“Home, Sweet Home”: Identity and Diaspora in Bai Jing-rui’s Qiong Yao Films

Abstract

Abstract This paper discusses the Qiong Yao films directed by Bai Jing-rui in the 1970s, arguing that these romantic dramas took a proactive part in representing a cultural identity in Taiwan society of the time. The paper investigates how various issues, such as “home”, nationhood and diaspora, are treated in the films. In the process, the paper situates the filmic discussion in the wider context of a highly politicised environment in general and the industrial discourses of “healthy realism” and “healthy variety-show” in particular. The paper proposes that Bai Jing-rui’s Qiong Yao films grew out of a push-and-pull between three elements: (1) the authorities that wanted to promote certain moral and political messages; (2) Bai Jing-rui as an auteur strongly committed to the art of filmmaking; and (3) the audience at large whose support was needed to sustain a film industry. The paper gives close attention to how Bai’s Qiong Yao films tried various ways of reconciling those competing forces. As case studies, the paper examines closely two of Bai Jing-rui’s Girl Friend (1975) and Far Away from Home (1977) to show how they blended modernity with nativism in articulating a sense of cultural identity.