How far do Wong Kar Wai’s films display the excessive westernisation and lacking identity of Hong Kong during the 90s?
Wong Kar Wai is one of the most renowned and respected directors to come out of Hong Kong. He is known for his aesthetically beautiful films, his impact on the Hong Kong new wave cinema and his effective use of soundtracks in all of his films. His films are stylised in such a way that focuses heavily on colour, motion blur and grainy footage. Canted angles are also a common convention of Wong Kar Wai’s films that are easily distinguishable from his works. In this essay, the lack of national identity of citizens from Hong Kong and how it is represented in Wong Kar Wai’s works will be analysed. An important thing to note is that at the time of WKW’s most popular works, Hong Kong was currently undergoing a handover from the British Empire to communist China. The Sino-British Declaration of 1984 stated that the state of Hong Kong would be handed over to China and revert to Chinese rule on the 1stof July 1997, but still retaining a degree of freedom and still having its own government. During years between 84-97, known as the ‘transitional period’ (5: Ching-kiu Chan, 2001), a lack of identity was prominent throughout Hong Kong and Wong Kar Wai’s films were able to display this excellently.
A convention of Wong Kar Wai’s films that he is extremely well known for is his choice of soundtrack. He chooses such fitting songs and often puts a Hong Kong twist to it, a great example being Faye Wong’s cover of Dreams by Irish band The Cranberries as part of Chungking Express. This holds a significant effect to the subject of westernisation as it suggests that one of the biggest pop stars from Hong Kong (at the time) relies on imitating western pop culture to produce her own. It is the upmost form of postmodernism; covering a song in another language. Of course Hong Kong has their own music industry, however the use of this song in this film is significant because it is meant to signify the lack of identity that Hong Kong has, and that all of their pop culture derives from western society. Another great example of this is in Fallen Angelswhen a cover of Massive Attack’s Karmacoma is played repeatedly throughout the opening sequences of the film. This track is a great representation of the film itself; slow paced, trippy sounding, urban-style and a mix of both oriental and western (sound) style. Wong Kar Wai made a great choice. Focussing on Chungking Expressagain, another song from the film is California Dreamin’ by 60s American pop group the Mamas and the Papas. The song itself is about a desire to leave and live the American dream, which is exactly what many Asians want. America holds up an ideal to many Asians of a prosperous country of freedom, land and money. There are no tropical storms in America, no corrupt politicians (apparently), no extreme poverty (again, apparently) and there is the opportunity to be whoever you want to be, regardless of creed, colour or gender (again! Apparently.).
At the end of Fallen Angels, a cover of Yazoo’s Only You is played during the scene where He Zhiwu’s character is riding a motorbike with the Killer’s Agent. The cover is by British acapella group The Flying Pickets. Perhaps WKW chose to use an acapella cover of this song rather than the original Yazoo synthpop version due to the minimalism, possibly referencing the lack of genuine direction and narrative in the film. Perhaps it could be a reference to the lack of direction Hong Kong was experiencing due to the handover to China at the time of the film. Emilie Yeh (6: 1999) distinguished that Wong’s use of music is able to interact with both western and eastern audiences. She notes it to be both ‘transnational and transcultural’. She also cites it to be one of the biggest reasons that WKW’s films are able to become so popular with western audiences, despite a huge cultural barrier being present.
The film Days of Being Wildcan be analysed to say a lot about the current state of Hong Kong, despite it being set 30 years before it actually was released. That alone suggests that Hong Kong was in a state of reminiscing and nostalgia. The film is also set in the Philippines as Wong Kar Wai is admittedly fascinated by the country (who could blame him). Linking this back to the question, the Philippines is a very westernized country as it has been colonised by both the Spanish and the Americans for almost the entirety of its existence. WKW may be fascinated with the country due to the fact that it is literally half western half eastern. Perhaps his obsession with the country is another example of his dissatisfaction with Hong Kong and his interest in literally any other country. WKW expresses his fascination with the Philippines’ Spanish side with the use of Latin American music (7: Stephen Teo, 2005).
The wardrobe in WKW’s films say a lot more than what they simply display. A beautiful example of this can be seen in Fallen Angels. Michelle Reis’ character of ‘the Killers’ Agent’ has a wardrobe that is very significant to the film’s time and place. To the uncultured eye, her wardrobe may simply look just so very typically 90s goth style. However, it can be analysed to be symbolic of the aimless, westernised, melancholic state Hong Kong was in prior to its handing over from the British empire to China.
Another important point to make about the WKW’s wardrobe choice is that there is no prominence of traditional Chinese garments in any of his films. Throughout Days of Being Wild, the wardrobe is very westernised and very traditionally American. This is, again, due to the fact that the Philippines is very westernised too and as this is where Days Of Being Wildis based, the wardrobe mimics the fashion trends at the time. Even in In The Mood For Love, the qipao that Maggie Cheung wears is slightly westernised. It is not traditionally tailored like the dress would have been done so before, it is zipped up rather than enclosed with traditional pankous. The patterns of said dresses are also very westernised and do not follow the traditional silk oriental patterns, as some have vertical stripes and roses printed all over. Even though this film was based 30 years prior to the period in which this contextual study is based, it still displays the era in which those who were adults during the 90s in Hong Kong were children and what kind of environment they were around which would encourage such a westernised society.
Faye Wong’s character in Chungking Expresshas a wardrobe worth commenting on. Her hair is very short and her clothing is literally the same as what an American woman would have worn at the time. Her short hair is important specifically as oriental Asian culture holds significance over femininity in women having long hair, and short hair is obviously a part of westernisation over her appearance as short hair was a big part of women’s liberation in America in the mid 20thcentury.
As stated prior, hairstyles are an important part of the mise-en-scene in Wong Kar Wai’s films. Short blonde curly wigs are seen in two characters. This choice of hairstyles is significant because short blonde curly hair is the complete opposite of the type of hairstyles oriental Asian women have. It is also significant due to the fact that it allows the two characters (Fallen Angels: Blondie / Chungking Express: Brigette Lin’s character) to stand out significantly more than the other characters, as most other characters, especially background characters, wear muted colours and have black hair. This is significant to the question because it is literally displaying Asian women wearing a hairstyle that is typically associated with a western culture. Perhaps it is done to show the inspiration that western fashion and beauty trends had on Hong Kong at the time, or perhaps it is simply just a hairstyle with no meaning.
Something about setting that is worth pointing out about WKW’s films is that Mcdonald’s is a key location in both Chungking Expressand Fallen Angels. This is worth pointing out because Mcdonald’s is literally the pinnacle of capitalism and western culture. Think of America and you think of Mcdonald’s as it is a staple of American culture. However, Mcdonald’s also represents a few stereotypes that are held about China: poor quality and fast food/fashion. The main significance of Mcdonald’s in WKW’s films is due to the fact that his films are based in Hong Kong, a country with rich food, yet the characters still choose to go to the most westernised eatery they could have chosen.
A small thing to point out is that during Chungking Express, Faye Wong’s character carries around a large Garfield stuffed toy. Not drastically symbolic but still worth pointing out as Garfield is a nihilistic American symbol that hates pretty much everything, Mondays in particular. This is significant because, at the time of making Chungking Express, Hong Kong was pre-handover era and people became nihilistic and unsure of what the future would hold under communist China.
There are many references in Chungking Expressto travel and airlines, etcetera. Simplified, this symbolises a want to escape and a desire to leave. Also, air travel is quite westernised and could hold connotations of an American, luxury form of travel. Cop 663’s partner is an air hostess, and Faye’s character becomes one at the end of the film. Cop 663’s partner being an air hostess could be a simple representation of Asian people often being foreign domestic and travel workers, whereas Faye’s character becoming an air hostess could symbolise her escape in the end. This is significant to the excessive westernisation of Hong Kong as air travel is considered a very Americanised luxury. It also is symbolic of Asians ever so desperately wanting to escape wherever they hail from and head for any westernised country to lead a what they would consider to be a better life.
Throughout WKW’s films (Chungking Express and Fallen Angelsspecifically), wide angle lenses are used quite heavily. WKW’s intent in using this is to represent the distance between two characters that are placed in the same scene. This is to represent the fact that people live so close to each other in Hong Kong but never actually know each other. At the time, Hong Kong was in such a state that it was so crammed with so many people, that no one actually knew each other. Could this have been due to the excessive westernisation of the country to the point that the country had grown so much in the population and economy, or could it simply have been due to the size of the country? For arguments’ sake, this is due to England allowing Hong Kong the freedom to grow at such a pace for such a small country in comparison to its communist Chinese counterpart. WKW also shows this cramped space through his choice of location via mise-en-scene, as he tends to choose locations that are incredibly cramped and are fantastic at showing the literal lack of space these people have to live in. For example, in Chungking Express, Cop 663 lives in an apartment right beside an escalator. In Fallen Angels, He Zhiwu’s character literally shares a bedroom with his father. Not only does he share a bedroom with him, but it is incredibly cramped. This could also be a comment on how closely family oriented Hong Kong and Asian culture is in general as this kind of thing is not unheard of.
He Zhiwu’s character in Fallen Angelscould also be very important to the representation of Hong Kong’s current state. Why? This is because his character incredibly quirky, unique, weird, disoriented… clearly has something up, just hard to pinpoint what exactly. It seems as though he has an issue with identity as he adopts the roles of many different people. Hong Kong, at the time due to the handover, was struggling to adopt a new identity as many people believed it wouldn’t be as westernised as before due to being handed over to a much stricter state (as they didn’t realise that not much would actually change in Hong Kong society after the handover).
In conclusion, excessive westernisation is present in WKW’s films. He achieves this through many means and creates an incredible display of how Hong Kong manages to hybrid both western and eastern cultures. Hong Kong lacked a full, cultural identity at the time and was struggling as a nation due to the handover, whether it be due to the youth protesting against the handover (8: Tiananmen Square protests, NY Times) or whether it be due to something a little later down the line like the Asian financial crisis (9: Walden Bello), the two decades that Wong’s work spans are proven to be a difficult time and inevitably, Hong Kong was suffering and Wong was able to present this lack of direction and uncertainty throughout his films fantastically.
Bibliography
1. Chungking Express dir. Wong Kar Wai 1994
2. Fallen Angels dir. Wong Kar Wai 1995
3. Days of Being Wild dir. Wong Kar Wai 1990
4. In The Mood For Love dir. Wong Kar Wai 2000
5. Ching-kiu Chan, Stephen 2001. ‘Figures of Hope and the Filmic Imaginary of Jianghu in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema’, 486-514
6. Yeh, Emilie. 1999 ‘A Life of Its Own: Musical Discourses in Wong Kar-wai’s films.’
7. Teo, Steven. 2005 ‘Wong Kar Wai: Wong’s Heartbreak Tango’, 36-37
8. ‘CRACKDOWN IN BEIJING; TROOPS ATTACK AND CRUSH BEIJING PROTEST; THOUSANDS FIGHT BACK, SCORES ARE KILLED’ 1989 by Nicholas D. Kristof
The Asian financial crisis: Causes, dynamics, prospects by Walden Bello 1998 33-55
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