Yijing Film Theory and Affect Theory: Schizoanalysis of Tea in Chinese Cinema

This thesis explores the interplay between the theories of Chinese yijing (意境) and western affect. It focuses on the aesthetics of yijing and its role in film theory on a worldwide stage and seeks to interlink Eastern and Western approaches to film perception. Rather than focusing on the difference between the parts of the globe that have been vicariously labelled ‘West’ and ‘East’, this thesis explores the common ground that can be found between Chinese film theory and affect studies (which has traditionally been inscribed inside the Euro-American film canon). Utilising the images of tea as a case study, I argue that the idea of yijing is not only used to contribute to Chinese film theory but extensively promotes new angles to consider film more broadly. This thesis will provide a new approach to both the cognition and the perception of a film. It charts the film perception that is undergone during a sensory film-watching experience without attempting either interpretivism or the evaluation of the meaning of a film. Rather than negating any established approaches or applying a single approach, I combine ideas that are informed by cognitive film studies, the Middle Way in Buddhist philosophy, affect studies, and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s philosophical idea of schizoanalysis. This philosophical film study forms the perception of yijing by exploring time and space both in and beyond the cinematic world.