Buddhism and American Cinema

Description

In 1989, the same year the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a decade-long boom of films dedicated to Buddhist people, history, and culture began. Offering the first scholarly treatment of Buddhism and cinema, the editors advise that there are two kinds of Buddhist film: those that are about Buddhists and those that are not. Focusing on contemporary American offerings, the contributors extend a two-pronged approach, discussing how Buddhism has been captured by directors and presenting Buddhist-oriented critiques of the worlds represented in films that would seem to have no connection with Buddhism. Films discussed range from those set in Tibet, such as Kundun and Lost Horizon, to those set well outside of any Buddhist milieu, such as Groundhog Day and The Matrix. The contributors explain the Buddhist theoretical concepts that emerge in these works, including karma, the bardo, and reincarnation, and consider them in relation to interpretive strategies that include feminism, postcolonialism, and contemplative psychological approaches.
Foreword
Danny Rubin

Acknowledgments

A Tribute to Gary Storhoff
Charles Johnson

Introduction: Some (Hollywood) Versions of Enlightenment
John Whalen-Bridge

Part I. Representation and Intention

1. Buddhism and Authenticity in Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth
Hanh Ngoc Nguyen and R. C. Lutz

2. Buddhism, Children, and the Childlike in American Buddhist Films
Eve Mullen

3. Consuming Tibet: Imperial Romance and the Wretched of the Holy Plateau
Jiayan Mi and Jason C. Toncic

4. Politics into Aesthetics: Cultural Tranlsation in Kundan, Seven Years in Tibet, and The Cup
Felicia Chan

Part II. Allegories of Shadow and Light

5. Momentarily Lost: Finding the Moment in Lost in Translation
Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki

6. Dying to Be Free: The Emergence of “American Militant Buddhism” in Popular Culture
Richard C. Anderson and David A. Harper

7. Buddhism, Our Desperation, and American Cinema
Karsten J. Struhl

8. Christian Allegory, Buddhism, and Bardo in Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko
Devin Harner

9. “Beautiful Necessities”: American Beauty and the Idea of Freedom
David L. Smith

Afterword: On Being Luminous
Gary Gach

Bibliography
Filmography
About the Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Película fotográfica
• Buddhism
• Visual culture
• History of film
• Electronic
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 31 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438453514
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 24 Mo

Extrait

BUDDHISM AND AMERICAN CINEMA
SUNY series in Buddhism and American Culture
John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff, editors
BUDDHISM and AMERICAN CINEMA
EDITED BY
John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff
FOREWORD BY
Danny Rubin
Cover art © Losw / Bigstockphoto (for film reel and file photo) and © Beboy / Bigstockphoto (for Buddha statue)
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles
Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Buddhism and American cinema / edited by John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff ; foreword by Danny Rubin.
pages cm. — (SUNY series in Buddhism and American culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5349-1 (hc : alk. paper)
1. Buddhism in motion pictures. 2. Motion pictures—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 3. Motion pictures—United States—History and criticism. I. Whalen-Bridge, John, editor of compilation. II. Storhoff, Gary, editor of compilation.
PN1995.9.B795B79 2014
791.43 682943--dc23
2013047789
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to the memory of Gary Storhoff.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Danny Rubin
Acknowledgments
A Tribute to Gary Storhoff
Charles Johnson
Introduction: Some (Hollywood) Versions of Enlightenment
John Whalen-Bridge
Part I. Representation and Intention
1. Buddhism and Authenticity in Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth
Hanh Ngoc Nguyen and R. C. Lutz
2. Buddhism, Children, and the Childlike in American Buddhist Films
Eve Mullen
3. Consuming Tibet: Imperial Romance and the Wretched of the Holy Plateau
Jiayan Mi and Jason C. Toncic
4. Politics into Aesthetics: Cultural Translation in Kundun, Seven Years in Tibet , and The Cup
Felicia Chan
Part II. Allegories of Shadow and Light
5. Momentarily Lost: Finding the Moment in Lost in Translation
Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki
6. Dying to Be Free: The Emergence of “American Militant Buddhism” in Popular Culture
Richard C. Anderson and David A. Harper
7. Buddhism, Our Desperation, and American Cinema
Karsten J. Struhl
8. Christian Allegory, Buddhism, and Bardo in Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko
Devin Harner
9. “Beautiful Necessities”: American Beauty and the Idea of Freedom
David L. Smith
Afterword: On Being Luminous
Gary Gach
Bibliography
Filmography
About the Contributors
Index
FOREWORD
DANNY RUBIN
I once wrote a movie about a man who rubs a lamp and discovers a genie. The event takes place on a very depressing day in this man’s life, and he inadvertently wishes that the whole day had all been a dream. Before you know it—poof! The genie grants his wish, and the man’s entire day does turn out to be a dream —but not his dream (he should have been more specific!). Instead the dream belongs to someone else, an equally lonely woman, and the story soon becomes hers. When she finally does meet the man with the genie it’s a big moment because she has truly met the man of her dreams. The story is romantic and sweet and magical, and the dreams within dreams inspired one of my friends to observe, “You probably don’t know this, but you’re Hindu.”
Then there’s that other movie I wrote about the man who repeats the same day over and over again. February second. Groundhog Day . The same friend observed, “You probably don’t know this, but you’re Buddhist.”
My friend’s observations may or may not have merit. I once wrote a western about a hanging. Does that make me a cowboy? But what I love about writing movies is the way I get to explore interesting stories and simultaneously explore myself. Who is the guy, I ask, who made this choice or that choice? What does he believe that underlies his decisions? What values are revealed? Which are really me? From the mixed dust of dreams and memories, from creations and from discoveries, I refine my own story with every new screenplay, each time getting closer and closer to someone I believe to be me. That is what I get from writing movies. And occasionally some money, too.
When I wrote Groundhog Day I wasn’t trying to write a Buddhist movie. But, keep in mind that Phil Connors, the cynical weatherman stuck in time, wasn’t trying to become a better person, even though he eventually did exactly that. He was just trying to get through the day. Every morning was a new opportunity for him to ask, “Now what? What am I doing here? What could I be doing here? What should I be doing here?” The accumulation of days and of experiences pushed Phil toward greater understanding and greater refinement. All it took for him was a sense of mindful awareness—and zero chance of escape.
Writing screenplays is a lot like that. “Now what? What am I doing here? What could I be doing here? What should I be doing here?” This is a daily meditation on the blank page. Maybe all screenwriters are natural Buddhists.
Of course I’m not always looking inward, and I do occasionally seek out perspective and knowledge from others. I mean, I may not be seeking enlightenment but I’m not seeking ignorance either.
So, for instance, although I am not personally an expert on either Buddhism or American film, here I find myself on the leading edge of a wonderful collection of essays on the subject, and I’m thinking I should probably read them. I invite you to join me. For our convenience they have been placed immediately following this foreword. Will reading these essays bring us any closer to enlightenment? Or better: Will it help us get our screenplays produced? Of course I don’t yet know the answer to these questions, but in reading, as in writing, I remain open to the delight of unintended results, and what that can teach me about myself.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T his project was a slow train comin’ and was pushed along by the hands of Baey Shi Chen, Jacqueline Chia, and Nirmala Iswari. Funding for this wonderfully helpful support was provided by Dean Brenda Yeoh’s Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore, paperwork along the way having been signed by heads-of-department Robbie Goh and Lionel Wee of ELL. Thank you all for helping this project along.
Thanks also to Linda Storhoff and Helena Whalen-Bridge for your help with this project.
An earlier version of Eve Mullen’s “Buddhism, Children, and the Childlike in American Buddhist Films” appeared in the Journal of Religion and Film as “Orientalist Commercializations: Tibetan Buddhism in American Popular Film,” 2, no. 2 (October 1998). Likewise, David L. Smith’s “‘Beautiful Necessities’: American Beauty and the Idea of Freedom” appeared in the Journal of Religion and Film 6, no. 2 (October 2002). An earlier version of Jiayan Mi and Jason Toncic’s “Consuming Tibet: Imperial Romance and the Wretched of Holy Plateau” appeared in Tamkang Review 42.1 (December 2011).
A TRIBUTE TO GARY STORHOFF
CHARLES JOHNSON
I’ve had a good run.
—Gary Storhoff (1947–2011)
I ’m going to remember Dr. Gary Storhoff as an outstanding scholar to whom I am forever indebted, a gentleman, a dedicated teacher, devoted father and family man, and my brother in the Buddha-dharma. I only learned about his passing away yesterday from his wife. He died at age sixty-three, exactly a week ago on November 7, peacefully at home with his family after a year-long bout with cancer. Never did he complain about his illness or the fact that, as he put it, he was leaving this “beautiful world.”
We were introduced in the best of possible ways—by his work. I read one of his scholarly articles on my work, and I was so impressed by his insight, the depth of his knowledge of literature and philosophy (Western and Eastern), that I called his English department at the University of Connecticut (Stamford) and left a message, thanking him for this gift of the mind and spirit. It was Dr. Storhoff who first made clear the presence of Buddhist epistemology in my story “Moving Pictures.”
Later, at one of the sessions for the Charles Johnson Society at the American Literature Association, I heard him present a brilliant analysis of another of my stories, “Executive Decision,” and afterward I told him that he’d inspired me to take another pass at Buddhist epistemology in a work of fiction, one that perhaps would be less elusive than in “Moving Pictures.” That story, “Kamadhatu: A Modern Sutra,” appears in Shambhala Sun (March 2012): 37–41. (I owe the existence of that story to him.) I should also mention that after Storhoff read his paper that day, I saw another participant who read a paper before him lean toward Gary and enthusiastically whisper, “You win! You win!” I believe that is the feeling everyone will have when they encounter Dr. Storhoff’s scholarship. It is original, top-tier, rigorous, and deeply learned.
He was one of the founding members of the CJ Society, one highly respected by the other officers for his personal and professional integrity. He authored one of the best books on my work, Understanding Charles Johnson , for which I am deeply grateful. And for the last few years, he coedited with John Whalen-Bridge the ground-breaking three-volume series on Buddhism and American Culture. In addition to his books, he authored sixty-five articles and chapters in American, African American, and ethnic literature journals. He received two teaching awards and served for two years as assistant to the director at the Stamford campus. He is survived by his mother, his wif