Investigation on the Mediality of Cahiers du Cinéma in the New Wave Period from the Perspective of Material Space Production

Abstract

From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, New Wave as a film revolution started in France, with the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma as its position at that time, thus forming the "Handbook School" of the director. Its characteristics such as reflecting social reality, challenging traditional narrative, and deviating from the Hollywood model all proved that it was a significant breakthrough in film history. The vigorous spiritual return behind these characteristics was once regarded as the highlight of individualism philosophy, which is also the origin of most studies on Cahiers du Cinéma. However, these studies often dwell on the close reading of the text, which seemingly tells a lot of complicated content but forms the myth of power and relationship. Therefore, the meta-process of meaning space construction needs to be uncovered from scattered rhetoric and explanation, and the investigation of the mediality provides a reliable clue. This perspective starting from the concrete intermediary structure, identity dispatch, and then to the call of connected reality is imaginative to the existentialist practitioners who seem to be unique and independent. When space production is projected into the history continuation and reality evolution, the new wave spreads all over the world. For example, Cahiers du Cinéma inspired Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Edward Yang, Ang Lee, and others to the stage, opening another chapter of Taiwanese films. Coinciding with Sartre's existentialism, author theory, and Bazin's documentary aesthetics shows its unique theoretical bridging value and the construction of media ontology, which is also the theoretical contribution of this paper.