GROUP 6 – THE CABBIE
Avon Chen
May Lee
Shirley Lee
Tina Tseng
Miley Yen
Amy Chiu
Is this movie a post-modern film?
1. Comedy
2. This film is rather different from those we‘ve watched in the MOOC class
Post-modern features in this film
1. The characters themselves
2. the connection between Da Chuan and other characters
3. death
Outline
I. Flâneur
a. The definition of flâneur
b. Two theories
II. Characters and their occupations
a. The occupations among characters
(1) Flâneur
(2) Non-Flâneur
III. Death
a. Related to career
b. Related to relationship between characters
c. Related to comedy representation
Outline (cont.)
IV. Relationship between characters
a. Family relationship
b. Romantic relationship
c. Da chuan and Ah-di
V. Flâneurial look
a. Movie analyzed through the Flânuerial look
VI. The Ending
a. Alive or dead
VII. Taxis around the world
VIII. Q&A
IX. Conclusion
I. Flâneur
Flâneur
Paris. London
19th century: Capitalism
City: where people can wander
Bourgeois; gentleman stroller of city streets
Rich
Time to fool around
 Showing off
Gustave Caillebotte. Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877.
Flâneur
19th-20th century
Bourgeois
consumers
Internet wanderer
Flâneur
I. The effects of the modernization of the city
 City landscape
Arcade in Paris
Crystal Palace in London
Streets
Department stores
Shopping mall
 Creating lots of possibilities
Flâneur
II. The response to the modernization of the city
City landscape
Three groups
Consumers
Workers: ragpicker, prostitute, taxi driver
Artists
Walter Benjamin
Consumers
Workers: ragpicker, prostitute, taxi driver
Bourgeoisconsumers: walking commodity
Charles Pierre Baudelaire
Artists
Writer
Idle stroller
The representative modern figure in the capitalist
metropolis
Wandering among the flux and flow of the crowd
on the city streets and arcades
Keenly observed and studied the crowd with
aloof detachment
II. Characters and their occupations
Professions & The Triangle Relationship
Police
莊靜文
張仔
Regulation
Cabbies
蘇大全
爸爸（蘇周）
蔡仔
阿東
蟹仔
阿亮
Death
Traffic flow
Scientist/Forensic
Research
媽媽（游希子）
小妹
妹夫
Taxi Drivers
Name
Special features/behaviors
蘇大全
A car lover since his teenage
爸爸
The owner of the taxi agency /
Experienced driver
蔡仔
Skillful driver / A show-off
阿東
A multi-tasking driver
蟹仔
Skillful driver / Stubborn
personality
阿亮
A poor driver (a very poor one!)
Who’s a Flâneur?
Name
Special features/behaviors
蘇大全
A car lover since his teenage
爸爸
The owner of the taxi agency /
Experienced driver
蔡仔
張仔
阿東
Skillful driver / A show-off
蟹仔
Skillful driver / Stubborn
personality
阿亮
A poor driver (a very poor one!)
張仔
A cleaner of accident scenes
 Waiting for costumers $
 Observing people and the city
 An artist
“View their taxis as their home.” (The Cabbie)
A multi-tasking driver
 Waiting for accident to happen $
 Waiting for chance to earn money
 A ragpicker
III. Death
Death
• Related to Career
• Taxi Driver
• Police
• Coroner
Death
• Relationship
• Between Daquan’s (大全) parents
• Between Jingwen (靜文) & Daquan’s family
Death
• Comedy representation
• Humorous & Ridiculed
• Car accidents
• Parent’s relationship
• The ending
• Incongruity  Postmodern features
IV. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
CHARACTERS
Family Relationship (1)
• A common nuclear family
• Harmonious
Father
Mother
A
Quan
Sister
Family Relationship (2)
• Traditional
• Different types of taxi drivers
A Quan’s Fmaily
車行
Romantic Relationship (1)
• 運轉手之「戀」-> Theme : LOVE!
• Father & Mother
• Sister & the doctor of
• A Quan & Jing Wen
Romantic Relationship (2)
Father
Mother
• Mother & her suitors
not matched because of her
occupation
Death is uncomfortable to deal
with for the others
• Father & Mother
taxi driver & coroner
death is common
Romantic Relationship (3)
A-Quan
• Taxi driver & the police
Conflicts
• In common w. each other:
• Death
• Floating in the city, on the road
• Meeting different kinds of people
Jing-Wen
People to People
• Father’s attitude toward the wounded patients of the car accident caused by
their taxi drivers
• The family’s attitude toward the car accidents vs. The parents attitude toward
soap dramas
People to Objects
• 我與阿弟
V. FLÂNEURIAL LOOK
Flâneurial Look
“Flâneurial look”:
* Shuttling through streets: Urban maze
→marginal experience: multiple/ deep and dark/ obscure urban space
- The variety of modern city
- The mobility of the viewer/flâneur
Flâneurial Look in The Cabbie (運轉手之戀)
Flâneurial Perspective—蘇大全
- The variety of modern city
- The mobility of the viewer/flâneur
Flâneurial Look in The Cabbie (運轉手之戀)
The variety of modern city:
Multiple people, multiple characters (眾生相) :
→ “people sometimes reveal their deepest secrets to the people who they just
met” (The Cabbie).
Flâneurial Look in The Cabbie (運轉手之戀)
The mobility of taxi drivers:
Pros
Cons
free
dangerous
confinement: not that free; limited in the vehicle
Compare to Other Vehicles
Cab
Bus
Train/MRT
Route
free
regular
regular
Interaction with
passengers
yes
less
no
Vulnerable to
accidents
yes
yes (but less)
no
Tavi drivers in other films
Taxi Driver
Scorsese, dir.)
(1976, Martin
Taxi
Taxi
(1998, Gérard Pirès, dir.)
(2004, Tim Story, dir.)
VI. The Ending
How do your interpret the last scene of the movie?
ALIVE?
DIED?
Let’s see everybody’s reaction!
Who is back?
Da Chuan’s spirit
Wounded Da
Chuan
Da Chuan is Alive!
1. His wife goes back to kitchen to prepare his meal.
2. I do not believe that a spirit can be seen
3. If he is dead, why his mom and wife can be this calm?
CALM
CALM
Da Chuan Died!
1. He = Ah-Di
2. What does the script mean by “our turn”?
Former script: See, car accident happened
again. But the difference is…
(你們看又發生車禍了，但不同的是…… )
*Note that every car accidents in front of
their house take people’s lives away.
Da Chuan Died!
She hears someone is slamming on the brake Maye another accident happened?
*Life is as usual. Nothing change, but da Chuan leaves them.
VII. Comparisons of taxis
United States
England
Japan
Mexico
Germany
Malaysia
Taxis around the World
United States
England
Japan
Mexico
Germany
Malaysia
Q&A
1.Do you have any special experiences when taking taxi?
2.Do you think Da Chuan is alive or dead at the end of
the movie? And why?
IX. Conclusion
Thank you 