Stories about Somewhere Else

Mobility and ‘Spatial Others’ in Hong Kong Cinema

Bibliographic Data

ID12349783
AuthorsChin-Pang Lei (0000-0002-2252-1187, University of Macau, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume48
Issue3
Pages467-484
Publication date2023-08-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-7823 • E-ISSN: 1467-8403
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10357823.2023.2244156
OpenAlexW4385852424
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

As a migrant city, Hong Kong has produced numerous diasporic films that portray physical mobility and fluid identity as the city's cultural style. This cultural picture has changed since the 2000s with the rise of localism. As the debate about localism has grown heated, the concepts of mobility and fluidity have seemingly become obsolete. Many Hong Kongers have emigrated to other countries due to the changes in the contemporary political climate, which urges us to read these films in a new context. This article focuses on the works of Wong Kar-wai and Ann Hui, who have consistently made films about journeys and 'spatial others'. By analysing Wong's In the Mood for Love (2000) and The Grandmaster (2013), and Hui's Song of the Exile (1990) and The Golden Era (2014), I illustrate how these films construct a local identity in relation to mobility and why they offer new insights into the debate about Hong Kong's contemporary culture. Bringing these films into dialogue with the localist discourses, I argue that mobility should be reconsidered a crucial component in the construction of local culture and identity in modern-day Hong Kong.KEYWORDS: Hong Kongcinemamobilityspatial othersdiasporalocalismWong Kar-waiAnn Hui AcknowledgementsI sincerely thank the anonymous reviewers for the insightful comments. Also, I want to express my gratitude to Professor Sue Thornham and Professor Ben Highmore, my supervisors at the University of Sussex.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. Depictions of migrants can be found in Hong Kong cinema since the 1940s. For example, Home, Sweet Home and Bank Busters portray migrants' lives in Hong Kong, while films such as Eternal Love and Human Cargo narrate the stories of overseas Chinese. As this article focuses on the films made after the 1980s by Wong Kar-wai and Ann Hui, the films produced in other periods are not discussed.2. My analysis is based on the film's original Hong Kong version released in January 2013.3. Coproduced by the companies and talent from Hong Kong and mainland China, the films are treated as domestic products that can enter the market in mainland China more easily than local productions in Hong Kong

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Context (archaeology · Gratitude · Identity (music · Localism · Media studies · Movie theater · Political science · Politics · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Gender Studies · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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