Bringing Laughter in Changing Times: Taiwan's Comedy Cinema

Abstract

Taiwan’s comedy cinema has often been brushed aside as being overly commercial while yielding little intellectual merits. Suffering from such disputable generalization are certain remarkable titles, comedians and filmmakers worthy of attention. Aiming to generate interests to this largely ignored field, this article presents one of the first extensively researched study on Taiwan’s comedy cinema. Analytical emphasis is placed on films deemed most influential, for instance, the Laurel-and-Hardy style comedy Brother Wang and Brother Liu on The Roads in Taiwan. A blockbuster that spawned numerous sequels, this 1958 dialect film is a priceless time capsule for a nostalgic look back at the vistas of pre-industrial Taiwan, and a momentous debut of veteran director Lee Hsing. Through encompassing investigations of historical and biographical records of similar titles that have contributed in facilitating Taiwan’s cinematic progress, the author endeavors to incite awareness that hopefully will lead to broader studies of Taiwan Comedy Cinema.