The cinema of Ang Lee : the other side of the screen

337 Pages·2015·2.66 MB·English

by  Dilley

the cinema of ANG LEE
DIRECTORS’ CUTS
Other titles in the Directors’ Cuts series:
the cinema of EMIR KUSTURICA: notes from the underground
GORAN GOCIC
the cinema of KEN LOACH: art in the service of the people
JACOB LEIGH
the cinema of WIM WENDERS: the celluloid highway
ALEXANDER GRAF
the cinema of KATHRYN BIGELOW: hollywood transgressor
edited by DEBORAH JERMYN & SEAN REDMOND
the cinema of ROBERT LEPAGE: the poetics of memory
ALEKSANDAR DUNDJEROVIC
the cinema of GEORGE A. ROMERO: knight of the living dead
TONY WILLIAMS
the cinema of TERRENCE MALICK: poetic visions of america
edited by HANNAH PATTERSON
the cinema of ANDRZEJ WAJDA: the art of irony and defiance
edited by JOHN ORR & ELZBIETA OSTROWSKA the cinema of KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI:
variations on destiny and chance
MAREK HALTOF
the cinema of DAVID LYNCH: american dreams, nightmare visions
edited by ERICA SHEEN & ANNETTE DAVISON
the cinema of NANNI MORETTI: dreams and diaries
edited by EWA MAZIERSKA & LAURA RASCAROLI the cinema of MIKE LEIGH: a sense of the
real
GARRY WATSON
the cinema of JOHN CARPENTER: the technique of terror
edited by IAN CONRICH AND DAVID WOODS
the cinema of ROMAN POLANSKI: dark spaces of the world
edited by JOHN ORR & ELZBIETA OSTROWSKA the cinema of TODD HAYNES: all that heaven
allows
edited by JAMES MORRISON
the cinema of STEVEN SPIELBERG: empire of light
NIGEL MORRIS
the cinema of WERNER HERZOG: aesthetic ecstasy and truth
BRAD RAGER
the cinema of
ANG LEE
the other side of the screen
SECOND EDITION
whitney crothers dilley
A Wallflower Press Book Wallflower Press is an imprint of Columbia University Press Publishers
Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2015 Columbia University Press All rights reserved E-ISBN 978-0-231-53849-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dilley, Whitney Crothers.
The cinema of Ang Lee : the other side of the screen / Whitney Crothers Dilley. — Second
edition.
pages cm. — (Directors’ cuts) Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16772-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-16773-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-231-53849-7 (ebook) 1. Lee, Ang, 1954—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1998.3.L438D55 2014
791.4302'33092—dc23
2014022600
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-
[email protected].
Book design by Rob Bowden Design
Cover image: © Getty References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither
the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
1. Introduction: Ang Lee—A History
2. Ang Lee as Director: His Position in Asian and World Cinema
3. Confucian Values and Cultural Displacement in Pushing Hands
4. Transgressing Boundaries of Gender and Culture in The Wedding
Banquet
5. Globalization and Cultural Identity in Eat Drink Man Woman
6. Opposition and Resolution in Sense and Sensibility
7. Fragmentary Narratives/Fragmented Identities in The Ice Storm
8. Race, Gender, Class, and Social Identity in Ride with the Devil
9. Wuxia Narrative and Transnational Chinese Identity in Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon
10. The Ultimate Outsider: Hulk
11. Transcending Gender in Brokeback Mountain
12. Eroticism and Performance in Lust/Caution
13. Memory, Narrative, and Transformation in Taking Woodstock
14. Storytelling and Truth in Life of Pi: A Spiritual Journey
15. Conclusion: The Dream of Cinema
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE AUTHOR HAS incurred personal and professional debts to more people
than can be named here, and owes the successful publication of this
book primarily to Kai-chong Cheung, whose support of this research has
been invaluable, and Milan V. Dimić, whose timely counsel and
enthusiasm helped propel this work forward. Thanks to friends and
colleagues Peng-hsiang Chen, Chen-ching Li, John Hu, Tienen Kao,
Heidi Yu, Yung-aun Li, Charlene Chen, Peter Lin, Alex Rath, Yvette
Huang, Irene Wang, Stephanie Pu, Kelly Weng, Song Hwee Lim, Kien
Ket Lim, Ru-Shou Robert Chen, Ivy I-Chu Chang, Li-Chun Hsiao, Hsiu-
Chuang Deppman, Song-Yong Sing, Che-ming Yang, Hui-Fen Chin,
George Huang, Peng Hsiao-yen, Chang Hsiao-hung, Wenchi Lin, Eileen
Cheng-yin Chow, Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, Darrell W. Davis, and especially
Ching-hsien Wang at the University of Washington, Douglas Kellner at
UCLA, and Jerome Silbergeld at Princeton for academic inspiration.
Jennifer Crewe, director at Columbia University Press, and Yoram
Allon, consulting editor to Columbia University Press and founder of
Wallflower Press, have offered their illimitable support to this work and
have been instrumental in its successful completion. Columbia University
Press senior manuscript editor Roy E. Thomas also deserves
commendation for his detailed attention and expertise. The author is
grateful to the many individuals, particularly Jacqueline Downs, Curtis
Quick, and Linda Theriault, whose insightful critiques aided in preparing
early drafts of the manuscript, and to the anonymous reviewers for
reading the manuscript and providing valuable input and suggestions.
Staff at the Chinese Taipei Film Archive in Taiwan, under the directorship
of Winston T. Y. Lee, have been extremely helpful in unearthing
resources from Ang Lee’s early filmmaking days, including the earliest
published version of Lee’s award-winning screenplay for Pushing Hands.
Shih Hsin University generously awarded the author a sabbatical leave