How, Why, & So What?

I approach film production as a working site to embrace the interplay between media texts, production, institutions, and the audience rather than as separate objects to study individually in isolation. By situating media (especially the cinema and television) within this complicated larger context, my teaching and research agendas explore the intricate relationships among various elements in the cultural production process. I oppose political economy, which reductively generalizes the film and television industries as merely an assembly-line factory as well as cultural studies, which over-praises the power of the audience without paying equal attention to the production context. The study of cinema and television works best when dealing with specifics rather than in abstract theoretical descriptions. For me, the specifics of film production have become a treasure trove to raise larger issues regarding the critical and cultural implications of technology, media, and society.

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Research Areas

 

• Production Aesthetics

• Production Culture of Film & Television

• Critical/Cultural Studies

• Media and the Public Sphere

• Cultural Politics of Sound Design

• Documentary Film

• Media Production and Digital Technology

• Korean Cinema & Southeast Asian Cinema

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