A Reconstruction of “Cinema as the Vehicle of Dao”: On the Methodology of Combining Traditional Chinese Culture and Film Theory

Abstract The methodology of combining traditional Chinese culture and film studies is of significant interest to Chinese film theory. Besides revealing traditional cultural characteristics of Chinese films, film studies should also explore the nature of cinema. Hence, the task of inheriting traditional Chinese culture extends far beyond the conversion of concepts from classical literature to modern literature, to that of illuminating the philosophy behind those concepts. Such an exploration may be illustrated by revisiting the traditional phrase, “essay as the vehicle of Dao”. Through an analysis of different layers of Dao, and with the phrase reshaped as “cinema as the vehicle of Dao”, the scope of enquiry stretches from theme to ontology and epistemology, where a conversation between Chinese film theory and Western film theory may be found.