Title: History and National Identity in A City of Sadness (1989)
1History and National Identity in A City of
Sadness (1989)
2Outline
- Background Hou Hsiao-Hsien ???, Taiwanese Films
and History - Issues for Discussion
- Its historical methods and presentation of 228
- Its views of Taiwanese history and national
identity - History and contemporary Taiwan
3Hou Hsiao-Hsien ???
- In Taiwanese Films New Taiwanese Cinema
- ????? Edward Yang 1982
- Hous ???????????????????--???
- Localism and realism (vs. ?? films)
- Hou stationed camera with long take careful
aesthetic composition.
4???In Taiwanese Films (2)
- A City of Sadness
- -- 30 million NT dollar budget (over 1 million US
dollars), twice its original budget and larger
than that of any other films at the time. - -- the first Taiwanese film, and the first Asian
film in 40 years, to have won The Gold Lion at
Venice Film Fest. - -- both promoted and denied to be a film about
228. - -- shown without cuts after winning the prize.
(Ref. Chi 71-72)
5???In Taiwanese Films (3)
- ??????
- The making a film for the Ministry of National
Defense????? by Hou, ??????????. - an advertisement for the armed forces
- The use of the form of music video
- Debates over its complicity with the government,
implicit subversiveness or its just being an odd
event.
6Hou Hsiao-Hsien ??? (2)
- 2. Taiwanese History
- (1) early films Taiwanese society in the 80s
- (2) ????? -
- 10th-- ????1989?1945-1949 (????????)
- ????1993??????????1910?????- 1939- ????1945.
- ?????1937 ?????????1940 ???.-1949 ???-1950
???????????????lt?????gt??. - (3) Recent Films ?????????????
7Hou Hsiao-Hsien ??? (3)
- 3. The Taiwanese in History
- A City of Sadness like Lotus Blossom Land, it
is part of the liberated/liberating discourses
around the time of ??? - (The films preparation since 1987 1988, the
lifting of martial law ? released in 1989) - (2) ????? -
- ??????????????lt?????gt???????(??)???
8The Films Historical Methods
- Questions
- Is the film about 228?
- If not, what is it about? If so, why is 228 so
important in Taiwanese History?
9228 in Taiwans History
- A turning point Birth of a nation and its
brutalities - Its controversies multiple interpretation of
the following issues? - Interpretation of ???and the armys killing the
innocent civilians - Official documents completely publicized or
not - The correctness of official history vs. witness
accounts
10228 and The Films Presentation
- The films apparent focuses
- Lin family (??????)???????????? (and ??, the
brother of ??s concubine vs. ??? - Hinomi (Kuan-mei) and Wen-ching (??????????)
- Hino (Kuan-liang) and the other intellectuals
revolt (???????) - How are the gang fights related to 228?
11228 and the Gang Fights
- forged money ? ?? ? ????? involved
- ?? is able to solve the problem with the help of
the elderly woman - But ?? is caught as a traitor. Why? The
Shanghaiese merchants. - clip of negotiation
12228 and The Films Presentation
- Worries and complaints beforehand.
- The central event not presented but told by
the radio broadcast and written about by ?? and
??. - clips 228 mentioned
- then suggested through
- the showing of
- subsequent riots
- and violence.
13Historical Notes in The Opening and Closing Shots
14Historical Methods and Narrative Perspectives
- The use of dates, historical accounts and long
take to present history e.g. ?????????? - To contextualize 228 multiple storyline and
discourses (those of diary, ???merchants) - Narrative Perspectives of the Marginalized
- ????, taking photo.
- ???/??, keeping her diary
15The Intellectuals De-Politicized Scenes and
Images
- ??????????
- The Intellectuals Discussion 1 ? Shifted to the
personal ?????? clip - The Intellectuals Discussion 2--????????? clip
- Ironies Wen-chings involvement the prison
scene
16The Intellectuals De-Politicized Scenes
Images (2)
- In the script, a letter about where the weapons
are ? turned into a poem in the film - ? nobility of the intellectuals
17(II) The Film as a National Allegory
- What does the film say about KMT and the
conflicts between the Taiwanese and the mainland
Chinese? Is it just a story of exploitation and
sadness? - 1) The history of Exploitation and Survival
- 2) Confusing National Signs and Identities
- 3) National Myth and Cultural Gaps.
18II-1. Taiwanese Identitiesthe Sad
- ???????vs. ???????????
- Language hierarchy in the negotiation
scene???????????????????????????? - ?? --??????
?????????????????? ???????????????. ????????????.?
19What survives?
- The old, the weak and mentally deranged?
- The diary, letters and photos
- ??????????????????????.?????????????????????.?
20II-2. Taiwanese Chinese Confusing
National Signs and Identities
- In Transition
- ???????
- ?? ??????,????,????,?????????????????????????.?
- Colonial/National Education
- The Japanese Culture
- The mainland Chinese ???????????????.
- ??
- Signs of The Taiwanese -- Japanese language e.g.
??????????
21II-2. Confusing Taiwanese Identities between
Japan and China
- The Japanese ??????????
- Longing for the Chinese The birth of ???and the
opening of ????? - National Education the teaching of
mandarin(??)????
22II-2. Confusing Taiwanese Identities between
Japan and the West
- ????????????????????
- ???????????
- ????
- lt?????gt
23II-2. Confusing Identities Taiwans Return to
China
- Exploited and mistrusted -- ?? -- why is he mad?
- tortured in the Chinese army? ? the conflicts
between China and Japan. - Note The Taiwanese
- are mistrusted and seen
- as traitors in????
24II-2. National Myth and Allegory Deconstructed
and Re-Built
- An Allegory of Taiwans colonial History
- Different sets of hierarchy cultural
assimilation by the Japanese ? faulty education
and discrimination by KMT(????????) - Confusing national signs (?????) ? from jokes to
violence - The down fall and survival of the Lins.
25Misplaced Signs, Cultural Gaps and Historical
Fragments
- ?????????
- as myth
- as nostalgia misplaced or made impossible?
- ????? Do they understand the experience of
migration of the mainland Chinese? - Disconnectedness between the opening and closing
shots.
26History and contemporary Taiwan
- The film
- an uncertain and indirect revision on Taiwans
long-repressed trauma (of many intellectuals who
died and disappeared). ? not a totally
pessimistic view, though. - multiple stories, dialects and writings
- ? multiple economic and political factors in
racial conflicts in the context of multiple
colonization. - ? some diversified roots for contemporary racial
conflicts.