I am choosing to analyze the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), directed by Ang Lee, because of it’s crucial establishing themes in plot and character, and how the mise-en-scene develops these further. This particular scene is characterized by the way Mr. Chu is cooking. He guts a fish that is perfectly normal in Taiwanese culture, but as an American viewer it would be seen as disdainful, or unnecessary, but in this context, it’s just a step for Mr. Chu to prepare fresh food for his Sunday night dinner with his three daughters. The shot composition in the first five minutes is extremely conflicting to what is taught in Hollywood, or developed by American filmmakers, because the first five seconds are all about the fish, not about Mr. Chu at all, but as we continue to see him cook, we can establish him as the main character (for now). Generally, in American films and culture, food, particularly meat and fish is premade ready to cook, part of our ready-made culture, but this movie begins with Mr. Chu actually killing and gutting a live fish, which isn’t necessarily something that would happen in an American film. Most of the shots are focused on the food, which establishes the ongoing theme of food connecting families together throughout the movie. The audience doesn’t see him in a full body shot until at least three minutes into the film, which conveys his concentration not only on the intricate production of his meal, and the viewer can inference that he maybe does this for a living. This develops his character, and the themes that are constant throughout the film. Most of the light in the opening scene is natural light, which correlates with the modest lifestyle that the Chu’s live, and it also shows that even if they aren’t the most wealthy people, Mr. Chu still tries to bring his family together every Sunday night with his cooking. The traditional setting of the film, especially at the beginning, is pronounced by the lack of technology (including lighting) in Mr. Chu’s kitchen, which is also representation of the generational gap between his children and himself. The lighting in this scene, which is mostly natural light, also lights a candle (haha) for the continuation of this style throughout the movie. Because the lighting is so ordinary, it makes the audience aware of other things to focus on, such as the subject matter, or the mise en scene.
Ang Lee’s, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, is a 1994 Taiwanese film concerning a family of a father and his three daughters living through the culture shock of Taiwan in the 1990’s. In this age of Taiwan’s history, cultural norms/ customs were changing as the taiwanese distanced themselves from the republic of china and new technology moving into Taiwan also forced a change of customs. The socio-cultural context of Taiwan at this time played a strong role in how I interpreted this film, I believe the central implied meaning of this film as a whole is the traditions of chinese republic that Chu emulates with his art of traditional cuisine, are slowly being diminished by the new age of culture that his daughters bring forth, with their pregnancies and simple lunches for their children, then we see in the last dinner scene that even Chu, the representation of Chinese Republic, conforms to the new age of culture by confessing his love for a family friend that is around same age as his daughters.
This central theme is implied through the use of sound and the composition of shots through the scene where Chu is eating with his daughters then is called into work for an emergency. The sound in this scene is particularly interesting and effective in portraying the calmness Chu feels when in his traditional culture environment versus when he passes through the symbolic form of a culture shock into the “new age” untraditional form of cooking in his restaurant setting. The sound in the beginning of this scene is strictly diegetic noises, all of which surrounded by the theme of eating food. Clinking of dishes, as well as the chewing of the dishes prepared by Chu are the only noises heard during the first half of this scene while Chu is dining traditionally with his daughters. The use of these strict diegetic noises implies a deeper meaning; the control Chu has of maintaining his traditional culture when in his home space. The diegetic noises we hear when Chu is on his way to the restaurant are more of mechanical noises, for example the close to deafening sound of the phone ringing. The loudness of the ring symbolizes the sudden shock of change that introduced Taiwanese to a new age departing from the traditional culture of china. What we hear next is quieter sounds of technology such as the taxi driving Chu accelerating, and the sound of the taxi door closing. These more subtle noises of technology represent Taiwanese culture beginning to change with the introduction to the computer age. Cut to inside of the restaurant with the constant roar of orders being yelled, and chaotic noises of food being made (scraping knives, etc.). What is most important of the sound throughout this entire scene is the juxtaposition of the different noises which creates a pattern and furthermore a deeper meaning. The establishment of the quiet noises during the at home dinner scene that is then interrupted by the powerful noise of Chu’s call to work symbolizes the sudden powerful call for change in Taiwan from tradition Chinese culture. The quiet sounds after the phone call of mechanical whirring and the car door closing that are juxtaposed next to the chaotic noises of the new age of food preparation represent the sudden change of culture that took Taiwan by storm and soon allows Chu to feel comfortable abandoning his old essential morals with declaring his love for a much younger woman, and allowing his daughter to cook for him.
Another element that is very important during this scene that represents the different characteristics of both the old and new culture of Taiwan is the mise-en-scene, specifically the set design. There is a calm mood reflected by the mise-en-scene in the first half of the scene where Chu is at dinner with his daughters that is quickly diminished by the harsh and chaotic tone provided by the mise-en-scene and particularly the set design, during the scene in Chu’s ‘new age’ restaurant kitchen. The set design at dinner with Chu and his daughters is very minimalistic and pure which is reflected by the limited number of objects in frame in each shot and the color of white on the walls of their dining room. While also setting a pure tone in Chu's home this set design portrays the box Chu's daughters are put in as well as showing Chu's grip on the old traditions of China. The set design of the restaurant is vastly different than Chu's home. The primary color used is red and each shot is flooded with a foggy mass of workers. I believe this red represents Chu’s somewhat anger and distaste for the new age as well as the frustration of the workers within the scene because they cannot figure out the dish on their own. Chu serves as the beacon of hope wearing white and spreading the knowledge the old traditions provided him with.
As a whole this scene reflects the culture shock Taiwan was faced with the introduction to new technology, and specifically Chus initial reaction and feelings toward the change, through the use of telling set design and juxtaposed sound design.
My favorite 5 minute scene is from 31:30 to 36:30. This scene has the teacher watching the new volleyball coach dislocate his shoulder, the old man brings his new daughter food at school, the teacher waiting at the bus-stop, and when the girl working at the restaurant is talking to the guy that has a crush on her coworker. This scene is all about people making connections. The people being "connected" are always together, isolated from the other people in the movie by the framing. In this scene, they're all in public places, so we can see how their connection is significant even with all of the distractions around. When she's cleaning out a washcloth gazing at the volleyball coach, her face fills up the whole frame, showing how focused she is on him. We continually see her expressions reacting to him dislocating his shoulder and the other coach fixing it with a huge crowd all around them. We see another connection when the dad brings the food to the girl. The frame is filled by the food being prepared, showing how important this is for him. Then we see him walking through crowds of people and kids to get to his new daughter with it. When he brings the food (his connection to her) a whole crowd gathers around them and everything is focused on the food. When the teacher is waiting for the bus (again in a large crowd of people) she's transfixed by the volleyball coach parting through the crowd on his bike with the two traffic guys flagging both sides of the frame. The framing here shows her focus on him, and later when we zoom out to see them talking, we see how they're separated from the rest of the crowd around them. The framing does the same thing in the last part of the scene. We see the young daughter talking to the guy that has a crush on her coworker. When they're in the restaurant we see that it's not as mutual a connection as the other ones. The camera's angled to show the girl turned towards him, but he's turned away from her. This reflects the story, his "love" for someone else and her taking care of him. John Anderson says, "It's hard to tell where sex stops and food begins," in this film. Similar to the other sections of this scene, we see a large crowd in the background. Then gradually he starts to be angled more towards her until he is just as connected to her as she was to him earlier. The lighting and colors throughout the scenes are pretty bland, except on the food. The food is very exciting and vibrant on the screen. This depersonalizes the people and shows that the story could just as easily be about any other people in the diegesis, but the director focused on these ones. The bland lighting also helps shift the focus onto the composition; the composition is much more important because the lighting and colors don't give us as many clues as to what's going on.
I am choosing to analyze the ending scene of Eat Drink Man Woman. I am choosing the analyze the first scene in the film because it leaves such an impression on me for the ideas on the rest of the film. The cooking itself has a lot of movements that leave a longing effect on the technique used for the rest of the movie. There is less camera movement than actually kinesis that appears on screen because of his cooking. The screen is alive with movement. Starting with frame composition we can tell there is a lot of emphasis on the father because the frame moves to follow his movements. By this we can tell that both cooking and the father are going to play into a major theme in the entire movie. This is seen when he is gutting the fish. We see him shuking the scales through a high angle looking down, then we cut to a reverse shot of his face and him moving and then reverse to him gutting the fish. When he is cutting down the fish we follow his hands. This places emphasis on the technique of his cooking. The frame shows his hands and the fish, but there are many times the frame doesn’t show his face, and continues to just show the fish as it cooks. We know he is in the background cooking the meal, because of previous shots, but we aren’t drawn to the personal effect. This plays an importance on the food itself and creates a pattern and theme. The screen shows extreme close ups and we focus more on the way he moves his hands and it tells us that he is an extremely experienced chef. As he cooks progressively more and more and more we know more about how advanced he is as a chef. The second device that I feel plays an important role in understanding this scene is the editing and what they choose to put on screen. The editing is selective and it chooses only to show the most active points when cooking. When he is moving fast and when cooking is at its peak of movement. It cuts between different dishes as he moves around the kitchen and we get a point of view on how his brain works as we watch him cook. We see his brain and attention moving from dish to dish and not getting confused by everything that is going on which is seen as a lot because of editing. We get to know that he knows what he is doing in a kitchen. We also get to know that he has worked in a fast paced kitchen before. We can see maybe he owns a restaurant, but know he also has a passion for cooking because of his extensive collection of pots and pans and cooking methods he owns in his home.
I chose to analyze the ending scene of Eat Drink Man Woman, beginning from when the father arrives at his old house to the last shot of the film. The two cinematic elements I am using are movement/positioning and framing. The movement in the scene conveys the transition from the father and daughter being unequal, to being equal, to the daughter having overcome the traditional bonds and risen above her father. In the very first shot of the scene, the father stands at the door to his old house. He moves slowly to put the key in the keyhole, but then rings the doorbell instead. His daughter comes running out of the house, and they walk together inside. The movement is juxtaposed because she is moving much faster than he. This serves to make the reader aware of the generational gap that the movie hinges on. When the father and daughter are sitting at the table, they are both positioned in the same horizontal third of the screen. This symbolises that she has become his equal, both in family relations and in cooking. Finally, in the last shot, the daughter is standing over her father. This shows that he owes her something, and that she has finally surpassed him in her skill. However, they are not completely separate, because they are holding hands.
The second element that conveys meaning in this scene is the framing. The daughter is framed by the home in almost every shot. She is framed by the square pattern of the bars of the door in two of the shots, she is framed by curtains and walls and windows and doors and even an outside corridor. However, this is not showing that she is trapped - rather, it shows that she belongs in the house and even though the father has moved out, it is hers. The father is a different story. He is framed by the doorway in the beginning of the shot because his story arc is still unresolved; he still cannot taste and he is trapped by that. When he walks into the house, he is still framed by his background. However, the background is not in focus, foreshadowing that perhaps what is trapping him is not permanent. Finally, in the last scene, he is not framed at all. He has regained his taste and he is free.
So the scene I chose is when Chu gets called to the restaurant from dinner with his daughters. First of all Im going to examine the framing of the scene. about halfway through the scene Chu arrives at the restaurant in question and walks through as he is briefed on the scenario. Throughout this whole sequence chu remains on the vertical lines of thirds gliding back and forth between the two. This makes Chu the focus of the scene rather than the younger chefs and the chaos of the kitchen around them. Furthermore as soon as focus shifts away from Chu Lee begins to use short shots full of sharp quick movements. Clearly the intent here is to demonstrate chu’s mastery over the space as well as the culinary arts. However at the end of the scene Lee takes this presentation and turns it on its head by framing Chu’s daughters almost identically. Here at the end of the scene we see the three in the kitchen cleaning up dinner and while they rest upon the lines of the rule of thirds they move away from the lines rather than between them. Here lee implies not so much a mastery but an unwanted familiarity with the situation. This is furthered by Lee’s use of lighting as well. While the scene is focused on Chu we see harsh lighting with flashes of flame brightening the scene even further to suggest a mastery and passion for what happens here. The daughters however are in dimer softer lighting with a dark back window behind them. Yes they’re familiar with this but deep in their hearts they dread it.
It seems like about half the responses already written have also dealt with this scene, but I am going to focus on the opening cooking sequence with Chef Chu. Ang Lee introduces us to the main plot movers, and the artistic qualities of both in this first scene: Chu and the food he prepares. His goal with his scene is to entice the viewers, bring them up close with the cooking and passion of Chu. This is done through a mastering of both diegetic and nondiegetic sound, as well as shot composition. First, about the sound in this scene. In order to focus in the viewers' attentions to the food and its extreme care in preparation, the sounds of fish being gutted, vegetables being chopped, and things placed into oil are all amplified and clear for the viewers to hear. Ang Lee amplifies these sounds to place the importance on the food, and give it the power which it will hold throughout the remainder of the film. This truly is a movie about food and it effect on Chu's family, not just Chu's family. Shot composition in this scene also plays into this similarly. The extreme closeups of food being prepared opens viewers eyes to the hard work and beauty that is Chu's cooking. By introducing wonder and spectacle in the preparation of food, this motif of its importance and relation to the main characters lives is solidified. Bright colors and sharp movements dazzle and fill the frame as a clear picture of the precision Chu exudes in the kitchen is shown. Along with closeups of the food, close ups of Chu himself are shown, looking down at the food which he is preparing. When he fills the frame, viewers see the focus in his eyes, and how much the food means to him in his life. Ang Lee begins to draw out the comparison between the relationships of Chu/his food and Chu/his family.
I am choosing to analyze the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), directed by Ang Lee, because of it’s crucial establishing themes in plot and character, and how the mise-en-scene develops these further. This particular scene is characterized by the way Mr. Chu is cooking. He guts a fish that is perfectly normal in Taiwanese culture, but as an American viewer it would be seen as disdainful, or unnecessary, but in this context, it’s just a step for Mr. Chu to prepare fresh food for his Sunday night dinner with his three daughters.
ReplyDeleteThe shot composition in the first five minutes is extremely conflicting to what is taught in Hollywood, or developed by American filmmakers, because the first five seconds are all about the fish, not about Mr. Chu at all, but as we continue to see him cook, we can establish him as the main character (for now). Generally, in American films and culture, food, particularly meat and fish is premade ready to cook, part of our ready-made culture, but this movie begins with Mr. Chu actually killing and gutting a live fish, which isn’t necessarily something that would happen in an American film. Most of the shots are focused on the food, which establishes the ongoing theme of food connecting families together throughout the movie. The audience doesn’t see him in a full body shot until at least three minutes into the film, which conveys his concentration not only on the intricate production of his meal, and the viewer can inference that he maybe does this for a living. This develops his character, and the themes that are constant throughout the film.
Most of the light in the opening scene is natural light, which correlates with the modest lifestyle that the Chu’s live, and it also shows that even if they aren’t the most wealthy people, Mr. Chu still tries to bring his family together every Sunday night with his cooking. The traditional setting of the film, especially at the beginning, is pronounced by the lack of technology (including lighting) in Mr. Chu’s kitchen, which is also representation of the generational gap between his children and himself. The lighting in this scene, which is mostly natural light, also lights a candle (haha) for the continuation of this style throughout the movie. Because the lighting is so ordinary, it makes the audience aware of other things to focus on, such as the subject matter, or the mise en scene.
Ang Lee’s, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, is a 1994 Taiwanese film concerning a family of a father and his three daughters living through the culture shock of Taiwan in the 1990’s. In this age of Taiwan’s history, cultural norms/ customs were changing as the taiwanese distanced themselves from the republic of china and new technology moving into Taiwan also forced a change of customs. The socio-cultural context of Taiwan at this time played a strong role in how I interpreted this film, I believe the central implied meaning of this film as a whole is the traditions of chinese republic that Chu emulates with his art of traditional cuisine, are slowly being diminished by the new age of culture that his daughters bring forth, with their pregnancies and simple lunches for their children, then we see in the last dinner scene that even Chu, the representation of Chinese Republic, conforms to the new age of culture by confessing his love for a family friend that is around same age as his daughters.
ReplyDeleteThis central theme is implied through the use of sound and the composition of shots through the scene where Chu is eating with his daughters then is called into work for an emergency. The sound in this scene is particularly interesting and effective in portraying the calmness Chu feels when in his traditional culture environment versus when he passes through the symbolic form of a culture shock into the “new age” untraditional form of cooking in his restaurant setting. The sound in the beginning of this scene is strictly diegetic noises, all of which surrounded by the theme of eating food. Clinking of dishes, as well as the chewing of the dishes prepared by Chu are the only noises heard during the first half of this scene while Chu is dining traditionally with his daughters. The use of these strict diegetic noises implies a deeper meaning; the control Chu has of maintaining his traditional culture when in his home space. The diegetic noises we hear when Chu is on his way to the restaurant are more of mechanical noises, for example the close to deafening sound of the phone ringing. The loudness of the ring symbolizes the sudden shock of change that introduced Taiwanese to a new age departing from the traditional culture of china. What we hear next is quieter sounds of technology such as the taxi driving Chu accelerating, and the sound of the taxi door closing. These more subtle noises of technology represent Taiwanese culture beginning to change with the introduction to the computer age. Cut to inside of the restaurant with the constant roar of orders being yelled, and chaotic noises of food being made (scraping knives, etc.). What is most important of the sound throughout this entire scene is the juxtaposition of the different noises which creates a pattern and furthermore a deeper meaning. The establishment of the quiet noises during the at home dinner scene that is then interrupted by the powerful noise of Chu’s call to work symbolizes the sudden powerful call for change in Taiwan from tradition Chinese culture. The quiet sounds after the phone call of mechanical whirring and the car door closing that are juxtaposed next to the chaotic noises of the new age of food preparation represent the sudden change of culture that took Taiwan by storm and soon allows Chu to feel comfortable abandoning his old essential morals with declaring his love for a much younger woman, and allowing his daughter to cook for him.
Another element that is very important during this scene that represents the different characteristics of both the old and new culture of Taiwan is the mise-en-scene, specifically the set design. There is a calm mood reflected by the mise-en-scene in the first half of the scene where Chu is at dinner with his daughters that is quickly diminished by the harsh and chaotic tone provided by the mise-en-scene and particularly the set design, during the scene in Chu’s ‘new age’ restaurant kitchen. The set design at dinner with Chu and his daughters is very minimalistic and pure which is reflected by the limited number of objects in frame in each shot and the color of white on the walls of their dining room. While also setting a pure tone in Chu's home this set design portrays the box Chu's daughters are put in as well as showing Chu's grip on the old traditions of China. The set design of the restaurant is vastly different than Chu's home. The primary color used is red and each shot is flooded with a foggy mass of workers. I believe this red represents Chu’s somewhat anger and distaste for the new age as well as the frustration of the workers within the scene because they cannot figure out the dish on their own. Chu serves as the beacon of hope wearing white and spreading the knowledge the old traditions provided him with.
DeleteAs a whole this scene reflects the culture shock Taiwan was faced with the introduction to new technology, and specifically Chus initial reaction and feelings toward the change, through the use of telling set design and juxtaposed sound design.
My favorite 5 minute scene is from 31:30 to 36:30. This scene has the teacher watching the new volleyball coach dislocate his shoulder, the old man brings his new daughter food at school, the teacher waiting at the bus-stop, and when the girl working at the restaurant is talking to the guy that has a crush on her coworker. This scene is all about people making connections.
ReplyDeleteThe people being "connected" are always together, isolated from the other people in the movie by the framing. In this scene, they're all in public places, so we can see how their connection is significant even with all of the distractions around. When she's cleaning out a washcloth gazing at the volleyball coach, her face fills up the whole frame, showing how focused she is on him. We continually see her expressions reacting to him dislocating his shoulder and the other coach fixing it with a huge crowd all around them. We see another connection when the dad brings the food to the girl. The frame is filled by the food being prepared, showing how important this is for him. Then we see him walking through crowds of people and kids to get to his new daughter with it. When he brings the food (his connection to her) a whole crowd gathers around them and everything is focused on the food. When the teacher is waiting for the bus (again in a large crowd of people) she's transfixed by the volleyball coach parting through the crowd on his bike with the two traffic guys flagging both sides of the frame. The framing here shows her focus on him, and later when we zoom out to see them talking, we see how they're separated from the rest of the crowd around them. The framing does the same thing in the last part of the scene. We see the young daughter talking to the guy that has a crush on her coworker. When they're in the restaurant we see that it's not as mutual a connection as the other ones. The camera's angled to show the girl turned towards him, but he's turned away from her. This reflects the story, his "love" for someone else and her taking care of him. John Anderson says, "It's hard to tell where sex stops and food begins," in this film. Similar to the other sections of this scene, we see a large crowd in the background. Then gradually he starts to be angled more towards her until he is just as connected to her as she was to him earlier.
The lighting and colors throughout the scenes are pretty bland, except on the food. The food is very exciting and vibrant on the screen. This depersonalizes the people and shows that the story could just as easily be about any other people in the diegesis, but the director focused on these ones. The bland lighting also helps shift the focus onto the composition; the composition is much more important because the lighting and colors don't give us as many clues as to what's going on.
I am choosing to analyze the ending scene of Eat Drink Man Woman. I am choosing the analyze the first scene in the film because it leaves such an impression on me for the ideas on the rest of the film. The cooking itself has a lot of movements that leave a longing effect on the technique used for the rest of the movie. There is less camera movement than actually kinesis that appears on screen because of his cooking. The screen is alive with movement. Starting with frame composition we can tell there is a lot of emphasis on the father because the frame moves to follow his movements. By this we can tell that both cooking and the father are going to play into a major theme in the entire movie. This is seen when he is gutting the fish. We see him shuking the scales through a high angle looking down, then we cut to a reverse shot of his face and him moving and then reverse to him gutting the fish. When he is cutting down the fish we follow his hands. This places emphasis on the technique of his cooking. The frame shows his hands and the fish, but there are many times the frame doesn’t show his face, and continues to just show the fish as it cooks. We know he is in the background cooking the meal, because of previous shots, but we aren’t drawn to the personal effect. This plays an importance on the food itself and creates a pattern and theme. The screen shows extreme close ups and we focus more on the way he moves his hands and it tells us that he is an extremely experienced chef. As he cooks progressively more and more and more we know more about how advanced he is as a chef.
ReplyDeleteThe second device that I feel plays an important role in understanding this scene is the editing and what they choose to put on screen. The editing is selective and it chooses only to show the most active points when cooking. When he is moving fast and when cooking is at its peak of movement. It cuts between different dishes as he moves around the kitchen and we get a point of view on how his brain works as we watch him cook. We see his brain and attention moving from dish to dish and not getting confused by everything that is going on which is seen as a lot because of editing. We get to know that he knows what he is doing in a kitchen. We also get to know that he has worked in a fast paced kitchen before. We can see maybe he owns a restaurant, but know he also has a passion for cooking because of his extensive collection of pots and pans and cooking methods he owns in his home.
I chose to analyze the ending scene of Eat Drink Man Woman, beginning from when the father arrives at his old house to the last shot of the film. The two cinematic elements I am using are movement/positioning and framing. The movement in the scene conveys the transition from the father and daughter being unequal, to being equal, to the daughter having overcome the traditional bonds and risen above her father. In the very first shot of the scene, the father stands at the door to his old house. He moves slowly to put the key in the keyhole, but then rings the doorbell instead. His daughter comes running out of the house, and they walk together inside. The movement is juxtaposed because she is moving much faster than he. This serves to make the reader aware of the generational gap that the movie hinges on. When the father and daughter are sitting at the table, they are both positioned in the same horizontal third of the screen. This symbolises that she has become his equal, both in family relations and in cooking. Finally, in the last shot, the daughter is standing over her father. This shows that he owes her something, and that she has finally surpassed him in her skill. However, they are not completely separate, because they are holding hands.
ReplyDeleteThe second element that conveys meaning in this scene is the framing. The daughter is framed by the home in almost every shot. She is framed by the square pattern of the bars of the door in two of the shots, she is framed by curtains and walls and windows and doors and even an outside corridor. However, this is not showing that she is trapped - rather, it shows that she belongs in the house and even though the father has moved out, it is hers. The father is a different story. He is framed by the doorway in the beginning of the shot because his story arc is still unresolved; he still cannot taste and he is trapped by that. When he walks into the house, he is still framed by his background. However, the background is not in focus, foreshadowing that perhaps what is trapping him is not permanent. Finally, in the last scene, he is not framed at all. He has regained his taste and he is free.
So the scene I chose is when Chu gets called to the restaurant from dinner with his daughters. First of all Im going to examine the framing of the scene. about halfway through the scene Chu arrives at the restaurant in question and walks through as he is briefed on the scenario. Throughout this whole sequence chu remains on the vertical lines of thirds gliding back and forth between the two. This makes Chu the focus of the scene rather than the younger chefs and the chaos of the kitchen around them. Furthermore as soon as focus shifts away from Chu Lee begins to use short shots full of sharp quick movements. Clearly the intent here is to demonstrate chu’s mastery over the space as well as the culinary arts. However at the end of the scene Lee takes this presentation and turns it on its head by framing Chu’s daughters almost identically. Here at the end of the scene we see the three in the kitchen cleaning up dinner and while they rest upon the lines of the rule of thirds they move away from the lines rather than between them. Here lee implies not so much a mastery but an unwanted familiarity with the situation.
ReplyDeleteThis is furthered by Lee’s use of lighting as well. While the scene is focused on Chu we see harsh lighting with flashes of flame brightening the scene even further to suggest a mastery and passion for what happens here. The daughters however are in dimer softer lighting with a dark back window behind them. Yes they’re familiar with this but deep in their hearts they dread it.
It seems like about half the responses already written have also dealt with this scene, but I am going to focus on the opening cooking sequence with Chef Chu. Ang Lee introduces us to the main plot movers, and the artistic qualities of both in this first scene: Chu and the food he prepares. His goal with his scene is to entice the viewers, bring them up close with the cooking and passion of Chu. This is done through a mastering of both diegetic and nondiegetic sound, as well as shot composition. First, about the sound in this scene. In order to focus in the viewers' attentions to the food and its extreme care in preparation, the sounds of fish being gutted, vegetables being chopped, and things placed into oil are all amplified and clear for the viewers to hear. Ang Lee amplifies these sounds to place the importance on the food, and give it the power which it will hold throughout the remainder of the film. This truly is a movie about food and it effect on Chu's family, not just Chu's family.
ReplyDeleteShot composition in this scene also plays into this similarly. The extreme closeups of food being prepared opens viewers eyes to the hard work and beauty that is Chu's cooking. By introducing wonder and spectacle in the preparation of food, this motif of its importance and relation to the main characters lives is solidified. Bright colors and sharp movements dazzle and fill the frame as a clear picture of the precision Chu exudes in the kitchen is shown. Along with closeups of the food, close ups of Chu himself are shown, looking down at the food which he is preparing. When he fills the frame, viewers see the focus in his eyes, and how much the food means to him in his life. Ang Lee begins to draw out the comparison between the relationships of Chu/his food and Chu/his family.