Multiple Modernities

"Multiple Modernities" explores the cultural terrain of East Asia. Arguing that becoming modern happens differently in different places, the contributors examines popular culture most notable cinema and television to see how modernization, as both a response to the West and as a process that is unique in its own right in the region, operates on a mass level. Included in this collection are significant explorations of popular culture in East Asia, including Chinese new cinema and rock music, Korean cinema, Taiwanese television, as well as discussions of alternative arts in general. While each essay focuses on specific nations or cinemas, the collected effect of reading them is to offer a comprehensive, in-depth picture of how popular culture in East Asia operates to both generate and reflect the immense change this significant region of the world is undergoing. Jenny Kwok Wah Lau is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cinema at San Francisco State University.