Theorizing Ambivalence in Ang Lee's Transnational Cinema

209 Pages·2017·0.77 MB·English

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Chih-Yun Chiang
University of Denver
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Chiang, Chih-Yun, "Theorizing Ambivalence in Ang Lee's Transnational Cinema: The Discourse of Chinese
Identity Between the Local and the Global" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 781.
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THEORIZING AMBIVALENCE IN ANG LEE’S TRANSNATIONAL CINEMA: THE
DISCOURSE OF CHINES IDENTITY BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND THE GLOBAL

__________

A Dissertation
Presented to
the Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Denver

__________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

__________

by
Chih-Yun Chiang
August 2010
Advisor: Darrin Hicks
©Copyright by Chih-Yun Chiang 2010
All Rights Reserved
Author: Chih-Yun Chiang
Title: THEORIZING AMBIVALENCE IN ANG LEE’S TRANSNATIONAL CINEMA:
THE DISCOURSE OF CHINESE IDENTITY BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND
THE GLOBAL
Advisor: Darrin Hicks
Degree Date: August 2010
Abstract

Using ambivalence as a theoretical framework, this study examines Ang Lee’s
cinematic discourse of Chinese identity, which is co-constructed with the audiences from
different cultural communities. I focus on Ang Lee’s transnational films Crouching Tiger
Hidden Dragon and Lust, Caution as my two case studies. By analyzing the audience
discourse from Taiwan, Mainland China, and overseas Chinese communities, I am able to
conceptualize their reactions as communicative moments that co-construct the meaning
of the film text. I suggest that ambivalence is a self-representational strategy for the
ethnic “Other,” who is historically denied access to representation, to contest and subvert
the conventional stereotyping and simplification of one’s subjectivity. Additionally, this
research provides a good example of the familiar cycle of ambivalent emotion toward the
West, in the aftermath of postcolonialism. China and Taiwan’s long history of engaging
in a subordinate relationship with the West enhances the resurgence of ambivalence.
Representations become a significant and predominant way to mediate one’s bodily
experiences, to connect and collaborate with one another, and to form and inform one’s
cultural identity. My research furthers the theorization of the ways in which new media
technologies impact and alter the human interactions between peoples from various
cultural, social, and political contexts.
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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to my dissertation committee members. First, I must thank the
director of this dissertation, Dr. Darrin Hicks, who gave his generous ideas, time, and
unwavering advice during the process of completing my studies. Dr. Hicks has always
been a source of inspiration, a great mentor, and a long-term example of creative and
critical scholarship for me. Drs. Bernadette M. Calafell and Kate G. Willink provided
positive feedback, encouragement, ideas, and support for me. Dr. Bonnie Clark kindly
agreed to be my outside chair during her tight summer schedule.
Special thanks to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly
Exchange. Without the awarded dissertation fellowship for ROC students abroad, I would
not be able to complete this study. I also appreciate that the Department of Human
Communication Studies, University of Denver, gave me scholarships that supported my
coursework, and provided a wonderful environment for a rich academic experience.
I am especially grateful to my mentor Dr. Lily Mendoza from Oakland University,
who was the inspiration for this study. I am thankful for her long-term mentoring,
friendship, and support, which opened up my interest and a new world of understanding
in cultural studies and intercultural scholarship. Thank you all for your impact on my
scholarship and life.
In addition to my academic support, I am most grateful to my parents and family
who provided nothing but support. I thank my parents Jim Chiang and Wei-Chen Shih for
their support while I completed the PhD journey. I am grateful to my aunt Dr. Yuan-
Yuan Chiu and my uncle Dr. Hung-dah Chiu who helped me numerous times, offered
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unconditional love and believed in me throughout these years while I completed my
degree in the United States.
I want to especially thank my American friends and family—Donna Goben and
Vern Irwin. I thank Donna for her seven years of unending support, help, and personal
friendship. I thank Vern and Russia (the cat) for their kind companionship at the stage of
dissertation writing. Finally, my gratitude goes to many friends from Taiwan, the Human
Communication Studies Department, and Stella’s coffee shop, who have ever given me
your hands and words of encouragements. My sincerest appreciation to you all.

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Table of Contents
Chapter One—The Disruption of the Global and the Local...............................................1 
Introduction.............................................................................................................1 
Representation and cultural identity in the age of uncertainty.............................10 
Westernization versus nativism:...........................................................................14 
The politics of recognition between the “global” and the “local”........................14 
Diasporas and its challenge of the nation-state boundary.....................................17 
Communication Research on Postcolonialism, Globalization and Diaspora........20 
Global visuality in transnational cultural production: On Chineseness as a
representational problem.......................................................................................24 
Transnational Cinema and the representation of national identity...........31 
Chapter Two—Speaking Beyond Postcoloniality: The Historical Construction of Chinese
and Taiwanese Identity.....................................................................................................41 
Identity crisis and the struggle over memory........................................................46 
Legacies of the cold war: Americanization as desire and internationalization of
Taiwan...................................................................................................................51 
Taiwanese nationalism and the struggle for a national identity............................54 
(Re) constructing a cinematic discourse of Chineseness......................................56 
Chapter Three—Theorizing Ambivalence: Ambivalent Formations in Ang Lee’s
Transnational Films and the Audiences............................................................................61 
Ambivalence as coexistence of contradictory tendencies.....................................62 
Ambivalence as equivocation and contradictions in mimicry..............................68 
Representing the self and the others:....................................................................77 
Representation as a burden and a becoming.........................................................77 
Cultural memory, nostalgia, and diasporic imagination.......................................79 
Ambivalence as a site of contestation...................................................................87 
Chapter Four—The Burden of Becoming a Chinese Diasporic Director: The Discourse of
Bridging the East and the West in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon...............................90 
Public discourse as construction of film reception...............................................93 
Methodological note.............................................................................................95 
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: A dream of China...........................................98 
Ambivalent discourse on transnational Chineseness:.........................................101 
Disrupting Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism.............................................101 
Reconfiguring Gender Politics................................................................107 
Ang Lee’s culture (con)fusion and mimicry.......................................................109 
Discourse of audiences.......................................................................................112 
Theme one: Pan-Chinese cultural pride..................................................112 
Theme two: Bridging the East and the West..........................................118 
Theme three: (Re) Constructing Wuxia world and a cultural China......120 
Theme four: Nostalgia and reflexivity....................................................128 
Conclusion..........................................................................................................137 
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Chapter Five—The Discourse of Cultural and National Pride: The Ambivalent Discourse
on Chinese Identity in Lust, Caution..............................................................................139 
Only through performing can one reach the ultimate truth of self.....................140 
Ang Lee: Making authentic Shanghai in the 1920:............................................149 
The ambivalent discourse of Chinese identity in Lust, Caution.........................149 
Discourse of Audiences......................................................................................153 
Theme one: The question of Chinese history and the blurred line
between The “Eastern Self” and the “Western Other”...........................155 
Theme Two: The Reunion of Chinese Community................................162 
Perceptions of Huaren--Chinese and Taiwanese Diaspora.....................162 
Theme three: Emotions and reflexive selfness.......................................164 
Conclusion..........................................................................................................174 
Chapter Six—Who performs for whom?: The Dynamic of Self-Representation and
Spectatorship in an Age of Cosmopolitanism.................................................................177 
Framework of ambivalence.................................................................................179 
National imagination in an age of cosmopolitism..............................................182 
Discourse of ambivalence...................................................................................185 
Postscript.............................................................................................................188 
References.......................................................................................................................192 

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Chapter One—The Disruption of the Global and the Local
Introduction
This study is a critique of the representation of Chinese identity, namely,
“Chineseness” in diasporic film director Ang Lee’s internationally acclaimed films
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Crouching Tiger hereafter) and Lust, Caution. I focus
on audience reception and public discourse surrounding the two films, in the hope of
contributing an alternative way of understanding national identity in relation to the
politics of cultural representation and to rethink its impact in the age of transnationalism
and uncertainty.
In the past two decades, the booming of transnational Asian cinema and Chinese
national cinema permeated in global film market raised many critical issues. The
problems of the global visibility of a minority subject in transnational films have become
a much-debated topic in many academic fields. In particular, the success of transforming
Chinese identity into a cross-cultural commodity in the global film market has brought up
some important questions in global cultural politics to be considered by transnational film
producers worldwide.
Ang Lee (Li An) is one of the most prominent directors to negotiate Hollywood
film production successfully. He is the first Oscar winning non-American film director;
his international acclaimed movies were described as “Confucianizing Hollywood” (Yeh
& Davis, 2005, p. 177). Since Sense and Sensibility, Ang Lee has also almost achieved
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the status of national hero from the perspective of audiences in Taiwan (Chen, 2000).
Nowadays, what really matters “is not so much the ideological content of the film, but
whether it will disseminate the name of Taiwan” (Chen, 2000, p. 176). The study of his
films has become a “need-to” topic in the academy. For example, when studying cultural
migrancy in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Chan (2005) asks an important
question: “What happens when a cultural text travels from one place to another?” (p. 56).
As a Chinese director in diaspora, Ang Lee has always taken on his burden to be a
film director who contributes to the representation of Chinese culture on big screen. In an
interview with the New York Times during the public period of the movie Crouching
Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee notes the reason for the success of the movie was
because of the Mandarin culture. He states,
We had escaped from the mainland in the civil war, and we missed that culture.
For those of us too young to remember the mainland, we did not really know the
old culture. So when we would see it in this movie, we would think, 'Oh, that is
China.' When I went back to China to make 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' I
knew nothing about the real China. I had this image in my mind, from movies like
this. So I projected these images as my China, the China in my head.
The movie was created by Ang Lee’s imagination of the “great Chinese theme.”
After Crouching Tiger, his other American film Brokeback Mountain and the Chinese
film Lust Caution continued to generate for him enormous attention in the academy and
the public.
The divergent perceptions of Ang Lee’s movies underscore the point that
interpretations and reactions to the cultural texts cannot be defined or understood in a
single-dimensioned vacuum. The change in sensemakings is indeed based on who the
interpreter is and the specific group to which one is perceived as belonging.
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