Free Project: Research on Edward Yang

After researching the Taiwanese New Wave, I will now be researching two of its most prominent directors, which is Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Beginning with Edward Yang who was born in 1947 and passed away in 2007 from colon cancer.

Yang was directly involved with the birth of the Taiwanese New Wave through the film In Our Time (1982), in which he directed one of the short within the anthology named Expectations. Fitting to the title, it explores the life of a young girl living with her mother and older sister and the handsome tenant living with them (Pavlos D., 2020). Here, we get to see Yang's early characteristics as a filmmaker, such as how he tackles youth and women, and how he explores an issue or subject, like sexual awakening, expectations and disappointment, and family relationships. 

A Brighter Summer Day (1998) - filmlinc.org

A particular film I would like to explore, that I think describes him as a filmmaker and also helps define the Taiwanese New Wave is the film A Brighter Summer Day (1998). It was set in 1960s Taiwan, of a rebellious teenager, Xiao Si'r coming of age amid rival street gang and the "White Terror" period of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang governmenet (MUBI, n.d.). Seen in this film is Yang and most of the Taiwanese directors style of creating deliberate pacing through long shots and long takes. Another characteristic to these New Wave filmmakers and seen here is how the camera also often maintains a middle-to-long distance from the characters, attempting to also include the environments and surroundings around them in the portrait (Gilman, 2017)

The film is inspired by the real events of a 14-year old killing his girlfriend that happened when Yang was young. Here, Yang is using the medium to create a slow build-up for audiences to understand how it led to the murder. As such, the film heavily emphasises on Si'r, the teenager's fall from innocence to delinquency, all with the backdrop of youth and political turmoil (Criterion, n.d.). The film is densely packed with metaphors for the different cultural influences that are pulling together and ripping apart Taiwanese society, such as characters living in Japanese houses left from 50 years of colonization, youth listening to American rock 'n' roll showing western culture in Taiwan, or the Kuomintang who are ruling over them.

Later on in the film, we see how these different cultures would impact the young character's fall to crime, such as rock 'n' roll fueling rebellion or the lack of identity and their search for it through gangs, at a time where Taiwan's identity is still confusing and unrecognizable within China (Austerlitz, 2002) For Si'r, the acts of gang violence made him feel that he belongs in it, something that he can't receive guidance from his family, and which would later led to the murder act. However, even then, Yang still emphasises on other moments of youth, showing Si'r experiencing first love and friendships within the misery, hopelessness, and death (Arispe, 2020); which I felt to be adding a humanistic layer on this story and its characters.

Yi Yi (2001) - nziff.co.nz

Moving on, I would also like to focus on another film that describes Yang and his relationship to Taiwanese New Wave, which is Yi Yi (2001). The film was made during the second phase of the Taiwanese New Wave, in which films were less focused on realism but were still committed to portraying a uniquely Taiwanese perspective (Kordecki, 2021). Set at contemporary times and mostly restricted to the city of Taipei, it focuses on three generations of a middle class family and their personal struggles within the modern urban conditions of Taipei as it approaches the 21st century.

Like A Brighter Summer Day with its four hour runtime, Yang also has given Yi Yi a 3 hour canvas to explore the story and characters in more depth. Each of the generations have very distinct experiences that are often to be expected for their age, but also connects them in a special manner to the city. This is because Taipei is seen as alive through how Yang shows the relationship between city people of the time, living their own lives respectively as isolated individuals (Weng, 2021).

You can see how Yang portrays these isolated individuals trying to solve their own problems, such as the middle-aged father's past and his work, the mother's fear of losing the grandmother and feeling her life empty, the teenage daughter trying to understand love, and Yang Yang, the youngest child who wants to understand the world and adults around him. While this isolation causes the family to separate, it was only after the grandmother's death that the family was able to be reunited, each of them having learned about a part of themselves and about life from their respective struggles.

Edward Yang (1983) - unitas.me

Lastly, I would like to give an excerpt from an interview in 2000, right after he finished Yi Yi.

"I wouldn't intentionally put in my viewpoint. I want to bring up something as naturally, as neutrally as possible, and let viewers have their own viewpoint. That's my intention in all of my work--otherwise it would be propaganda. If I feel something, I would much rather portray it from a neutral position, the universality of being human." (Sklar, 2000)

I feel that this quote from him truly describes the qualities of his films. While I have explored Expectation, A Brighter Summer Day, and Yi Yi in this post, many other of his films like That Day on The Beach, The Terrorizers, Confucian Confusion, Mahjong, and Taipei Story have also explored the social and political conditions of Taiwan but focused on the neutral viewpoint of the characters. These portrayals of Taiwanese people felt very humane as Yang explored lessons and issues that are universal to people in general.

I feel that I've understood that a certain quality of the Taiwanese New Wave is that directors like Yang has range of films that contains realism, mainly the condition of Taiwan under the Kuomintang in A Brighter Summer Day, people who lacked an identity because of the rule in other films, or Taiwan and its change to an urban and modern society with different cultures. What makes Yang distinct is his portrayal of universal human struggles within his Taiwanese characters, creating compelling stories that have connected people across different cultures.

As a media production student, I have also learned various film production lessons from him. Particularly, Yang emphasises a lot on writing as the core of a film, a viewpoint that I also share. I had learned from his style on using medium and wide angle shots to portray sceneries and characters at the same time or to isolate the characters completely, making them look small in the urban sceneries of Taipei. Then, his use of long takes and a very long canvas to tell a story (film runtime) also taught me that such methods also helps create a documentary-style feeling into the film. I also learned more about the independent filmmaking style, of having low production values which led to shooting on location and using less-known actors. This however also taught me that this combination creates a very realistic and natural feel to the film.

References

• Pavlos D. (2020) In Our time: Life stages or the conception of the Taiwanese New Wave, The Twin Geeks. Available at: https://thetwingeeks.com/2020/04/09/in-our-time-life-stages-or-the-conception-of-the-taiwanese-new-wave/ (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• A Brighter Summer Day (no date) MUBI. Available at: https://mubi.com/films/a-brighter-summer-day (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• Gilman, S. (2017) A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991), Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/the-chinese-cinema/a-brighter-summer-day-edward-yang-1990-fe5b4050d094 (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• Austerlitz, S. (2002) Senses of cinema, Senses of Cinema. Available at: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/yang/ (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• Arispe, J. (2020) A Brighter Summer Day: Defining the taiwanese new wave (review), Loud And Clear Reviews. Available at: https://loudandclearreviews.com/a-brighter-summer-day-taiwanese-new-wave-review/ (Accessed: February 26, 2023).

• Sklar, Robert, “The Engineer of Modern Perplexity.” Cineaste 26:1 (2000)

• Kordecki, A. (2012) Defining cultural identity: Taiwanese new wave cinema, Culture Trip. Available at: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/taiwan/articles/defining-cultural-identity-taiwanese-new-wave-cinema/ (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• Weng, C. (2021) Sad but beautiful, lost, but with hope - in memory of Edward Yang, The Taiwan Times. Available at: https://thetaiwantimes.com/sad-but-beautiful-lost-but-with-hope-in-memory-of-edward-yang/ (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

Bibliography

• Cole, J. (2016) Review: Edward Yang's A brighter summer day on Criterion Blu-ray, Slant Magazine. Available at: https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/a-brighter-summer-day-bd/ (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• Abrams, S. (2011) A rational mind: The films of Edward Yang, Slant Magazine. Available at: https://www.slantmagazine.com/features/a-rational-mind-the-films-of-edward-yang/ (Accessed: February 25, 2023).

• Edward Yang, 59; filmmaker focused on modern Taiwanese life (2007) Los Angeles Times. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jul-02-me-yang2-story.html (Accessed: February 25, 2023). 

• "Yi Yi": Edward Yang interview (2014) “Yi Yi”: Edward Yang Interview. Available at: https://www.hollywood.com/general/yi-yi-edward-yang-interview-57162616 (Accessed: February 25, 2023).