The Philosophy of Ang Lee

Landscape and Gender in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and Brokeback Mountain

95 landsCaPe and gender In ang lee’s sense and sensIbIlIty and broKebaCK MountaIn Misty Jameson and Patricia Brace The Yīn and Yáng of the Picturesque In his 1757 work, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, English philosopher Edmund Burke discusses these two concepts as they relate to human perceptions of landscape aesthetics in their most basic form: first, the sublime, which causes terror in the observer, and second, the beautiful, which causes pleasure. Later, William Gilpin would temper these two notions with his idea of the picturesque, which mitigates these extremes, mixing the sublime with the beautiful. The picturesque focuses on freedom and lack of control in the outdoors—wild, broken trees; storms; Gothic ruins in disrepair—corresponding to more tumultuous human relationships such as unfettered sexual desire, passionate devotion without hope of reciprocation, and secrecy. On the other hand, the beautiful can be seen in controlled, manicured gardens found in small, subtle, wellmannered landscapes and interiors, corresponding to socially sanctioned relationships, often more pleasing in public than in private. These notions of landscape aesthetics, of course, are not exclusive to Western philosophy; in Chinese tradition, questions of the spiritual in landscape, of man finding that “he is in symbiosis with the landscape,” have to do with “man and the landscape as both being produced by qi, breath-energy”: Everything in the universe originates in the same breath energy, which thanks to the regulation internal to its two constitutive factors , yin and yang (such as the li) leads to every manifestation of 96 Misty Jameson and Patricia Brace existence, properly arranged. It leads to the infinite diversity of beings, man included, and to their relations with one another and their cohesion within a landscape.1 Thus, these principles, the sublime/yīn and the beautiful/yáng, reflect the dualities of nature as well as its essential oneness: man can be part of a landscape yet simultaneously be an observer of it, or a landscape can be picturesque , both delightfully beautiful and awe-inspiringly sublime. Taiwanese director Ang Lee combines these Western and Chinese traditions in his creation of visual, cultural, and emotional landscapes in his films, particularly Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Brokeback Mountain (2005).2 Sense and Sensibility In Europe, a carefully controlled and geometrically regimented hybrid of Italian- and French-style landscaping was all the rage for the estates of the royals and aristocracy just before Jane Austen’s time. André le Nôtre, royal gardener to King Louis XIV of France, set the fashion with his designs for the Tuileries Palace in Paris (1660–1664) and Versailles (1661), which was followed for the next 100 years. A central avenue along the long axis of the grounds provided a sweeping vista to those looking out from the large manor house or castle, as well as those walking or riding through it. Branching out from this avenue were pathways leading to carefully arranged individual plots, planted with flowers, shrubs, and topiary. At their center were often a large sculpture and a water feature, either a calm reflecting pool or an elaborate fountain. Aesthetic qualities of perspective, light and shadow, color, progression, and balance were all carefully planned to give the viewer the perfect experience of a man-made, controlled landscape. Large trees were planted on the boundaries of the gardens as a transition to the surrounding countryside, and cut though these groves were shadowed walkways, ostensibly to keep delicate complexions out of the sun but often a favorite trysting spot for couples. Although Le Nôtre did work in England (most notably for King Charles II at Greenwich in 1662), another style emerged there by the 1750s, pioneered by William Kent (1685–1748) and popularized by Capability Brown (1716–1783), which subverted the controlled look of the French style with an equally planned landscape that created the look of nature.3 A famous English estate, Blenheim Palace, home of the Churchill family, gave over 5,000 acres Landscape and Gender 97 of its parkland to Brown’s designs. The Italian- and French-style gardens were minimized, and large expanses of lawn (economically kept clipped short and walkable by flocks of sheep) gave way to pastures and groves. Set among them like jewels in a crown were elaborate water features, including lakes, which mirrored the manor house in their still surfaces, and huge powered fountains. Kent...