Immersion And Narrative:the Classical Garden Aesthetics Within Chinese Films

Since the age of Sergei Eisenstein,people have been studying the spatiality of the film.People tend to compare the reproduction and reference between physical space and virtual space according to movies and architecture.As time goes by,people turn to cognition to find out the deep connection of spatiality.Since the concept of "poetically dwelling on earth" been brought up by Heidegger,the classical garden,a special form of architecture,comes into view of scholars and researchers.Classical garden has developed into a full theory system,yet rarely being compared with film as an art form.In phenomenology,the study of "poetically dwelling on earth" by Heidegger and "phenomenology de la perception" by Merleau-Ponty explains the way of being.These two theornes reconcile the physical space and virtual space.Besides,Deleuze thought that the space of movie was able to convey meaning by movement and time.According to these,we can explore how immersion and narrative emerge with the help of spectator\time and space\movement.Meanwhile,there are isomorphic relations between classical garden and film in visual experience and narrative.Giuliana Bruno once brought up the concept of"picturesque".Even though it's not about Chinese classical garden,it has something to do with garden making.Chinese films mean specifically the art film with Chinese classical phenomenon.Director Fei Mu wrote an article called Talking about "the Air"after finishing filming A Sea of Fragrant Snow discussing about how a film could properly make their audience immerse into the film itself.And his later film,Spring in a Small Town,practiced his theory in that article.The film The Assassin of director Hsiao-hsien Hou is called legacy film because of its oriental classical tone with advanced audio-vision filming technique.Once a strong link has been established between the interactor and the narrative cinematic space oriented through their point of view,the viewer immerse into the film.All in all,this essay tries to cutting in from phenomenology,exploring the special spatial narrative of oriental films,and the relationship between inhabitants and space.Through the thorough study of Spring in a Small Touwn and The Assassin,the writer is able to get a touch of classical garden using in films,and how immersion occurs using it.