游擊文化

The Power of Taiyu Pian: Keywords of Taiwanese-Language Cinema
台語片的魔力：從故事、明星、導演到類型與行銷的電影關鍵詞

Author:   LIN, KUEI-CHANG 林奎章
ISBN: 978-986-99347-2-5
Date: 12/2020
Pages: 464
Length: 185,842

*Nominated for the 2022 TIBE Book Prize (Nonfiction)
*Nominated for the 2021 Openbook Awards

By creating dialogues between current cultural trends and Taiwanese films from 60 years ago, backed by the author’s extensive knowledge of the movie industry, this book illustrates the stories behind many films and people in the film industry/

Once upon a time, there was a Hollywood in Taiwan. Over 1,000 Taiwanese-language films were produced from the island of Taiwan between 1955 and 1981.

  Actors were so popular they were in scarce supply. Famous or otherwise, all actors and actresses were involved in multiple productions at once. When Taiwanese-language film stars appeared at the movie theaters, they were greeted with resounding enthusiasm. A wide genre of films was made at that time – westerns, martial arts, spy movies, Sci-Fi, romantic melodrama, fantasy of gods and monsters, and mysteries and horrors – the Taiwanese-language cinema was always on-trend.

  During that golden age, countless filmmakers were involved in Taiwanese film production. Nevertheless, this prosperous time for the movie industry was constantly shunned due to political factors. Moreover, the great loss of motion picture films made it even more challenging to study and bring this period of time back to light.

  To attract a new generation of viewers to Taiwanese-language films, Lin equipped himself with data analytics. After collecting numerous text data ranging from old newsprint ads, stories, opinions, artifacts, and contemporary reviews of Taiwanese-language films, he conducted word frequency analysis and picked out 110 keywords that appeared significantly more. The keywords listed and explained in his book include names of actors and actresses, directors, producers, screenwriters, photographers, and film critics; genres of important works, stories, roles, adaptations, and frequently-seen dramatic elements and settings; catchphrases in advertisements and marketing strategies; as well as major perspectives in the studies of contemporary Taiwanese films.

 Integrating relevant research results with his own studies and observations, the author explores what’s underneath the significant presence of these keywords then and annotated them in light of the zeitgeist where they belonged and the cinematic experiences of the contemporary audiences. By creating dialogues between current cultural trends and Taiwanese films from 60 years ago, backed by the author’s extensive knowledge of the movie industry, this book illustrates the stories behind many films and people in the film industry and delivers the history of Taiwanese-language films – the commitment and dedication of filmmakers during the creation of these films, and the restoration and advocacy efforts of film researchers for these films since the 1990s.

LIN, KUEI-CHANG 林奎章
Began researching into Taiwanese-language films while studying for his master’s degree in Drama and Theater at the National Taiwan University in 2004. After obtaining his degree, he spent a great number of years collecting documents as a field researcher and studying and publishing articles and papers related to Taiwanese-language films. On the other hand, he also did further education on library and information science, to learn more efficient and forward-looking methods of data organization. Currently, Lin works at TAIWAN FILM & AUDIOVISUAL INSTITUTE(TFAI) as a research fellow in Dept. of Research & Publication. In 2023, he participated in the preparation and execution of the international exhibition A One and A Two: Edward Yang Retrospective,  and also served as a pre-project researcher; in 2024, he served as the coordinator of TFAI Research Program, completed the project “Revisit the 11th Film Festival in Asia & Aviation Accident of CT106,”  and was also responsible for the planning of ‘Rediscover Lin Tuan-Chiu’ in Film Appreciation Journal 200th Issue.