國立臺灣師範大學英語學系 碩士論文 Master Thesis Graduate Institute of English National Taiwan Normal University 黑暗之光: 張作驥風格研究 Light in Darkness: Stylistics of Chang Tso-chi 指導教授：吳 佳 琪 博士 Advisor：Dr. Chia-Chi Wu 研究生：謝 雯 伃 Advisee： Wen-yu Hsieh 中 華 民 國 九 十 七 年 七 月 July, 2008 中文摘要 本論文企圖藉由將導演張作驥的電影置於美學、歷史及文化等三脈絡中分 析，從對其創作歷程及作品風格的分析中，探討張作驥如何在台灣新電影的影響 下繼承並發展個人風格。分析重點著重在張作驥的風格及敘事結構的安排，說明 他在台灣當代電影史及整個影史上的定位。第一章對當前台灣電影的處境進行解 釋及評價，同時整理作者論論述的發展歷史，以便在後面的章節進行檢視。第二 章則以綜論和溯史的方式來回顧張作驥的電影背景養成，同時討論新電影運動的 歷史及影響，檢視在新電影及大師侯孝賢的影響力之下，張作驥的風格是如何形 成、發展、以臻成熟。第三章從風格和主題兩方面來探討張作驥明顯的個人印記， 同時與社會文化及歷史經驗相應和。雙結尾的安排與「著魔寫實主義」的安排則 說明了張作驥是如何使用風格技巧來建立關於現代化與後殖民歷史及文化論 述。藉由對張作驥電影風格的分析，架構出的不只是導演本身風格的演進成熟 史，同時窺看電影風格如何與歷史社會做緊密的結合，期望能藉由本文的討論， 架構出張作驥電影風格形成的軌跡，並檢視台灣及世界電影史發展的脈絡。 Abstract This analysis seeks to analyze the director Chang Tso-chi’s works so as to discuss how and why Chang represents both a successor and pioneer in contemporary Taiwan film culture. I examine Chang’s style and narrative structure in order to probe his significance in contemporary Taiwan, and even in the whole cinematic historical context. Chapter I gives a thorough evaluation on Taiwan directors and Chang, and introduces the auteurism’s history in order to review and redefine it. Chapter II examines Chang Tso-chi’s background and films, and takes note that the influence of the Taiwan New Cinema movement is great in his films, especially the world-famous master Hou Hsiao-hsien’s. Chapter III focuses on more detailed analyses of Chang’s thematic and stylistic signatures. Of particular interest is that the specific forking-path structure and the “haunted realism” reflect the modernist and post-colonial point of view by offering criticism in a sympathetic eye. Redefined auteuristic view allows us to analyze Chang’s films within a stylistic as well as historical domain and provides us a better base with which to understand these two concepts. Since the beginning of the TNC movement, the directors of which earned international recognition. Using Chang as an example, the thesis strives to examine the contemporary trajectory of Taiwan cinema, which has become a part of the international film industry. Acknowledgement I would like to give my sincere gratitude first and foremost to Prof. Chia-chi Wu, my advisor, for her guidance and encouragement during the past years. Without her inspiring and consistent instruction, it’s hard for me to accomplish this thesis. I really appreciate that she spent so much time and energy correcting my logic, grammar, and interpretation. Her encouragement and suggestion during these years are the greatest supports for me. I would like to thank for the sophisticated and insightful comments of my committee members, Prof. Hsiu-chuan Lee and Prof. I-Fen Wu as well. Besides, I am indebted to all the support and concerns of my friends and my fellow classmates. Were it not for the solace brought by them, I could never hang on during the struggle with my thesis. Special thanks and love are given to my family members. They showed great confidence in me and offered unconditional support on the road I’ve taken. Without you all, this thesis will never be brought in the present form. I owe all of you for the love and understanding. And my gratitude is beyond words. Amitabha. Table of Contents Chapter One Introduction………………………………………………...1 Chapetr Two Chang Tso-chi and Taiwan New Cinema………………..19 Chapter Three Salient Features of Chang’s films………………………..53 Chapter Four Conclusion……………………………………………...…91 Works Cited ...………...…………………………………………………………...98 Hsieh1 Chapter 1 Introduction In this thesis, I will examine the director Chang Tso-chi’s works within specific cinematic, political and cultural frameworks. With thorough discussions on this director and his films, I attempt to determine how and why Chang represents both a successor and pioneer in contemporary Taiwan film culture. I will examine his style and narrative structure, probing their significance in contemporary Taiwan. I will also relate Chang’s films primarily with his predecessors in the Taiwan New Cinema with whom he shares similar stylistics. While studying Chang’s films in a larger cultural framework, I will discuss whether a director can simultaneously interact with film history, film criticism and the cultural politics of contemporary Taiwan. Or his or her works should be judged solely aesthetically? Since the beginning of the Taiwan New Cinema movement, the directors of which earned international recognition, the idea of “authorship” has sustained. My discussion of Chang and his works can be viewed as a review and redefinition of the concept “auteurism.” My research will center on two theoretical questions. First, can the terms “modernist” or “realist” define both Chang Tso-chi and his predecessors in Taiwan New Cinema, or is another category necessary for the understanding of Chang? And second, if separate categories are required, how and why are they distinct? Further, I would like to study how Chang’s film style can be placed in the lineage of Taiwan New Cinema. I want to investigate whether Chang can be seen as the successor of Hsieh2 Taiwan New Cinema by surveying the movement from its inception to the present. I will investigate how and why Chang departs from the TNC heritage, and what he has learned in being part of this heritage. By returning to the birth of Taiwan New Cinema, I will analyze whether the TNC movement is the only influence of Chang’s. Taiwan New Cinema has been viewed as the product of cine-modernism, but is this term sufficient to describe Chang’s works? In my research I would like to see if Chang’s films can be categorized as a new phase of this cine-modernism. Additionally, do other cinematic aesthetics influence Chang? And finally what other innovations can be seen in Chang’s films? Do these developments reflect Chang’s era? The thesis moves from general stylistic discovery to close-up analyses of the formation of certain techniques or formal elements. Chang’s style exemplifies the development of post TNC. As a result, studying Chang’s films is important if we want to have an overview of Taiwan’s film history. In my research, I want to rethink Chang’s film style in the context of Taiwanese film history. I will attempt to explicate how TNC directors influenced him and how he broke with the legacy he inherited. As a study of the development of Chang Tso-chi’s style, my research hopes to refresh discussions and research about Taiwan films. With this research, I hope to draw attention to contemporary Taiwanese film directors who are “the glory of Taiwan” in film art. Critical Evaluation of Taiwan Directors and Chang Tso-chi In the early 1980s, in order to resist what was felt to be crass Hollywood and Hsieh3 Hong Kong cinema, the Taiwan New Cinema movement (TNC) emerged, presenting innovative, unconventional films. The movement from 1982 to 1989 attracted attention worldwide, and was considered an aesthetic success. But its alternative themes and challenges to the status quo struggled for a larger market acceptance, and gradually its appeal faded.1 Since then, Taiwan film workers have tried to reclaim this past glory. Therefore the Taiwan film industry after the TNC was ruled by a new generation, which includes such notable directors as Lin Zheng-sheng, Tsai Ming-liang and Chang Tso-chi, who we can call as the post TNC. There are high expectations for improved box-office performance, which is partially true (Tsai particularly, has found great success worldwide). However, economic and marketing problems still remain in the Taiwan film industry, and these directors are facing great challenges.2 Although TNC tried to attract local attention during its heyday, it mostly failed in this effort, and instead the movement found greater foreign interest. Foreign audiences seem to have appreciated the movement’s vitality and alternative themes more than conservative Taiwan filmgoers. In general, TNC movies were based on realism and 1 I marked Taiwan New Cinema’s beginning time here according to Feii Lu’s Taiwan Cinema: Politics, Economics, and Aesthetics. In this book, Lu argues that Taiwan New Cinema began with 1982’s In Our Time. The exact time of its decline was not for sure because since 1985 that Taiwan New Cinema directors took different directions. Lu marks that in 1989, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s City of Sadness, led Taiwan films to reach a new era with the performances of single outstanding directors. 2 Ang Lee and Tsai Ming-liang’s principal financial support has come from foreign companies, which bodes ill for the overall health of Taiwan filmmaking. Tsai’s I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone [Heiian chuan] received support from France and Austria. These Taiwan directors must seek financial support from foreign film companies because funding from the Taiwan government and companies is insufficient (as in Lee’s case), or because these sources shy away from controversial topics (as in Tsai’s case). Here I am primarily referring to Tsai Ming-liang. I exclude the world-famous Ang Lee here because he takes the studio production and can also be considered as a Chinese-American film director. Hsieh4 humanitarianism. Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang were at the vanguard of these themes. Numerous studies have shown that their works captured detached modernity (in Yang’s case) and remote Chineseness (especially in Hou’s case). As TNC began to fade in the 1990s, a new generation of directors emerged. Tsai Ming-liang especially has followed the footsteps of directors like Hou and Yang, with his work initially popular in international film festivals and art house cinema, which in turn led to some blockbuster hits.3 Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh and William Darrel Davis in their Taiwan Film Directors have commented on Tsai’s local sensibilities, and written that this director “occupies or colonizes typically Taiwanese material” and “reconstructs the local in a sophisticated, international art form” (248).4 And not only Tsai, but also other directors in his generation adapted a similar path to gain international claim.