The concept of yin and yang expresses this idea that there is always a second half of the equation. Without yin there would be no yang, without an east there would be not west, and so on. Without one there can be no other. Yet this is not enough, how can one be separated from the other, what if they are both the same. Both geometric shapes are the same in the yin yang symbol and yet their color is different. They are the same yet different. The concept of yin yang or duality seems to have been saturated into Asian society and into Asian film. The traditional is in constant battle with the modern within these films. The doppelganger is also used to create interesting situations within the wuxia genre, as well as many Taiwanese new wave pictures. The hero/slave or master/apprentice duality mimics the concept of yin yang. Yet within this relationship the lines between these two binary become blurred.
In ethnographic film making there is a trend to try present the culture in comparison to America and the “West.” This trend sets up an immediate dichotomy between “East” and “West.” This is done so the world audience can relate to this new culture; being filmed what could be the first time. Items such as coke cans and telephone poles litter the landscape of this foreign lands. These traces of the “West” inside these ethnographic pictures shows the difficulties these cultures face trying to stay separate from the “West” in order to preserve its own culture. The line between “East” and “West” is not so simple, because the goods produces by either travel and are used by the other. This exchange of goods, tie these cultures together making it impossible to draw a definite line. Yet for some reason the line keeps being drawn. A desire to created binary seems to a central theme in films discussing the “East/West” division, however this is a only meet with failure. Due to the fact that These binaries are cannot be seen as independent but interdependent.
In the Film Dersu Uzala, The two main characters come from opposite corners of the globe. Dersu from the wilderness, the traditional and Captain Vladimir Arseniev from the city, the modern. These two characters express this distance between the traditional and the modern. Yet, nether would be able to survive without the other. This begins to show the interdependence between the two. Without Dersu the Captian would have parished during the storm and without the Captain, Dersu would have been lost in the city. Even in ethnographic films such as The Weeping Camel show the interdependence between the traditional and the modern. The family in this film births a camel which is rejected by its mother. Not uncommon in the camel breeding world, yet there seems to be only one solution. To call a shaman or medicine man to come reunite the family. This ritual is very traditional, and it works to reunite the pair. However, this ritual seems impossible without the aid of a modern machine. A motorcycle brings the healer, getting to his job requires that a traditional healer ride a modern machine. This dependence of the traditional on the modern is expressed here. Without modern technologies the traditional way would be unable to survive.
