James Wicks

Ang Lee came to the forein the 1990s as one of the 'second wave' of Taiwanese directors. After studying at NewYork University, Lee returned to Taiwan where he directed Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman. Austen's Sense And Sensibility was a tremendous critical and commercial success. But it was his triumphant return to the East with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which has transformed him into an internationally successful director.

Transnational Representations focuses on a neglected period in Taiwan film scholarship: the golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, which saw innovations in plot, theme and genre as directors highlighted the complexities of Taiwan's position in the world. Combining a concise overview of Taiwan film history with analysis of representative Taiwan films, the book reveals the internal and external struggles Taiwan experienced in its search for global identity. This cross-disciplinary study adopts a transnational approach which presents Taiwan's film industry as one that is intertwined with that of mainland China, challenging previous accounts that present the two industries as parallel yet separate. The book also offers productive comparisons between Taiwan films and contemporary films elsewhere representing the politics of migration, and between the antecedents of new cinema movements and Taiwan New Cinema of the 1980s.