Cinematic ideorealm and cinema following Dao: theorizing film aesthetics through Daoism.

This essay explores the intersection of cinema and Daoism (Taoism), emphasizing the largely overlooked influence of Chinese art history and ecology within predominantly Euro-American film theory. It argues for a decolonized approach to cinema that recognizes nature, humanity, and their interrelations as culturally constructed, proposing Daoism's correlative and transformative cosmology as a productive analytical framework. Central to this is the Chinese aesthetic concept of yìjìng (ideorealm), which denotes a realm of meanings emerging beyond literal images through the fusion of feeling and scenery and the practice of "observing things through things," reflecting a non-anthropocentric, holistic worldview. The essay examines how these Daoist-informed aesthetics manifest in cinema, particularly through long takes, multifocal perspectives, and contemplative narratives in films by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Fei Mu, and others, highlighting cinema's capacity to create immersive, subject–object-fused spatiotemporal experiences. Ultimately, it proposes that cinema itself can be understood as following the Dao—an ever-transforming, interconnected process—offering new possibilities for cinematic ontology and ecological thought beyond Western paradigms.