尋找張乾琦: 穿越《我願意》、《鍊》、《囍》的幻見

國

立

交

通

大

學

外國文學與語言學研究所文學組

碩

士

論

文

Looking for Chien-Chi Chang: Traverse the Fantasies

in I Do I Do I Do, The Chain and Double Happiness

尋找張乾琦: 穿越《我願意》、《鍊》、《囍》的幻見

研 究 生：陳思穎

指導教授：林志明 博士

尋找張乾琦: 穿越《我願意》、《鍊》、《囍》的幻見

研 究 生：陳思穎

Student：Ssu-Ying Chen

指導教授：林志明 博士

Advisor：Dr. Chi-Ming Lin

國 立 交 通 大 學

外國文學與語言學研究所文學組

碩 士 論 文

A Thesis

Submitted to Institute of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics College of Humanities and Social Sciences

National Chiao Tung University in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Master

in

Foreign Literatures and Linguistics January 2006

Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China

i

學生：陳思穎

指導教授：林志明博士

國立交通大學外國文學與語言學研究所文學組碩士班

摘

要

本文以斯拉維．紀傑克對幻見的闡釋來閱讀張乾琦三本攝影書《我願意》、

《鍊》、《囍》中的攝影作品。不同於一般評論者著重討論展覽中的照片，本文

的研究對象是攝影書中的照片，將之視為檔案。攝影書本身所提供的閱讀脈絡主

要來自張乾琦個人的立場與關懷，企圖將影像重新脈絡化而賦予影像意義。

過去對張乾琦攝影作品的討論著重於鍊的隱喻，但並未深入探究此隱喻背後

的意義，這或許與討論未被脈絡化有關。本文企圖從攝影書提供的脈絡來分析張

乾琦的作品，一方面讀出其作品的主題，看他如何藉由此主題來回應所關懷的議

題，以攝影影像對社會作症狀式閱讀，穿越社會幻見並挑戰拍攝照片的幻見；另

一方面，在讀出此主題時，也企圖貼近張乾琦作品的核心，看他如何耕耘其影像

領域，並在此過程中試圖回應其自身的問題。

關鍵字：張乾琦、攝影、幻見、紀傑克、婚紗、龍發堂、越南新娘

ii

Looking for Chien-Chi Chang: Traverse the Fantasies in I Do I Do I Do, The

Chain and Double Happiness

Student：Ssu-Ying Chen

Advisors：Dr. Chi-Ming Lin

Institute of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics

National Chiao Tung University

ABSTRACT

This thesis studies the photographic works of Chien-Chi Chang in his

three photobooks I Do I Do I Do (2001), The Chain (2002) and Double

Happiness (2005) with Slavoj Žižek’s notion of fantasy. Instead of focusing

on the photographs in exhibitions, the main text here is the photographs in the

photobooks, which are considered as archive. Formed by Chang’s own

concerns, the photobooks re-contextualizes the photographs so as to extract

the meaning of the images.

The previous commentaries on Chang’s photographs emphasized on the

chain metaphor but stopped while shedding light on it without careful

discussion. This research analyzes Chang’s photographs within the context

provided by the photographic books. Firstly, it studies the theme of Chang’s

works to see how he does the symptomatic reading towards the society with

the photographic images, in which he traverses the social fantasies and

challenges the fantasy of taking photographs, so as to present his concerns.

Secondly, it aims at accessing to the core of Chang’s works to see how he

cultivates his territory of images and reflects on his own questions in the

process of photographing.

Keyword: Chien-Chi Chang, Photography, Fantasy, Slavoj Žižek,

iii

First of all, I sincerely present my appreciation and respect to Mr.

Chien-Chi Chang, who really helped me a lot when I worked on this thesis.

His works move me and raise my passion. It is my honor to study his

photographs.

I am very grateful to my advisor Prof. Chi-Ming Lin, who led me to the

world of images. Without him, this thesis would not be what it is. My

thanks also go to Prof. Joyce Chi-Hui Liu, whose lectures raised my interest in

the theories of psychoanalysis, and Prof. Kien-Ket Lim, who not only opened

the door of literature and film study for me but also kept encouraging me in

the past six years. I also want to thank Prof. Chi-Ling Hsu’s

helpful

suggestions on my thesis proposal.

For the past 78 months’ study, I must show my gratitude to all of the

professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures in National

Chiao Tung University. I really enjoyed my life at NCTU, especially learning

from them. I also appreciate Evonne Lai, Michelle Su, Florence Chen, and

my lovely classmates for their warm friendship.

Further, I shall present special thanks to Chuang Hua Rotary Educational

Foundation and Hualien May-Lun Mt. Rotary Club (D. 3490). Their funding

helped me to accomplish this study without financial problems.

Most importantly, I want to thank my parents C. S. Chen and Y. Y. Chang,

and my brother K. Y. Chen, who give me invaluable supports and always

back me up, and C. T. Chan, whose love has been the energy for me to move

further bravely.

iv

Contents

Chapter One Introduction………. 1

1.1 Preface……….. 1

1.2 The Photographs in the Photobooks as Archive………… 1

1.3 Literature Review……….……….. 5

1.4 The Previous Commentaries on Chang’s Works…….….. 11

1.5 Žižek’s Notion of Fantasy………... 13

1.6 The Following Chapters…………..………... 19

Chapter Two Looking Awry at the Wedding Rituals in I Do I Do I Do…………...………... 22

2.1 Preface……….………. 22

2.2 The Theme of the Book I Do I Do I Do……… 25

2.3 The Fantasy in Wedding Rituals……….. 30

2.4 The Photographic Fantasy……… 35

2.5 Conclusion………... 39

Chapter Three Meet the Real Contradiction in The Chain………... 41

3.1 Preface……….. 41

3.2 The Theme of the Book The Chain………..………... 45

3.3 Traversing the Social Fantasy………... 50

3.4 Photographs Form a Fantastic Space………..………. 54

3.5 Conclusion..………. 57

Chapter Four Discovering the Split in Double Happiness……… 59

4.1 Preface…….………. 59

4.2 The Theme of the Book Double Happiness……… 61

4.3 Traversing the Structure of Fantasy………. 66

4.4 The Gaze of Marriage………. 68

4.5 Conclusion………... 73

Chapter Five Conclusion………... 75

5.1 Preface……….. 75

5.2 The De-contextualized Photographs in the Three Books………... 75

5.3 The Theme of Chain/Disintegration of Family………….. 77

5.4 The Characteristics of Chang’s Photography………. 82

5.5 Chang’s Fantasy?... 86

Works Cited ………... 88

Figures ………... 100

v

List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 “Wedding Studio, Taichung.” Chien-Chi Chang. I Do I Do I Do. Magnum Photos.

Fig. 2.2 “Group Wedding in Taipei Zoo, Taipei.” Chien-Chi Chang. I Do I Do I Do. Magnum Photos.

Fig. 2.3 “Newlyweds, Taipei.” Chien-Chi Chang. I Do I Do I Do. Magnum Photos. Fig. 2.4 “Bride Saying Goodbye to Parents, Taichung.” Chien-Chi Chang. I Do I Do I

Do. Magnum Photos.

Fig. 3.1 “The Chain #27.” Chien-Chi Chang. The Chain. Magnum Photos. Fig. 3.2 “The Chain #23.” Chien-Chi Chang. The Chain. Magnum Photos. Fig. 3.3 “The Chain #34.” Chien-Chi Chang. The Chain. Magnum Photos. Fig. 4.1 “Double Happiness #2.” Chien-Chi Chang. Double Happiness. Magnum

Photos.

Fig. 4.2 “Double Happiness #19.” Chien-Chi Chang. Double Happiness. Magnum Photos.

Fig. 4.3 “Double Happiness #48.” Chien-Chi Chang. Double Happiness. Magnum Photos.

Fig. 4.4 “Double Happiness #101.” Chien-Chi Chang. Double Happiness. Magnum Photos.

Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Preface

This thesis aims at reading the photographs in the three photobooks of Chien-Chi Chang to see how his works traverse the social fantasy.1 _How

shall we read the photographs in the photobooks? In the process of reading the books, can we see how the photographer situates his photographs in certain context so as to present his concern? Is it possible for us to trace the theme and characteristics of his work? Entitling this thesis “Looking for Chien-Chi Chang,” 2 _{I will study the photographs in Chang’s three}

photobooks I Do I Do I Do (2001), The Chain (2002) and Double Happiness (2005) to respond to the questions above.

1.2 The Photographs in the Photobooks as Archive

This study situates the photographs in Chang’s photobooks on the position of “archive.” Firstly, according to Allan Sekula, the photographic books share “the authority and illusory neutrality of the archive” (“Reading” 119), in which “pictures are atomized, isolated in one way and homogenized

1 _{The Chinese translation of the word “fantasy” follows Lee-Chun Chu’s translation.} 2 _{I borrowed this title from Al Pacino’s film Looking for Richard. The original play is}

William Shakespeare’s Richard III. Al Pacino says in the film that the purpose of “looking for Richard” is to communicate the passion for and the understanding of Shakespeare to other people.

in another” (“Reading” 118). To construct a photobook is to reduce the original social-historical context of the images and situate them in the context of this book so that their meaning is extracted. Secondly, according to Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, there is a difference between photographic book and photobook: the photobook is “a statement of intent” that the commonplace photographically illustrated book has achieved without any self-conscious attempt being made (8). Since “the meaning of any photographic message is necessarily context-determined” (Sekula, “On the Invention” 85) and “photographs are texts inscribed in terms of […] ‘photographic discourse’” (Burgin 144), the photographs contained in one photobook are situated in certain context which constructs some specific discourse with the attempt or intention of the photographer. To study the photobooks carefully help to access to the context of images the photographer tries to construct or situate.

When it comes to the process of the production of his books, Chien-Chi Chang says,

While I’m working, I am looking at different aspects of the subject. I’m not so much thinking about narrative, as about trying to crystallize my photographic voice. […] When I feel I have done

that, I will look at what I’ve got, and put the pictures together. Every picture individually and the body of work as a whole has to contribute to this voice. (“Chien-Chi Chang” 83)

The production of Chang’s books is a discursive act through which the meaning of the photographs points to the “voice” he articulates and the messages he indeed brings out in the images. Since Chang usually exhibits his photographs in the museums and galleries, he tends to be considered as an artist, who has close connection with art space. But this study tries to approach from a different perspective, which focuses on the photographs in his photobooks. In the museums or galleries, the photographs are set in a new discursive field but it “depends [much] on the curator and the space” (Bright 27), rather than on the photographer himself. However, in the photobooks, the photographer would have more control (than in the exhibition) on how to situate his photographs, such as editing and arranging the sequence of the images.3 _{To study Chang’s photobooks helps to see how}

he situates his photographs so as to present his viewpoints.

As for Chang’s photobooks, there are two key points here. First, Chang

3 _{A photobook is also a commodity, which shall go through certain process of the}

mechanism of production and commercialization. The photographer’s intentional choices occupy partly but not totally. However, compared with that in the exhibition, the cost for publishing a book is much less and the mechanism of publication may not be tangled with the definition (or recognition) of art. Thus, it seems to be easier for the photographer to present more of his viewpoints.

pays much attention on his books since he agrees that a successful photobook can easily have a bigger audience than that of the exhibition.4 _{He takes care}

of every detail, especially the quality of printing and the words juxtaposed by the photographs. He even makes the sample book by himself to let the editors, designers and publishers know exactly how he wants the book to be. Thus, reading the photographs in his photobooks helps to access to the messages Chang’s images bring out. Secondly, with the photobook, the distance between we readers and the photographs is different from that in the exhibition. We can “personally interact with the books—hold them, touch them, feel the woven paper, turn the pages, lift the flaps” (Hagan 21). In a closer relation with the books, it is possible for us to have intimate relation with the photographs and with the messages left by the photographer.

If Chang leaves some messages in the photographs so as to crystallize his photographic voice, what are these messages and what is this voice brought out by them? How does he situate the photographs, helping the readers to trace the messages and access to the voice? If there are many voices, is there any correlation or correspondence among them? These are the questions I

4

Chang, address. Further, the importance of photobooks shall not be neglected: “Unlike exhibitions—or indeed mass-media journal—which literally come and go, photographic monographs are always around, convenient and portable expressions of a photographer’s works that have the potential for rediscovery and reproduction at any time, anywhere” (Parr and Badger 10).

plan to discuss further. I will not discuss the photobook itself since it is an object of study. The binding, the jacket, the typography, the paper, the printing and the design are all important factors of a photobook. It is a “three-dimensional object” (Parr and Badger 7). Under such circumstances, the focus of studying will be different and that is another complicated problem that I will not deal with in this thesis. The subject in this study is the photographs in Chang’s three photobooks. From the study I try to argue that Chang does the symptomatic reading towards the society with his photographic images and meanwhile, taking photographs is also the way for him to deal with his own questions.

1.3 Literature Review

Before studying Chang’s photographs, I tend to find out how come the photographer can present his own viewpoints in a photobook from two aspects: one is the historical background of contemporary documentary photography; the other is the agency of Magnum Photos, in which Chang is the first Taiwanese full member.5 _{These two aspects also help to figure out}

5 _{Before becoming a full member in Magnum Photos, one needs to become a nominee}

member first. One can apply by submitting a portfolio and half of the members must agree by vote to nominate him/her. As for the nominee member, there is no binding commitment but the photographers have a chance to know one another and the new members can get an opportunity to join in Magnum. In the next two to four years, some

Chang’s position.

Since the blossoming development of mass media in the 1950s, television replaces the position of photography to inform and record, and the use of images in newspaper and magazines are mainly controlled by the editors or decided by the stance of the publishers. The photographers, who take pictures, cannot decide how the photographs are edited or published. Thus, some photographers, such as Mary Ellen Mark and Eugene Richards, exhibit their works in museum and gallery or publish their books as the ways to present their own opinions in their photographic works (Marien 400-5). In the mid-1970s in California, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula and Fred Lonidier, as the politically active intellectuals, even begin to use photography as the means to do social critiques (Marien 416-21). The meaning and position of documentary photographs vary.6 _{Therefore, the meaning of the images is}

not only tangled with historical and practical discourse but also related to the

new portfolios need to be reviewed and two-third of the members must vote to agree this person as an associate member. The associate member does not have the rights to vote but still enjoys the facilities and is bound by the rules in Magnum Photos. Another two years later, the associate member needs to submit some new portfolios and two-third of the members must vote him/her to be a full member (or vote him/her out). The full membership in Magnum Photos is for life or as long as the photographer chooses. All of the full members have the rights to decide the matters and issues of Magnum. It is not owned by one person only. See the details in the official website of Magnum. “Magnum Membership.” Magnum Photos. < http://www.magnumphotos.com /c/htm>. Path: About Magnum; General Information; Magnum Membership.

6 _{Chi-Ming Lin responds to this complicated question and relates the issue to the context}

social-political aims of the images.7 _{It is under such circumstances that we}

see Chang’s photographs in his photobooks as the way to present his own viewpoints.

Then, to be more specifically, Chang learns photography in America and he is indeed influenced by the trend of the photographers in the postwar period. The representatives, such as Robert Frank (who is deeply influenced by Walker Evans), Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus, do not seek to report social events or call for social reform with their photographic images, but work “in extensive series based on life experiences” (Marien 355) as a way for personal reflection or expression. They spend much time observing the subjects and take some series of photographs rather than just a few photographic images. “The scope of these series, dramatized by the photographer’s unique perspective on how to order the images, propelled the photographic book into prominence” (Marien 355). This trend has a lasting impact on the photographers such as Mary Ellen Mark and

7 _{Abigail Solomon-Godeau clearly points out that documentary photographs, as}

“historical construction” (170), is necessarily examined from its discourses, practices and uses; that is to say, what are important to note is not only the context in which the subjects matter in reality situate historically, but also the mechanism which the images are produced and presented (or published). Such are also Buchloh’s points of referential meaning and contextual meaning of photographic images. Richard Bolton remarks that the photographic meaning is affected by “the exercise of power” (xii) and the understanding of documentary photography depends on how “it social and political aims” (xvi) are understood.

Eugene Richards, who show the plight of unfortunate people but seldom present sentimental images. Further, they tend to rely on text, which is an integral part of the work, to contextualize the photographs. Chang, who proceeds with a long-term working process and produces some series of photographs, appears to inherit or be influenced by such a trend. His photographs are not taken for social change but for denoting his personal concerns.

Secondly, it is irresistible to notice the mechanism and atmosphere in Magnum Photos agency. Magnum Photos is founded in 19478 _{and aims at}

the idea of free the photographers “from bonds of loyalty to any particular journal and its brand of propaganda” (Boot 5). Photographers in Mangum Photos own, control and market the copyright of their images; every member in this agency has his own projects.9 _{Different from other photojournalists,}

the members in Magnum Photos try to have their individual viewpoints present rather than tell the stories according to the direction and stances of the editors, the publishers or the founders. The staffs find out markets for the

8 _{It is founded by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David}

“Chim” Seymour. For the detailed history of Magnum, please check the official website of Magnum Photos. “History of Magnum.” Magnum Photos. <http://www.

magnumphotos.com/c/htm>. Path: About Magnum; History of Magnum.

9 _{Alex Majoli, who joined Mangum in 1996, says, “When I came into Magnum, I saw that}

everyone was doing their own big projects, so I wondered about doing the same” (Majoli 291).

pictures taken by the members, instead of interfering in their projects or telling them how they should photograph. The agency is a window for the photographers to connect with the market, such as museums, galleries, magazines, publishers and the readers. On the official website of Magnum, there is a category of “photographers,” in which the names of the photographers in Magnum are listed. When we get from the list into one photographer’s page, we will read the simple introduction of his/her life, working experiences and the photographic monographs. We can read the photographs in the books online and we can purchase the books through Magnum. By promoting the photographic monographs to show the uniqueness of each member, the mechanism of the organization provides a mediate platform for the interaction between the photographers and the market, and helps the photographers to keep their own ideas and present them in their photographic works.

In the organization itself, Chang appear to be in the core group, in which the individual voices of the photographers seem to be stronger than those of the other members. As Chris Boot10 _{introduces in the book Magnum Stories,}

10 _{Chris Boot is an independent writer, curator and editor on subjects relating the}

photography. He joined Magnum Photos in 1990 and then worked for eight years, becoming Director of Magnum London in 1993 and Director of Magnum New York in 1996. During this time, he gained a comprehensive and intimate knowledge and understanding of Magnum’s photographers. Boot, Magnum Stories the jacket.

[A] Core of group within Magnum retains a recognizable relationship to the idea of the photo story, producing long-term essays on issue-based themes […]. Their approach is usually characterized by personal interests and their relationship to particular themes and subject matter […]. For the majority, the book has become a far more important print vehicle for their photography than the magazine, and while editorial assignments may contribute to their work on a given subject, they are more likely to be financing it through grants, print sales, ‘stock’ sales from their photographs in the Magnum library and other ancillary sources. (9) For these photographers, the process of working lasts long and the photographs produced are numerous. To publish in the form of book is the best way to put so many photographs together. Among them, Chang also does the projects of his own. The photographic voice in Chang’s books comes from his concerns of the society and the characteristics of his photographic images. Whether he tries to observe the situation of others or to express his own viewpoints, he sees the issues he is interested in his own position so that he can touch the singularity in different issues. Thus, if we want to know about Chien-Chi Chang, it is necessary for us to study the

photographs in his photobooks, which is the access to his individual stance and concerns.

1.4 The Previous Commentaries on Chang’s Works

The previous commentaries of Chang’s photographs try to find out the characteristics of his images; most of them focus on the chain in Chang’s works.11 _{Among these critics, Fumio Nanjo and Patricia Brown are the}

representatives. The former illustrates the visible chain in the photographs and the invisible bondage in reality with a Foucauldian perspective. The later profiles the works as to explore and reconcile some cross-cultural questions. However, they seem to stop on the chain metaphor or on the key points of cross-cultural experiences. One of the reasons for their pauses is likely to be that their discussions are based on exhibitions mainly so that there are other factors which influence the photographic discourse, such as the curators and the space for exhibition. Although Fumio Nanjo mentions “Letter of a Madman,” the text in Chang’s book The Chain, he does not see it as part of the context to situate the photographs in “The Chain.” Their discussion does not situate Chang’s photographs in certain context so that

there is likely to be some difficulties to access to the messages left by Chang and the voice Chang tries to develop. Although they try to connect the different series of photographs with the same metaphor, they do not carefully discuss them so that they do not see the core of the chain has much to do with “family.” Thus, turning the discussion to the photographs in Chang’s books help keep closer to what he says with the photographic discourse he tries to construct.

The previous concerns shed light on the chain metaphor but they do not discuss Chang’s careful cultivation in the long-term working process. Chang indeed shows his cool but careful observation on the society he concerns. He tries to look at the subject matter with a different perspective. However, how he looks at and represents the subject matter has not been discussed. Under such circumstances, it is necessary to study Chang’s photobooks carefully to see how he presents his stance and concerns in his photographs, whether there is some theme in his works and how he responds to the society or issues he cares about. Responding to the questions is the way of looking for Chien-Chi Chang.

1.5 Žižek’s Notion of Fantasy

Chang tries to look at the reality with different perspective, from which he sees what is present outside but easily (or usually) ignored. He discovers the contradictory situation that we take for granted. This is similar with Slavoj Žižek’s notion of fantasy. In Žižek’s words, Chang’s photographs traverse the social fantasy. In the following paragraphs, I will firstly discuss how Žižek interprets the notion of fantasy and then try to study Chang’s photographs with it to see how Chang does his symptomatic reading towards the society with his photographic images.

In popular understanding, fantasy is opposed to reality: it may be either the mental projection towards the reality, or the desire which is forbidden by the law but is satisfied or realized in fantasy. However, Žižek does not consider the relation between fantasy and reality as internal illusion versus external reality. He sees fantasy as “the materialization of ideology” (Žižek, “Seven” 4). In order to understand his words, I will discuss two aspects: one is his reflection on the Marxian definition of ideology; the other is his adoption of the notion of fantasy by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. Based on these two aspects, we will have a better understanding of Žižek’s notion of fantasy.

When Žižek mentions fantasy for the first time in The Sublime Object of Ideology, he tries to illustrate how Marx defines ideology. When ideology is considered as false consciousness, it is based on the Marxian formula that people do not know it but they are doing it. Žižek asks a question: where is the place of ideological illusion, in the “knowing” or in the “doing” in the reality itself? He takes an example: when people use money, they know very well that there is nothing magical about it; they understand that money is simply an expression of social relation in its materiality. In other words, people know that money is an illusion but they are still using it as if they do not know. Thus, what they do not know is not reality (the materiality of money) but the illusion that structures their reality (money represents the exchange value, which structures the social reality). They do not know that their social reality is guided by an illusion, which Žižek then calls “ideological fantasy” (Žižek, Sublime 28-33). Thus, fantasy is not a mental projection but the materialization of ideology, which structures the social reality.

Žižek clearly points out that “the function of ideology is not to offer us a point of escape from our reality but to offer us the social reality itself as an escape from some traumatic, real kernel” (Žižek, Sublime 45). Fantasy, as the materialization of ideology, is the primordial form of narrative, which

“emerges in order to resolve some fundamental antagonism by arranging its terms into a temporal succession” (Žižek, “Seven” 10-1). Here we see the parallel between Žižek’s notion of fantasy (as the primordial form of narrative) and Fredric Jameson’s arguments on literary and aesthetic texts. Jameson sees all literary and aesthetic texts as ideological texts, which are “resolutions of determinate contradictions” (Jameson 80). He illustrates with Claude Lévi-Strauss’ analysis on the facial decoration of Caduveo Indians and argues that Lévi-Strauss’ work suggests all cultural artifacts are to be read as symbolic act while its resolutions to the real problems remain imaginary ones that leave the real untouched. Thus, Jameson considers the aesthetic act ideological: “the production of aesthetic or narrative form is to be seen as an ideological act in its own right, with the function of inventing imaginary or formal ‘solutions’ to unresolvable social contradictions” (Jameson 79).

Based on Jameson’s words, we can understand what Žižek means when he defines fantasy as the “primordial form of narrative” (Žižek, “Seven” 10). We may suggest that fantasy is exactly the symbolic acts to face the unsolvable problems in reality; only through fantasy can we get close to the real situation. Then, it appears that Žižek tries to push the ideological acts further in two aspects. Firstly, fantasy, as the materialization of ideology,

not only appears in cultural artifacts as Jameson mentions but also supports and structures our social reality; that is to say, reality is itself a fantasy-construction and we can trace how fantasy works right in our social reality. Secondly, Žižek’s notion of fantasy follows the psychoanalytic theory of Freud and Lacan, which have the closest link with desire.

Although fantasy (phantasy) in Freudian theory does not have a clear and determined definition, in so far as desire is articulated through fantasy, fantasy is the locus of defensive operations (Laplanche and Pontalis 315). Lacan accepts Freud’s formulations on the importance of fantasy and on its visual quality as a scenario which stages desire; he emphasizes the protective function of fantasy (Evans 60). Illustrated with the dream of “the burning child,”12 _{he sees the father’s awake as his escape into reality to avoid the Real}

of his desire and to be able to maintain his blindness.13 _{The death of his}

child implies the fundamental guilt of the father so that he awakes to escape into reality. In other words, he escapes into reality, which is sustained by fantasy, so that he maintains his existence in the symbolic order, or his symbolic universe would be de-constructed into nothing.

12 _{The dream is told by Freud’s patient. The detail of the dream is described by Freud in}

The Interpretation of Dreams. Lacan reinterprets the dream in his seminar eleven. Freud, “Chapter VII” 509-11; Lacan 53-78.

Thus, when we come back to Žižek again, it is clear that he tries to point out two main aspects of the function of fantasy in The Plague of Fantasies: on the one hand, fantasy stages our desire; on the other hand, fantasy screens the unbearable situation. Firstly, what fantasy stages is not a scene in which our desire is fully satisfied, but a scene that stages the desire. The realization of desire does not consist in its being fulfilled but coincides with the reproduction of the lack that constitutes desire (Žižek, Looking 6-8). Fantasy appears as an answer to “Che Vuoi?” (What does the Other want from me?): it constructs the frame enabling us to desire something; this desire is not ours but the desire of the Other. In other words, the original question of desire is not “what do I want” but “what do others want from me?” (the Other’s desire).

On the other hand, fantasy is also a defense against “Che Vuoi?”: if the Other has desire, then the Other has lacks (so that it desires). This Other is the symbolic order with which the society is constructed, and the lack is some repressed antagonism, some unbearable trauma around which the symbolic order is structured. We consider that the symbolic order is complete but actually it has a lack, which cannot be faced directly, or the symbolic order would disintegrate. Fantasy bears witness to this lack: it is a screen that

protects us from getting too close to the lack, the object cause of our desire. If we get too close to it and thus losing the lack itself, anxiety is brought on by the disappearance of desire (Žižek, Sublime 114-8, 126). Thus, fantasy maintains a distance towards the explicit symbolic texture sustained by it and at the same time functions as the inherent transgressions (Žižek, “Seven” 18-27). It is through fantasy that we can see how the lack functions in our social reality since fantasy can neither hide nor solve this lack.

Žižek emphasizes this lack much when he explains it as sinthome. The notion of sinthome14 _{has much to do with the meaning of “existence.”}

Firstly, only what is symbolized fully “exists.” Secondly, it is the existence that is an ex-sistence, as the impossible-real kernel resisting symbolization, as a leftover of enjoyment beyond meaning. “Symptom, conceived as sinthome, is literally our only substance, the only positive support of our being, the only point that gives consistency to the subject” (Žižek, Sublime 75). Symptom is the way we avoid madness, the way we choose something (symptom-formation) instead of nothing (the deconstruction of the symbolic universe). Thus, to access to the lack of the symbolic order, the object cause of our desire, we shall examine how fantasy works in our social reality so as

to traverse the fantasy. As we understand how fantasy works, it is then possible for us to see the sinthome and know the lack of symbolic order. From here shall I commence the study on Chang’s photographs in his photobooks.

1.6 The Following Chapters

Chang tries to look at the reality with a different perspective and discovers the real situation that we take for granted. His photographs traverse the social fantasy and help us reader to see how fantasy works in our social reality. As we carefully read the photographs in his photobooks, we shall see how he deals with the social fantasy with his own voices in different issues he concerns.

In the second chapter “Looking Awry at the Wedding Rituals in I Do I Do I Do,” I try to see how Chang looks from an angle at the fantastic screen in Taiwan’s wedding rituals. His observation on the local wedding culture appears to include two levels of looking awry so as to form an ironic look, which constructs the tension between looking straight and looking awry. He sees the wedding pictures (the local visual culture) and public wedding rituals (the new local wedding rituals) as fantasy, in which people try to fulfill

the other’s desire in order to be recognized in the symbolic order. He also deals with the social meaning of taking photographs. However, the photographs still appear as fantasy to help him ask more questions so as to produce the lack for himself.

Chapter three is entitled “Meet the Real Contradiction in The Chain.” I will study how Chang’s photographs deal with the real contradiction of the society in Taiwan by traversing the fantasy of “the chain.” By the theme of chain and split, he shows us that the chain is “an illusory problem with a real cause” (Caudill 97), which has much to do with the unbearable disintegration of family relationship in reality. Through reading this book, on the one hand, we have a chance to identify with the sinthome. On the other hand, the photographs construct a fantastic space which prevents the real awakening in reality although we actually have been awakened and have met the real situation in the process of reading this book.

In the fourth chapter, which is “Discovering the Split in Double Happiness,” I will study how Chang discovers the split so as to interpret the cross-cultural marriage between Taiwanese men and Vietnamese women in the series of photographs. By the theme repetition and superimposition, we see that they escape the fantastic explosion into reality in order to deal with

the real problems that cannot be solved. Chang shows us the structure of fantasy and the gaze of marriage; we also see that marriage is gazing at him while reading this book.

Finally, in chapter five, I will conclude this thesis by studying the relation among the three photobooks. Chang de-contextualizes the “referential meanings” (Buchloh 195) of the subjects matter from the social historical background; meanwhile, he re-contextualizes them in his photobooks. This comes from Chang’s intentional choices. His photographs distanciate our conventional way of seeing and understanding of the issues. I plan to see how he, by traversing the social fantasy, tries to establish the archive of the chain/disintegration of family and how he challenges the fantasy of photography so as to cultivate his “territory of images” (Sekula, “Reading” 116).

Chapter Two: Looking Awry at the Wedding Rituals in I Do I Do I Do 2.1 Preface

In this chapter, I study how Chang looks awry at the wedding rituals in Taiwan. The main text here is the book I Do I Do I Do,15 _{which focuses on}

how the wedding goes on in Taiwan. Through reading this series of photographs, which look from an angle at the fantastic screen in Taiwan’s wedding rituals, we see how fantasy works.

The series of photographs are taken in six years between 1994 and 2000, starting on Chang’s coming from New York back to Taiwan for his sister’s wedding.16 _{In this book, Chang photographs the process of taking wedding}

pictures, some scenes in weddings, group weddings, and the post-reception games or parties. There are mainly two observations in this book: the industrialized wedding pictures and the public wedding rituals, in which Chang presents his stance against the local visual culture and the new local

15 _{According to the format by Parr and Badger, the details of this book are as follow:}

Ivy Liu/Premier Foundation, Taipei, 2001. Hardback, clothbound, 120 pages.

10.25×10.25 in (260×260 mm). 56 b/w photographs.

Photographs by Chien-Chi Chang. Essay by Cheryl Lai. Forward by Sarina Yeh.

16 _{This is about a personal project of Chang himself. As the only son in a traditional}

family in Taiwan, he sustains his parents’ expectation of his marriage. “My parents asked me to get married, and I had to do something to channel all this traditional family pressure. So I did this project to say to them, ‘I do I do I do,’ to stand back and look at the whole, strange industry” (Brown 49). Actually, Chang is not anti-marriage. “In fact, I think marriage is good, but the difficult part is living together afterwards. I had to do something to protest” (Roberts 40). Chang himself gets married in 2004 at a small family dinner (Lehan 79).

wedding rituals in Taiwan.

In the previous studies of the wedding pictures in Taiwan, Yu-Ying Lee considers that the wedding industry is a cultural industry since the wedding boutique “not only takes pictures but also offers almost all other services a couple may need, including wedding gown and formal dress rental services, bridal make-up design and hairdressing services” (Lee, “Bride” 217). According to Lee’s study, before 1970s in Taiwan, the newlywed couples have their wedding pictures taken on their wedding day in order to memorize the holiness of their wedding ceremony; however, by providing a whole package of services for wedding since 1980s, the photo shops successfully turn this purpose into showing how lovely the couple is to their friends and relatives. The whole industry not only teaches the society how the wedding pictures should be but also establishes a new rite: people have to take wedding pictures at a bridal shop before the wedding so that they can show the pictures to their friends and relatives on their wedding day. The places of taking wedding pictures, such as the park, the studio, the beach, or some scenic spots, have nothing to do with the wedding ceremony; the pictures are expected to show the “beautiful” ideal images of the couple with dandy taste by make-up, design, spotting, and retouch. The previous concerns towards

this issue usually look from commercial, aesthetical or gender perspective,17

publishing in essays or theses. Under such circumstances, Chang’s reflection of the local visual culture in Taiwan with photographic images is worth carefully discussing.

I will argue that Chang’s photographs show us how fantasy works in the contradictory tension between looking straight and looking awry. According to Žižek, there are two levels of looking awry (Žižek, Looking 11-2). On the first level, while we look at a thing straight on, we see it “as it really is;” however, the gaze puzzled by our desire—that is, looking awry—gives us a distorted and interested image. On the second level, while we look at a thing straight on, we see nothing but a formless spot; the object appears clear and distinctive only if we look at it at an angle, with an interested view distorted by desire. Chang’s looking awry at the wedding rituals appears to include these two levels. Besides, while Chang stands outside witnessing the rituals as something null, he also seeks to answer his own questions in the process of shooting camera.

17 _{Wen-Ke Chiu’s and Hsu-Hsin Yu’s studies start from commercial perspective. Most}

of the previous commentaries of this issue have much to do with this perspective since the blossoming wedding photo shops begin highly developed for business concern. Fu-Feng Hsu sees the wedding photography from aesthetic perspective. Yu-Ying Lee’s critique in the essay about female gaze deals with the issue from gender perspective, studying how the women gaze at themselves in the wedding photographs.

2.2 The Theme of the Book I Do I Do I Do

The theme of the book appears in the contradictory tension between looking straight and looking awry; the photographs in this book are to some extent de-contextualized. Except the preface by the publisher Premier Foundation, the book is divided into six sections. The first section is the article “The Vow” by Cheryl Lai which helps the readers to situate the subsequent photographs; in the rest, Chang puts a poem or a maxim preceding the photographs. From Lai’s article, we roughly learn the situation of the blossoming wedding album industry in Taiwan around the new millennium. Although Chang’s photographs are taken in six years and situated in Taiwan’s industrialized wedding boutiques, he does not narrate particular events so that his photographs do not involve with particular point of time and specific places in Taiwan. What we see in the photographs seems to keep taking place. Instead of the events, it is the issue that matters since Chang does not simply “report” some events but rather work on a photo-essay, and what Chang tries to say may be revealed in the contradictory tension between looking straight and looking awry.

Elizabeth Roberts, as the representative in the previous critics, suggests that Chang’s ironic look appears in these photographs. However, she does

not point out that the irony indeed comes from this tension between looking straight and looking awry, which not only appears in the photographs but also in the contrast between words and photographs. It is from this tension that we can see how irony Chang’s look is.

From the front cover, we feel the tension develops on the contrast between word (the title) and photograph which influences how we read the photographs. On the red front cover, there is a black-and-white photograph which shows the back of one groom and two brides on the upper left part and a black column under this photograph.18 _{The subjects in this photograph}

actually pose for a group wedding picture while Chang takes the scene from their back without catching their countenance. The title “I do I do I do” appears in the middle on the right side. It seems that Chang sees the auspicious wedding at an angle so that the general appearance of the scene is cut and we then see what we used not to find out: in the case here, it seems that the three people are getting married. The repetition of “I do” for three times as the title not only suggests that this book deals with the moment of marrying, but also indicates that the photographs may outlast the marriage19

18 _{Chang, Chien-Chi. I Do I Do I Do. Book cover. Magnum Photos. <http://www.}

magnumphotos.com/c/htm>. Path: Photographers; Chang Chien-Chi; I Do I Do I Do.

19 _{Chang points out: “A few couples I came across had their wedding photographs taken}

and then decided at the last minute not to get married—and they didn’t know what to do with the album!” (Roberts 44).

since the certainty of a serious promise seems weakened as being repeated. It seems that he is asking the three parties in this photograph “To whom do you say ‘I do’?” This is Chang’s ironic look, which comes from his looking awry at the scene.

In the rest parts of the book, the tension between words and photographs lasts. In the second section, Chang puts William Shakespeare’s poem in A Midsummer-night’s Dream in front of the photographs of the brides who are preparing before taking wedding pictures or the wedding ceremony. The section could be seen as the preface of the photographs in this book. The poem,20 _{which comes from a comedy, situates the book in an easy atmosphere.}

It describes the blindness of love in which people cannot see their choices clearly. Thus, since the beginning of the book, Chang seems to challenge the presence of romantic love relating to wedding. It seems that he is telling us the photographs in the following deal with the love, which appears to be blind.

In the third section, it is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s words, saying, “To love is not to look at one another, but to look together in the same direction.”

20 _{“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, /And therefore is wing’d Cupid}

painted blind. /Nor hath Love’s mind of judgement taste; /Wings and no eyes figures unheedy haste, /And therefore is Love said to be a child, /Because in choice he is so oft beguil’d” (Chang, I Do I Do I Do N. pag.).

The following pages are the photographs presenting the scenes in which the couples are taking their wedding albums. Their “looking in the same direction” is directed by the photographers who take their wedding pictures, and sometimes even the people, who just pass by, follow the direction of their eyes, too. Thus, Chang sees their taking wedding pictures with ironic eyes: their “love” appearance seems to be directed and performed rather than spontaneously overflowed.

In the fourth section, it is W. B. Yeats’ poem “Adam’s Curse”21 _followed

by the photographs of some scenes presenting the ritual of wedding ceremony, and the brides who are waiting on their wedding day for the grooms, for the ceremony or for the banquet. In this poem, the moon, as the image of love, wanes by the flow of time; it is impossible to fulfill the longing for perfect love.22 _{Under such circumstances, in Chang’s book, it appears}

that the brides, who keep waiting on their wedding days for so many rituals, could not sustain the effect of time so that their beauty and joy are worn away.

In the fifth section, Mattew K. Free’s words, “Two hearts are stronger

21 _{“I had a thought for no one’s but your ears; /That you were beautiful, and that I}

strove/To love you in the old high way of love;/That is had all seemed happy, and yet we’d grown/As weary-hearted as the hollow moon” (Chang, I Do I Do I Do N. pag.). It is an extracted version here. The complete poem is included in the poem “In the Seven Woods” (Yeats 51-5).

than three, but only if you instill your inside of me,” are laid in front of some photographs of group weddings. Free says “two” hearts are stronger than three but Chang contrarily puts the photograph of “three”23 _{right after it; it}

appears that Chang sees the group wedding critically rather than approvingly.

In the last section, Chang chooses the poem “Cho Mou” from Book of Odes and he mainly shows us the photographs on the post-reception games or parties. The poem describes that at the wedding night, the newlywed couples are surprised to marry each other and show the sign of uneasiness about their marriage. It appears that Chang mocks that the post-reception games or parties are a harder task that the couples have to take up.

Thus, from the contrast between words and photographs, we can find out that Chang’s critique of the wedding rituals in Taiwan is quite sharp. By looking keenly at the public wedding rituals, he shows us the scenes that are “visible but unseen” (Krauss 217). By looking awry from an angle at people’s taking wedding pictures, we see the scenes that ordinary wedding pictures do not present. It is through Chang’s camera that we see how fantasy works in the wedding rituals in Taiwan.

23 _{Chang, Chien-Chi. I Do I Do I Do. (NYC10467) Magnum Photos. <http://}

www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm>. Path: Photographers; Chang Chien-Chi; I Do I Do I Do; slide 30.

2.3 The Fantasy in Wedding Rituals

In the series of photographs, we see the process of the couples’ taking wedding pictures first, which show us how the wedding pictures are taken. In the studio, the bride is posing according to the direction of the photographer, who not only composes the pictures and shoot the camera, but also tells the brides how to pose (Fig. 2.1). Aside this photograph, Chang juxtaposes another one24 _{with a similar plot: in both cases, the brides’ poses}

and dress styles are similar, too. Here, the photographers’ hands, appearing as a shadow, seem to dominate the process of photo-taking while the brides appear as dolls, who do not show their mobility at all. We see that generally in wedding pictures, the brides’ differences are not presented; their names and individual stories are lost in the process of idealizing the images. In another photograph, the couple, who stand in front of a fake background, look up happily with their hair blown by the wind from the electric fan in order to achieve the desired effect.25 _{Under Chang’s camera, it seems that}

the big fan is going to engulf them. From this photograph, we see how the

24 _{Chang, Chien-Chi. I Do I Do I Do. (NYC10438) Magnum Photos. <http://www.}

magnumphotos.com/c/htm>. Path: Photographers; Chang Chien-Chi; I Do I Do I Do; slide 4.

25 _{Chang, Chien-Chi. I Do I Do I Do. (NYC10450) Magnum Photos. <http://}

www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm>. Path: Photographers; Chang Chien-Chi; I Do I Do I Do; slide 7.

wedding pictures lie, so as to produce the expected images, which might fulfill our desire to become the protagonists in the so-called fairytale dream.

Nevertheless, we see the wedding industry works as fantasy: the photographer is one of the agents in this industry; the fan, the background and the spot light are the instruments helping him. As he mentions the relation between symbolic order and fantasy, Žižek tells us that fantasy does not help us to realize the desire that is prohibited by the symbolic order (Žižek, “Seven” 13-5). On the contrary, fantasy works as the very act of the establishment of symbolic order, the installation of Law. Illustrated with the story of Paradise Lost, Žižek tells us that Adam disobeys God’s words and eats the apple so that he loses what he disobeys in order to keep it (jouissance); he even finds out his decision rather than makes it. It is because fantasy works here so that Adam cannot see that his desire is taught by fantasy, which offers him an empty gesture to make his own decisions.

In the case of the photographs here, although most people know that in wedding pictures, their images are idealized and they can choose how they want to be looked at or who they want to become, they do not understand that they have no free choices at all: they have to pose according to the photographer’s direction; they spend lots of money and take at least one

whole day off to take pictures in order to look special (jouissance) in their wedding album but it is by so doing that they lose their names and individual love stories with their mates are lost in due course. Their uniqueness is unified with someone else’s. Chang’s photographs show that instead of their own choices, their fairytale dream is a commercially-determined one: the wedding boutiques strengthen the fairytale dream, constructing the scenes to teach the couples how to make the dreams come true in the wedding albums. Thus, Chang’s photographs lead us to look awry at an angle, with an “interested” view, so that we see the ritualized wedding industry work as a fantasy: the wedding industry indeed installs the Law that teaches us how the wedding pictures should be. In the process of taking wedding pictures, we think we have totally free choices to decide how we look but actually it is an empty gesture fantasy is offering.

After the fantasy of wedding pictures has been traversed by looking awry, the straight photographs we used to see in wedding rituals become sharply contrasted as a formless spot. Chang firstly shows us the looking awry scenes, which not only immediately represent the fantasy of wedding pictures but also challenge our straight perspective by leading us to look awry at surprising angles. Then, when we see the straight scene (“as it really is”)

later, we do not read it as usual but the gaze puzzled by our desire and anxieties gives us a distorted, blurred image. The way we used to see things is changed.

In this book, besides reflecting the local visual culture and the wedding industry, Chang also pays attention to the new local culture, which is the group wedding ceremony,26 _{and the ritual of post-reception games or}

parties27 _{in Taiwan. In this photograph, on the group wedding to celebrate}

one elephant’s 80th _{birthday at zoo, the grooms are asked to kiss the brides}

when the elephants, named Lin Wang and Ma Lan, watch in the back (Fig. 2.2). Except the facial characteristics, we can hardly tell the differences between the couples. The kiss on group wedding means to be an extremely publicized vow belonging to each couple. The elephants’ blessing, which draws the elephants into the symbolic order, appears to recognize the couples’ marriage. Besides, there is a double repetition in this photograph. Firstly, one characteristics of ritual is repetition:28 _{the couples going through}

26 _{Group wedding ceremony is recently developed in Taiwan and becomes quite popular.}

It is often held by city government and can consist of as few as 6 couples or as large as 100. People usually do not know one another. The couples gather at some spot, go through a ceremony hosted by the mayor, and they are asked to kiss for some minutes; finally they receive some presents and leave on their own way.

27 _{The post-reception games or parties are held after the wedding banquet. Usually, it is}

the couple’s close friends or relatives who join in. The couple has to play some games demanded by their friends or relatives.

28 _{“[The Rites] are fixed modes of actions” (Durkheim 36). “[The] real function of a rite}

the wedding ceremony are repeating the ritual of marrying. Then, each couple repeats the same ritual (together) without presenting their personal differences; that is the second repetition. The double repetition strengthens the point that they show their happiness towards the public, the camera, and even the elephants to prove their happiness as well as their social roles as newlywed husbands and wives.

Such is also the case in the post-reception games, in which the couples have to do what their friends and relatives demand. In one photograph, the bride with a blindfold is asked to touch the calf of participants to tell which one is her husband.29 _{Her head is in the center of the photograph while the}

others stand around looking at the “performance;” one of them even holds a video camera to record it, which is likely to be shown to the people who are not present now. Žižek tells us that fantasy teaches us how to desire and “the original question of desire is not directly ‘What do I want?’ but ‘What do others want from me? What do they see in me? What am I to others?’” (Žižek, “Seven” 9). The photographs of wedding scenes are indeed the very case in which the couples try to fulfill the other’s desire, instead of their own

(Durkheim 286).

29 _{Chang, Chien-Chi. I Do I Do I Do. (NYC10491) Magnum Photos. <http://www.}

magnumphotos.com/c/htm>. Path: Photographers; Chang Chien-Chi; I Do I Do I Do; slide 49.

ones, in order to be recognized in the symbolic order, proved as husband and wife. Through rituals, their identities are recognized by the society, satisfying the social expectation, so that they themselves become the objects of desire of the society.

2.4 The Photographic Fantasy

Rather than the rituals and the process of getting married, Chang seems to challenge the cultural value of taking pictures. In the photograph of people’s taking pictures, Chang catches the scene that when the camera holder shoots the camera, the group in the frame stands still smiling towards it while the group out of the frame looks at the camera without pretending or hiding their instant emotion (Fig. 2.3). In his study, Pierre Bourdieu clearly points out that

The meaning of the pose adopted for the photograph can only be understood with relation to the symbolic system in which it has its place, and which, for the peasant, defines the behavior and manners suitable for his relations with other people. Photographs ordinarily show people face on, in the center of the picture, standing up, at a respectful distance, motionless and in a dignified attitude. (80)

The social meaning of taking pictures emphasizes the relations between individuals rather than the clearance of each figure. “Striking a pose means respecting oneself and demanding respect” (Bourdieu 80). Such is exactly the case that Chang tries to deal with here. People on the left side stand still and keep their face on smiling towards the camera, which is held by a man at a respectful distance so that it catches their frontal images to bear witness of their presence at someone’s wedding. On the other hand, the images of the people on the right side are out of the social definition of photographic function. These people are not on stage so that they do not have to perform their social roles as those on the left side. Camera shows how people want to be rather than who they are. Taking pictures thus represents a kind of value and Chang’s photographs appear to challenge it.

The way he chooses to traverse the fantasy of the determined social function of taking pictures is to look from surprising angles and take a different approach of shooting camera. He does not tell the subjects matter how they should pose. Contrarily, he follows them, observes them and composes the photographs. By looking awry, Chang catches the images which traverse the fantastic screen so that we learn how fantasy works in the wedding pictures, wedding celebration and the social function of taking

pictures. From Chang’s book, we see that the wedding, the possible beginning of a new family, is based on the photographic fantasy. It is the wedding pictures and the performance of rituals that prove the marriage. In other words, it is the photographic fantasy as an illusion that structures and decides the real social activity.

Chang not only leads us to look at an angle so as to traverse fantasy, but also presents his critical stance and distant observation against the wedding rituals in Taiwan. The process of photographing lasts long. It seems that Chang is seeking the answers of his questions on the wedding pictures and wedding rituals in Taiwan through his long-term observation of the prospective couples. It is worth noting that he does not represent the complicated traditional wedding rituals but focuses on the modern ones, mostly on the industrialized commercially-orientated pictures, the group weddings, and the post-reception games or parties. Also, he sticks to his single perspective most of the time but sometimes seems to be attracted by the scenes he sees. For instance, this photograph appears soft and special: the father, who covers the bridal veil for his daughter, who is leaving her parents to establish another new family with her husband, looks at her affectionately (Fig. 2.4). It appears that Chang, not so critical at this moment, is observing

the complex vertical familial love on the threshold of a new family.

Following Chang’s camera, we do not feel the joy for marriage most of the time when we read the book. The shift of perspective may mean something. Although Chang does the project to solve his questions of the wedding rituals in Taiwan, it is possible that the more he reveals in his photographs, the farther he runs away from the answering keys, which is likely to be the family relations in reality. This occasional shift of perspective might be the presence of his anxiety. When he somehow gets too close to the object-cause of desire, which might be the complex vertical familial love, the anxiety would raise since it is possible to lose the lack, which is the cause for him to desire and to photograph. What is somehow avoided in the photographs might be this cause, which seems to lie in the material aspects of the social fantasy. For instance, when he shows us the photographs which traverse the fantasy of public wedding rituals, he does not present the complicated social-historical background of these phenomena, the rite of wedding ceremony itself, the influence for the couples’ original families and the change of their relationship. It appears that marriage for the couples exists at the level of modern rituals rather than the older ones, without the psychological or emotional aspects. In the process of photographing,

Chang’s relation with the social fantasy is not fixed. He seems to keep looking for his own position, observing these wedding occasions from different angles. Thus, as he tries to figure out his questions of the wedding rituals, he seems to seek the answers by asking more questions so as to avoid anxiety, which might exist somewhere in the social reality.

2.5 Conclusion

In this chapter, I study the photographs in I Do I Do I Do to see how Chang looks awry at the wedding rituals in Taiwan. As his first book, this series of photographs show us the scenes of taking wedding pictures and those of wedding rituals, which in fact deal with the threshold of a new family. The couples get married, leaving their original home and starting a new one hereafter with their mates. They go through the rituals in which fantasy works, so that their relation can be recognized in the symbolic order. By traversing the fantasy, we see that their marriage is decided by illusion and they seem not to appear as lovely couples under Chang’s camera. The connection between them appears to be alienated and their close relation seems to be split since the beginning.

pressure” (Brown 49) from his parents so that he does this project; he appears to be confused of the wedding rituals in Taiwan so that he tries to seek answers with the photographic images. His confusion is likely to come from some bigger questions, which have much to do with the family relationship in reality. Marriage, as a possible foundation of a new family, thus becomes the question Chang tries to look into. However, as he seeks answers with his photographic images, he runs away to avoid the answers so as to keep asking questions towards the complex family relationship.

Chapter Three: Meet the Real Contradiction in The Chain 3.1 Preface

In this chapter, I study how Chang’s photographs deal with the real contradiction of the society in Taiwan. Through a close reading of Chang’s book The Chain,30 _{I will discuss the main theme in this book in order to}

traverse the fantasy of “the chain.”

In his most famous work31 _{“The Chain,” Chang shoots the vertically}

composed, frontal whole-length portraits of the mental patients in Long Fa Tang Temple, a mental asylum in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He spends almost six years discontinuously from 1993 to 1999, getting admission to take photographs as well as observing the life of the 700 patients, who are shaved and chained two by two with “the Chain of Compassion” and who work everyday from five o’clock in the morning to six o’clock in the evening on the twenty-hectare chicken farm, taking care of one million chickens. The photographs we see today are taken in one afternoon in October 1998 as these

30 _{According to the format by Parr and Badger, the details of this book are as follow:}

Trolley, London, 2002. Hardcover, 106 pages. 5.5×7.75 in (145×210 mm). 48 duotone images.

Photographs by Chien-Chi Chang. Essay by Cheryl Lai.

31 _{This series of photographs has been exhibited in Taipei Fine Art Museum in 2000, 2001}

La Biennale di Venezia, 2002 Bienal de São Paulo, and the First ICP (International Center of Photography, New York) Triennial of Photography and Video in 2003.

patients, who just finish lunch, stop a little while on their way back to work for Chang to shoot with camera. In this chapter, I argue that the chain in these photographs appearing as fantasy, is applied to be a symbolic resolution of the unbearable situations in reality for the society in Taiwan. From studying the theme of the book, the fantasy would be traversed so that the cultural meaning of these photographs would be revealed.

The former concerns on Long Fa Tang Temple mostly focus on questioning its legal stages as a mental institution and the human rights of these mental patients.32 _{The researchers clarify this problem from the}

perspective of the mental patients’ families, of the society, and of the psychiatrists. However, they do not show their attempts to learn how the mental patients may feel. As for the photographic images, Ben-Chi Chou and Tsung-Hui Ho, who have photographed this subject in 1980s, take the scenes of the life in Long Fa Tang Temple. Chou pays attention to the scenes that would raise sympathy: he focuses on their life and shows us how they live. In the photographs (Chou, Ben-Chi 18-31), the patients appear as passive victims: they live in a dirty place; some of them are naked, sitting on the ground; some of them are confined or chained; some of them are fed since