Guest Editors' Introduction Author(S): Yomi Braester and Nicole Huang Source: Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Vol

Modern Chinese Literature and Culture

Guest Editors' Introduction Author(s): Yomi Braester and Nicole Huang Source: Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Vol. 15, No. 1, Special Issue on Taiwan Film (SPRING, 2003), pp. vii-xi Published by: Foreign Language Publications Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41490891 . Accessed: 29/09/2014 20:14

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This content downloaded from 140.254.87.149 on Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Guest Editors' Introduction

Yomi Braester and Nicole Huang

In 1991,a groupof criticspublished a collectionentitled Xin dianying zhi si (Thedeath of NewCinema), in which they argued that Hou Hsiao-hsien's Beiqingchengshi (City of sadness,1989) skirtedthe morehard-hitting is- sues of Taiwan'sWhite Terror. In theiraccount, the New Taiwan Cinema had betrayedits missionto presentan unadornedand criticalimage of Taiwanesesociety. Although the attack may have missed the powerin Hou's circumspectreference to the WhiteTerror atrocities, the volume'scatchy titlepoints to the genuine perceptionthat Taiwan cinemawas in crisis. The newsof itsdeath was premature,as evidencedby the continuedpro- ductionof award-winning films, even though government subsidies waned and Taiwanfilms have largelyremained dependent on the international filmfestival circuit (with the notable exceptionof Lee Ang's Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon). Explainingthe originsof thisperceived crisis in the early1990s may also help providea contextfor understanding the essaysin this issue. New TaiwanCinema, which came to the forein the mid-1980s,had soughtto undermineeasy political distinctions in Taiwan. Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang suggeststhat modernismwas urban,cosmopolitan, and elitistand pre- sented a pan-Chineseview of culture;nativist resistance was morecon- cernedwith ruralthemes, Taiwanese history,and social protestand fa- voredTaiwanese independence. Even before the demiseof ChiangChing- kuo in 1988 and the ascendancyof the DemocraticProgressive Party to power in the 1990s,the New Cinemaappealed to both modernistand

Modern Chinese Literature and Culture • vii

This content downloaded from 140.254.87.149 on Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions nativistsensibilities. The proclaimeddeath of the New Cinemawas to a large extentthe end of a Taiwancinema that could be interpretedin a politicalkey. The criticsof Cityof Sadness lamented,in fact,precisely the morenuanced vision of politicsand historythat new filmmakers set out to achieve. The sixessays in this issue refer to the Taiwanfilm scene, as ithas been shaped bythe New Cinemain the lasttwo decades,and suggestinterpre- tiveapproaches that avoid crasspolitical categorizations. Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh and Ban Wang movebeyond the internalpolitical debates inTaiwan and lookat filmsby Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-liang, and Hou Hsiao-hsienas responsesto the unifyingvision of globalism,which threatens all formsof localidentity. Robert Chi looks at the "NewTaiwanese Documentary," which emerged parallelto the New Taiwan Cinema,and draws analogies be- tweenthe better-knownfeature films and the developmentof documen- taryfilm. James Udden focuseson the prehistoryof the New Cinema,in Hou Hsiao-hsien'searly work. Carlos Rojas, Yomi Braester, and EmilieYueh- yu Yeh providea contextof the New Cinemain contemporarysocial and culturalissues - publichealth, urban planning, and popularmusic, respec- tively.At the same time,the essayscover milestones along the chronologi- cal trajectoryof the New Cinemaand itscontemporary culture, from Hou Hsiao-hsien'sapprenticeship (Udden) and early urban films(Braester), throughthe heydayof the NewCinema in the early1 990s (Yeh,Rojas, and Braester)and to Hou's recentwork (Wang) and growinginterest in docu- mentaryfilmmaking (Chi). EmilieYueh-yu Yeh makes a strongargument for reading Edward Yang's films,in particularGulingjie shaonian sharenshijian (A brighter summer'sday, 1989),through their musical soundtracks, which she says pointto postcolonialanxieties. Yeh challengesFredric Jameson's assump- tionthat modernist aesthetics proceeds synchronically indifferent cultures and can be interpretedin similar fashion everywhere. Edward Yang's films are knownfor usingTaipei's transnational landmarks, such as the Hard viii • Introduction

This content downloaded from 140.254.87.149 on Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions RockCafé, TGI Fridays, and RuthChris' steakhouse, but these localesmust be understoodalso as partof a resistanceto universalvalues, which are oftenno morethan a cover-upfor American imperialism. The Englishtitle ofA BrighterSummer Day, after a mistranscribedElvis Presley song, is em- blematicof the subversiveuses of transculturalmimicry. YomiBraester examines the interactionbetween urban planning and filmand arguesthat the cinemacreates a realmparallel to the city'sspaces, wherethe architecturalpast is both commemoratedand erased. One sa- lientfeature of Taipei'sdevelopment since the 1970shas been the evacu- ation and demolitionof veterans'villages ( juancun ) to create municipal parks.Focusing on Yu Kanping'sDa cuoche (Wrongcar, 1983), Stan Lai's FeixiaAda(The Red Lotus Society, 1994) and TsaiMing-liang's Д/g/ng wansui (Vivel'amour, 1994), Braester traces the New Cinema'sdebt to the grow- ing urbanunrest. The filmsnot onlywitness the city'stransformation but also shape collectivememory. CarlosRojas also looks at the spatial referencesin Tsai Ming-liang's films,and findsin QingshaonianNezha (Rebelsof the Neon God, 1992) an allusionto the symbiosisof Taipei'sdevelopment and the fateof the New Cinema.Urban spaces also becomemetonyms for social boundaries, which Tsaishows in the processof being contestedand compromised.The pro- tagonistin Rebels lives in an electricallyand electronicallypowered world thatfacilitates physical and socialmobility, only to be confrontedwith the limitationsof his action and movement.He can negotiateurban spaces onlyby violent transgression and allusionto pathologicalcontagion - both of whichare present,for example,in a scene in whichhe vandalizesa motorbikeand spraysthe word "AIDS" onto it. Ban Wang picksup the themesof contagionand doom in discussing Tsai'sDong (Thehole, 1 998), inwhich a virusthreatens to annihilateTaipei. Wang argues that both The Hole and Hou Hsiao-hsien'sQianxi manbo (Millenniummambo, 2001) use millennialanxieties to signalthe collapse of global geopolitics.The Utopian dream that associates global free

Modern Chinese Literature and Culture • ix

This content downloaded from 140.254.87.149 on Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions economy,fast communication, abundance of consumergoods, and spread of democraticgovernance leaves littlespace for local identity.The Hole portraysa Kafkaesquenightmare of a new worlddisorder, rife with tech- nologicalbreakdown and publichealth crises. In the same vein,Millen- niumMambo shows how existenceis reducedto easy and meaningless libidinaloutlets. Sex, drugs,and violencebecome the onlyrefuge from the numbingeconomy that dominates not onlyconsumption but also hu- manemotions. These films can also be regardedas allegoriesof the troubled place of the New Taiwan Cinemain an increasinglyhomogenous world cinema. James Udden also challenges cultural labels, yet he does so by foregroundingnot the ideologicalcontext, but ratherindustry conven- tions.Udden addresses the neglectedearly career of Hou Hsiao-hsienand examinesthe environmentfrom which the would-bedirector drew posi- tive modelsand negativeexamples. Hou's techniquederives from his ex- perienceas a stagehandand assistantdirector, when the futuredirector was exposed to the productionvalues of romancefilms. Hou's hallmark minimalismand uniquefilmic language is indebtedto thisapprenticeship. RobertChi draws attention to anotheraspect of Taiwan'scinema, namely the increasinginterest in documentary filmmaking. Chi traces its develop- mentin the contextof Taiwan'smediascape and arguesthat the fluidity and hybridityof documentaryfilms allowed the genre and its practitio- nersto generate new social spaces and identities.The recentoutput of what Chicalls the "New TaiwaneseDocumentary" has runparallel to the New TaiwanCinema and sharesmany of the issuesof featurefilmmaking in Taiwan.The New TaiwaneseDocumentary has inheritedthe artisticas- pirationsof the New Cinemaand pointsto the paradoxfacing Taiwan's contemporaryfilm industry as a whole: namely,that consciousengage- mentwith local themesis oftenmore marketable abroad. Yet unlikethe New Cinema,the documentaryfilms, despite their international acclaim, are likelyto remaina primarilylocal and regionalform.

X • Introduction

This content downloaded from 140.254.87.149 on Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The essays in this issue reveal the continued interest,at least in academia,in Taiwan cinema. Taiwan filmmakers, however, continue to see signsof crisis.In a forumthat inspiredthis volume, the producerand film criticPeggy Hsiung-ping Chiao lamented,"While Taiwan films are being praisedwidely in international film circuits, our egos have been completely shatteredat home." The script-writerand directorWu Nien-jenpassion- atelyasked: "IfTaiwan's films are onlybeing watched and appreciatedby audiencesoutside of Taiwan,are we stilltalking about a Taiwanesecin- ema here?Is the discussionof a nationalcinema even possiblein the case of Taiwan?" We firstenvisioned this special issue as an upshotof a three-dayevent, Islandof Light:A Symposiumon TaiwanCinema and PopularCulture, co- ordinatedby Nicole Huang at the Universityof Wisconsin-MadisoninMarch 2002.We would liketo thankthe Universityof Wisconsin and the Republic of Chinagovernment for their generous sponsorship. Edward Friedman and DavidBordwell offered important input, and the two honoredguests at the symposium,Wu Nien-jenand PeggyHsiung-ping Chiao, gave rare insightsinto the Taiwanese film industry. The conferenceprovided the im- petusfor rethinking Taiwan cinema and popularculture in thisvolume. Our special gratitudegoes to KirkDenton, who greeted our idea fora specialissue with enthusiasm, unwavering support, and expertadvice. We thankall those who respondedto the call forpapers and regretthat we could not includeall inthis issue.

Modern Chinese Literature and Culture • xi

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