Ann Lee, Chinese Cultural Practice In Hollywood

The central theme of Ann Lee's movies is family. To compare with western directors, he describes the relationship among people. From the conception of traditional Chinese family, namely Confucian family values, which is still present today, the father-figure always occupies the position of authority. Ann Lee describes the changes in the position of the father, and the collapse of father's traditional authority which is a break with Confucian Culture. The retirement of father represents a break of traditional cultural bulwark.Ann Lee, because of his dramatic story structure, always translates the purely philosophic ideology to the roles'talk and behavior, the scene and property, and the whole story moving. Ann Lee translates the difference of these elements with neither a purely oriental view angle, nor a purely occidental view angle. Ann Lee's attitude toward the cultural difference is open and comprehensive, which is the most significant reason for his outstanding genre.What coming with the modernization is not only the advancement of technology, but also the vast transformation in the way of life and thinking. With Ann Lee's statement, in the changes, fathers are always performed as the sacrificial family member. Father, on the one side, he is the representation of the culture which he respects, and on the other side, at the same time, he is the victim of it too. The father has lost his position of authority in the family. The trilogy of family reflects the conflict of individual volition between the fathers with filial piety and the young generation with western education, while his films of western theme reflects the dilemma between the social consciousness and individual ideal in western culture.The characters are not only the carrier and mouthpiece of culture. The tasks that they bear, not only include to beat the romantic"sense"by infidelity, but also include to uncover the true feeling of"sensibility"; not only to include traditional family, but also to include an open and fluid philosophy of love.Considering narration, Ann Lee organizes the beginning, process, high tide and ending using the flow of time. Thereby, the audience observe the fate of the characters through the conflicts.When we think about the Ann Lee's experience of his engagement in movie, we can notice that his accomplishment brings the proposition of the cultural lay. People focus on his identity as an oriental director all the time, which can not be separated from his oriental cultural meaning which infuses his films.