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.The word  extra by itself implies that the DVD contentexists in addition to, can be separated from, and possibly even standapart from the primary text.However, this is not necessarily the way inwhich viewers experience the film.One generally will become aware ofthe disc s packaging, artwork and menus before even being able to playthe movie.All of these elements bring with them certain characteris-tics and help to structure one s viewing experience; they are an insepa-rable part of the domestic consumption of many films.The DVD canbe conceptualised as containing (generally) a single primary text and(possibly one or more) associated texts necessarily in relationship withone another by virtue of their physical connectedness.Therefore, I willslightly modify Brookey and Westerfelhaus s idea and call the addi-tional DVD content  extra-primary texts ; I believe this term more fullyemphasises the links between the DVD material and the primary filmictexts by more explicitly linking the two classes of texts.Thread One: Nationality  Contextualisationand IntertextualityEarly in the commentary track on the US DVD of Last Life in theUniverse, cinematographer Christopher Doyle remarks that this is  myfirst Thai film & purely Thai except for me and the main actor, Asano.This is quite an intriguing statement which suggests to the viewer thatone should approach the film as a native Thai creation.The reality isof course not nearly this simple, and Doyle s comment obfuscates thefact that the film is the product of a web of collaboration that draws onresources from across the globe.Although it is only recently that wehave begun to write about topics like  transnational cinema , the inter-national and border-crossing aspects of a film like Last Life really dateback to the medium s inception.One might wish to argue that this09 EA Cinema_138-152 25/1/08 09:15 Page 143Last Life in the Universe 143makes all film, regardless of national origin, a strictly Westernphenomenon.However, a convincing argument is made by Japanesefilm scholar Eric Cazdyn, who argues against the idea that film-making still leaves traces of the West on every print that is made , explainingthat film as a medium  may well be contingent on modernization,and modernization may well have happened in the West first, but mod-ernization is part of a world structure that seems infinitely moreproductive to understand as having no firsts, only dependencies.10Transnational cinema is not a new phenomenon, and this is particu-larly true of Thai cinema.In addition to the fact that the technology ofmovie-making came from abroad, from the very beginning of film inThailand there were foreign influences.For example, the first perma-nent exhibition space for films in Thailand was built by a Japanese pro-moter in 1905, and  [b]ecause of his success, nang farang [ westernshadow theatre, the previous Thai term for cinema] gradually came tobe known as nang yipun (Japanese shadow theatre) among Siameseaudiences.11 Also, the first feature-length film made in Thailand, NangSao Suwan, was filmed in 1922 by Hollywood film-maker Henry A.MacRae.In their book A Century of Thai Cinema, Dome Sukwong andSawasdi Suwannapak write that even though it  was an American film,since it was made by an American, Thai people at the time regarded itas the first Thai film.12 Nang Sao Suwan was not unique in this regard,though.In his brief history of Thai cinema, Boonrak Boonyaketmalawrites that during the early part of the twentieth century the Thaigovernment cooperated with Western (mostly American) producers tomake  about one dozen films dealing with Thailand.13Last Life in the Universe carries on this theme of cinema connectiv-ity.The international dimension of the film can be gleaned in part froman examination of the credits [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]