Country City: The Representation of Taipei in the Urban Comedies by Hou Hsiao-hsien and Chen Kun-how

Abstract

This essay focuses on the unique rural style of country-city in the urban comedies of Hou Hsiaohsien and Chen Kun-how. The six films they collaborated at the beginning of the 1980s, Love on the
Wave, Cute Girl, Spring in Autumn, Play While You Play, The Girl from the South and Six Is Company,
do not adopt the common dichotomy of country vs. city to represent Taipei city, the main location
where the love stories are set. Instead, they show it as an organic community not much different
from the country. This essay analyzes how the films carefully choose songs, locations, children, and
animals, to associate Taipei city with rural elements of nature, the past, and innocence. It will point
out that each film is accompanied by more than a song whose lyrics contain elements about love,
friendship as well as the nature, such as wind, cloud, mountain, and sea to associate the city with
the country. Besides, old houses and parks are chosen to be the main locations in the city instead
of modern urban spaces. The films also place animals and children in the plot and mise-en-scène
even though they do not have significant narrative functions. The essay will argue that Taipei city
is projected in these urban comedies as a country-city.