Published: 2020-12-301

“Love as a Battlefield”: Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang and Ang Lee

Alicja Helman
Media - Culture - Social Communication
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.31648/mkks.6243

Abstract

Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution is an adaptation of a very short novel by Eileen Chang. Despite being close to the original, we can observe several differences between the literature and film versions. Both authors belong to different generations. Chang
was writing about her own times. Ang Lee made a historical drama and adjusted to the conventions of contemporary cinema. Some elements, only suggested in the novel, were further developed, others were added. Both versions give us a complete story about the dangerous relationship between lovers and enemies at the same time. The film version fills the gaps present in a novel which, in turn, explains some parts of Lee’s movie. The director’s “creative treason” is a generic transformation of a piece losing its national identity in favour of international universalism.

Keywords:

adaptation, autobiography, indeterminacy, reconstruction, performance, creative treason

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Citation rules

Helman, A. (2020). “Love as a Battlefield”: Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang and Ang Lee. Media - Culture - Social Communication, 4(15), 13–33. https://doi.org/10.31648/mkks.6243

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