Colonial Memory And Postcolonial Imagination

The Japanese image has always existed as a symbol with special symbolic significance since the birth of Taiwanese movies.Whether it is the study of the history of Taiwan's film,or the analysis of the story text,image style,director creation of Taiwan's film,or the thinking of Taiwan's literature,customs,society,history and other issues,we rarely avoid the existence and influence of Japanese image.As the new generation of Taiwanese filmmakers,Wei Desheng,whose main representative works are based on the history of Japanese colonial period,therefore all involve the reconstruction of the image of Japan and Japanese.Owing to the changes of social environment,the new generation of directors represented by Wei Desheng has obviously different creative ideas from the previous generation in the writing of Japanese images.The narrative of the film no longer focuses on the national pain and memory brought about by the Japanese colonial rule.Instead,it uses a flexible,romantic brushstroke to write a "new Japanese image" with post-colonial imagination and cultural myth.From the "lover" carrying colonial memory to the "aggressor" of the colonial pluralism,to the "spiritual mentor" who spread civilization,Wei Desheng constructed multiple types of Japanese images in three representative works by means of audio-visual mirror expression,narrative space-time structure and the combination of narrative symbols.His films endow the Japanese with a warm temperament and lofty quality,reflecting the special "Japanese character" of Taiwan films in the new century,thus shaping a collective imagination and recognition of the history of Taiwan's Japaneseoccupation among film texts,film producers and consumers.Under the influence of globalization,the crisis of cultural identity in Taiwanese society has caused Wei Desheng's screen construction of Japanese images to be entrusted with the task of exploring the so-called "Taiwan consciousness".The film has shaped different types of Japanese images from their respective perspectives and narratives,and the Japanese as a contrast is the strong support of director Wei Desheng in trying to reshape Taiwan's subjective narrative and summon nationalism.Therefore,there are many contradictions in the reproduction of historical facts and the choice of narrative angles,as well as the image of Japanese colonists.Wei Desheng still can't get rid of the "Tragic Taiwan" creation complex.The screen construction of the Japanese image is only a product of post-colonial sub-cultural context,and it is difficult to form a transcendental creative vision and reflective consciousness.Therefore,his film lacks the introspection and critical consciousness to face the hegemonic framework of Japanese colonialism,and the establishment of Taiwan's subjectivity based on the premise of "de-bordering" is full of internal contradictions.