Zoom ID: https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/63984687265

Intersectional and Cultural Identities in Taiwanese-Language Port City Cinema

This lecture contributes to two relatively under-researched areas in the existing literature of Taiwan studies and film studies—Taiwanese-language films (taiyupian) and port city cinema. We compare five case studies in Taiwanese-language port city cinema: Nostalgic Song of Anping (安平追想曲 [Anping zhuixiang qu], 1969, dir. Chen Yang), Back to Anping Harbor (回來安平港 [Huilai anping gang], 1972, dir. Wu Feijian), The Boys from Fengkuei (風櫃來的人 [Fenggui lai de ren], 1983, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien), Cape No.7 (海角七號 [Haijiao qi hao], 2008, dir. Wei Te-sheng), and Gatau (角頭[Jiao tou], 2015, dir. Li Yunjie). Across each case, we analyse how the cinematic representation of port cities may have reflected social and cultural developments, changing (and unchanged) Taiwanese intersectional and cultural identities from the 1960s to the twenty-first century.

Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley is a Research Associate, Centre of Taiwan Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK. She is also Research Associate at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Dr. Rawnsley was Secretary-General, European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS, 2012–2018), and is the founding Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Taiwan Studies (2018–present), co-sponsored by EATS and Academia Sinica. Before she joined SOAS in 2013 and Academia Sinica in 2018, Dr. Rawnsley researched and taught East Asian film industries at the University of Leeds (2007–2013). She has published widely in both English and Chinese on Chinese-language cinema and media and democratization in Taiwan.

Spotlight Taiwan 2022