SCREEN HISTORIES &
HISTORIOGRAPHY


 

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
2002 / 2003, SEMESTER ONE


EN 5219 / 6219 SCREEN HISTORIES & HISTORIOGRAPHY
THE HISTORY OF SINGAPOREAN CINEMA

Dr Timothy R. White
AS 5 #03-7
6874-3936

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

 

*      Be sure to read Bordwell’s “History, Historiography, and Film History” for 19 September.

*      Be prepared to sign up for presentation topics and dates on 19 September.

 

NEW STUFF!!!

 

*      Updated Module Outline

*      Essay and Presentation Instructions

*      Instructions for Constructing the Essay

*      Reeling Into the 50’s (Outline of my Nus Museum lecture)

*      In Search of the Authentic

*      P. Ramlee’s Cinema of the Kampong

*      The Cinema of Southeast Asia: Malaysia & Singapore

*      Historical Poetics, Malaysian Cinema, and the Japanese Occupation

*      Exactly the Same But Completely Different: Product Differentiation in the Singaporean Films of Shaw Brothers’ Malay Film Productions and Cathay-Keris

*      Pontianaks and the Issue of Verisimilitude in Singaporean Cinema

 

DESCRIPTION OF COURSE

    This course is designed to explore not only the history of Singaporean cinema, but also the ways in which this history has been conceptualised and presented by historians, the popular press and the political bodies.  We will look at the films themselves, but also the institutions surrounding the film industry (critics, censors, companies, etc).

 

REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE

    Students will be required to write one research essay dealing with some aspect of Singaporean film history; the results of this research will be presented in the seminar.  More details will be forthcoming on this.  There will be a final exam covering the entire course.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

 

Bordwell, David.  “History, Historiography, and Film History.”  Film History: An Introduction.  New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994.

Matsuoka Kanda Tamaki.  "Ramlee and the Masses."  New Horizon of Creation and Discovery (program of the Southeast Asian Film Festival 1992).  Tokyo: The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center, 1992.

Uhde, Jan and Yvonne Ng Uhde.  Latent Images: Film in Singapore.  Singapore: Oxford University Press, 2000.

White, Timothy R.  "When Singapore was Southeast Asia's Hollywood," The Arts 5 (December 1997): 21-24.

Wong, Audrey.  "Considering the 'Singapore Film'."  The Arts 7 (February 1999): 12-15.

 

RECOMMENDED TEXTS:

 

Abdullah Hussain.  Gagak Di-Rimba.  Kuala Lumpur: Penerbitan Angakatan Baru, 1966.

Araki Keiko.  "In Search of Undiscovered Visual Expression."  New Horizon of Creation and Discovery (program of the Southeast Asian Film Festival 1992).  Tokyo: The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center, 1992.

Armes, Roy.  Third World Film Making and the West.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

Buck, Elizabeth.  "Asia and the Global Film Industry."  East-West Film Journal 6, 2:116-33.

Cheah, Philip.  "Life in the Lion City."  Cinemaya 17/18 (Autumn-Winter 1992-93): 32-33.

__________.  "Singapore Rediscovered."   Program of the 10th Singapore International Film Festival, 31.

__________.  "Young Singapore Filmmakers."  New Horizon of Creation and Discovery (program of the Southeast Asian Film Festival 1992).  Tokyo: The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center, 1992.

Cintai Filem Malaysia/Love Malaysian Films.  Selangor Darul Ehsan: Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia, 1989.  

Dissanayake, Wimal.  "Cinema, Nation, and Culture in Southeast Asia: Framing a Relationship."  East-West Film Journal 6, 2:1-22.

Gabriel, Teshome H.  Third Cinema in the Third World: The Aesthetics of Liberation.  Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982.

Ishizaka Kenji and Hoshino Tatsuo.  "What is Happening Today in Southeast Asian Cinema."  New Horizon of Creation and Discovery (program of the Southeast Asian Film Festival 1992).  Tokyo: The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center, 1992.

Jamil Sulong.  Kaca Pertama: Memoir Seorang Pengarah.  Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kementerian Pendidikan, 1990.

Keshvani, Nazir.  "Liang Po Po: The Movie (review)."  Cinemaya 44 (1999): 31-32.

Lent, John A.  "The Motion Picture in Malaysia: History and Problems."  Asian Profile 4, 3 (June 1976): 261-70.

__________.   The Asian Film Industry.  Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.

__________.  "Historical Overview of Southeast Asian Film, Pt. 1."  Media Asia 18, 2 (1991): 98-102.

__________.  "Historical Overview of Southeast Asian Film, Pt. 2."  Media Asia 18, 3 (1991): 152-59, 163.

Lim Kay Tong.  Cathay: 55 Years of Cinema.  Singapore: Landmark Books Pte. Ltd., 1991.

Moraes, Dom.  "The film stars' chauffeur who became a movie mogul."  The Asia Magazine, 30 April 1972.

Ohba Masatoshi.  "The Preservation of Films in Southeast Asia."  New Horizon of Creation and Discovery (program of the Southeast Asian Film Festival 1992).  Tokyo: The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center, 1992.

Pines, Jim and Paul Willeman, eds.  Questions of Third Cinema.  London: British Film Institute Publishing, 1989.

Roff, William R.  "Colonies, Communism and Clara Bow."  Journal of the Historical Society of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur 1, 1 (1960): 57-59.

Stevenson, Rex.  "Cinemas and Censorship in Colonial Malaya."  Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, September 1974, 209-44.

Tseng, Douglas M.  "The Teenage Textbook Movie: The Interview" (interview with Phillip Lim).  Big O 156 (December 1998): 41, 43, 45.

Wan, Rebecca.  "The Teenage Textbook Movie" (review).  Big O 156 (December 1998): 43.

"When the Pavilion Used to be Called the Palladium...."  Straits Times (Singapore), 24 February 1993.

________.  "'You've Created This Lousy Arthouse Film!'."  The Arts 7 (February 1999): 16-17.

Zakiah Hanum (ed).  Sepanjang Riwayatku.  Np: Utusan Publications & Distributors Sdn. Bhd, 1984.

Send comments to: elltrw@nus.edu.sg