National Cinema as a System of Comparison

This study reviews critical literatures regarding Asian cinema, focusing on studies of Japanese cinema, to show that Western scholarship on non-Western national cinemas have been divided into two approaches: traditionalism and modernism. It argues that such a division is not merely a critical tendency but indicative of the fact that a national cinema is an internally divided construct. To support the point, this study examines Chinese film studies conducted by Chinese film critics and the history of South Korean cinema during the 1970s and 80s. Then, it proposes the hegemony model to theorize the inner structure of national cinema. It finally suggests the possibility of comparative film study that the national cinema thesis may activate.