Confucianism in the Films of Edward Yang
Abstract
As one of the most prestigious directors in the Chinese-speaking world, Edward Yang uses film as a way to construct and convey his own thinking. Like all Chinese literati since the New Culture Movement, Yang repeatedly wanders between modernity and traditional Chinese philosophy, calmly analyzing the existential dilemmas of the urban middle class as a masterful deconstructionist and authoritative critic. Confucianism, as the most deeply rooted traditional thought in Chinese society, has profoundly shaped interpersonal communication and social values in Chinese society. The principles of benevolence, morality, sacrificing life for righteousness, reverence for propriety, and patriarchal thinking have long been the rules of Chinese society and are still the supreme beliefs of some Chinese people. In Edward Yang, one can find both his idealized intellectual Confucianism and his self-deprecation and criticism of Confucianism. This research will analyze three of Yang's representative films, A Brighter Summer Day, A Confucian Confusion, and A One and A Two, and explore Yang's Confucian identity as a film author in the context of his other works, and analyze his thoughts and confusion in the intertwined and contradictory nature of modernity and Confucianism. In these three films, Edward Yang's inner contradiction in his thinking of Confucianism in Chinese society is insightful and inspiring.
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