周学麟 | Romance and Tradition in Qiong Yao Films of the 1960s
“She Deserves It All(?)”:
Romance and Tradition
in Qiong Yao Films of the 1960s
Xuelin Zhou
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
周学麟，新西兰奥克兰大学文学院影视传媒系副教授、新西兰奥克兰大学孔子学院院长。
Xuelin Zhou is associate professor in Media and Communication, Faculty of Arts at University of Auckland as well as director of Confucius Institute at University of Auckland.
ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS
Abstract: Qiong Yao films are known for telling stories of romance. This essay focuses on the female characters in Qiong Yao films produced by the Grand Motion Picture Company (GMP) in the 1960s. Founded by Li Han-xiang in 1963, GMP played a key role in the evolution of Taiwan cinema in general and Qiong Yao films in particular. The 1960s was to Taiwan a time of political and ideological conservatism. Discipline and obedience to authorities were prioritized as an official strategy to celebrate the traditional values and principles of Chinese culture. The Confucian-oriented ideology toward women dominated. The paper proposes that most women portrayed in the Qiong Yao films by GMP remain in the traditional status, emotionally and economically dependent on men. The paper posits that the gender-based/biased authoritarian hierarchy represented in these romantic dramas was closely associated to the patriarchal social structure and the mainstream political ideology. GMP’s 1968 film Love Eternal will be used as a case study to show how “the limits of proprieties” must be followed and what devastating effects were produced in the case when these traditional values were challenged and violated.
摘要: 琼瑶电影以爱情故事闻名。本文主要研究20世纪60年代由国联影业有限公司出品的琼瑶电影中的女性角色。国联影业公司由李翰祥于1963年创办，该公司对于台湾电影，尤其是琼瑶电影的发展起着关键作用。1960年代的台湾是一个政治与意识形态上都持保守主义的时代。当局政府把首要推崇纪律和服从权威作为一种弘扬中华文化传统价值观与原则的官方策略；儒家的女性思想在当时占据主导地位。本文认为，国联影业公司拍摄的琼瑶影片中所塑造的女性角色大多停留在传统地位，在情感与经济上都依赖于男性；这些爱情片中所表现的基于性别/具有性别歧视的专制等级制度，与父权制的社会结构和主流政治意识形态密切相关。本文用国联影业公司1968年出品的琼瑶电影《女萝草》作为案例研究，以说明在当时当传统价值观受到挑战和遭到违背时，“礼仪规范”必须被遵守以及产生了哪些毁灭性的影响。
Keywords: Qiong Yao films, romance, patriarchy, Grand Motion Picture, Li Han-xiang
关键词：琼瑶电影，爱情，父权制，国联影业，李翰祥
To cite this article:
Zhou, Xuelin. "“She Deserves It All (?)”: Romance and Tradition in Qiong Yao Films of the 1960s" Journal of Chinese Film Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, 2023, pp. 367-385. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0012
A GLIMPSE OF THE ARTICLE
文章提要
李翰祥
琼瑶
01
Li Han-xiang and
the Grand Motion Picture Company
李翰祥与国联影业公司
GMP produced nine Qiong Yao films altogether. Out of them, Zhang Zengze 张曾泽directed one (Dodder Flower 菟丝花, 1965); Guo Nan-hong 郭南宏 directed two, i.e. Love Is More Intoxicating than Wine 深情比酒浓 (1968) and When Dreams Come True 明月几时圆 (1968); Yang Su 杨甦 and Lin Fu-di 林福地 each directed three: Many Enchanting Nights (Parts 1 and 2) 几度夕阳红 (上、下) (1966 and 1967) and The Stranger 陌生人 (1968) for Yang, and The Whirl 窗里窗外 (1967), Deep in the Mountain 远山含笑 (1967), and Love Eternal 女萝草 (1968) for Lin. Li Han-xiang was credited as the “executive director” 策划导演 of all the nine films (“planning producer” 策划制片 in the case of Love Eternal).
Li Han-xiang was by no means a figurehead in taking up the role of Executive Director. His involvement with each project was thorough and comprehensive, ranging from early-phase planning, script writing, cast selecting, shooting, and post-production. It was reported that the acting director would go to Li’s residence with a detailed agenda for the following day to seek his comments and approval (Tang 2013, 23). Yang Qun杨群, the star of Many Enchanting Nights and The Stranger, recalled that Li made all the major decisions on the scripts and had the final say about the staging of specific scenes. Li’s knowledge, experience and work attitude not only stamped GMP productions, including the adapted Qiong Yao films, with a personal signature style but also benefited and influenced those working with him.
国联影业公司一共出品了九部琼瑶电影。其中包括张曾泽执导的《菟丝花》（1965）、郭南宏执导的《深情比酒浓》（1968）和《明月几时圆》（1968）。杨甦和林福地各执导了三部电影；杨执导三部影片分别是《几度夕阳红》（上部和下部，1966和1967）以及《陌生人》（1968）；林执导的三部为《窗里窗外》（1967）、 《远山含笑》（1967）和《女萝草》（1968）。李翰祥在这九部影片中都署名为“策划导演”（在《女萝草》中的署名为“策划制片”）。
李翰祥绝非有名无实的策划导演。每部电影从早期计划、剧本撰写、选角、拍摄到后期，他都有全面、深度地参与。据说执行导演总是会在前一天带着详细的日程安排去到李的住处，征求他的意见和同意。饰演《几度夕阳红》与《陌生人》的男主角杨群回忆到，有关剧本的重要决定都需要通过李，并且对于特定场景应如何演出，李具有最终决定权。李的知识、经验与工作态度不仅使国联影业公司的电影（包括其改编的琼瑶影片）都具有他个人的标志风格，而且也惠及并影响了同他一起工作的人。
图片从左往右依次为：
《几度夕阳红》（上）(Many Enchanting Nights, Part 1, 1966）；
《几度夕阳红》（下）(Many Enchanting Nights, Part 2, 1967）
《陌生人》（The Stranger, 1968）
02
An Androcentric Society and Its Filmic Representation
一个以男性为中心的社会与其在电影中的呈现
The Qiong Yao films produced by GMP aligned with the official ideology, which is partly reflected in the “one-man-and-two-women” narrative formula as a means to reiterate the power of patriarch. The male protagonist was often put in a privileged position to date two women simultaneously within the narrative. The women involved were usually polarized between virtue and vice (e.g. Dodder Flower and Love Is More Intoxicating than Wine), or rural and urban (e.g. Many Enchanting Nights and When Dreams Come True). Invariably, the women unconditionally fell for the man on the first sight (with no obvious reasons being provided). As their affections continued to develop, the women would be overwhelmed by their love to the same man. While the man moved comfortably and confidently between them, the women competed against each other for his favor until one withdrew from the triangle love relationship either voluntarily in a self-sacrificing manner or inadvertently through tragic death. Different women had the same feeling to one man regardless of their education and/or family background.
国联影业公司拍摄的琼瑶电影与当时官方意识形态的契合，部分反映在强调父权力量的“一男两女”叙事模式上。在这种叙事模式中，男主人公通常处在一个能够同时与两名女性约会的特权地位。两名当事女性往往处在善与恶（比如《菟丝花》和《深情比酒浓》）或者乡下与城市（比如《几度夕阳红》和《明月几时圆》）的两极分化中。毫无例外地，女性总是（毫无铺垫地）对男主人公一见钟情。然后随着感情的不断发展，两名女性总是会被她们对同一个男人的感情所淹没。男主人公在两名女性之间自在从容又自信地周游，而两名女性则为了获得男主的爱展开竞争，直到其中一方以自我牺牲的自愿方式或者以悲剧死亡的意外方式退出这场三角关系为止。不论女性角色的教育以及/或者家庭背景如何，她们都会对同一名男性产生同样的情愫。
图片从左往右依次为：
《菟丝花》(Dodder Flower, 1965）；
《深情比酒浓》(Love Is More Intoxicating than Wine, 1968）
《明月几时圆》（When Dreams Come True, 1968）
03
Love Eternal
《女萝草》
By the time Li Han-xiang decided to adapt Qiong Yao’s short story “Love in the Twilight” (晚情) into a feature film in 1968, GMP was already in deep financial difficulties and was barely operational. The project was therefore outsourced to Chin Hua Motion Picture Company owned by Zhou Jian-guang 周剑光, a renowned producer and successful businessman. The outcome was Love Eternal – a fine film of high integration between content, style, and theme. The film represents the best practice of the Qiong Yao film (alongside Many Enchanting Nights and My Dream Boat 船 (1967) directed by Doe Ching/Tao Qin 陶秦 for Shaw Brothers, 1967) in the 1960s. Its realistic touch in tackling the issue of gender and sexuality made Love Eternal an important connecting link between the films of socialist realism made in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s and those of “healthy” realism directed by Taiwanese filmmakers such as Lee Hsing and Bai Jing-rui in the 1970s.
To conclude, the 1960s was to Taiwan a decade that, from the authorities’ point of view, needed authoritarianism and sociocultural stability. Despite the economic development on the social level and the increasing education opportunities for women on an individual level, Confucianism, with its principles emphasizing familial hierarchy and gender discrimination, became the dominant ideology of the ruling government. The strict ideological control and the intense political atmosphere encouraged private and state-run film studios to exercise self-censorship. The Qiong Yao films produced by Li Han-xiang were of no exceptions. The role of women in the narrative was often conceptualized and dictated by the patriarchal ideology. These female characters, with their desires subjugated to men, were enslaved by patriarchy and were deprived of the ability to possess the control of their own body. Made by male filmmakers and through a patriarchal lens, these romantic dramas on women-related issues had neither interest nor intention to raise the female consciousness or to promote the female agency and subjectivity. Through their focus on representing the conflicts inside and outside the family, the films spoke to the official ideology of celebrating a clearly gender-divided, i.e. man-dominated culture. As the present paper has attempted to show, the meaning of the Qiong Yao films in the 1960s shed much light on the structure of feeling of Taiwan society of the time.
总的来说，在当时政府眼中，20世纪60年代的台湾是需要威权主义与社会文化稳定的一个十年。尽管社会层面经济在发展，个体层面女性接受教育的机会在增加，但强调家庭等级观念和性别差异原则的儒家思想依然是执政政府的主导意识形态。对意识形态的严格控制与激烈的政治氛围促使私人和国营电影公司进行自我审查。李翰祥负责的琼瑶电影也不例外。女性在叙事模式中的角色往往由父权意识形态进行概念化与主宰。欲望屈从于男性，这些女性角色被父权制所奴役，其拥有控制自己身体的能力被剥夺。这些由男性导演以父权制的视角拍摄的爱情片，在有关女性的问题上既无兴趣也无意愿提升女性意识或促进女性的能动性与主体性。通过对家庭内外冲突的关注，这些影片传达了官方意识形态，即对性别的绝对区分与对由男性主导文化的推崇。正如本文所试图论述的一样，20世纪60年代的琼瑶电影揭示了当时台湾社会的情感结构。
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Journal of Chinese Film Studies
《中国电影研究》
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主编：王海洲 金海娜
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