Time, History, and Nation in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution

Unlike most of the other films by Ang Lee, Lust, Caution is strictly time specific. It sets the story line in the World War II Japanese Occupation of China between 1939 and 1942, during which time the protagonists and her friends become involved with, manipulated, and eventually victimized by the in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSymploke (Bloomington, Ind.) Vol. 25; no. 1-2; pp. 331 - 353
Main Author Weng, Leihua
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 01.01.2017
Subjects
Anxiety
Chinese history
Chinese languages
Chinese nationalism
General Articles
Hegelianism
Kristeva, Julia (1941- )
Lee, Ang
Lee, Ang (1954- )
Lust
Manipulation
Modernity
Motion picture criticism
Motion picture directors & producers
Motion pictures
Narrative history
Nation states
Nationalism
Plot (Narrative)
Political discourse
Politics
Protagonists
Ricoeur, Paul
Time
Time perception
World War II
Hong Kong
China
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Summary:Unlike most of the other films by Ang Lee, Lust, Caution is strictly time specific. It sets the story line in the World War II Japanese Occupation of China between 1939 and 1942, during which time the protagonists and her friends become involved with, manipulated, and eventually victimized by the invasive political forces that characterize their historical period and modern Chinese history. Here, Weng argues that, in the process of unfolding the lives of the protagonist and her friends during these tempestuous years, the film employs a series of filmic devices in its treatment of time, and thereby conveys an important message, a message that is subtle but subversive. The film challenges and negates the legitimacy of the dominance and manipulation of "nation as the subject of history" over the personal space and life of an individual human being.
ISSN:1069-0697
1534-0627
DOI:10.5250/symploke.25.1-2.0331