Good The Diversity And Unity Of ANG Lee Essay Example

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese-born film director who has made America his base. He grew up in Taiwan and studied in the tertiary level at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he finished a degree in theater in 1980. Thereafter he studied at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University where he received a master’s degree in film production. In 1982, he finished the film Shades of the Lake, which won Best Short Film the same year in Taiwan. Another film made in 1984, Fine Line, bagged the NYU Wasserman’s award for Outstanding Direction that same year. His professional career as a filmmaker began in Taiwan, and his second professional film, the Wedding Banquet, made in 1993, won the Golden Bear Award at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. He made his US debut in 1995 with the film Sense and Sensibility, which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama the following year. He is also well-known for directing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was modeled after the wuxia genre of Chinese films, featuring the adventures of martial arts experts in ancient China. This film was not only a box office success, but received critical acclaim in several notable film festivals and won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 73rd Academy Awards. He finally received a Best Director Award at the next Academy Awards for Brokeback Mountain. This Award was once more given to him for his direction of the 2012 film The Life of Pi.
What one can notice about Ang Lee’s films is that they dwell on a diverse number of environments and cultures. One has the English Sense and Sensibility, the Asian Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Western Brokeback Mountain and the unique The Life of Pi. However, there are common themes running through these diverse films. Lee loves to examine the dynamics in the relations between and among family members. Brokeback Mountain and Sense and Sensibility were both set in country settings – with lush hills, mountains and greenery. The deep secrets kept between and among members of family were clearly explored in both films. The release of repressed feelings in both films is also depicted and examined, with the Dashwood girls in Sense and Sensibility sharing their secrets, and Jack and Ennis doing the same in the other film. The Wedding Banquet is also related to Brokeback Mountain in the sense that the “taboo” topic of homosexuality and being gay is examined in these films. Jack and Ennis struggling to fight social convention, as with Simon and Wai-Tung in The Wedding Banquet. Both sets of partners try to seek acceptance from their relatives and from society, and both struggles clearly reflect the struggles of many LGBT partners in today’s society.
Thus Ang Lee has been known to dissect the relationships between individuals, whether they be members of the same family, or simply acquaintances or friends. He has been able to do this marvelously in various cultural and environments, but at the same time there is an exploration of the various relationships that are established. He is able to sift through the layers of personality such that any person may have than an easily be understood. Despite the diverse themes and backgrounds, there are common themes that abound around. These can be seen in each one of his films from his early days as a filmmaker to the present.