the era of © The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_9

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Austria-Hungary into Japanese. The adaptation changes to be in the modern contemporary setting. The drastic change is that the protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he transforms into, not a huge insect as it is in Kafka’s novel, but a robot who loses the ability of action, lying on bed incapable of working. The second robot theatre case is adapted from Russian playwright Chekhov’s Three Sisters, belonging to Naturalism. Japanese troupe production co-works with the Robot Theatre Project of Osaka University.

Development of Humannoids in Performance Japan since the end of 1960s has researched on robot technology to propel the economy. Japan in the 1980s pushed factory automation and robots work. Up to the present, the mise-en-scène in the combination of humans and robots in the theatre has some progress. Humannoids or androids have the achievement in the development of interactive social type robots in performance. Digital media technology in theatres includes the use of robot technology. Recently, there are many experts and scholars who publish about robots and performance (Dery 1996; Smith et al. 2005; Dixon 2007; Causey 2006; Giannachi 2004, 2007; Broadhurst 2009; Birringer 2008; Salter 2010; Parker-Starbuck 2011; Klich and Scheer 2012). Yuji Sone in the book Japanese Robot Culture: Performance, Imagination and Modernity raises the concern about the “anthropomorphic and zoomorphic robots” in developing the next generation robots in Japan (2017: 3).4 As Ben Phelan reviewed the book Japanese Robot Culture: Performance, Imagination and Modernity by Yuji Sone and the other book New Media Dramaturgy: Performance, Media and New-Materialism by Peter Eckersall, Helena Grehan, and Edward Scheer, these two recent books both “contribute to important and growing conversations around nonhuman performance and the relationship between technology and the contemporary subject” (2017: 314). Each of these two books examines its project within both fields of theatre and performance studies. For Japanese Robot Culture, the robot is theatrical because the popular view of the robot in Japan is expressed in terms of the operations of theatre, through concepts such as representation, actor, audience, and setting or mise en scène” (Sone 2017: 1).

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According to Phelan, it is similar that New Media Dramaturgy is “concerned with both performances that might be considered “theatre”… and also the performative relationship between the contemporary subject and the technology that often rules our lives” (2019: 314). Therefore, robot theater performances and new media dramaturgy covering technology and AI are in the research trends.

AI Trend and AI Policy What is AI? The definition of AI (Artificial Intelligence), according to Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig in the book Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach is that artificial Intelligence is about the research and design of intelligent agent. Intelligent agent means the system which can observe the surrounding environment and take actions to achieve the goal. Therefore, robot theater is the lab theatre in which doing experiment to see how to add AI robot as a role to have interaction with human actors and actresses who excel in the theatre performing arts. Some countries, such as Taiwan, Japan and Canada, have government AI policies. For example, the Ministry of Executive Yuan publishes “AI Small Country with Big Strategy” in the website of “Global information,” Project of “Asia Silicon Valley,” “AI Science Development Guide,” the economic thinking of “AI Principle” set by the Prime Minister of Japan, “AI Talents Development Policy” internationally and Taiwan, and so on. Since Japan and Canada had raised AI to the national level, even though there are some technology tycoons worry about human beings cannot be too careful to create another monster as it is in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein in the new era, many countries gradually regard AI as national strategy. Just as William Shakespeare in the play As You Like It indicates that “All the world’s a stage”. Theatre stage performances also show the prospective reflection of the world going toward the era in which humans co-exist with AI robots in the future.

Robot Theater Performance: Metamorphosis: Android Version The first robot theater case is to explore Metamorphosis Android Version (Premiered 2014 Japan) (2015 Taipei) adapted from Franz Kafka’s novella Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung). This theater performance

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adds the robot to be a role performing in 2015  in Taipei Arts Festival. Director Oriza Hirada collaborates with Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro whose expertise in Robotics at Osaka University to bring the robots into theater. The plot basically follows Kafka’s original novella but adapts into the modern contemporary 21st setting. The most important change is to make the protagonist Gregor Samsa, after waking up, becomes not a big insect as he is in Kafka’s original novella, but becomes the Repliee S1 type robot who loses the ability of movement and action, lying on bed incapable of working (Pluta 2016: 76)5 Moreover, the script adapts the mother character from the apathetic mother in Kafka’s original into the caring mother (played by the French actress Irène Jacob) who shows more solicitude toward her robot son (Fig. 9.1). Kafka’s original novella has irony to insinuate that some people with human forms but without humanity. Although this robot theater still belongs to intercultural adaptation, inviting the European actors to participate in this performance (Fig. 9.2), the focus is no more intercultural

Fig. 9.1  2015 Taipei Arts Festival. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama)

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Fig. 9.2  The cast (the European actor and actresses and the Japanese robot) stands with the stage design added by the lighting design. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN.  Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama)

adaptation, but is on the other issues, such as human actors perform with robots. The European actors and French actresses play the roles of Gregor’s family members. Director Oriza Hirada designs to let the actors and actresses do some interactive actions, such as the mother role’s touching the robot’s face, the father role’s reading the newspapers (Fig. 9.3), the sister role’s accompanying her robot brother (Fig. 9.4), etc., surrounding the robot lying on the bed unable of moving. The audiences notice that the robot has flexible white mask and metal body. Thus the audience response is aroused from the “unfamiliar” “alienation effect” caused by the character from man to be a robot. This perhaps is another “Alienation Effect” which German playwright Bertolt Brecht wants the audiences to keep an aesthetic distance so as to have an ability of rational criticizing.6

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Fig. 9.3  The European actor who plays the role of Gregor’s father) reads the newspaper to his robot son at the beginning of finding his son’s strange situation. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN.  Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama)

Development of the Geminoids Among so many robots that Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro has made, the geminoids (Latin: geminus, means: twins), using the real human images to make, are the most fascinating. The first human-like robot that he made is Repliee R1, using his four-year-old daughter’s image at that time in 2001. Then he made Reliee R2, imitating the Japanese TV news anchor’s appearance. Afterwards, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro used his own image and transplanted parts of his own hair to create his incarnation of the robot, the Geminoid HI-1. Next he created another better version—Geminoid HI-2 (Pluta 2016: 69). Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro has not only researched on developing robots as if real humans’ images and bodies,7 but also explored “Sonzai-­ kan” (which means: feel to be in the shoes of the other person’s existence). The online articles that his lab published mention the “research on the

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Fig. 9.4  The European actress (who plays the sister role) accompanies her robot brother who is lying on the bed, unable of moving. Japan SEINENDAN Company x Osaka University Robot Theater Project Metamorphosis Android Version. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Madoka Nishiyama)

sense of existence” and “the relationship between self and society” (Understanding 2006).8 He researches on the basic concept of being a human, not merely from the angle of robot models, but also from the perspective of the audiences who receive the estranged unfamiliar feeling of “physically be in existence” (Understanding 2006).

The Theory of Uncanny Valley Facing the geminoids which look as if humans, the audience responses include that the Japanese engineer Masahiro Mori in 1970 published the “theory of Uncanny Valley.”9 It means that under the presumption humans will have eerie, uncomfortable feelings if they see the robots which look so similar to humans. I think that it is similar to Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis on “The Uncanny” (Freud 1919).10 For there is the psychological process for human to think about the entities which are similar

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to humans, that is, in the beginning, humans like them, but with the gradual degree of similarity, humans gradually dislike them, even drop down to the bottom of the valley to have rejection. Then after that period of uncanny curve, it will again climb up to have empathy with those who look like humans. That is the three processes of humans’ subtle psychological change. This kind of psychological change can be applied to those human-­like patterns designs in art design, theater performance, film animation design, computer games, etc. By trying to control the degree of similarity to humans to get the audiences’ favors.

“Robot Actor Project” “Robot Actor Project” initiated from Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro who wants to explore the interaction between robots and humans, robot psychology, and further technology. In order to understand if the spectators will have the same empathy with robots as if with humankind, and if helps enter the roles, on robotics, he began the collaborative projects on robots and theaters. First, in order to let audiences more accept robots, he chose to make those robots’ appearance look like humans. For instance, the Geminoid F (designed in 2007) with the appearance as if a 25-year-old Asian woman is used to do the robot performance experiment. For the convenience of theater performance control, he also chose the robots with the functions comparatively easier, only 12 control bottoms, to participate in Android-Human Theatre.

Android-Human Theatre The professors, the theater directors, and the engineers collectively do the integration of Android-Human Theatre. Let the robots attend the live performance by putting the game scene in which Android robot participates in the performance with the professional actors (Hirata 2012: 1).11 However, up to the present, the geminoids made by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro’s lab still cannot walk. Therefore, most of the roles that the geminoids play are assigned as the roles sit on chairs or wheelchairs. Besides, the sounds of the geminoids are the sounds given by the engineers at the remote end control. Moreover, the operators in advance need to prepare for studying the written instructions so that they at the remote end control can give the geminoids in the theater performance voice sounds,

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expressions, and actions. To make the geminoids display as if real actors answer and do interactions with the human actors on stage.

Some Robot Performances Robot Theater inherits Playwright and Theater Director Hirada Oriza’s style who proclaims modern colloquial theater theory. Abiding the modern colloquial theater theory to design the robot’s colloquial ability, Tzung-De Lin and Yi-Jen Yu in the journal paper “Contemporary Colloquial Theater Theory and Robot Theater of Oriza Hirata” in Chinese indicates that “on the one hand, it successfully builds up the robots’ performance; on the other hand, it also reveals the possible problems to assign the robots’ roles.” (my translation in English, Lin and Yu 2014: 167). As robots are designed not to hurt humans (indicated also by Professor Kuu-­ young Yang in his book Breaking the Secret Codes in Robot Films written in Chinese), Hirada Oriza’s robot theater also follows this robot design rule as many scientific novels regulate so. In Deep in the Forest: Robot Version (2010), sponsored by Royal Theater of Flanders in Belgium, Hirada Oriza makes the design of robots do not hurt human beings, and only do experiments on the apes.

Three Sisters and the Other Robot Theater Performances The second robot theater performance Three Sisters (2012) (Fig. 9.5), on Japan’s post-industrialization by the desolate family with robots, also gets the audiences’ attention by the two robot roles. The script is adapted from the play (Three Sisters) (1900) written by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov (1860–1904). Three Sisters was premiered in 1901  in the Moscow Art Theatre of Chekhov. Three Sisters belongs to Naturalism which a little developing in advance and co-existing with Realism (around the 1870s) later in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The robot theater adaptation is done by Playwright and Theater Director Oriza Hirata,12 produced by Seinendan Theatre Company in Japan, collaborating with the Robot Theater Project at Osaka University (Lepage 2016: 281; Yang 2016). The synopsis of Chekhov’s Three Sisters is that Russian General Prozorov passed away to leave the only big mansion where his three daughters and his son with a wife and two children live. It is a tragedy about the three

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Fig. 9.5  The cast actors and the female Geminoids on the wheelchair. 2013 Taipei Arts Festival. Three Sisters (2012, Taipei: Wellspring Theater) (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Tsukasa Aoki)

sisters (Olga, Masha, and Irina), the bad loser younger brother’s unhappy marriage, and the fall down of the family. Japanese Playwright and Theater Director Oriza Hirata adapts his Three Sisters to set the background in a suburban housing in Japan. Besides, Oriza Hirata adapts the plot to make the youngest sister among the three sisters (Rizako, Marie, and Ikumi) already died. And he lets the Geminoid F, female robot which their father built before he passed away, replace her physical body to be present, by the Geminoid F robot sitting on the wheelchair (Fig. 9.6). This performance Three Sisters is more complicated than Oriza Hirata’s previous robot theater works. Not just the nine actors have to match with the Geminoid F to perform on stage, but also another white and green robot, Wakamaru Robovie-R3, often move from here to there on the stage to participate in the performance (Fig. 9.7). All of these add the difficulties of the directing, mise-en-scène, actors’ movements, and configuration. Not to mention the actors need to cooperate with the lab technicians in the back of the stage who try to manipulate the two robots to overcome

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Fig. 9.6  Three Sisters, including the youngest one who is replaced by the female robot Geminoid F sitting on the wheelchair. 2013 Taipei Arts Festival. Three Sisters (2012, Taipei: Wellspring Theater) (Courtesy of SEINENDAN.  Photo Credit: Photographer Tsukasa Aoki)

the difficulties encountering in the rehearsals. Therefore, it is obvious that the focus of this performance is to do experiment to test the interaction between the real actors and the robots by theatre performances.

Robot Theater Performance Sayonara Moreover, the other related robot theater performances also include Director Oriza Hirada’s Sayonara (2010 Japan). Oriza Hirada in the translation article “About Our Robot/Android Theatre” published by Comparative Theatre Review said that it is because they still cannot make the Geminoid robots stand up and move, so he transferred this limitation into a kind of virtue to design the situation in which the Geminoid robots read poetry to let the humans (who are dying) listen (2012: 29). In the robot theater performance Sayonara, Director Oriza Hirada designs to make the Geminoid robots goes to the hospital every day to accompany

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Fig. 9.7  Not just the nine actors have to match with the Geminoid F to perform on stage, but also another robot, Wakamaru Robovie-R3, often move from here to there on the stage to participate in Three Sisters directed by Oriza Hirada. (Courtesy of SEINENDAN. Photo Credit: Photographer Tsukasa Aoki)

the girl (who has serious illness to be on the verge of death) by talking and reading a poem. This robot theater performance in which the robot functions as if a radio recorder (which can restore, save, record, and play the sounds) is comparatively easy to be done. I think that this robot role is a smart design which can bring comfort and encouragement to the humans who suffer from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 311 March 11 Event in 2011 in Japan. Due to the serious radiation in the nuclear areas, nobody dares to enter there. Thus, the company of the Geminoid robots (which look like humans) enter the dangerous areas to read poems and send some simple basic daily lives regards. These company robots let those humans (who were abandoned there before they die to leave this world) can feel outside concerns and warmth.

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Human Actors Play the Roles of Robots Furthermore, in reverse, some performances make the human actors play the roles of robots as well. For example, Rossum’s Universal Robot (1920 Czech Republic) and the two robot theater performances Phantom of the Opera (2008 Taipei).13 However, in my opinion, this kind of robot performances actually are in the research projects of scientists and professors. Their emphasis is to observe the response of the humans when the Geminoid robots enter humans’ daily lives. And they use theater as the site of experiments.

Humans Accept or Reject AI Robots? Up to the present, these robot theater performances explore how humans feel about the presence of robots. Do humans accept the robots or reject them? And the feelings reflection of the humans co-exist to live with the robots to avoid reaching the scary point of “the Valley of the Uncanny.” Besides, the development of AI Robots and emotionless AI Computer Programs, just like IBM’s Deep Blue beat the world chess champion in 1997 and Google Deep Mind’s AphaGo beat South Korean master Lee Se-dol in 2016, has shocked and stunned humans. Moreover, humans are also worried about if robots will affect or decrease humans’ job opportunities. Will robots replace humans or threat humans’ lives? How about the issues of life ethics of robots and humans? All of these worries are presented and represented by the images in the Scientific AI films.

AI Robots Films With the development of technology, there are many AI robots films which can reflect the hot cultural and social issues most people are concerned about. For example, Film Director Steven Spielberg in his film (Artificial Intelligence) (2001) describes that in the mid-21st century in the future, technology is advanced, and the cute young robot boy in order to look for his adopted human mother has tried hard to shorten the difference between robots and humans (Fig. 9.8). Besides, recently there are also those AI robots films, such as The Terminator 6: Dark Fate (2019), Bicentennial Man (1999), The Stepford Wives (2004), Ex-Machina (2014), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Cyborg She (2008), Her (2013), Simone (2002), which are all popular and related

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Fig. 9.8  The film poster of Artificial Intelligence. (2001) The AI robot boy eagers to acquire the adopted human mother’s love, yet in vain. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

to the theme on thinking about the differences between AI robots and humans. Let’s figure out in the following. The success of The Terminator in 1984 (Fig. 9.9) propels the next five sequels which initiate the trend of exploring AI, technology ethics, and

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Fig. 9.9  The film poster of The Terminator (1984). Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the character of the Terminator, a cyborg assassin who was sent back from 2029 in the future to 1984 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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science technology in popular culture. Director James Cameron in The Terminator chose to star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin who was sent back from 2029 in the future to 1984 in Los Angeles. The cyborg assassin was assigned to kill Sarah Connor so as to stop her from giving a birth in the future to have a son called John Connor. Because John Connor will become a leader savior to unite the humans survived to assemble the human resistance against Skynet, the chief AI machine, and other machines. Skynet and the AI machines attempt to use the nuclear war weapons to destroy all of the rest humans survived. This film scrutinizes the problem that the robots violate the rule setting (which I mentioned above: robots cannot hurt humans). What will happen if AI robots gradually evolve to form their own self-consciousness, attack and destroy human beings? In The Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), the AI robot killing machine role (which Schwarzenegger plays) changes to be a hero from the future to save and protect 10-year-old John Connor at that time and his mother (Fig. 9.10). In The Terminator 2: Judgement Day, during the process, the AI robot role (starred by Schwarzenegger) and the boy have developed a sort of father-son relationship. While whenever the good AI robots (who saves and protects humans) fights with the evil AI robots (who kills humans), we the real human spectators cannot help but think the question: “how on earth can a human be regarded as a real human?” To continue the plots of The Terminator and The Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Director Tim Miller directs The Terminator 6: Dark Fate (2019) and recruits James Cameron as a fellow Producer who also joins the story and characters creating group, so this film is regarded as a direct sequel to be included in the franchise. They reunite the actors after 28 years, including starring Linda Hamilton returning in the role of Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising the role as a T-800 Terminator yet now aging (Fig. 9.11). The cast also add the other three new major characters. The old Schwarzenegger (playing the role of aging Carl) no longer wears black sunglasses and says the classical line: “I’ll be back!” no more. The screenplay not only changes to make this role who refuses to wear black sunglasses (which symbolizes that it is no longer an emotionless AI robot), but also changes to let Schwarzenegger say: “I’ll not come back.” Near the end of the film, in order to protect Sarah and Dani, T-800 Terminator chooses to sacrifice itself to fall down into the deep ledge by dragging himself and the Rev-9 AI Robot killer to be destroyed by Sarah’s power

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Fig. 9.10  In The Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), the AI robot killing machine role (which Schwarzenegger plays) changes to be a hero from the future to save and protect 10-year-old John Connor at that time and his mother. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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Fig. 9.11  Director Tim Miller’s The Terminator 6: Dark Fate (2019), a direct sequel to be included in the franchise, reunites the actors after 28 years, including starring Linda Hamilton returning in the role of Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising the role as a T-800 Terminator yet now aging. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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core stabbed by Dani into the Rev-9. Before it dies due to the power core explosion, Carl, the self-aware T-800 Terminator (who murdered John by fulfilling its mission so many years ago in 1988 yet no longer connecting with SkyNet) tells Sarah in 2020 before he is gone: “For John.” This film presents that AI robot machine killer can also learn by itself to get along with humans in the suitable environment. In so doing, the AI robot can change by self-learning what it thinks and decides to either save humans or turn back to bite and kill humans. In the reality, in 2014, Robin Williams, the famous comic movie star, killed himself due to Depression. In retrospect, he’s playing the role of a nice AI robot housekeeper in the film Bicentennial Man (1999) touches the spectators’ hearts (Fig. 9.12). Robin Williams plays the role of Andrew, the AI robot with creativity and craftsmanship. Robot Andrew with artificial intelligence develops to have feelings to be eager to become a real human. AI robot Andrew looks for freedom, dignity, love and marriage. Andrew, AI robot, would rather become a man than remain as an AI robot with immortality. Nevertheless, it is only until he gives up immortality to almost die on the bed under life support that the World Congress acknowledges him as a human being, the world’s oldest man die at 200 years. This film is thought-provoking to make one ponder deeply if AI

Fig. 9.12  Bicentennial Man (1999) presents the nice AI robot housekeeper Andrew with creativity and craftsmanship would rather become a real man than have immortality. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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robots have the same capacity of feelings and ability of thinking as humans, then what is the standard for the law to judge who are “humans”?

Simulacra, Cloning, Film Comments Not judging if one is a real human from the appearance, in Postmodernism, I think Jean Baudrillard’s theory of “Simulacra” can be taken as theoretical tool for the AI robot films analysis. What is real? What is simulation? What is Simulacra? As Richard Schechner points out that (w)ith simulation representation ends, and reproduction (cloning, digital and biological) takes over (Schechner 2002: 117). AI robot films are full of cloning, digital and biological images. According to Baudrillard, these are the successive phases of the images: –– –– –– ––

It is the reflection of a basic reality. It masks and perverts a basic reality. It masks the absence of a basic reality. It bears no relation to any reality whatever; it is its own pure simulacrum. (Baudrillard 1983, Simulations, pp. 11–12)

Baudrillard indicates that in the first case, the image is a “good appearance—the representation is of the order of sacrament.” To apply Baudrilliard’s theory into practice, in my perspective, the “good appearance image” can be exemplified as the cute AI robot boy in the film Artificial Intelligence. In the second, it is “an evil appearance—of the order of a spell” (Baudrillard 1983: 12). I think that evil appearance yet with a spell can explain why the evil cyborg assassin (stars by Arnold Schwarzenegger) in the first movie The Terminator (1984) is popular and appealing. In the third, Baudrillard thinks, it “plays at being an appearance—it is of the order of sorcery.” In my view, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s positive AI robot killer image in both The Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Terminator 6: Dark Fate plays that appearance to do the sorcery and have the magic to make human spectators like AI robot machines serving as heroes to save and protect humans if AI robots can obey the rule without hurting humans or repent to compensate by saving the human survivors. In the fourth, it is “no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation” (Baudrillard 1983: 12). In my opinion, in the film Bicentennial Man, Robin Williams’ transformation from the considerate AI

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housekeeping iron robot Andrew to be the physical human appearance who gives up immortality, willing to die with his beloved human wife, just asking for legal recognition as a real human, explains this case. Andrew is no longer in the order of just appearance at all, but of simulation. Then the simulacra breaks through the difference between the “true” and “false,” and “real and “imaginary.” Magically, in the plot of the AI robot film, the simulacra turns out to be reverse to become a “transcendental real,” metaphorically.

Simulacra in AI Robot Films Simulacra can also be seen in the AI robots films below. According to Baudrillard, “Simulacra are copies that depict things that either had no reality to begin with, or that no longer have an original.” Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulations probes the intriguing relationship between reality, symbols, and society.14 This makes us think of the development of AI robots and the question of humans’ real existence. With many men’s building up their perfect women, a lot of films also make AI female robots serve as if the perfect women in men’s dreams. For example, Nicole Kidman stars The Stepford Wives (2004) to expose the secret of the men’s club in the small town in the film. How come the wives in the Stepford town can be all so perfect? The secret is that they are all remade into AI robots which can even serve as ATM machines without nagging to match with their husbands’ unrealistic dreams (Fig. 9.13). AI female robots can be made to be advanced. For instance, Eva, the AI female humanoid robot in the film Ex-Machina (2014) is Turing tested by the program engineer. The programmer was invited by his company CEO to enjoy holidays for a week in the luxurious mansion without knowing that Eva is a humanoid robot in the beginning so as to administer the Turing test. Through the unknown programmer’s meetings with Eva and gradually having affections for her, the CEO wants to do the experiment in synthetic intelligence by Eva’ dressing and behaving as a normal pretty woman, and then revealing her as an advanced humanoid AI to evaluate her (its) human qualities (Fig. 9.14).

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Fig. 9.13  Nicole Kidman stars The Stepford Wives (2004) to expose the secret of the men’s club in the small town in the film. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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Fig. 9.14  In Ex-Machina (2014), Eva, the female advanced humanoid AI robot, is Turing tested by the program engineer to evaluate her (its) human qualities. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? If AI robots can be advanced, then do Androids dream of electric sheep? To answer this question, we can look into the film Blade Runner (1982), which was directed by Sir Ridley Scott. Blade Runner, a Cult film, portrays that the protagonist Rick Deckard, a killer (stars by Harrison Ford) falls in love with the beautiful Replicant Rachel. Director Denis Vileneuve directs the sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017) with the original director Ridley Scott as an executive producer. Blade Runner 2049 is a neo-noir science fiction film. The script was also written by Hampton Fancher and Mihael Green. Blade Runner 2049 depicts in the future in 2049 in Los Angeles, a Nexus-9 replicant “blade runner” LA police officer called K (played by Ryan Gosling) discovers the secret which destabilizes civilization and the ruling in the society. Replicant K is so lonely that he has affections with the holographic AI girlfriend Joi. I think that there are some fascinating issues, such as love and desire between human and AI robot, and affections but no physical sex between replicant and holographic AI simulacra image. Moreover, the agenda “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (Inquired in the original novel adapted into the film) still allures to delve into, not just in these two Blade Runner AI films, but also nowadays in the technology for scientists in the reality. These related issues also extend to figure out AI robots development might not merely have the thinking ability (as René Descartes claims: “I think, therefore, I am”), but also have feelings and emotions, and even to develop to make the clones have the inter-subjectivity of empathy as humans (who are different than other primates). Not just the U.S. and Europe do those AI robot films creating men’s dream girls, in Asia, there is also the film Cyborg She (2008) (directed by the Korean Film Director Gwak Jae-yong (곽재용; 郭在容), using all Japanese cast) also contains the AI female cyborg. As men’s perfect lover, in the appearance, the AI cyborg looks like a real human pretty woman. Besides, it/she always helps its/her human boyfriend, even breaks through the destiny of death.

AI with No Alluring Female Body but Voice Breaking the limitation of alluring woman’s body, the male protagonist Theodore Twombly (played by Jaoquin Phoenix) in the American science-­ fiction romantic drama film Her (2013) falls in love with the AI OS1 voice

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Fig. 9.15  In the film Her (2013), the man can even loves the AI virtual female voice who does not have a female sexy body. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

Samantha (Fig. 9.15). AI virtual assistant personized through the female voice of Samantha (voice by Scarlett Johansson15). Samantha’s tender and humorous voice and the conversations between human and AI machine transform into love words in fragments as if Roland Barthes’ book Fragments d’un discours amoureux. Just as Peter Holland in the book article “Film, Music and Shakespeare” published by Cambridge University Press indicates that “Here, then, language is embedded in the music in a context in which there is no diegetic sound. But music can also serve deliberately to obliterate the sounds we extrapolate from what we see” (Holland 2017: 203). This film uses sound and music to obliterate and erase in reality the machine noises and awkward answers. The female actress Scarlett Johansson’s sensual voice and the plot arrangement make up for the up to the present un-satisfied parts of the AI robot voice and answers (for instance, Siri of iPhone).

Image Synthesis From voice to image, in another AI film Simone (2002), the same title movie superstar (played by Rachel Roberts) actually does not exist but be created by the film director (played by Alfredo James Pacino) (Fig. 9.16). The film director uses the marvelous computer program to design the perfect woman image to act, sing and accept interviews by holography. However, this beautiful woman Simone makes the fans in the whole world

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Fig. 9.16  In the Simone (2002), the fans in the world are infatuated madly with the charms of the unreal false image synthesis. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

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Fig. 9.17  The beautiful woman in Simone (2002) actually does not exist, but is created by the director by the marvelous computer program to be presented by the holography. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

be infatuated madly with her charms. This implies that human beings although be in the real world, actually can be manipulated by the false image synthesis (Fig. 9.17).

AI Holographic Simulacra It echoes to future AI holographic women’s images in the other similar films and Baudrillard’s theory of Simulacra by taking the example of Blade Runner 2049 (2017), the sequel of Blade Runner (1982). The story background directly jumps to the future year 2049, the more advanced AI holographic electrical lover Joy also makes the protagonist K, AI replicant blade runner (played by Ryan Gosling) (who also stars in the musical La La Land), in his lonely daily lives, cannot help but love this considerate tender sexy and beautiful perfect woman, the fictional holographic simulacra (Fig. 9.18).

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Fig. 9.18  Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is the sequel of Blade Runner (1982). Blade Runner 2049 (2017) stars Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling. The director is Denis Villeneuve, and the producer is Ridley Scott. The AI replicant blade runner (stars by Ryan Gosling) loves the fictional holographic simulacra. (Photo: Courtesy of Aflo Co., Ltd.)

This also forces us to examine and scrutinize if the real world would be a big simulated “reality”? Or can simulacra itself to be real? That is, can AI robot itself to be real? No matter if they are imagined in AI robot films or try to make real in the reality society where some advanced countries, such as the U.S., Japan, Canada and Taiwan regulate the AI policies to take into action. What if the differences between humans vs. AI robots could become minute as the above AI films imagined and represented, then, will humans be replaced by AI robots?

Conclusion In prospect, theater performing arts and films reflect the tendency that the society goes toward developing AI robots to co-exist with humans in the future, especially when humans’ birth rate drops so low nowadays and humans need labors of robots. This phenomenon lets me think of Louise LePage in the single-author book article “Thinking Something Makes It So.” It is compiled in the book Twenty-First Century Drama: What Happens Now edited by Sian Adiseshian and Louise Lepage. Lepage points out that “the robot’s presence on stage arises from human beings’ long-­ standing fascination with one of their ontological ‘others’: the machine”

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(2016: 279). Therefore, human can be unique in that human is different from other animals, supernatural biological entities, and machines. In Robot Theater, how can AI robots, not just rigid robots, to be developed like real humans to have feelings and emotions so as to interact aptly with human actors? Can robots really play the roles on stage as humans using the mind and acting as those powerful AI replicants and AI computer program holographic seducing images in the AI films above? With so many countries gradually put AI as national strategies, from symbols, simulation, simulacra, humans and scientists incessantly put imagination into the real. Just as Shakespeare in As You Like It uses the character Jaques to say: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women are merely players; They have their exits and their entrances” (Act II, Scene 7). We are the witnesses to see the changes, development, and innovation of AI robots applied in Robot Theater and represented in AI films which might predict the future.

Notes 1. Japanese Playwright and Theater Director Oriza Hirata, Leader of SEINENDAN can be checked http://www.seinendan.org/eng/oriza/ 2. Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro’s lab website: http://www.geminoid.jp/en/ index.html. 3. Critical Stages / Scènes Critiques. The IATC webjournal/Revue web de l’AICT – October 2014: Issue No 10. 4. Stone, Yuji. (2017). Japanese Robot Culture: Performance, Imagination and Modernity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 5. Pluta, Izabella. (2016). “Theater and Robotics: Hiroshi Ishiguro’s Androids as Staged by Oriza Hirata.” Art Research Journal 3 (1), 65–79. 6. Bertolt Brecht’s alienation effect https://www.britannica.com/art/ alienation-effect 7. Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro created the robots as if humans by the silicone with similar human skin, eyelashes, complexion, expression, move fingers and hands. He tried to do research on the robots’ gestures as if humans face pressure, tension, etc., and Robotics. 8. ATR Intelligent Robotic and Communication Laboratories. (2006). “Understanding the Mechanism of Sonzai-Kan.” URL: http://www.geminoid.jp/projects/kibans/Data/panel-20060719-mod2. PDF. 9. The theory of Uncanny Valley. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%8 1%90%E6%80%96%E8%B0%B7%E7%90%86%E8%AE%BA. Retrieved on Sep. 3, 2017.

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10. Sigmund Freud’s article “The Uncanny” is highly cited. ht tp s : // c o m p l i t . u t o r o n t o . c a / w p - c ontent/upl oa ds/Fr eudTheUncannyPDF.pdf http://scholar.google.com.tw/scholar_url?url=http://complit.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/Freud-TheUncannyPDF.pdf&hl=zhTW&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm2UGBxrycriWGWk8IAZ_FVnDzuG0g&nos sl=1&oi=scholarr 11. Hirata, Oriza. (2012). “About Our Robot/Android Theatre.” Comparative Theatre Review (Vol.11 No.1 English Issue, Translated by Kei Hibino. March, p. 29). 12. In the website of Oriza Hirata, it says: “While in college Hirata founded Seinendan Theater Company to pursue and practice his contemporary colloquial theater theory…. In 2011, France’s Ministry of Culture honored Hirata with the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2012, Hirata’s Three Sisters (Android Version) and Android-Human Theater Sayonara were performed at Le Festival d’Automne in Paris. In 2014, Metamorphosis (Android Version) starring internationally renowned French actress Irene Jacob was produced and toured in Europe.” http://www.seinendan.org/eng/oriza/ Retrieved on March 15, 2017. 13. The two robot theater performances are collaborated with Distinguished Professor Jerry Lin at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. 14. Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulations. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Hl9zO0cS-NU 15. Scarlett Johansson is well-known by her famous sexy role of Black Widow in black tights in the Marvel heroes and heroine films.

Works Cited Barclay, Bill, and David Lindley. 2017. Shakespeare, Music and Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations. New York City: Semiotext(e), 1983. Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Birringer, J. H. 2008. Performance, Science, and Technology. New York: PAJ Publications. Broadhurst, S. 2009. Digital Practices: Aesthetic and Neuroesthetic Approaches to Performance and Technology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Causey, Matthew. 2006. Theater and Performance in Digital Culture: From Simulation to Embeddedness. London and New York: Routledge. Dery, Mark. 1996. Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century. New York: Grove Press.

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Dixon, Steve. 2007. Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theatre, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Eckersall, Peter, Helena Grehan, and Edward Scheer. 2017. New Media Dramaturgy: Performance, Media and New-Materialism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Freud, Sigmund. 1919. The Uncanny. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Volume XVII (1917–1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works (pp.  217–256). Toronto: Psychoanalytic Electric Publishing, University of Toronto, 2015. Giannachi, Gabriella. 2004. Virtual Theatres: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge. Giannachi, Gabriella. 2007. The Politics of New Media Theater. London and New York: Routledge. Hirata, Oriza. 2013. Three Sisters: Android Version. (Script in Chinese.) Selected Post-80s Japanese Plays. Trans. Yu-Pin Lin, etc. Taipei: Bookman. ———. La Métamorphose version Androïde. (Script in Japanese). SEINENDAN. Holland, Peter. 2017. Film, Music and Shakespeare: Walton ad Shostakovich. In Shakespeare, Music and Performance, ed. Bill Barclay and David Lindley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Klich, Rosemary and Scheer, Edward. 2012. Multimedia Performance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. LePage, Louise. 2016. Thinking Something Makes It So. In Twenty-First Century Drama: What Happens Now, ed. Sian Adiseshian and Louise LePage. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Lin, Tzung-De, and Yi-Jen Yu. 2014. Contemporary Colloquial Theater Theory and Robot Theater of Oriza Hirata. Theatre Journal 19 (1): 167–212. Noda, Manabu. “Theatre Forms the Core Around Which Dialogue Develops-Interview with Oriza Hirata.” Critical Stages. The IATC Web journal. Oct. 2014. Issue 10. Accessed 21, Dec. 2019. Parker-Starbuck, Jennifer. 2011. The Spectatorial Body in Multimedia Performance. PAJ, A Journal of Performance and Art 33 (3): 60–71. Phelan, Ben. 2019. Book Reviews. Theatre Survey 60 (2): 314–316. Russell, Stuart, and Peter Norvig. 2014. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. 3rd ed. London: Pearson New International Edition. Salter, Chris. 2010. Entangled: Technology and the Transformation of Performance. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Schechner, Richard. 2002. Performance Studies: An Introduction. London and New York. Shakespeare, William. 2006. As You Like It. Ed. Juliet Dusinberre. London: Arden Shakespeare. Smith, Christian, Mitsunaga, N., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H. and Hagita, N. 2005. Adaptation of an Interactive Robot’s Behavior Using Policy Gradient Reinforcement Learning. 10th Robotics Symposia 319–324.

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Sone, Yuji. 2017. Japanese Robot Culture: Performance, Imagination and Modernity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Yang, Kuu-Young. 2016. Breaking the Secret Codes in Robot Films. Hsinchu: National Chiao Tung University Press.

Cinematography Artificial Intelligence. (2001). Film Director Steven Spielberg. Distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures. Bicentennial Man. (1999). Film Director Chris Columbus. Distributed by Sony Pictures. Blade Runner 2049. (2017). Film Director Dennis Villeneuve. Distributed by Colombia Pictures. Cyborg She. (2008). Film Director Kwak Jae-yong. Distributed by GAGA Corporation. Ex-Machina. (2014). Film Director Alex Garland. Distributed by Universal Pictures. Her. (2013). Film Director Spike Jonze. Distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures. Simone. (2002). Film Director Andrew Niccol. Distributed by New Line Cinema. The Stepford Wives. (2004). Film Director Frank Oz. Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The Terminator 6: Dark Fate. (2019). Film Director Tim Miller. Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Three Sisters: Android Version (2013). アンドロイド版 三人姉妹 新・平田オリ ザ の現場1 [DVD]。(English, Japanese Subtitles). Distributed by SEINENDAN.

CHAPTER 10

Conclusion

In a conclusion, I apply the theories of Popular Culture, Visual Culture, Performance Studies, (Post) Feminism, and Film Studies as methodology to interpreting the theatre performances, films, and TV drama. This new monograph explores the recent important and significant cases of the literature works adapted, represented and transformed into interesting artistic medium in films, (musical) theater, and TV drama. Except Chap. 1 Introduction and Chap. 10 Conclusion, there are 6 cases in Chap. 2 Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music, the film case on spectacle in Chap. 3 Korean Film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds, 2 cases (musical and film) in Chap. 4 Myth and Levi-Strauss, Miss Saigon Dispute and 5 cases in Chap. 5 Face, Race, and Performance, 2 Broadway musical theatre cases of Chicago and The Visit in Chap. 6 Dance Tango and Sing for Revenge, the popular TV drama case in Chap. 7 Theatre, Performance, and Popular Story of Yanxi Palace, the TV drama case in Chap. 8 Taiwan Hakka Theatre: Roseki, the 2 robot theatre cases and 11 AI films in Chap 9 Robot Theatre and AI Films. In total, there are Miss Saigon Dispute and 31 cases analysis in this monograph. To sum up, the main points and arguments in each chapter of the monograph are in the following:

© The Author(s) 2020 I. H. Tuan, Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_10

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Main Points in Each Chapter Chapter 1 Introduction: Popular Visual Culture in Film, Theatre & TV Drama Theoretical ideas include Angela McRobbie’s book Postmodernism and Popular Culture, Christine Geraghty’s book chapter “Soap Opera and Utopia,” etc., Utopia imagination from the rural to urban, from the past to the present, is similar yet changing. Jean Baudrillard’s article “The Precession of Simulacra,” Michel de Certeau’s book chapter “The Practice of Everyday Life,” and Ien Ang’s “Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure” all offer the insights in the politics of popular culture, manifested in the related films, theater performances, and TV drama interpreted in this monograph. Chapter 2 Shakespeare and Popular Culture: Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music examines Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the theoretical perspective of cultural theory and popular culture. I suggest that we can do research and teach Shakespeare’s plays related to popular culture in the Age of Media by using films, pop music and YouTube. This chapter does the research on directly related literature reviews, interpret the six examples including Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Italian Film Director Carlo Carlei’s recent film Romeo & Juliet (2013), and Shakespeare in pop music, with the focus on Taylor Swift’s MV “Love Story” (2009) which lyrics are related to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Translocal interdisciplinary combines the areas of films and pop songs by concentration on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet shown in pop culture. This chapter offers the insight of comparison with Michelangelo’s La Pietà in Carlei’s film. This chapter has the contribution to the Shakespearean research by the theories of cultural theory and popular culture. Chapter 3 Represent Afterlife and Replay Habitus: Performance via Spectacle in the Korean Film Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds This chapter explores spectacle in the Korean film, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017). This film utilizes special effects to present a historically-­based interpretation of punishment and judgment in Hell. The film has theatrical representation of Hell, as described in Buddhist scripture. The cast’s extraordinary performances depict different aspects of human nature, including filial piety, forgiveness, guilt, and vengeance. Moreover, the pathos, sorrow, and hardship of daily life are mirrored in the poetic justice experienced in Hell. This chapter analyzes the film’s

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plots and narrative, and asserts that this film represents everyday life and habitus in order to show life ascending to Heaven and reincarnation through the utilization of cinematic 3D special effects and advanced CGI technology. Chapter 4 Myth and Levi-Strauss: Taiwan Musical Classic of Mountain and Sea and Chinese Film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women elucidates the notion “Myth is language,” proclaimed by the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss by examining the two case studies—the musical The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the 3D fantasy & adventure film The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women (2018). I argue that myth imagination helps rebuild the true language construction of knowledge epistemology, fill in the gap between fiction and history, and enrich the complex stories. Part II Asian American Play, Asian Theatre, and Musical Theater Chapter 5 Face, Race, and Performance: Arousal by Face and Identity Transformation (1) Miss Saigon Dispute and Yellow Face (2) The Lion King, Cats, and War Paint (3) Arousal by Face and Identity Transformation in Global Asia: Jekyll & Hyde & So On Chapter 5-(1) Miss Saigon Dispute and Asian American David Henry Hwang’s Play Yellow Face This chapter provides an impetus to revisit the authentic dilemma and the artistic implications in theatre and performance studies. Setting the stage for face, makeup and costume, by social and historical studies, I find Miss Saigon disputes feature the issue of identity. Theoretical inquiries to analyze dramatic text and production in Yellow Face. Chapter 5-(2) From Humanity to Animality Makeup can be enforced to show not only national identity, but also can be extended to go across the boundary from humanity to animality; as Cats and The Lion King blurs the limitation between animal nature and human features to combine the two with makeup, costume, and headdresses. I argue that makeup breaks the liminal space to link from the real performers’ face to show the identity in Yellow Face and make the animals life alive and vivid in Cats by makeup and The Lion King by masks with theatricality. Makeup Cosmetic War in the Musical War Paint

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“They change the face of a nation” proclaimed and advertised by the poster of the musical War Paint (2016), which is about the cosmetics wars between the lives of and rivalry between twentieth-century female entrepreneurs Elizabeth Arden (real name: Florence Nightingale Graham, 1878–1966) and Helena Rubinstein (1872–1965). I argue that arousal by face and identity transformation can be epitomized by the Broadway musical War Paint in which the materiality of the cosmetics and colors are manifested. Chapter 5-(3) Arousal by Face and Identity Transformation in Global Asia: Japanese Performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On Japanese Director Koki Mitani’s comedy Jekyll & Hyde & So On (2018), staged in the National Theater in Taiwan, is an adaptation inspired by the Gothic Novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This Gothic Novella was written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. The novella was first published in 1886, with Stevenson’s debt to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Ben D. Fuller in the journal paper “The Anxiety of the Unforeseen in Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” indicates that “in the novella, there are 2 women – one sweet innocent high-class lady for Dr. Jekyll, and the other low-class woman for Mr. Hyde” (2016: 5). I compare this with the comic adaptation in the Japanese Director Mitani’s theatre work in which the only actress plays the two female roles (good and degenerated). Jekyll & Hyde & So On, this sensual performance, represented by bizarre yet hilarious performativity, drives arousal, motivating the audience members’ impulses and desires. I argue that face and identity transformation in the East Asian comedy performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On (which embodies the brains and spirits, good and evil human nature) switch back and forth and the desire is awaken by the magical sexual arousal. The important agendas in this chapter encompass: Miss Saigon disputes Yellow Face, makeup in Cats, masks in The Lion King, racial representation, and the dilemma between authentic vs. artistic. Broadway musical War Paint uses cosmetics, makeup, and colors to manifest the issues of face and rivalry. Asian performance Jekyll & Hyde & So On through face makeup and costumes to show face and identity transformation before and after sexual arousal. Human nature and performativity is the agenda in this chapter. Part II Asian American Play, Asian Theatre, and Musical Theater

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Chapter 6 Dance Tango and Sing for Revenge in Chicago and The Visit Women’s Revenge and Power in The Musicals This chapter explores women’s emancipation, revenge, power, romance, greed, America’s changing sexual mores, and the dark side of humanity expressed in Composer John Kander and Lyrist Fred Ebb’s collaborative musicals Chicago (2002, Miramax Motion Picture) and The Visit (2015, Lyceum Theater) in Broadway. The two musical cases are in comparison with the other related works, such as Evita, Angels in America, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, Cinderella, Spider Man, Burlesque, and Moulin Rouge. I argue the sexy Tango dance song “Cell Block Tango” in Chicago asking for not guilty, shows women’s revenge and power after committing homicide of the men who betray the women. While in The Visit, the music and rhythm in the song “I Would Never Leave You & One Legged Tango” are not like Argentina passionate Tango dance movement and skilled superb steps in the musical film Evita (1996). Part III TV Drama, Robot Theatre and AI Films Chapter 7 Theatre, Performance, and Popular Story of Yanxi Palace By the perspective of Performance Studies, (Post)Feminism and Popular Culture, this chapter uses the popular TV drama Story of Yanxi Palace (70 episodes, 2018) to explore Chinese Beijing opera and ritual dance. The TV drama adaptation is compared with history. In everyday lives, contemporary audiences like the female protagonist Wei, Yin-Luo’s unique candid character. The spectators’ viewing psychology reflects the populace’s mind under the career oppression in their real life. I argue that this fictional drama intertwined with real history theatricalizes the performance by post-feminist fighting reflected and interpreted in popular culture. Chapter 8 Taiwan Hakka Theatre: Roseki TV Drama In the Hakka Theater Roseki (2018), played by Hakka TV Station, Director and Playwright Lou, Yi-An uses the form of live stage performance “play-within-the-play.” Roseki Taipei Singer represents the lives and literature works of Lyuu, Heh-Ruo, recognized as “the first gifted scholar” in Taiwan in the 1940s during the Japanese colonialization. Director Lou adapts the short novels of Chang, Wen-Huan’s Capon and Lyuu, Heh-­ Ruo’s six novels into scripts in the total 14 episodes to present the narrative with theatricalization. Various stage designs cooperate with the tones of the literary works. Each of the main actors plays multiple roles to vividly play totally different roles with distinctive characters. This Hakka TV drama is accompanied with music piano, mixed with yueqin and singing.

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There are 29 songs, including Lied, art songs, Bel Canto, Taiwanese folk songs, NSO National Orchestra, matching with the plots, full of emotions. Camera shooting with diversity shots several settings; for example, the rotating stage on the proscenium stage indoors. I interpret theatre in retrospect history, accompanied with music, aided by the perspective of post-colonialism and Postcolonial Feminism on the signification of literature, politics, national identity, and women’s voice in Asian performance. Chapter 9 Robot Theatre and AI Films Robot Theatre This chapter mainly explore the two robot theatre performances Metamorphosis: Android Version and Three Sisters (Japan 2012) and the eleven AI films. AI Robot & Human Performances are collaborated by Japanese Playwright and Theater Director Oriza Hirata and Japanese Robotics Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro’s Android-Human robots. Both add the eye-­catching robots to play the characters and interact with the actors. The invention of geminoids robots simulates as real actors to response in the performance adapted from Franz Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis and Anton Chekhov’s play Three Sisters. The liveness to act between the interaction of human actors and geminoids robot is another intriguing issue to be investigated in the inter-disciplinary research of theatre performing art and technology. These Android-Human Theatre productions contain the theory of “Uncanny Valley” and the issues about how the cultural changes, and how the live performances having the robots to interact with humans on stage, the robots’ consciousness, and so on. AI Robots’ functions and development can be reflected in other robot theatre performances like Sayonara, including bringing comfort and company to people who are dying in the hospital or old and sick at home or lonely in the nuclear dangerous places, etc. With time change and technology progress, let’s see how the AI robotic era in the future changes our human mundane daily lives. AI Robot Films Will robots replace humans or threat humans’ lives? How about the issues of life ethics of robots and humans? All of people’s worries and fears about the invention and further development of advanced AI robots are presented and represented by the images in the Scientific AI robots films. This chapter also explore the eleven AI robots films—Artificial Intelligence. (2001), The Terminator (1984), The Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), The Terminator 6: Dark Fate (2019), Bicentennial Man (1999), The Stepford Wives (2004), Ex-Machina (2014), Cyborg She (2008), Her

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(2013), Simone (2002), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). They are all popular films and related to the theme on thinking about the differences between AI robots and humans. If AI robots can be advanced, then do Androids dream of electric sheep? We see the development of AI geminoid robots, and the cinematic imagination in the AI films about men’s falling in love with the computer sexy voice, people’s infatuation with the perfect woman’s simulation image. The technology echoes to AI holographic women’s images reflected in the AI robot films by taking the reference of Baudrillard’s theory of Simulacra and Post-Human theory in the future. Chapter 10 Conclusion With so much to say (at least 65,000 words in this monograph, including 64 photos in color), to be brief, I think that arousal by face and identity transformation can be epitomized by the cases above. Sex, face, race, and identity transformation switch back and forth and the desire is awakening by the magical sexual arousal in the performances and human interaction is triggered by Robot Theatre and AI Robot Films as well. In particular, publishing this monograph contributes to the areas of Western Literature, Chinese Literature, East Asian studies, Shakespearean research, studies on Broadway musical, Theatre Performance Studies, Film Studies, and theories of popular culture and visual culture. I humbly share with you what I think. Hope you like this monograph and enjoy reading it.

Future Research Plan My future research direction will continue to do theater and performance studies, Shakespearean research, musicals, and film studies. From Taiwan local area study, Intercultural Theater, Western Canon in Taiwan, Translocal Asian Performance and Film, I will do transnational performance and film studies. Due to the lockdown of COVID-19, many international conferences are cancelled or postponed. Originally my abstracts submitted to IFTR-Asian Theatre Working Group Symposium in Vietnam, IFTR in Galway, Ireland, and ATHE in Detroit in the U.S., and so on, thanks to the reviewers, have all been successfully accepted. Therefore, in the future, based on the accumulation of the previous research results and follow up to go deeper, I will continue to do the researches to share the beauty of literature, theater performing arts, and film studies with you, my dear readers. As Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet writes: My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

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My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.” (Act 2, scene 2, 146)

This year with COVID-19 is a special year. And this monograph is God’s best arrangement and a gift for you.

Works Cited Ang, Ien. 2009. Feminism Desire and Female Pleasure. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. de Certeau, Michel. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life, xi–xxiv. Berkeley: University of California Press. Fuller, Ben D. 2016. The Anxiety of the Unforseen in Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Inquiries Journal 8 (11): 1 Geraghty, Christine. 2009. Soap Opera and Utopia. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. McRobie, Angela. 1994. Postmodernism and Popular Culture. London/New York: Routledge. Shakespeare, William. 1973. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In The Riverside Shakespeare, 1055–1099. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Index1

A AI Films, 2, 3, 6, 167–195, 199, 203–205 The alienation effect, 43, 57, 126, 171 Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds, 3–4, 41–60, 199–201 Android-Human Theatre, 174–175, 204 Animality, 4, 86–87, 97, 109, 201–202 Aristotle, 41, 51, 57–60, 127, 142 Artificial Intelligence, 179, 180, 186, 204 Asian American Play, 2, 3, 201–203 Asian performance, 68, 70, 109, 164, 202, 204 Asian theatre, 3, 65, 69, 79, 98, 103, 201–203

B Barthes, Roland, 191 Baudrillard, Jean, 6, 133, 136–138, 186, 187, 193, 200, 205 Bicentennial Man, 179, 185, 186, 204 Blade Runner, 190, 193, 194 Blade Runner 2049, 179, 190, 193, 194, 205 Booth, Douglas, 23, 24, 26 Brecht, Bertolt, 43, 57, 119, 126, 171 C Cabaret, 118–120, 124, 126, 128, 203 Carlei, Carlo, 10, 14, 23–26, 34, 200 Carnival, 19

 Note: Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes.

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Cats, 2, 4, 86–88, 96–102, 108, 110, 201, 202 CGI, 42, 47, 53, 56, 59, 60, 61n4, 66, 74, 78, 201 Chicago, 2, 5, 113–129, 199, 203 Cinematography, 19, 52, 66, 76–78 The Classic of Mountains and Seas, 4, 65–80, 201 Colonialization, 5, 6, 149, 151, 152, 160, 161, 203 Cultural interpretation, 66, 78 Cyborg She, 179, 190, 204 D Dance, 2, 5, 6, 29, 32, 34n3, 98, 113–129, 133, 134, 139–141, 147, 154, 163, 199, 203 Danes, Claire, 10, 14, 20, 22, 26 DiCaprio, Leonardo, 10, 14, 20, 21, 23, 26 E Ebb, Fred, 5, 113–115, 119–124, 126–128, 129n1, 129n3, 203 Electric Sheep, 190, 205 Elizabeth Arden, 100, 101, 202 Epic Theatre, 57 Eunuch, 5, 115, 117 Ex-Machina, 179, 187, 189, 204 F Face, 2, 4–5, 53–55, 61n6, 73, 85–110, 119, 162, 171, 195n7, 199, 201–202, 205 Feminism, 2, 5, 9, 133, 143, 144, 150, 157–158 Femmes fatales, 5, 118

Film studies, 1–3, 10, 42, 54–55, 66, 78, 79, 199, 205 Ford, Harrison, 190, 194 G Gao Xingjian, 4, 65, 67, 70–72 Geminoids, 172–179, 204, 205 Gosling, Ryan, 190, 193, 194 H Habitus, 3, 4, 47, 48, 52, 59 Hakka Theatre, 2, 5, 149–164, 199, 203–204 Her, 179, 190, 191, 204 Heteroglossia, 56–57 Hirata, Oriza, 2, 167, 174–176, 204 Holographic simulacra, 193–194 Holography, 191, 193 Humannoid, 168–169 Hwang, David Henry, 87–92, 95, 96, 102 Hybridities, 70, 151 Hyper-reality, 10, 17–23 I Identity, 2, 4–6, 43, 44, 61n3, 79, 85–110, 114, 126, 141, 149–151, 154, 159, 160, 201–202, 204, 205 Impact, 3, 16, 17, 22, 35n6, 158 Interdisciplinary, 1, 34, 69, 200 J Jekyll & Hyde & So On, 2, 4, 5, 86, 88, 102, 104–110, 201, 202

 INDEX 

K Kander, John, 5, 113–115, 119–123, 126, 128, 129n1, 129n3, 203 Kidman, Nicole, 187, 188 Kim Yong-hwa, 44, 45

N National Identity, 6, 43, 44, 86, 149–151, 154, 159, 160, 201, 204 Nobel Prize, 4, 65, 67, 70

L La Métamorphose version Androïde, 167 Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 2, 4, 65–80, 199, 201 The Lion King, 2, 4, 86, 87, 96–102, 108, 110, 201, 202 Literature, 1, 4, 6, 10–11, 27–28, 43, 67, 70–71, 74, 80, 149–156, 163, 164, 199, 200, 203–205 Love Story, 3, 10, 14, 26–31, 34, 200 Luhrmann, Baz, 3, 10, 14, 17–23, 26, 200 Lyuu, Heh-Ruo, 6, 149–158, 160–163, 203

O Obie, 89, 90

M The male gaze, 22, 28, 106 Metamorphosis: Android Version, 167, 169–171, 204 Milieu, 23, 25, 26, 99, 101, 113, 126 Mise-en-scène, 29, 168, 176 Miss Saigon, 2, 86–88, 90, 91, 102, 108, 110, 201, 202 The Monkey King: Kingdom of Women, 2, 4, 65–80, 201 Musical theater, 68–70, 120, 127, 199 Myth, 2, 4, 42, 45, 65–80, 139, 140, 147, 199, 201

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P Performance Studies, 1–3, 5, 10, 43, 66, 69, 78, 86, 133, 138, 140–141, 163, 164, 168, 199, 201, 203, 205 Poetic justice, 57, 200 Poetics, 51, 58, 127, 142 Pop music, 3, 9–34, 199, 200 Popular Culture, 2–6, 9–34, 45, 79, 133–136, 141–144, 146–148, 182, 199, 200, 203, 205 Popular songs, 22 Post-Feminism, 5, 144–146, 199, 203 Posthuman, 4, 86 R Race, 4–5, 14–15, 28, 32, 49, 58, 85–110, 117, 140, 157, 160, 199, 201–202, 205 Ready Player One, 58 Replicant, 190, 193–195 Representation, 13–27, 55, 60, 78, 86, 98, 110, 168, 186, 202 Rivera, Chita, 114, 115, 117, 119, 126–129

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Robot Theatre, 2, 110, 167–195, 199, 203–205 Romeo and Juliet, 2, 3, 9–34, 199, 200, 205 Roseki, 2, 5, 6, 149–164, 199, 203–204 Rubinstein, Helena, 100, 101, 202 S Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 181–184, 186 Scott, Ridley, 190, 194 SEINENDAN, 167 Sexual arousal, 105–107, 110, 202, 205 Shakespeare, William, 1–3, 9–34, 34–35n3, 36n6, 70, 97, 169, 195, 199, 200, 205 Shakespearean Research, 2, 3, 13, 33, 200, 205 Simone, 179, 191–193, 205 Simulacra, 6, 13–26, 136, 137, 186–190, 193–194 Simulations, 6, 60, 140, 186, 187, 195, 205 Soap opera, 5–6, 134, 137 Sondheim, Stephen Joshua, 14, 15, 29, 113, 126 Spectacle, 2–4, 10, 17–23, 26, 41–60, 65, 66, 68, 78–80, 125, 129, 199–201 Steinfeld, Hailee, 23, 24, 26 The Stepford Wives, 179, 187, 188, 204 Story of Yanxi Palace, 2, 5, 6, 133–148, 199, 203 Swift, Taylor, 3, 10, 14, 26–31, 34, 200 T Tango, 2, 5, 113–129, 199, 203 Taymor, Julie, 3, 17, 87, 96–98

The Terminator, 180–182, 204 The Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 182, 183, 186, 204 The Terminator 6: Dark Fate, 179, 182, 184, 186, 204 Theatrical representation, 200 Theatricalization, 149, 203 Theory of Uncanny Valley, 6, 173–174 Three Sisters, 168, 175–177, 204 Three Sisters, Android Version, 167, 196n12 Turing Test, 187 TV drama, 1–6, 13, 85, 133–141, 143–147, 149–153, 155, 156, 158, 159, 162–164, 199, 200, 203–205 U Utopia, 5, 133, 135, 136, 142, 200 V Villeneuve, Denis, 194 The Visit, 2, 5, 113–129, 199, 203 Visual Culture, 1–6, 43, 79, 87, 97, 199, 200, 205 W War Paint, 2, 96–102, 110, 202 Weimar Republic, 119, 120 Y Yellow Face, 2, 4, 86–96, 110, 201, 202 Z Zelwegger, Renee, 123 Zeta-Jones, Catherine, 114, 123