Kusanagi pres 06

　　　　　　Cinema: 

　　　　　　Cinema A5KM1040 Azusa　Kusanagi Multi-Cultural Societies

Contents: 

Contents Introduction The Meaning of 'Cinema' Stuart Hall’s communication theory Case Analysis: Shall We Dance? Conclusion Reference

Introduction: 

Introduction Audience exists? Have you ever interpret a movie? Have you ever guessed the meaning of message that the director tries to send? If so, do you think you’ve received a message directly from the text? You might feel this is a sort of silly questions, because you probably think the most of audiences do not share the same value with the director. However, there is a fact that there were so many researchers, who believed 'the communication was like a one way traffic (senders to receivers) until 1960s.

Introduction (continuance): 

Introduction (continuance) Now is different. One of the impressive theories of Stuart Hall, 'Encoding／Decoding model' changed the perspective of the media studies. In this project, I talked about Hall’s theory and showed a case analysis, which is a Hollywood movie called, 'Shall We Dance?,' a remake of Japanese movie of the same name. I hope you’ll enjoy!!

What is Cinema?: 

What is Cinema? '1. the skill, industry, or art of making movies 2. a building in which movies are shown' Longman Advanced American Dictionary The word, 'cinéma' is a French term, which is originated in a Greek term, 'kinein (motion)'. As soon as Lumière Brothers succeeded in creating a cinematograph, the term, 'cinema' directly indicates 'movie,' 'film,' or 'industry' such like present days. The concept of cinema cannot be confirmed by single definition or meaning, because it has been transformed its meaning by time, by space, by culture.

What is Cinema? (continuance): 

What is Cinema? (continuance) For example, there is a little difference of meaning between the term, 'cinema' and 'movie' in the U.S. the term, 'cinema' generally implies a work of art. On the other hand, the term, 'movie' implies a work of entertainment. If I tempt to define the concept, I would say that 'cinema' is the art of recording images with or without sound.

Stuart Hall’s communication theory: 

Stuart Hall’s communication theory The sociologist Stuart Hall proposed a model of mass communication which emphasizes the active interpretation within relevant codes in his essay, ‘Encoding and Decoding in Television Disourse’(1973).

Stuart Hall’s communication theory (continuance): 

Stuart Hall’s communication theory (continuance) Hall criticizes the mechanical relationship between sender and receiver of a massage　that is often proposed by behaviorists. The message of mass media is not transmitted directly from a sender to a receiver which means there are some kinds of intervention of codes when the message is made or is received. Therefore, the message of mass media should be ambiguous. He also claims that message sender is placed the dominant- hegemonic position and dominant reading is encoded in advance. Hall also mentions that the receiver's decoding process is influenced by many factors such as age, occupation, academic background, social class, and ethnicity.

Stuart Hall’s communication theory (continuance): 

Stuart Hall’s communication theory (continuance) programme as ‘meaningful discourse’ Encoding Decoding meaning structure 1 meaning structure 2 frameworks frameworks of knowledge of knowledge relation of relation of production production technical technical infrastructure infrastructure

　　　　Case analysis : Shall We Dance?: 

　　　　Case analysis : Shall We Dance?

Case analysis : Shall We Dance?: 

Case analysis : Shall We Dance? Shall We Dance?,'directed by Peter Chelsom is the Hollywood remake of Japanese hit movie, Shall We ダンス directed by Masayuki Suo. The story is very similar to the original, but at the point of the stage direction, the remake is much more emphasizing the concept of 'Romance.'

What do you think about Jennifer Lopez in Shall We Dance?: 

What do you think about Jennifer Lopez in Shall We Dance?

Encoding/Decoding model in Shall We Dance?: 

Encoding/Decoding model in Shall We Dance? Encoding: The director, Peter Chelsom talked about Jennifer Lopez in the audio commentary. He insists that 'Jeniffer’s concentration of memorizing the dancing steps and plot is much better than ordinary actors.' He also says, 'Lopez has various face as a actress.' From his comment, it is possible to know that Chelsom encodes Lopez’s high ability of acting andamp; dancing, and her various acting style.

Encoding / Decoding in Shall We Dance?: 

Encoding / Decoding in Shall We Dance? Decoding: I picked up total 80 reviews of the movie from yahoo.com and eigaseikatu.com. 40 public reviews are written in English from Yahoo! Movies, and the other 40 are in Japanese from Eigaseikatu(映画生活）. From the reviews, I extracted the code, 'Jennifer Lopez (or J.Lo),' and 'her acting.' The number of reviews that are mentioning general image of 'Jennifer Lopez,' is the total 30 out of 80 (19 reviews from Yahoo! and　11 reviews from Eigaseikatu) . The number of reviews that are mentioning 'her acting' is the total 17 out of 80 (15 reviews from Yahoo! and 3 reviews from Eigaseikatu.)

Encoding / Decoding in Shall We Dance?: 

Encoding / Decoding in Shall We Dance? Decoding (continuance) Now I’d like to show some comments of public reviewers below. You can see the similarities or differences between the director’s expectation and audience’s interpretation. From Yahoo (English Speaker) Jennifer Lopez’ supporting performance, more than makes up of recent flops. She was perfect. Lopez really did a good job this time and we all should give her some respect. we all are human and we all will make mistakes so do Lopez. but we should give her a chance… the way that jenifer lopez act is so bad! and everybody knows that she has only a very samll play in that movie. She is not important. And is to old, she does not looll young any more. it’s obvious that Lopez never learned ballroom dancing.

Encoding / Decoding in Shall We Dance?: 

Encoding / Decoding in Shall We Dance? Decoding (continuance) From Eigaseikatu (Japanese Speaker) 家庭も幸せで、でも何か物足りない・自分も知らない内に秘めた情熱がダンスによって発露する！と言うところはリチャードギアとジェニファーロペスの演技によってとても魅力的に映りました。 リチャード・ギアはカッコ良かったし、ジェニファー・ロペスも十分綺麗でした。 ロペスさんだと生命力がありすぎて、傷心してるようにも儚げにもあまり見えないのが残念なところだったでしょうか。 ここは特に日本版と比較しジェニファーのたくましさにちと引き加減になっちゃいました。 ジェニロペって余り興味が無かったのですが、この映画を見て「何てチャーミングなの！」と一気にファンになってしまいました。

Examination: 

Examination You may now see the similarities and differences between the director’s expectation and audience’s interpretation. There are also differences in the point of interpretation of ' Jennifer Lopez' or 'Lopez’ acting' between the audiences of English speakers and the one of Japanese speakers. - For example, the audience of English speakers are mostly mentioning about the 'talent,' 'ability of acting andamp; dancing,' or 'the scandal' of Jennifer Lopez. On the other hand, the one of Japanese are mostly mentioning about the her 'prettiness' and 'image.'

Conclusion: 

Conclusion In this project, I tried to demonstrate the Hall’s encoding/decoding model by using the public reviews on the internet. However, I would say this method is not the best way to collect the reliable data. Because of the characteristic of internet, anonymousness, it is difficult to know the characteristics of subjects (social class, race, ethnicity, age, gender etc…). Although, the methodology was not very sufficient, I could, at least, demonstrate the receivers do not always depend on the sender’s messages. Messages are mostly intervened by some various factors.

Reference: 

Reference Danesi, M. (2002). Understanding Media Semiotics. London: Arnold. Hall, S. (1980). 'Encoding/Decoding.' Hall, S. ed.　Culture, media, language : working papers in cultural studies, 1972-79 . London: Hutchinson. Hall, S. (1993). 'Encoding, Decoding.' During. S. ed. The Cultural Studies Reader. New York: Routledge. McQuail, D. (2000). Mass Communication Theory 4th edtion. London: Sage. イアン・アング．山口誠訳．「経験的オーディエンス研究の政治性について」．吉見俊哉編．『メディア・スタディーズ』．せりか書房．　2000年． 斉藤綾子．「民族・文化・国家　解説」．岩本憲児他編．『新映画理論集成①－歴史/人種/ジェンダー』．フィルムアート社．1998年． デビッド・モーレー．成美弘至訳.「テレビジョン、オーディエンス、カルチュラル・スタディーズ」．吉見俊哉編．『メディア・スタディーズ』．せりか書房．　2000年． 吉見俊哉．『カルチュラル・ターン、文化の政治学へ』．人文書院．2003年． URL Yahoo! Movies: http://movies.yahoo.com/ (latest access: January 31 2006) 映画生活： http://www.eigaseikatu.com/ (latest access: January 31 2006)

Slide20: 

Shall We Dance? 　　　　End