| Summary: | 碩士 === 台南應用科技大學 === 應用設計研究所 === 99 === The Eight Infernal Generals (Ba Jia Jiang) are often the most mysterious and majestic subjects of the traditional folk arts, especially in regards to Chinese opera-style face masks, religious instruments, and costumes that are so strikingly colorful that they are always the center of attention. Review of the literature and this study show that the developmental process of the Eight Infernal Generals is not only special, but it is also the only unique type of parade formation in temple fairs that is found solely in Taiwanese culture and therefore the only one of its kind in the whole world.
It is hard not to notice the exceptionality and in-depth foundation of the artistic arrays of the Taiwanese culture. In particular, the beauty of the Eight Infernal Generals, the delicate Chinese opera-style face masks together with dance performances conveys a domineering attitude with mysterious rituals that truly attracts the public’s attention. This study found that the Chinese opera-style face masks of the Eight Infernal Generals are fine examples of delicate works of art. The formation and the dance steps can be considered a folk dance in which the body movements are similar to martial arts moves and the stage poses appear to be like statues. Therefore, the Eight Infernal Generals are part of the fine folk art that combined works of art, dance and martial art performances as well as many other types of performing arts into one performance. That’s why it not only has its own unique characteristics, but is charmingly attractive.
The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of traditional Taiwanese folk art featuring the Eight Infernal Generals through the observation of Chinese opera-style face masks, religious instruments, movements and appearances and so on, which are further applied to printed media through computer graphic poster creations with the hope of giving them new roles and interpretations through the adoption of different shapes such as curves, circles, squares, triangles and so on. Among the creations of the Eight Infernal Generals, there are eleven characters: Instruments of Torture Lord, Wen Chai Lord (he receives the Five Blessings God’s commands), Wu Chai Lord (delivers the Five Blessing God’s commands), General Gan, General Liu, General Fan, General Xie and the Gods of the Four Seasons. First, the posters adopted the qualitative research method to review four Eight Infernal Generals troupes from Taitung, Pingtung, Kaohsiung, and Tainan. Then the eleven roles selected were compared and analyzed to obtain initial and concrete results which are then further adopted to posters whilst providing new roles and new interpretations, so that the characteristics of the Eight Infernal Generals can be relayed on the posters with more meanings in regards to the elements of culture and creativity.
This research focused on the poster creations, especially targeting the poster creations that convert and interpret the characters of the traditional Eight Infernal Generals, in order to fully utilize the elements of the Eight Infernal Generals in designs and to explore the graphic and symbolic significance of each of the Eight Infernal Generals through vector geometry and design simplification. A series of Eight Infernal Generals posters have been displayed at the City God’s temple fair with the goal of raising public awareness of traditional Taiwanese temple fair culture and also letting the general public re-experience and admire the new roles as well as re-interpret the folk art related to the Eight Infernal Generals whilst enjoying traditional temple fair culture.
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