hongkong films

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LTEA 120C Hong Kong Films Hong Kong Cinema Through a Global Lens

Fall 2024

Final Analytical Paper and Optional Peer Review (30%)

This assignment is an opportunity for you to showcase the knowledge you have acquired in this course as well as your strengths in research; critical thinking; and articulate, concise writing. Choose a topic that you are interested in and craft an essay of about 1000 – 1200 words (4-5 pages double-spaced in length using Times New Roman Font Size 12) in which you present a central argument and close reading of a limited body of primary sources (Hong Kong films). Your essay should be based on research you have done about your chosen topic, and you are welcome to study and write about any of the films we are examining in this class. Your paper should present a clear thesis and sufficient proof to substantiate your argument. You must present a close analytical reading of at least one film and engage at least one secondary source in your paper. You may choose from a broad variety and options of paper topics, depending on what you are most interested in. You may trace a key idea or theme in several films of your choosing. Or you may choose to focus on only one film and carefully explain one or more key elements within it. As part of this assignment, all students are highly encouraged, but not required, to participate in the Optional Peer Review process, during which you will give and receive constructive criticism from one of your classmates. There are three steps you should follow in completing this assignment:

1. Write a good, complete draft of your analytical paper by Monday, December 2 at the latest.

2. Participate in the Optional Peer Review Writing Workshop December 2 - 6 and swap your paper draft with a classmate to receive feedback on your paper prior to final submission. You will be matched with a peer review partner.

3. Write, revise and submit your paper by Monday, December 9 on Canvas. I highly recommend you follow all guidelines stated in this assignment sheet and make use of all resources posted on Canvas regarding good research and writing skills, as well as the posted sample papers.

In order to write a strong and successful research paper, do the following:

1. Look on the syllabus and Canvas, and choose a topic you find interesting and would like to learn more about. This can be a topic/session we have already studied in the course, or one that we will study in the coming weeks.

2. Spend some time “marinading” by researching and reading about your chosen topic by using the resources posted on Canvas, the materials on course reserves, and other resources, such as JSTOR.

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3. Choose a imited number of films you wish to analyze in your essay. You may choose to focus on only one film, or more than one.

4. Craft a central thesis / argument about your chosen topic that can be substantiated with evidence from the film(s) you are focusing on.

5. Organize the essay by presenting a clearly-defined introduction, body and conclusion.

6. Present a careful, rigorous analysis of the film(s) you are focusing on. Rather than merely citing or paraphrasing the story or plot of a given film, analyze the ideas you want to highlight in the film and show how they substantiate and strengthen your central argument / thesis. Focus and closely examine specific scenes in the film(s) you are discussing. Discuss not only WHAT you see in those scenes (plot, story, theme, characterization) but also HOW the scenes are put together by analyzing key elements of cinematic techniques (camera angles, lighting, sound, costume, make-up, mise-en-scène, color). Paying attention to cinematic techniques will allow you to focus on the aesthetic elements of the film(s) and to trace the affective power of the film(s) upon the viewer.

7. Choose at least one secondary scholarly source and engage with the ideas in this text while citing it correctly. If you wish, you may also read another secondary source that is not on our syllabus, and engage it in your critical reading of the primary text.

8. Utilize correct citation format, using either the MLA or Chicago Manuals of Style.

9. Provide footnotes (if needed) and a correctly formatted bibliography at the end of your paper. Clear guidelines regarding the format for direct quotes, paraphrased text, footnotes and bibliography can be found in the section entitled “How to Write Excellent Papers” in the “Assignments” folder on the Blackboard course web site.

10. Always write in your own voice and never “appropriate” another scholar’s texts, ideas or points as your own, as this is a form of plagiarizing. Whenever you cite a primary or secondary source, it is always important to give appropriate credit to the author of the work.

11. Carefully spell-check and proofread your paper so as to avoid spelling or punctuation mistakes.

12. Provide a cover page that features the title of your paper, your name, the date and the title of the course.

Your analytical paper will be graded according to the following criteria: 1. The content, substance, accuracy and depth of your argument, discussion and analysis. 2. Your analysis of at least one film, as substantiation of your central thesis / argument. 3. Your citation and critical engagement of at least one relevant secondary scholarly source in your essay 3. The organization and structure of your essay overall, as well as the clarity, style and format of your work.

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The paper will be due by the end of the day on Monday, December 9 on our Canvas website. Points will be deducted for every day that you are late in submitting it. Good luck and enjoy this process of exploration, study and critical analysis!

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Geraldine Fiss

LTEA 120C Final Paper

June 7th 2024

The Multiple Metaphors Played by Passports in Happy Together

As a film directed by Wong Kar-wai and released during the handover of HongKong in

1997, Happy Together is not only about the sorrows and joys of a pair of lovers, but its queer

theme is a metaphor for Hong Kong people's confusion about their own cultural identity

during the chaotic period. In exploring this film, I was dazzled by the richness of the

metaphors and the uncertainty that runs throughout it. Among the many ambushes in the

movie, the passport, a seemingly unimportant detail that both appears at the beginning of the

film and contributes to the breakup of the two protagonists, inspired my curiosity about the

metaphor behind it. Through careful viewing and analysis, I have formed my central thesis:

the passport in this film represents HongKong's uncertain nationality identity, and the two

protagonists mirror Wang's representation of Hong Kong's ambivalence in facing this

uncertainty. In this essay, I will use some important shots of the protagonists'passports to

explore the portrayals of Lai Yiu Fai and Ho Po-Wing and analyze the metaphor behind them

ofHongKong which faces the pain of an uncertain future.

At the beginning of the film, Wong Kar Wai gives a close-up shot of the two

protagonists'passports (Happy Together 0:00:47-0:00:54). This unique passport for Hong

Kong people, British Nationality (Overseas), points out the embarrassing position ofHong

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Kong: neither is completely acknowledged as British nor knows if they will be accepted by

China. Meanwhile, the identity of Lai Yiu Fai and Ho Po-Wing, a pair of queer, is

superficially a forbidden love, but also alludes to the unacceptable identity ofHongKong.

Just as Forrester said, "as much as these are films about lonely people in search of love that

forever eludes them, they also ache with the loneliness of HongKong’s political precarity

through the ’90s, each film channeling a distinct facet of its dizzying uncertainty". Therefore,

the two protagonists together leave HongKong for the other side of the earth at the same time

as the handover of Hong Kong demonstrates the escapism ofHong Kong people due to the

ambiguity and uncertainty of their future. In Lai's rental house in Argentina, Lai realizes that

"Hong Kong and Argentina are on opposite sides of the world" (01:19:08-01:19:13). While

Wong Kar-wai also filmed a few segments of reversed HongKong later in this film, a novel

way of filming that not only refreshes the audience but also better shows how far away from

home Lai and Ho were (01:19:18-01:19:38). Potentially, it also shows that HongKong is like

a child who has been away from home for a long time and has complicated feelings about the

handover.

While when they two are analyzed together, they allude to HongKong as a whole, when

they are analyzed separately, they represent the ambivalence of Hong Kong in the face of the

handover. Lai represents the side ofHong Kong that longs for home and acceptance, while

Ho represents the other side as a wanderer. The irreconcilable differences in their

personalities have long been buried in the footage of their argument when they get lost

(00:05:18-00:05:29). While Lai gets out of the car to look at the map, Ho walks towards the

uncharted wilderness. The map represents the destination, and the saving of the traveling

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expenses back home upon arrival, whereas the unknown wilderness principle represents the

journey itself, and the unwillingness to return. As a result, the vast differences between the

two lovers cause pain to each other and compose the ending of their separation. But Lai's

reluctance to break up also leads him to hide Ho's passport, the second time the passport

appears in this film (00:24:56-00:25:07). Faced with the uncertainty of the future, the one

who wants to go home imprisons the other who is eager to explore the outside world. This is

both a dying struggle between lovers on the verge of breaking up and a mapping ofHong

Kong's psychological ambivalence and powerlessness to act in the face of the handover.

Later, when Ho discovers his passport was hidden by Lai, the conflict between them

eventually erupts (00:57:57-00:58:38). At this point, Ho Po-Wing, having lost his passport,

also loses the ability to return to HongKong representing an "eternal exile and diaspora"

(Berry). He represents HongKong people's fear of the unknown fate of being displaced after

losing their British passports. At the same time, he also maps Wang's anguish over Hong

Kong's lack of ability to make its own decisions on nationality. Similarly, even though Lai

has his own passport, he receives no clear answer from his father as to whether or not he is

accepted. When he calls and writes to his father to confess the wrong he has done before, the

movie only vaguely gives a small snippet of his father's abusive voice over the phone, and

there is no follow-up as to whether or not he receives a reply (01:15:25-01:16:05, 01:16:15-

01:16:34). Even so, he eventually wants to go home and leaves Ho's passport on a table in his

rental house as he leaves, marking the third time the passport appears in this film in a visual

sense rather than verbally (01:20:40). However, it is still unknown whether Ho will be able to

find his passport as well as his freedom. Just like Lai's journey, no one knows whether he will

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go home, and whether he will be accepted if he does. From my perspective, the uncertain

future of Lai and Ho maps HongKong when facing the handover in Wong Kar Wai's eyes.

The shots of the passport bridge most of the important plots in this film. The two

characters, Lai and Ho, on the one hand, express Wong Kar-wai's view that love has nothing

to do with gender, and on the other hand carry a lot of his complex feelings about the return

of HongKong in the context of current events. As I said before, the end of the movie leaves

the viewer with a lot of suspense: does Ho find his passport? And where exactly is the

destination of the train that Lai boards? As audiences, we don't know the answer, just as the

people of Hong Kong at the time, watching the turmoil from the sidelines, no one knows

what will happen next. What Wong Kar Wai does so well is that he alludes to this turmoil

under the superficiality of a pair of loving queers, allowing the audience to empathize with

their love story while experiencing the feelings of HongKong people at the time when they

were facing the handover.

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Work Cited

Berry, Chris (24 October 2018), "Happy Alone? Sad Young Men in East Asian Gay

Cinema", Queer Asian Cinema: Shadows in the Shade, Routledge, pp. 187–200,

doi:10.4324/9781315877174-7, ISBN 978-1-315-87717-4, S2CID 239905480

Forrester, Chris. “Dislocation Blues: Wong Kar-Wai’s Love Trilogy – Establishing

Shot.” Blogs.iu.edu, blogs.iu.edu/establishingshot/2023/11/16/dislocation-blues-

wong-kar-wais-love-trilogy/. Accessed 7 June 2024.

Happy Together. Directed by Wong, Kar-wai. Golden Harvest Company, 17May 1997,

https://library.ucsd.edu/dmr/courses/3340/Spring/2024/ltea_120c