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ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0898-2996
Access Type
Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Chinese
Degree Type
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Year Degree Awarded
2019
Month Degree Awarded
May
Abstract
As one of the most prominent female film directors, Sylvia Chang has always had women as the main subject of her attention. Previous researchers focused on the analysis of female characters, and explored the awakening of female consciousness in her films, but they often ignored the analysis of male characters. Other scholars thought the female consciousness was very limited in her films. In this thesis, from the perspective of female consciousness, I would like to explore how women resolve dilemmas in Chang’s three films, 20 30 40 (2004), Murmur of the Hearts (Niannian念念, 2015) and Love Education (Xiang ai xiang qin 相爱相亲, 2017). I argue Sylvia Chang’s works demonstrate a new perspective of female consciousness: Women’s dilemmas are from the traditional gender roles in love, family and society. They can resolve these dilemmas by searching for self-identity, psychologically transforming, and reconciling. After their rebirth, women, as liberated individuals, can choose what role to fulfill, regardless of whether that choice is traditional or not. During this process, men are not always seen as barriers for women’s growth.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/14401865
First Advisor
Enhua Zhang
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Yang, Fanzhe, "A Triad of Dilemmas in Sylvia Chang’s Films: Women in Love, Family and Society" (2019). Masters Theses. 808.
https://doi.org/10.7275/14401865
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/808