Thesis abstract:

This thesis aims to create a new model of affect in the study of contemporary East Asian cinema. Intervening into the ongoing debates over the form of affect, this thesis will challenge Brian Massumi’s interpretation of affect as formless intensity to argue for spirituality as a form of affect in the cinema of referred region. As it is often discussed and interpreted, the corporeality and materiality of affect have centred on the underpinning politics of bodies, which diminishes our understanding of bodies and how they interact with cinematic images. I will argue that an understanding of affect as embodied corporeality does not conflict with spirituality as the form of affect. Following the logic of Gilles Deleuze, I will contest the spirituality of affect from the virtuality of the digital image. The digitality of the image intensifies our sensation towards the unfolding of alternative realities, so that the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul is no longer opposed to material or physical entities. The spirituality of affect is an effort to offer a new perspective into the study of digital cinema. This thesis will present a series of case studies of contemporary arthouse cinema in East Asia (with a specific focus on Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan) to fill in the gap of the western-centric East Asian studies within film studies, Asian studies, and other relevant disciplines. This thesis will examine the digital aesthetics of bodies, intensities and their collective cultural production in East Asian countries. It continues the scholarly discourses on affect theory and offers the possibility of spirituality as a form of affect in contemporary East Asian culture.