“She Deserves It All (?)”: Romance and Tradition in Qiong Yao Films of the 1960s

Abstract

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.