BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Video Vices and Terminal Futures - Dr Julia Keblinska (University 
 of Cambridge)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251202T170000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251202T183000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/4e28dc88-03cf-4ed3-b54e-3995f8bba920/
DESCRIPTION:This talk explores the emergence of the video format and the e
 mergence of new\, sensationalist cinematic genres\, as they interact with 
 the mediated spaces of urban cinema in late 1980s and 1990s China. While c
 inema in the first half of the 1980s dealt with competition from televisio
 n\, a relatively regulated medium\, urban China at the turn of the decade 
 became the proving ground for the more undisciplined medium of the videoca
 ssette. Instead of entertaining consumers at home\, video was a semi-theat
 rical medium consumed in urban institutions known as video halls that beca
 me ubiquitous in the late 1980s and remained essential fixtures of urban l
 ife into the next decade. Video halls were seedy\, semi-legal spaces in wh
 ich mostly men watched mostly pulpy genres. Video content was often pirate
 d: poorly copied\, consumed and circulated with little regard for elite li
 terary and cinematic taste. A late 80s explosion of violent and sexually s
 uggestive video titles threatened the economic bottom line of Chinese cine
 ma by tantalizing audiences with material that could not be shown in Chine
 se theatres. In response to audiovisual competition\, the Chinese film ind
 ustry indulged in remarkably (sexually) violent production. In this analys
 is of several significant late 80s films\, The Last Frenzy (1987)\, The Pr
 ice of Frenzy (1988)\, Samsara (1988)\, and The Yellow Specter of the Nigh
 t (1989)\, Dr Keblinska shows how video and illicit genres were both patho
 logized and embraced to theorize a new embodied and anxious mode of specta
 torship. The shocking exploits of video exploded onto the big screen just 
 as the economic violence of the decade was about to come to a head in poli
 tical upheaval. In turning to the culturally low and inhabiting the urban 
 media margins\, cinema evinced a dark turn in Chinese (media) history\, fa
 iling to live up to the ideals of economic reform and repeatedly gesturing
  to social collapse. How do we understand this 'end of cinema' when we rea
 d it against the violent materiality of the video encounter?\n\nContent no
 te: The talk concerns films that feature sexual assault and strong violenc
 e. Images of characters in psychological and physical distress will be use
 d to advance theoretical arguments about the relationship between video an
 d body genres.\n\nDr Julia Keblinska is Assistant Professor of Asian Film 
 and Media in Film & Screen Studies\, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Langua
 ges and Linguistics\, University of Cambridge. She received her PhD from t
 he Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures\, University of Califor
 nia\, Berkeley and has previously worked at the Ohio State University.\nSp
 eakers:\nDr Julia Keblinska (University of Cambridge)
LOCATION:Dickson Poon Building (Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground
  floor))\, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/4e28dc88-03cf-4ed3-b54e-3995f8bba920/
BEGIN:VALARM
ACTION:display
DESCRIPTION:Talk:Video Vices and Terminal Futures - Dr Julia Keblinska (Un
 iversity of Cambridge)
TRIGGER:-PT1H
END:VALARM
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR