Lee, "A modernist auteur, Edward Yang: The first decade of his film career (1982-1991)," 1995

Chu-Chun Lee, M.A.

Abstract (Summary)
This thesis begins with an introduction of Edward Yang and his relationship to the Taiwanese New Cinema Movement. Yang's first thirty-minute film, Expectation, embodies general modernist spirits and foreshadows Yang's full development of modernist characteristics in his four subsequent full-length feature films. By applying general concepts of modernism as outlined by Malcolm Bradbury and James McFarlane and theories of modernist film proposed by Robert Phillip Kolker, William Charles Siska, and Peter Wollen, along with tenets of semiotics, cultural studies, structuralism, and authorship, this thesis analyzes That Day, on the Beach, Taipei Story, Terrorizer, and A Brighter Summer Day through the analysis of theme, narration, manipulation of images, sound effects, lighting, and composition. Since these films illustrate recurrent modernist attributes, this thesis confirms Yang's position as a modernist auteur in the first decade of his film career.

Advisor: James, David E.