Lee contrasts the 20th-century Chinese movie industry with western cinemas. According to Lee, Chinese movies tend to keep a distance between the story and the audience through long takes and deep focuses, allowing them to admire the film as a fabricated story, whereas the Hollywood-styled movies use many editing techniques to keep audiences engaged. Lee also criticized other aspects of Chinese cinema, such as the tendency to focus on romance and life stories. In my opinion, Lee’s views were very subjective and might be a bit outdated. Traditional drama was the primary entertainment method before the intervention of cameras, and it heavily impacted the popularity of story themes and paces in the Chinese population. While the story might be “non-illusional” or “not-exciting” in western culture, the quiet beauty of implicit expression exists in every successful Chinese movie, especially in the Hong Kong film industry. Many criticized modern Chinese films often contain fast-paced editing and exaggerated cliché storylines, a lousy imitation of western action movies. Focusing on the slow-paced narrative and exploring the meaning beneath the subtle way of acting may better show the advantages of Chinese-styled stories.
Lin Ting 3035952642