A Comparative Study Of Zhang Yimou And Ang Lee’s Films

As two remarkable Chinese directors who are both widely recognized for theirhighly stylized works, Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee’s interpretation of China hasprovided the world with distinct and vivid images of this mysterious oriental country.With different background, they portrayed China and dissimilated Chinese culturefrom very different angle creating very different imagination for the western world.However, it is noteworthy that as Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee experimenting with morediversified subjects during their own transitional period in recent years, they haveboth been learning from each other and got inspired by each other’s success. With anincreased communication between Chinese films and the global cinema circuit, wecan see more commonalities concerning their artistic origination, aesthetics andcultural interpretation are emerging in their films. And their recent subversive workshave offered more content as well as perspectives for the studies on them.This dissertation will comprehensively analyze Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee’sfilms with a comparative method. It will also investigate the pathway of Chinese filmsentering to the global film circuit, clarify the connection between globalization andChinese film in transition and discuss the future development of Chinese film througha systematic comparative study of Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee’s works.There are four chapters in the dissertation. In the first chapter, I will discuss theirviews of film and reveal the main factors attributed to their different views of film,such as family and educational background. In the second chapter, I will focus onanalyzing the subject content and cultural orientation of their films. The third chapterwill compare their views and interpretations of aesthetics in their film, including filmlanguage and narrative style, and the fourth chapter will be dedicated to analyze theirrecent works to reveal the trend of exploring similar subjects in less drasticallydifferent ways, and discuss the strategies for the survival and development of Chinesefilms under the climate of globalization.