Reflections of Taiwan Through the Films of Edward Yang
This story was first published in Coronadiet’s old site on April 30, 2020.
Now more than ever, it is increasingly difficult to define national, much less transnational, cinema. Globalization further complicates the issue since taking the phenomenon into consideration requires an awareness of the unique social and cultural contexts that constitute a national cinema. Italian sociologist Antonio Negri conceptualizes a bi-fold view of globalization, one that engages with the practice both “extensively” and “intensively.” Although these terms reference complex sociological notions, their distinction between a sense of “exterior” and “interior” can be applied to Edward Yang’s films.
His integration of spaces is seen when interiors are shown through reflective glass windows that allow a simultaneous view of the outside world. The intricacies of Yang’s domestic interiors combined with his use of glass surfaces reflect Taiwan’s very own historical transitions. Beginning with A Brighter Summer Day (1991), Japan’s imperialist influence over Taiwan penetrates even the domestic space as Si-er’s family is one of many households living in a Japanese home filled with old trinkets found in unsuspecting areas like ceiling panels.
In Yi Yi (2000), a significantly more modernized Taiwan is fixated on materials such as floor-to-ceiling glass windows that provide a panoramic view of the metropolitan skyline. Wide-angle shots of characters simultaneously immersed yet isolated in their surroundings and the city’s landscape are seen in the film. In one scene, NJ’s wife Min Min is framed within a glass window looking out into a night view of the city when lights flicker on behind her, revealing her location. She is standing in front of her office window, which reflects the nearly empty workspace behind her, save for a few co-workers filing out to leave for the day. A woman named Nancy walks towards Min Min to comfort her as she begins to weep. During this exchange, the two figures appear as blacked out silhouettes against the bright cityscape. While this visual image intuitively prompts a sense of connection between the reflective layers of work, the city, and the individual, Min Min remains isolated and detached as a physically unidentifiable silhouette.
Objects such as television sets and cameras represent globalization and its complex relationship with Yang’s characters. The role of these technological commodities serve as windows and modes of viewing the world through a modernized lens. In Taipei Story (1985), the television provides a means for Lung to retreat into his past as an accomplished Little League player. He watches a videotape of a baseball game, recalling his own youthful heyday. Lung remains fixated on the screen, his attention unflinching even when his girlfriend Chin returns home late at night, prompting her to question his feelings. During this sequence, Lung uses the modernized product of a television to relive his past career as a baseball player, which is yet another product of globalization. What Lung so greatly values is quickly rendered insignificant when Chin’s younger sister watches Lung’s videotape and skips over his recordings of the baseball game. Instead, she concentrates on the commercial breaks featuring an advertisement for a foreign fragrance, both of which are additional examples of globalization.
In Yi Yi, the television plays a similar role, but to a less haunting extent. One of the film’s central characters is Yang Yang, a young boy who is consistently bullied by the same group of girls. After developing his first roll of film during a class break, Yang Yang runs back to his school as the viewer observes him through the security footage from what is presumed to be the school’s office. After getting caught, Yang Yang is dragged to the teacher’s office where he’s forced to stand against a wall while his photographs are passed around and mocked. Adults from the older generation watch surveillance of children through new means, namely the television. Yang Yang’s teacher, a figure of authority, is also such an adult. However, rather than fulfilling his role, he belittles Yang Yang and his hobby by effectively abusing him in front of the same girls who bully him.
Yang Yang’s father NJ had passed on his old camera to his son in hopes that he would use it to its fullest potential. Even after this incident, Yang Yang continues to practice photography, developing a clear purpose and style in the medium. In this sense, Yang Yang embraces the camera, at once a relic of NJ’s past as well as a product of modernization for looking into the future, to forge his own personal and artistic identity. Despite the ongoing differences between the younger and older generations, they are one and the same when it comes to their hopes of constructing identities that guide them through Taiwan’s own age of self-discovery.
