National Cinema in the Transnational Cultural Market: A Focus on the Films of Director Edward Yang

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to problematize the critical and research landscape that anchor Edward Yang's films within the framework of national cinema, based on a post-colonial Marxist perspective. The success of the Taiwanese New Wave was influenced not only by the anti-colonial movement but also by marketing strategies within the postmodern art market. Furthermore, there was a process of responding to the new nation's desire for profit through the export of goods in the international market. Therefore, this paper aims to explore a new perspective in interpreting Edward Yang's films as national cinema, while also revealing aspects that have been concealed by the logic of criticism and the market surrounding his films. To achieve this, the paper focuses on new character types in his films since the 1990s, suggesting that his films may reproduce the culture of patriarchal bourgeois families. Thus, this paper aims to indicate that the concept of national cinema can solidify its privileged position within the nation and suppress diversity, when studying national cinema in the era of transnational capitalism.