Ang Lee Bridging East and West through Film

Ang Lee was born on October 23, 1954 in a small town in Pingtung County, a rural area in
southern Taiwan. His father, a scholar who had fled to Taiwan from Jiangxi after the
Chinese Civil War, placed a strong emphasis on education, encouraging him to excel at
school, and teaching him calligraphy and the Chinese classics during summer vacations.
Although Lee attended the prestigious Tainan First Senior High School, where his father
was principal, he was an average student whose only escape from the intense academic
pressure was watching movies at the local theater. After twice failing the national university
entrance exam, he entered the Theater and Film program at the National Taiwan Academy
of Arts, a three-year vocational school.
This was a great disappointment to Lees father, who allowed him to attend on the condition
that he would further his studies in the U.S. And so, after graduating from the Academy
where he enjoyed acting and making short films and completing his military service, he
entered the University of Illinois as a theater major. Finding that he had a greater interest in
directing than acting, Lee went on to complete a masters in film production at NYU. In
graduate school, he made a number of short films, one of which Shades of the Lake
won Best Short Film at Taiwans Golden Harvest Film Festival. Lee also worked as a
cameraman on classmate Spike Lees thesis film, and his own thesis work, Fine Line, won
Best Film and Best Director at NYUs annual film festival.
Even more importantly, Fine Line attracted the attention of William Morris, the worlds
largest talent agency. Lee had been planning to return to Taiwan, but a call from the agency
convinced him to stay in New York. Yet even with William Morris as his agent, his poor
English made it difficult to find producers for his film projects. So Lee spent the next six
years as a stay-at-home dad while his wife Jane, a microbiologist he met at university,
worked to support the family. Lee never gave up on his filmmaking dreams, however, and
his opportunity finally came when two of his screenplays won first and second place in a
contest sponsored by Taiwans Government Information Office.
Vocabulary Bank
1. rural, adj., in, of, or like the countryside:
- The area is still very rural and undeveloped.
2. flee, v., to escape by running away, especially because of danger or fear:
- She fled (from) the room in tears.

3.

- He was caught trying to flee the country.

- In order to escape capture, he fled to the mountains.
emphasis, n., the particular importance or attention that you give to something:

4.

- The emphasis is very much on learning the spoken language.

- Schools here put/place/lay great emphasis on written work and grammar.
- There has been a shift of emphasis from manufacturing to service industries.
emphasize, v., to show that something is very important or worth giving attention to:

- I'd just like to emphasize how important it is for people to learn foreign languages.

5.

6.

- You can use italics or capitals to emphasize a word in a piece of writing.

- The Prime Minister emphasized that there are no plans to raise taxes.
excel, v., to be extremely good at something:
- Rick has always excelled in/at foreign languages.
- The team excels at turning defence into attack.
prestigious, a., respected and admired as very important or of very high quality:
- The author has won many prestigious awards.
- the city's most prestigious and exclusive hotel

7.

escape, n., the act of successfully getting out of a place or a dangerous or bad situation:
- There was no hope of escape from her disastrous marriage.
- Travel can be an escape from the routine drudgery of life.
- He made his escape on the back of a motorcycle.

8.

academic, adj., relating to education, especially at college or university level:

- The students return in October for the start of the new academic year.
- Shelly has a good academic record.

9.

academy, n., a college where students are taught a particular subject or skill:
- a military/police academy
- Pauline is studying at an art academy in France.
10. vocational, adj., providing skills and education that prepare you for a job:
- vocational education/qualifications/training
- Tom is taking vocational courses at the local junior college.
11. disappointment, n., a feeling of unhappiness because something is not as good as you
expected, or has not happened in the way you hoped:
- He could see the disappointment in her eyes.
- To our great disappointment, it rained every day of the trip.
12. attend, v., (formal) to go regularly to a place:
- Our children attend the same school.
- He is the first child in his family to attend college.
13. production, n., the activity of organizing the practical and financial matters connected
with the preparation of a film, play, or television or radio programme:
- Disney's latest production (= film) looks likely to be their most successful ever.
- She's hoping to get into television production.
14. annual, adj., happening once every year:
- Companies publish annual reports to inform the public about the previous year's
activities.
- Does that credit card have an annual fee?
15. thesis, n., a long piece of writing completed by a student as part of a university degree,
based on their own research:
- He wrote his graduate/masters/doctoral thesis on contemporary French literature.