Review

1. Media narrative and reality
1.1. Media is a representation (再現) of the world rather than a reflection (反映) of reality
1.2. Narrative is one of the representational features
1.3. Stop confusing representation with reality
1.4. Example: "The triad society"
-We are not concerned with whether a particular movie portrays the triad society correctly.
-We see the triad society as an element of narrative or an important part of political allegory.

2. "Hong Kong story" is not a real story
2.1. The Hong Kong story identified in movie narrative is not totally corresponding with the reality.
2.2. Example I: Made in Hong Kong
-Although it is a story about Hong Kong and 1997, you may not be able to identify clearly all elements corresponding with the reality. There is no character symbolizing "China" in the movie.

3. Metaphorical relationship
3.1. Metaphor is usually not direct and may have more than one referent.
3.2. Example: The multiple metonymic and metaphorical meanings of "flag soldier"(旗兵)
-New immigrants
-A threat from China
-Hong Kong people who are in pursuit of identity but their fate is subject to the great powers (China and Britain)

4. Narrative analysis
4.1. The purpose of narrative analysis is to identify the organization of signs.
4.2. It focuses on the social convention hidden in cultural text.
4.3. Example:表姐你好野
-It is far from enough to merely point out the discriminatory attitude towards mainlanders.
-How the stereotypical image of "表姐" is put into the narrative structure.

5. Text and context
5.1. Identifying the "Hong Kong story" is try to explore the interaction between text and context.
5.2. Text should not be reduced to context or vice versa.
5.3. Example: Mcdull, Prince de la bun
-Past (Mcdull's father), present (Mcdull) and future (Mcdull's mother)
-What is the present the movie refers to? What is the relationship between the present in movie and the present in the reality?

6. Film criticism
6.1. Film criticism is not a piecemeal comment on a film.
6.2. A central theme is needed.

7. Some hints for exam
7.1. 陳慧《拾香紀》
7.2. 龍應臺＜香港你往哪裡去？＞

Criticizing Hong Kong

1. Colonialism, nationalism and modernity
1.1. Hong Kong as a marginal place of the mainstream Chinese culture

「至香港一隅，蕞爾絕島，其俗素以操嬴居奇為尚，而自放於禮法，錐刀之徒，逐利而至，豈有雅流在其間哉！地不足遊，人不足語，校書之外，閉門日多。」（王韜，轉引自王宏志、李小良、陳清僑1997）

1.2. Hong Kong as a model of modern and western society

「薄遊香港，覽西人宮室之瑰麗，道路之整潔，巡捕之嚴密，乃始知西人治國有法度，不得以古舊之夷狄視之。乃復閱《海國圖志》、《瀛寰志略》等書，購地球圖，漸收西學之書，為講西學之基矣。」（康有為）

1.3. Hong Kong as a symbol of colonialism and national shame.

「他們的心思，以為做了中國人是投錯胎的，頂丟臉的，只恨皮膚面孔不像白種人，使他（她）一生的倒霉；但是努力的讀番書講番話，還可以補救一下，這或是他（她）們的志願吧。」（陸丹林1939，轉引自王宏志、李小良、陳清僑1997）

「香 港雖然各到各處都是中國人，香港人的基礎，始終建立在我們中國人身上，但它已經缺少中國的氣息，失去中國的靈魂。… …大部份的香港居民已像一堆堆從爐鍋裡掏出來的煤渣，精華既被吸盡，剩下來的那點乾枯無用的骸骨就被拋在街頭，連過路的野狗見了也不會對他們回頭了。」 （屠仰慈，轉引自王宏志、李小良、陳清僑1997）

1.4. Hong Kong as a miniature of modern China... ...

「香港雖只一島，卻活畫著中國許多地方現在和將來的小照：中央幾位洋主子，手下是若干頌德的『高等華人』和一夥作倀的奴氣同胞。此外即全是默默作苦的『土人』，能耐的死在洋場上，耐不住的逃入深山中。」（魯迅，轉引自王宏志、李小良、陳清僑1997）

1.5. Hong Kong as a negative image of human culture and society

「作 為土生土長的香港人，我們親眼見過五、六零年代香港社會的黑暗和腐敗情況（更不要說三、四零年代了），自然不可否認上面的描述都是事實。然而，在閱讀了這 許多負面的書寫後，我們不能不問一句：這是不是香港的全部？人們要去書寫香港時，是不是唯一的目的就是要暴露它醜惡的一面？這種論述策略的動機在哪裡？盧 瑋鑾說過，『香港的憂鬱』，在於人們總『不忘挖她的瘡疤』。」（自王宏志、李小良、陳清僑1997：62）

1.6. From the perspective of the modern Chinese intellectual, Hong Kong was portrayed as a part of China as a nation in crisis


2. Criticism of the local society
2.1. Chinese left-wing artists (neo-realist) of the 1930s (e.g 孫瑜 and 袁牧之)
2.2. Social critique in the 1950s and 1960s: poverty, class inequality and social solidarity
-Example I: 《細路祥》（1950, 導演：馮峰）
-Example II: 《可憐天下父母心》（1960, 導演：楚原）
2.3. From social critique to cynicism ( 犬儒主義)
-The opinions of those inclined to disbelieve in human sincerity, virtue and altruism.
-Example I: 《香港73》(1974)[disk B 09:53]
-Example II: 《半斤八兩》(1976)
2.4. From cynicism to conformism (順從習性) and fatalism（宿命論）

半斤八兩

我o地呢班打工仔
通街走糴直頭係壞腸胃
搵o個些少到月底點夠洗〔奀過鬼〕
確係認真濕滯

最弊波士郁Ｄ發威〔癲過雞〕
一味o係處係唔係亂o黎吠
嗡親加薪塊面挪起惡睇〔扭o下計〕
你就認真開胃

半斤八兩　做到隻積咁o既樣
半斤八兩　濕水炮仗點會響
半斤八兩　夠薑呀"手查"支鎗走去搶
出o左半斤力　想話"手羅"番足八兩
家陣惡搵食　邊有半斤八兩咁理想〔吹漲〕

＊我o地呢班打工仔
一生一世為錢幣做奴隸
o個種辛苦折墮講出嚇鬼〔死俾你睇〕
咪話冇乜所謂

半斤八兩　就算有福都冇你享
半斤八兩　慘過滾水淥豬腸
半斤八兩　雞碎咁多都要啄
出o左半斤力　想話"手羅"番足八兩
家陣惡搵食　邊有半斤八兩咁理想〔吹漲〕

重唱　＊

References
邁向六十年代的國、粵語片

3. Cultural Critique of “New” Capitalism
3.1. In the 70s, the new generation of Hong Kong intellectuals began to criticize Hong Kong society and culture with the theories and jargons of the radical politics of the 60s in the West.

3.2. “Mass culture”: Herbert Marcuse, Eric Fromm, … … (Frankfurt School)

3.3. Hong Kong cultural industry flourished along with the popularity of pornography, comic books, … …

3.4. Hong Kong was seen as a model of capitalist culture dominated by commodity-money value and technical rationalization.

3.5. Examples:《文化新潮》（e.g. 曾澍基）、《號外》（早期）

3.6. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of young intellectuals joined the cultural industry (including news filmmaking, TV production, newspaper, … …) for struggling against the dominant culture.

4. Culturalizing “Hong Kong”
4.1. Lui Tai Lok（＜自成一體的香港社會＞）
4.2. Ng Chun Hung (梁款)
4.2.1. He accepts Lui's statements about Hong Kong’s local consciousness.
4.2.2. He rejects “moralism”（道德主義）that sees popular culture as merely a kind of cultural domination imposed by capitalism.
4.2.3. He recognizes the subversive “potentialities” within popular culture, the basis of Hong Kong local consciousness.
4.3. Rey Chow (周蕾, Writing Diaspora): “Hong Kong” occupies a position of “in-between”, a kind of politico-historical consciousness in the post-Cold War era.

「香港的歷史使人傾向於一種『邊境性』（border）或『超場』寄生性（parasite）的實踐──一種既對『中國文化』認同但又與中國共產主義政權疏離；對殖民主義反抗但又不願看到全社會的繁榮遭到破壞的實踐。」

（周蕾1997《寫在家國以外》）

5. Hong Kong in crisis
5.1. 「有咁耐風流，有咁耐折墮！」
5.2. The identity of Hong Kong as a city of stability and prosperity was shattered.
5.3. A society and economy without solid foundation
5.4. The "Hong Kong" dream is gone.
5.5. Hong Kong government and Tung Chee Wah were to blame.
5.6. Two responses to political cynicism

5.6.1. The post-SARS symptom: people's anger-->government's call for optimism and social solidarity/harmony
-Example I: 《金雞》and《金雞 II》
-Example II: 《1:99電影行動》

5.7.2. Critique of banalism(甘於平庸) and anti-intellectualism(反智)
-Example: East Wing West Wing

5.7.3. Critique of "Hong Kong Ideology" and "Central values" (Lung Ying Tai)

6. Concluding remarks
6.1. Social criticism is trivialized as bad-mouthing (唱衰) vs. praising (唱好)
6.2. Social conformism, social critique or social reform?

References

王宏志、李小良、陳清僑1997《否想香港：歷史．文化．未來》台北：麥田。
Ku, Agnes s. 2002. "Postcolonial Cultural Trends in Hong Kong: Imagining the Local, the National, and the Global." Crisis and Transformation in China's Hong Kong. Edited by Ming K. Chan and Alvin Y. So. NY and London: M. E. Sharpe.
吳俊雄、張志偉編。《閱讀香港普及文化：1970-2000》。香港：牛津大學出版社，2001。
羅永生＜殖民主義：一個迷失的視野＞

Part VI: Gendering Hong Kong (April 10)

1. Masculinity and action movie
1.1. Action is the most popular metaphor for male subjectivity.

1.2. Action movies are dominated by men.
1.3. Action men vs. beautiful women.

2. Bruce Lee (The Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon )

2.1. Historical background
-The rise of identity politics in the US (1960s-1970s): black movement, feminist movement, sexual liberation, ... ...
-An old cultural nationalism (e.g. 唐君毅)--> A new cultural nationalism
-The cultural connection between overseas Chinese and Hong Kong
(Bruce Lee's chronology)

2.2. The Fist of Fury（精武門）
2.2.1. Chinese people were humiliated by Japanese
2.2.2. Chen Zhen striked back and defeated the Japanese enemies
2.2.3. Chen sarificed and was killed by modern guns.
2.2.4. A nationalistic story happened in the past (Shanghai in the early 20th century).

2.3. The Way of the Dragon（猛龍過江）
2.3.1. A Chinese restaurant was threatened by the gangsters in Rome.
2.3.2. Bruce Lee arrived at Rome and acted as a bumpkin.
2.3.3. Lee defeated all enemies.
2.3.4. He left Rome.
2.3.5. A nationalistic story about oversea Chinese.

2.4. Kung Fu master
2.4.1. An icon of Chinese Kung Fu: physical power
2.4.2. Individuality: Bravery
2.4.3. Body builder
2.4.4. His Kung Fu and body became spectacles.
2.4.5. Representing traditonal China and the ordinary Chinese
2.4.6. A new invented tradition of Kung Fu (From Wing Chun to Jeet Kune Do)
2.4.6. Cultural nationalism in the international "battlefield"


2.5. Narcissism and nationalism
2.5.1. Narcissism: a pattern of behavior and characteristics related to:
-obsession with one's self.
-pursuing one's gratification and perfection.
2.5.2. The internal contradiction of Narcissism
-High self-esteem
-Low self-esteem

2.6. Bruce Lee as a cross-media phenomenon
2.6.1. The power of Kung Fu in movie
2.6.2. Jeet Kune Do(截拳道): A new school of martial arts in reality

3. Jackie Chan

3.1. Historical background
3.1.1. After the sudden death of Bruce Lee, the Hong Kong movie industry was looking for another "Bruce Lee".
3.1.2. Another tradition of martial arts: Peking Opera (Jackie Chan's master: 于占元)
3.1.3. The availability of stuntmen in local film industry (〔龍虎〕武師)
3.1.4. The failure of maintaining Bruce Lee's heritage (1976)
(Jackie Chan's biography)









3.2. The rise of Jackie Chan as a comedian and action hero
3.2.1. Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978, 蛇形刁手) and Drunken Master（1978, 醉拳）
3.2.2. Director: Yuen Wo-ping

3.3. A moden action hero (Police Story, 1985)
3.3.1. A story about a hero fighting against the establishment and organized crime that manipulate his life.
3.3.2. His action is not an expression of individual physical power but becomes a cinematic spectacle(奇景).

"It's one of the achievements of my lifetime to honor one of my heroes of all time....When you watch a Jackie Chan movie, you want to be Jackie Chan. You want to run through the glass the way only he can. You want to fight 25 guys, lose only up till the last moment, and then take them all on the way only he can." Quentin Tarantino (1995)

3.4. Jackie Chan's heroism
3.4.1. Kung Fu-->acrobatics
3.4.2. A tough guy who could overcome difficulties and bear pain.
3.4.3. He is the ideal icon of Hong Kong police rather than national hero.

4. Stephen Chiau：From a comedian to a "virtual" action hero

4.1. Historical Background
4.1.1. The transformation and decline of Kung Fu movie
4.1.2. Comedy became a popular genre and continues
4.1.3. Heroism is in decline.

4.2. The formula of Stephen Chiau's movie
4.2.1. Stephen Chiau is characterized by his familiarity, vulgarness, weakness, fortune and smartness.
4.2.2. The accidental process of becoming a hero.
4.2.3. The power of hero is not defined by physical power and physical skill but his smartness and good personality (kindness and steadiness).

4.3. The gender relationship in Stephen Chiau's movie
4.3.1. Two examples:
-God of Cookery (1996): Turkey (Karen Mok) has mercy on him.
-Shaolin Soccer (2001): Mui (Zhao Wei) appreciates his "fire".
4.3.2. Women are not fascinated by his power but his good personality.
4.3.3. He is superior to women not in term of physical power.
4.3.4. Example: 「古惑的槍」

5. Ronald Cheng: A "Rascal"
5.1. A man without physical power, good personality, intelligence and integrity
5.2. Good luck is the only weapon of a rascal.
5.3. A weak man's fantasy: Women's unconditional devotion and obedience to men

6. The decline of hero? Or the decline of physical and mental power?

Gendering Hong Kong

1. Feminisms
1.1. What is Feminism（女性主義）?
It is a body of theories and political movement based on women's experience. It focuses on analyzing gender inequality and promotion of women's rights, interests and issues.

1.2. Feminism and cultural theory
It focuses on the representations of women and gender relationship（性別關係）.

1.3. Gender/ Sex（社會性別／性別）
Gender is the perceived and conceived masculinity or femininity of a person. It refers to a lot of characteristics including appearance, speech, movement, etc.
Sex is the physical characteristics for differentiating female from male.

1.4. Symbolic annihilation（符號滅絕）
1.4.1. The presence and voice of women are reduced to minimum or eliminated.
1.4.2. Examples: Kung Fu Hustle（《功夫》）, Infernal Affairs（《無間道》）, ... ...

1.5. Gender stereotype（性別核板印象）
1.5.1. In the patriarchal society, gender stereotypes are constructed according to gender inequalities.
1.5.2. Women are often subordinated to male protagonists in movies.
Example: James Bond series
1.5.3. More examples:
Men: worker: active: public: productive
Women: housewife: passive: private: nurturing

2. Laura Mulvey: male gaze
2.1. "VISUAL PLEASURE AND NARRATIVE CINEMA": A cultural-psychoanalytical approach

2.2. Film is a cultural form always perpetuated by men's desire, the unconscious of patriarchal society.

2.3. Cinema as voyeurism (偷窺癖) for men: satisfying men's desire and fantasy

2.4. Women as a sexual object to be looked at and desired by men.

2.5. Men as a subject of desire

2.6. An example: The World of Suzie World

2.7. How to write "her-stories":
-How to symbolically empower women to become the subjects in popular culture?
-How to generate a cultural form (e.g. narrative) from a feminist point of view (or as an expression of women's desire)?

3. "Super-woman": the image of women in the 1960s
3.1. Highly talented, independent, and intelligent women
3.2. Dutiful daughter
3.3. Pursuing romantic relationship with a good looking man
Example: The Princess of Movie Fans (影迷公主)


3. Women as a subordinated role in Hong Kong films since the late 1980s
3.1. Women's independence is not seen in mainstream movies before the late 1990s
Example: The series of The Romancing Stars（《精裝追女仔》）
3.2. Women were portrayed as a desired object ("beautiful vase"漂亮花瓶)
3.3. The leading role of women only existed in less or non-mainstream movies

3.4. Example: Summer Snow（女人四十 1994）
3.4.1. A story about a woman trapped in the patriarchal order
3.4.2. Anne Hui（許鞍華）: a woman director
Reference: Freda Freiberg. "Border crossings: Ann Hui's cinema"
3.4.3. A story of an ordinary but "over-loaded" housewife.
3.4.4. She suffers from her job, her family, her father-in-law dominated by (weak) men.
3.4.5. The only way to escape from these burdens is "miracles" or illusion ("summer snow" and "pigeon")
3.4.6. The real life for a Hong Kong woman and the patriarchal institutions (family and workplace).

3.5. More examples:
《客途秋恨》（Song of Exile, 1990）: An autobiography of a Hong Kong woman (Maggie Cheung 張曼玉) and her "roots"
《千言萬語》（Ordinary Heroes, 1999）: A story about a female activist (Rachel Lee 李麗珍) in the 1970s

4. Hong Kong identity and women since the late 1990s

4.1. Golden chicken(金雞): a "superwoman" struggling for independence in the colonial period
4.1.1. A woman dependent on men-->An independent sex worker
4.1.2. An independent prostitute becomes a metaphor of Hong Kong
4.1.3. From the viewpoint of this prostitute, the men's world is in decline and they need help (the character of "姚仁邦").
4.1.4. In part II, the desire of "Golden Chicken" is represented as longing for a man.

4.2. The mood for love（花樣年華）: an metaphor for a place, a time, and a memory
4.2.1. The narrator is the male protagonist, Chow Mou Wan/Tony Leung (周慕雲/梁朝偉) .
4.2.2. So Lai Wah/Maggie Cheung (蘇麗華／張曼玉): Her subtleness and oriental outlook are highlighted and gazed upon by audience (Disc 13:36; 21:09).

4.3. Hollywood Hong Kong (香港有個荷里活): A woman as a desirable object and a femme fatale(禍水紅顏)
4.3.1. Hong Kong is represented as a group of frustrated and "castrated" men
4.3.2. In the film they all felt fascinated by a mystified prostitute (東東／周迅) from mainland China
4.3.3. The men never got the woman.
4.3.3. The Woman are cast out of local imagination

5. Patriarchal narrative and Hong Kong
5.1. Despite more women stories, female desire and autonomy are often incorporated into the narrative structure of patriarchy (父權制度的敘事結構).
5.2. The past of Hong Kong is sometimes represented as a beautiful woman but women remained as a nostalgic object.
5.3. Women often remain a desired object(慾望對象) in Hong Kong narratives

Next week
《猛龍過江》、《警察故事》

Spatializing Hong Kong (Mar 27)

1. Mapping Hong Kong
1.1. The unity of Hong Kong as a city doesn't exist.
1.2. Mapping Hong Kong is one of the ways of representing Hong Kong
1.3. Wong Kar-wai said,

"Many people ask me if Chungking is a love letter I wrote to Hong Kong. But I'm not that romantic. To me it feels like a diary or a map. All the scenes were shot according to the logic of the place. If you go to Hong Kong after seeing Chungking Express, you won't get lost."
(Cameron Bailey 1997; quoted from Huang 2000 )

References: 丹尼斯．渥德（Wood, Dennis）1996. <<地圖權力學>>（The Power of Maps）台北：時報．

1.4. Analysis of mise-en-scene: Focusing on how the scenes are framed and staged for envisioning a city space.
1.5. Two kinds of mapping:
1.5.1. The bird-eye view (Example: West Kowloon Cultural District)
1.5.2. The view of flaneur/ flaneuse（遊蕩者）: The camera's eye
1.6. The importance of spatial representation
1.6.1. Our understanding and perception are more affected by representations of space than direct experience.
1.6.2. Visual representations of space become more important to our urban experience
1.6.3. City as a phantasmagoria [全景幻象] (Walter Benjamin)
-Arcades-shopping mall-tourist site (e.g. Avenue of Stars)
-Theme parks (Disneyland)
-Consuming places (曾少千2003＜我買故我在＞)

2. Colonial mapping and local mappings
2.1. My Son A-chang (1950)
2.2. Hong Kong as a grassroots society, a dwelling place for the poor, street kid and criminal (disc A: 6:40)

2.2. The World of Suzie Wong (1960):
2.2.1. Hong Kong: Victoria Harbour
2.2.2. Hong Kong: fishing boat
2.2.3. Hong Kong: a crowded city

2.3. The World of Wong Kar-wai
2.3.1. Old buildings
2.3.2. Local restaurants
2.3.3. Chungking Mansion: a slum-like building
2.3.4. A corner of Central

3. Fruit Chan : Made in Hong Kong
3.1. Made in Hong Kong (香港製造，1997)
3.2. The internal structure of the high-rise public housing block
3.3. Young people's experience in this space: ordinary, local, alienated and being abandoned (disc A: 28:50)
3.4. A space of desire (a beautiful woman, protection and death)
3.5. Hong Kong: A space is dying in 1997 (disc B: 43:14).

4. Fruit Chan: Little Cheung(細路祥，2000)
4.1. Fruit Chan's local experience of community: Yau Ma Tei, old tenement buildings, alleys, local restaurant, ... ..."a world of money"
4.2. Little Cheung (1950): The local and alienated experience of "Chinese-ness"
4.3. Little Cheung (2000): A nostaglic story of local community and collective memory.
4.4. A cinematic tradition: Little Cheung-Bruce Lee-Brother Cheung (祥哥／新馬師曾／鄧永祥)- Little Cheung
4.5. Hong Kong is represented as a multicultural and grassroots community with a loose boundary: Illegal immigrant, Indian and Parkistani
4.6. Representing Hong Kong from a kid's eyes (his personal growth and the transition of Hong Kong)
4.7. The death of Brother Cheung- the death of a community- the loss of a friendship-the loss of innocence.

5. Hong Kong as an imagined and represented space
5.1. Hong Kong is represented as a nostalgic space (old-style public housing and old district)
5.2. Hong Kong, as a cultural and memorable space, is about to be fading out.
5.3. Hong Kong is represented as a grassroots community.

6. Hong Kong as a simularum(擬象): A postmodern city of pastiche and globalization
6.1. Simularum: an unreal and vague semblance
6.2. Jean Baudrillard:
6.2.1. We are living in a world constituted by simulacra!
6.2.2. Our understanding and experience of reality are replaced by simulacra produced by media and cultural institutions.
6.2.3. Example: We know about Paris through media images before we visit there.
6.2. Old Shanghai? Hong Kong? A "Sim city"?
6.3. An intertextual game of The House of 72 tenants: 王為一(1963)-楚原(1973)-周星馳(2004) (02:55)
6.4. An icon of local culture (Hong Kong and Cantonese) becomes the stage for Matrix-like fighting scenes.
6.5. Experience of local place is fading out and dissolves in postmodern game.

Part IV: Globalizing Hong Kong (March 20)

1. Wong Kar-wai: globalization, localization and cult movies (小眾電影)
1.1. Wong is one of the most "globalized" directors of Hong Kong
1.2. Hong Kong movies, as one of the dominant narrators, exist in a border-crossing or "borderless" world (Kin-Yan Szeto).
1.3. Cultural globalization
1.3.1. Hollywood movies: globalization of the American film industry (movies, genres, stars, distribution, investment, product... ...)
1.3.2. Hong Kong or Korean film industry in Asia and the US.
1.3.3. Cult movies: globalization of non-mainstream local movies or directors (localization)
1.4. The main features of cult movies
1.4.1. Local characteristics
1.4.2. Global themes or languages (Example: John Woo's action movies)
1.5. Two questions:
-Is Hong Kong cinema becoming more national or transnational?
-How do the film talents in this industry and the works that derive from it react to challenges of (post)colonialism and nationalism?

2. The early phase of Wong's movies: (The Days of Being Wild), Chungking Express, Fallen Angels and Happy Together
2.1. Displaced identities, alienation
2.2. Some tricks of postmodernism (後現代) :
-Hybrid languages
-Cultural collage (拼貼)
2.3. Hong Kong as a cultural space: signifier of change and hybridity
2.4. Wong mimicked the high-speed flow of contemporary cities.
2.5. Analysis of a scene in Chungking Express: Mise en scene (場面調度)

References:The Cultural Aesthetic of Wong Kar-Wai

3. Nostalgia: In the Mood for Love and 2046
3.1. Explicitly picking up the theme of nostalgia again after 1997.
3.2. Wong's obsession with the 1960s.
3.3. Hong Kong: 1960s: love story: beloved one: 2046

4. In the Mood for Love
4.1. A man's (周慕雲) love story> a woman's story
4.2. Love affair: an incident: a memorable past: a woman
4.3. An oriental and exotic woman under male gaze
4.4. Analysis of a scene portraying Su Li-hua (Maggie Cheung) as a desired object (13:32)
4.5. Analysis of the ending: In the Mood for love is a male-centric story.


5. 2046: "Love is a matter of timing"
5.1. Zhou Mu-yun's story continues
-1963:在新加坡遇上另一個蘇麗珍(Rm no. 2046)
-1967-8:跟白玲交往（Rm no. 2046）
-1969:跟靖雯的故事（Rm no. 2046）
-1968:在新加坡再找不到另一個蘇麗珍 ("2046" is lost)
-1969:靖雯去日本 ("2046" is gone)
-1969:白玲去新加坡("2046" is gone)
5.1.1. The lover of "2046" is gone-->Memorizing "2046"-->All "2046"s are gone
5.1.2. Nostalgia of "2046" and "Hong Kong":
-A political metaphor (Hong Kong remains unchanged for fifty years, from 1997 to 2046)
-A disjuncture: close and distant
-Commodity fetishism: a room, a mood, a woman, a set of objects... ...
-A male gaze upon his beloved one(s)
-Looking back to history from "2047"

5.2. The story of 《2046》: People who went to 2046 never come back
5.2.1. Kimura Takuya (木村拓哉) left 2046 (his love relationship with somebody)
5.2.2. He fell in love with a robot
5.2.3. The robot didn't respond to his love.
5.2.4. He moves on to the future.
5.2.5. 2046: No. 2046: a piece of memory (Chapter 4)

5.3. Analysis of two scenes
5.3.1. Looking at "2046" (Chapter 3 and 4)
-"2046": a hotel room number: a fragment of memory preserved: a "borrowed" and temporary place
-Male gaze upon the past
5.3.2. Ending
-Obsessed with "2046"
-Leaving "2046"

6. Postmodernism, globalizing nostalgia
6.1. Hong Kong movies elevate themselves to the "global stage" as exotic others
6.2. From the eyes of the global spectators:
6.2.1. Hong Kong is portrayed as a place of nostalgia.
6.2.2. Fetishism (拜物主義): The beauty of Hong Kong is imagined as an object of the 1960s (the past)
6.2.3. The complex of 1997 arouses the nostalgic mood.
6.3. Postmodernism: Nostalgia without historical consciousness
6.3.1. In the mood for love: The past is highly aestheticized.
6.3.2. 2046: The past is a self-referential (自我指涉) and intextual game of pastiche (模仿拼湊) and collage
6.4. Postmodernism as a global cinematic language


Further references
後現代的風格‧後殖民的香港：關錦鵬電影中的（反）國家寓言

Next week
《香港製造》、《細路祥》
Hong Kong Blue: Flâneurie with the Camera's Eye in a Phantasmagoric Global City

Post-colonizing Hong Kong (March 13)

1. Ambivalent identities: (post)colonial traces

1.1. Local identities in the colonial context
-Nationalist
-Comprador
-Refugee

1.2. De-colonialization without independence (沒有獨立的非殖民化／Lau Siu Kai)

1.3. Resumption of sovereignty without de-colonialization?

1.4. A nationalist project: defining the identity of people

1.5. Ambivalent identities: Who am I? Pro-China or pro-Britain?


2. Infernal Affairs: a political allegory(政治寓言)

2.1. What is "allegory"?
-a short moral story (often with animal characters)
-a visible symbol representing an abstract idea an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances
-an extended metaphor.

2.2. The historical and political background of Infernal Affairs II: The transitional period and handover

2.3. The shifting identities of Hong Kong people (gangster<-->police)

2.4. Allegory is not necessarily a mirror reflecting the reality. But it inspires our allegorical thinking of the reality.


3. "Undercover" movie as a special genre (類型) of Hong Kong movie

3.1. Man on the brink(1981, 邊緣人), directed by Zhang guoming(章國明)

3.2. City on Fire (1987, 龍虎風雲), directed by Ringo Lam (林嶺東)

3.3. Undercover
-a disguised police/gangster
-real identity being hidden and suppressed
-an in-between identity
-an ambivalent identity

3.4. Police: modern (westernized), rational, rule of law, justice

3.5. Gangster: traditional, sentimental, criminal, yiqi (義氣: botherhood, friendship, ... ...)

3.6. Undercover: a tragic hero

4. Infernal affairs: "To start over"（重新做人）and "To be a good person" (我想做好人)

4.1. Two meanings of "To start over"

4.2. For Chan Wing Yan (陳永仁), it refers to recovering his authentic identity and getting out of his ambivalent and in-between position.

4.3. For Lau Kin Ming(劉建明), it refers to covering up his past and making further collaboration (勾結) with others.

4.4. Death (Chan): Pursuing authentic identity

4.5. Survival (Lau): Covering up more "dirty pasts" to disguise himself as a cop (Infernal Affairs 無間道)

4.6. Infernal affairs: suffering from ambivalent and in-between identities

5. Infernal Affairs II: 1991-1997

5.1. A story happens before 1997 but told in 2003.

5.2. A legend was born at "the best of times" and "the worst of times".

5.3. Ambivalent and collaborative identities:

*Chan Wing Yan: "To be a good person"
-A son of a gangster family (Ngai)
-He wanted to join police force for getting rid of his past (his relationship with gangsters).
-He became an undercover cop in order to be a "good person".

*Inspector Wong(黃 sir)
-Collaborating with Hon Sum's (韓琛) wife to kill Ngan Kwan for revenge.
-Covering up his collaboration with gangsters.

*Lau Kin Ming
-Undercover gangster in police force
-Betraying Hon Sum's wife for being an undercover in police force.

*Ngai Wing Hao(倪永孝)
-Maintaining the authority and power of Ngai's family
-Pursuing the identity of businessman
-Making collaboration with political people and China government

*Hon Sum:
-The winner is the guy who could make collaboration with others.

5.4. Analysis of two scenes

5.4.1. Scene I (Chapter 13):
-Covering up the "pasts"-collaboration-modern legal system
"The law will continue to back me up"

5.4.2. Scene II (Chapter 16):
-Handover in 1997
-Hon Sum (the winner) joined the cocktail party to celebrate the "Handover".
-Collaboration continues... ...

6. Infernal Affairs III: The victory of the modern power?

6.1. What are the symbolic meanings of the character of Yeung Kam Wing(楊錦榮)?
-He is good at playing politics and collaborating with everyone.
-His past remains a mystery
-He knows and keeps file records

6.2. Why did Lau Kin Ming become a loser?
-He felt anxious about his ambivalent identity
-He attempts to reveal Yeung's identity

7. Infernal affairs: Hong Kong's postcoloniality

7.1. Hong Kong is NOT a fusion of the West and the East but trapped in the confrontation between two worlds

7.2. The modern world: rationality, rule of law, justice, ... ...

7.3. The underworld: irrationality, violence, "relation", dirty politics, ... ...
Example: Election(2005)
Election in the triad society: Election of Chief Executive

7.4. Ambivalent identities: shuttling between these two worlds

7.5. Collaborative (post-)colonialism (Donald Tsang? A colonial bureaucrat? A patriot? A salesman? )

7.6. "Infernal affairs" as a metaphor: Hong Kong's ontological situatation in the post-colonial politics.

Reading:
羅永生＜作为政治寓言的「无间道系列」＞

Next week
Wong Kar Wai 2046 and In the mood for love (2000)