POST-MODERN COLLAGE: CONSTITUTION OF CHEN SHIANG-CHYI''S DESIRE IN TSAI MING-LIANG''S THE WAYWARD CLOUD

• Main Authors: Sheng-hung HUANG, 黃聖閎
• Other Authors: Shu-ling TSAI
• Format: Others
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/14130468324319424147

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 法國語文學系碩士班 === 96 === In The Wayward Cloud, Tsai Ming-liang parodies pornographic films and creates a microcosm of the consumer society. Among the four characters in the film, my study focuses on the female protagonist, Chen Shiang-chyi, because she corresponds to the example of consumers mediatized by images. Through this character, I will try to analyze the mass media’s influence on the constitution of the human desires in the consumer society. This thesis is composed of three parts. First, in light of Roland Barthes’s sign system, I attempt to elucidate the significations of metaphorized objects in this highly symbolized film and classify them according to their meaning of signs. Furthermore, I will integrate various points of view proposed by researchers who study also Tsai Ming-liang’s films. Second, I will outline the evolution of the Marxist theories, which start from the notion of merchandise in Henri Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life to the idea of the spectacle in Guy Debord’s The Society of Spectacle, and followed by the concept of the codes in Jean Baudrillard’s The Consumer Society. In addition, I will point a parallel between these three Marxist theories and the constitution of the human desires. Finally, I will apply the theories to analyze Chen Siang-chyi’s desires in The Wayward Cloud and to examine Tsai Ming-liang’s cinematographic language that allow the audience to understand his critique.