The Cinema of Ang Lee: The Other Side of the Screen (Directors' Cuts) - Hardcover

Dilley, Whitney Crothers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231167725 ISBN 13: 9780231167727

Publisher: Wallflower Press, 2014

Synopsis

Born in Taiwan, Ang Lee is one of cinema's most versatile and daring directors. His ability to cut across cultural, national, and sexual boundaries has given him recognition in all corners of the world, the ability to work with complete artistic freedom whether inside or outside of Hollywood, and two Academy Awards for Best Director. He has won astounding critical acclaim for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which transformed the status of martial arts films across the globe, Brokeback Mountain (2005), which challenged the reception and presentation of homosexuality in mainstream cinema, and Life of Pi (2012), Lee's first use of groundbreaking 3D technology and his first foray into complex spiritual themes.
In this volume, the only full-length study of Lee's work, Whitney Crothers Dilley analyzes all of his career to date: Lee's early Chinese trilogy films (including The Wedding Banquet, 1993, and Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994), period drama (Sense and Sensibility, 1995), martial arts (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000), blockbusters (Hulk, 2003), and intimate portraits of wartime psychology, from the Confederate side of the Civil War (Ride with the Devil, 1999) to Japanese-occupied Shanghai (Lust/Caution, 2007). Dilley examines Lee's favored themes such as father/son relationships and intergenerational conflict in The Ice Storm (1997) and Taking Woodstock (2007). By looking at the beginnings of Lee's career, Dilley positions the filmmaker's work within the roots of the Taiwan New Cinema movement, as well as the larger context of world cinema. Using suggestive readings of both gender and identity, this new study not only provides a valuable academic resource but also an enjoyable read that uncovers the enormous appeal of this acclaimed director.

About this title

Book Description:

Through suggestive readings of gender and identity, this book explores the international appeal of an acclaimed contemporary director. The author has revised the book's introduction to reflect Ang Lee's new films and their global reception and adds to the text a consideration of new developments in Chinese film, recent critiques of Brokeback Mountain (2005), and chapters on Lust/Caution (2007), Taking Woodstock (2009), and Life of Pi (2012).

About the Author:

Whitney Crothers Dilley is professor in the Department of English with a dual appointment in the Graduate School of Gender Studies at Shih Hsin University in Taipei, Taiwan. She is also editor, with Peng-hsiang Chen, of Feminism/Femininity in Chinese Literature.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wallflower Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0231167725
• ISBN 13: 9780231167727
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 248