
Contents
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
On the Name On the Name
-
Picture Picture
-
Play Play
-
Shadow/Screen: A New Dispositif Shadow/Screen: A New Dispositif
-
The Scene of Cinema The Scene of Cinema
-
Conclusion Conclusion
-
Notes Notes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
9 Picture, Shadow, Play: Ontology, Archaeology, Ecology
Get accessWeihong Bao is Associate Professor of Film and Media at UC Berkeley. She is the author of Fiery Films: The Emergence of an Affective Medium in China, 1915–1945 (2015), which received honorable mention for the Best Book Prize by the Modernist Studies Association in 2016. She has co-edited two special issues on Media/Climates (for Representations in 2022) and Medium/Environment (for Critical Inquiry in 2023). She is currently completing a new book, Background Matters: Set Design and The Art of Environment. She is editor-in-chief of The Journal of Chinese Cinemas and co-edits the Film Theory in Media History book series published by Amsterdam University Press.
-
Published:22 February 2024
Cite
Abstract
This chapter looks at how cinema’s initial appearance in China reveals the limits of media archaeology and invites a new way of thinking about ontology. It takes a slice of the first few years of cinema’s development in China while relocating that period within the longer and broader history of visual modernity from the mid-nineteenth century onward. Zooming in and out of this horizontal and vertical span, the chapter examines how cinema’s ontology was threaded through a series of media analogies: picture, shadow, play. By looking into their historical antece dents, the chapter illustrates how these analogies did not correspond to specific media “objects” in a Cartesian sense but instead served as ontological placeholders, hinting at the tremendous transformations in media practice during this period. Together, these ontological constellations contributed to new modes of perceiving, experiencing, and knowing as the condition of possibility for cinema.
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
February 2024 | 3 |
March 2024 | 1 |
April 2024 | 5 |
May 2024 | 8 |
June 2024 | 4 |
July 2024 | 7 |
August 2024 | 4 |
September 2024 | 10 |
October 2024 | 8 |
November 2024 | 4 |
December 2024 | 2 |
January 2025 | 8 |
February 2025 | 7 |
March 2025 | 2 |
April 2025 | 3 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.