Nuclear disasters and invisible spectacles

Asian Cinema ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Radioactive Contamination ◽  
Large Dose ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Japanese Cinema ◽  
The One

The violence of nuclear catastrophe is fundamentally contradictory. On the one hand, when caused by nuclear weapons, it is highly visible and often spectacular. As is the case with exposure to a large dose of radiation, the consequence of this violence can be instantaneous, too. On the other hand, odourless and invisible, radiation is beyond direct human perception. Furthermore, the deadly effect of radiation often manifests itself gradually over many years or even decades. This paradox of nuclear violence on human lives and the environment, which is simultaneously hypervisible and invisible, poses a particular challenge to film and other types of visual media. In this article, I examine how Japanese cinema has long been struggling with the complex and contradictory relationship between the nuclear question and visual culture. Many Japanese filmmakers, including well-known auteurs like Kurosawa Akira and those who specialize in popular genre movies such as tokusatsu eiga (‘special effects movies’), have tried to overcome the challenge of representing the invisibility of nuclear violence and radioactive contamination of the environment. I discuss how popular Japanese cinema has experimented with various formal and stylistic means to make the invisibility of nuclear violence perceptible or imaginable.

Bodily Adornment and Modification in Byzantium

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-116
Author(s):  
Alicia Walker
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Byzantine Church ◽  
The One ◽  
And Control

Focusing on Early and Middle Byzantine (fourth-to-twelfth-century) objects, images, and texts, this essay explores the tension between, on the one hand, efforts of the Byzantine church and state to discourage and control bodily adornment and modification and, on the other hand, the extensive evidence of widespread and immoderate engagement with these practices. The enhancement and manipulation of Byzantine bodies is considered as both a real and a metaphoric phenomenon. Evidence culled from secular and sacred, written and material sources demonstrates the importance of bodily adornment and modification to our understanding of Byzantine material and visual culture.

scholarly journals ¿Es el cine japonés un cine nacional?

STUDIUM ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 245-272
Author(s):  
Marcos Centeno Martín
Keyword(s):  
Film Theory ◽  
Film History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
National Cinema ◽  
The West ◽  
Japanese Cinema ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The One ◽  
Film Language

Resumen La construcción del cine japonés como cine nacional ha partido a menudo de una visión esencialista que ha ignorado la dimensión transnacional de esta filmografía. Por un lado, el descubrimiento occidental de ciertos autores japoneses en los años cincuenta condujo a la articulación del paradigma del cine nacional japonés a partir de películas dirigidas a asombrar al público europeo con imágenes exóticas de Japón. Los grandes maestros, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi y Ozu fueron escogidos como representantes de una supuesta japonesidad cinematográfica ignorando el peso de Occidente en sus obras. Por otro lado, el estudio de este corpus tradicionalmente ha evolucionado con herramientas teóricas desarrolladas en Occidente y necesita renovarse con conceptos de la tradición cultural, estética y filosófica propia. Pero además, es necesario evaluar cómo se implementaron los elementos del lenguaje fílmico en Japón para entender su relativismo respecto a la historia general del cine. Sus usos y formas no siempre han coincidido con los desarrollos occidentales, de forma que conceptos fílmicos occidentales no han tenido exactamente el mismo significado en el contexto japonés. Palabras clave: cine japonés, cine nacional, transnacionalidad teoría fílmica, cine de postguerra   Abstract The construction of Japanese cinema as a national cinema has often drawn on a essentialist vision neglecting the transnational nature of this filmography. On the one hand, the Western discovery of certain Japanese authors in the fifties triggered the articulation of the paradigm of the Japanese “national cinema” from films aiming to astonish European audiences with exotic images of Japan. The great masters, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and Ozu, were chosen as main representatives of the apparent cinematographic japaneseness neglecting the weight of the West on their works. On the other hand, the study of this corpus has been traditionally evolved with theoretical tools developed in the West and need a renewal with concepts taken from Japanese philosophical, aesthetic and cultural tradition. Moreover, it is necessary to assess how the film language elements were implemented in Japan in order to understand its relativism regarding the general film history. Their usages and forms were not always equivalent to those in the West and as a consequence, Western concepts ended up having different meanings in the Japanese context. Key words: Japanese cinema, national cinema, transnationality, film theory, postwar cinema

The Normative Power of Images: Religion, Gender, Visuality

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Knauss ◽  
Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
The Common ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The One

In this introductory article to the special issue of Religion and Gender on gender, normativity and visuality, we establish the theoretical framework to discuss the influence of visual culture on gender norms. This introduction also provides a reflection on how these norms are communicated, reaffirmed and contested in religious contexts. We introduce the notion of visuality as individual and collective signifying practices, with a particular focus on how this regards gender norms. Two main ways in which religion, gender and normativity are negotiated in visual meaning making processes are outlined: on the one hand, the religious legitimation of gender norms and their communication and confirmation through visual material, and on the other hand, the challenge of these norms through the participation in visual culture by means of seeing and creating. These introductory reflections highlight the common concerns of the articles collected in this issue: the connection between the visualisation of gender roles within religious traditions and the influence of religious gender norms in other fields of (visual) culture.

scholarly journals Redesign Corporate Identity Sebagai Peningkatan Image Perusahaan Studi Kasus PT. Finansia Multi Finance

CICES ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-187
Author(s):  
Ari Saputra ◽  
Ade Kosasih ◽  
Deden Bagja Sudrajat
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Identity ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Similar Type ◽  
The Other ◽  
Support Program ◽  
Business World ◽  
Promotional Campaign ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Company

The era of globalization brings two effects, on the one hand can increase the opportunities in the field of employment, on the other side of the business world increasingly keen competition and tight. Therefore, it needs the right strategy for success in the business world. In marketing the product until now the company has been using various forms of media support facilities include: media banners, xbanner, brochures, stickers products and supported other visual media used by the company. But the company realized that a competitor with a similar type of business more and more, and also continues to grow. The problems increase with the identity of the old logo is not in accordance with the vision and mission as well as management targets. From the condition the company calls for the renewal of the corporate identity to build the image and identity is formed through the overall appearance of design in any media promotional campaign as a support program in order to further enhance the attractiveness to prospective customers. Analysis of problems derived from interviews with Branch Operation Manager PT. Finansia Multi Finance relating to the design of corporite identity redesign. The end result of this research is the manufacture of Graphic Standards Manual that is intended for the manufacture of the logo as a corporate identity of a company systematically arranged, and there is no error of perception / view in the application of the logo on any existing media include media banners, xbanner, brochures, stickers products and supported other visual media used by the company. With the redesign of the design coorporite identity at PT. Finansia Multi Finance, is expected to reinforce the existence and increase consumer purchasing power against PT. Finansia Multi Finance itself.

scholarly journals Kaplice grobowe a współczesna kultura wizualne

Artifex Novus ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 80-97
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Gutowski
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Transcendent Experience ◽  
The One ◽  
Formal Solutions

Można wskazać wiele czynników determinujących formy grobowców wznoszonych na cmentarzach w drugiej połowie XX w. Po pierwsze, jest to specyfika miejsca silnie nacechowanego religijnym i duchowym kontekstem a zarazem świeckimi wpływami i ideami.  Po drugie, są nimi kulturowe i – dość często – historyczne uwarunkowania. W przypadku kaplic grobowych dominującą tendencją jest neomodernizm. Charakterystyczne jest poszukiwanie wzajemnych relacji pomiędzy przestrzenią, światłem, materiałem – współoddziaływania kształtów i symboliki, sprzyjającego indywidualnej kontemplacji. Wyraźnie czytelne jest dążenie do dematerializacji i podwójnego kodowania. Z jednej strony, zewnętrzny, fizyczny blok; z drugiej – jego wnętrze nakierowane na pozazmysłowe doświadczenie. Otwarcie na czysto zmysłowe bodźce, które wzmacniają odczuwanie doświadczenia „innego”. Przywołane w artykule obiekty odznaczają się oryginalnością form i – w pewnym stopniu – różnorodnością materiałów. Jednakże, o ile formalne rozwiązania odbiegają od siebie nawzajem, o tyle w zasadzie zauważamy wspólne dążenie do kreowania form, które pomagają nadać doświadczeniu śmierci indywidualny charakter. Tomb-Chapel and Contemporary Visual Culture Undoubtedly, there are numerous factors determining the forms of located at cementeries tombs built in the second half of the 20th century. Firstly, it is the specificity of the place strongly affected by the religious and spiritual context but also by atheistic concepts. Secondly, we encounter cultural – and quite often – historical conditions. In the case of tombs, the dominant tendencies are close to neomodernism. What is characteristic is the search for the interplay of space, lighting, materials and reflections – the interplay fostering individual contemplation with its shape and symbolic. The striving for dematerialization and double-coding is very clear. On the one hand, an external, physical block; on the other hand – its interior directed towards the transcendent experience. Open to purely sensory stimuli which strengthen the feeling of experiencing “the other”. The mentioned examples are characterized by originality of the form and – to some extend – diversity of materials. Insofar as, however, the formal solutions considerably differ from each other, we principally observe the pursuit of creating forms that help individualize the experience of death.

scholarly journals Digital Technologies and Virtual Worlds: Is Mankind on the Threshold of New Art?

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-137
Author(s):  
Yelena Georgievna Yaremenko
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Artificial Environment ◽  
Virtual Element ◽  
The One

The digital special effects industry is constantly developing and searching new expressive means. The article explores the ambiguous relationship between virtual reality and cinema. The new milieu is an instrument of film creators, on the one hand, and the film's protagonist, on the other. Virtual space, artificial environment and digital technologies have become part of the "living" reality without our noticing it, and we are its virtual element. (Conclusion, for beginning see Issue # 3-4).

scholarly journals Magnitudes of Performativity

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-98
Author(s):  
Teemu Paavolainen
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Action ◽  
Model Based ◽  
George Lakoff ◽  
Twin Crises ◽  
The One

The article presents the Trump presidency and the human-derived geological epoch of the Anthropocene as two arguable extremes among current notions of ‘performativity’: (1) a traditionally vertical model based on individual action and antagonism – where ‘facts’ matter less than ‘making things great’; and (2) the more extended, horizontal human performance of things like global warming (“All the world’s a stage”). Drawing freely on George Lakoff and Timothy Morton, it is argued that these models differ fundamentally in ‘magnitude’: where the one is direct, singular, vertical, and fast, the other is systemic,plural, horizontal, and slow beyond human perception. With Judith Butler and Naomi Klein, it is also argued that to actually confront the twin crises at issue, we need to acknowledge the kind of ‘plural performativity’ – of repetition, norms, and dissimulation – that brought them into being in the first place.

scholarly journals Urakami Memory and the Two Popes: The Disrupting of an Abstracted Nuclear Discourse

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 950
Author(s):  
Gwyn McClelland
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
The Other ◽  
Initial Visit ◽  
World War ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

Since 1945, official Catholic discourse around nuclear weapons has condemned their existence on the one hand and supported them as deterrents on the other. This paper argues the largely abstracted discourse on nuclear weapons within the World Church has been disrupted by voices of Urakami in Nagasaki since at least 1981, as the Vatican has re-considered both memory and Catholic treatments of the bombing of this city since the end of World War II. On 9 August 1945, a plutonium A-bomb, nicknamed ‘Fat Man’, was detonated by the United States over the northern suburb of Nagasaki known as Urakami. Approximately 8500 Catholics were killed by the deployment of the bomb in this place that was once known as the Rome of the East. Many years on, two popes visited Nagasaki, the first in 1981 and the second in 2019. Throughout the period from John Paul II’s initial visit to Pope Francis’s visit in 2019, the Catholic Church’s official stance on nuclear weapons evolved significantly. Pope John Paul II’s contribution to the involvement in peace discourses of Catholics who had suffered the bombing attack in Nagasaki has been noted by scholars previously, but we should not assume influence in 1981 was unidirectional. Drawing upon interviews conducted in the Catholic community in Nagasaki between 2014 and 2019, and by reference to the two papal visits, this article re-evaluates the ongoing potentialities and concomitant weaknesses of religious discourse. Such discourses continue to exert an influence on international relations in the enduring atomic age.

Gods and Painters: Philostratus the Elder, Stoic Phantasia and the Strategy of Describing

Ramus ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 136-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Thein
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

I shall comment upon the way the elder Philostratus, author of Imagines, inscribes both the art of painting and his own interpretation of 65 particular paintings within a larger framework, which is composed of nature on the one hand, and the human perception of nature on the other. To get to this framework in a slightly oblique way, I will start with a brief reminder of Philostratus' often neglected classification of the arts.In his Life of Apollonius of Tyana 8.7, Philostratus takes notice of the established opposition between the mechanic and the liberal arts (τέχναι βάναυσοι and τέχναι σοϕαί), but then proceeds to further divide the liberal arts into three groups: some are simply σοϕαί (poetry, music, astronomy, the art of sophist and orator); others are only seemingly liberal, ψευδόσοϕοι (the art of wizards or jugglers); between these two groups are situated the ‘less liberal arts’ or ὑπόσοϕοι τέχναι, namely painting, plastic art, sculpture, navigation and agriculture.

Wars of National Liberation II

Worldview ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
Robert A. Gessert
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Sufficient Reason ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Free World ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

It is sometimes suggested that nuclear weapons technology has made the world safe for “wars of national liberation.” I don't happen to accept this proposition, but I do acknowledge that “wars of national liberation” are a prominent part of both the declaratory and action policies of the Communist world. The free world does not have the option of declining to respond to such wars. This is sufficient reason for attempts to assay the ethical issues they raise.Wars of liberation have been called “political wars.” I assume two different things are intended by this: on the one hand, that they have a larger political component than other wars in that they do emphasize or circumvent some of the more typical military missions such as seizing and holding territory; on the other hand, as compared with nuclear war, they seem more nearly to be. compatible with Clausewitx's dictum that war is a continuation of policy. There are difficulties with both notions, but I do acknowledge that wars of liberation are intimately related to the political purposes of their sponsors and that they do generally employ means aimed directly at political power and try to postpone or avoid military engagements as the determinants of their outcome.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document