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The Cultural Aesthetic of Wong Kar-Wai |
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| Matt
Bautch Emerson College In the films of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, most images flash across the screen, appear and disappear before the viewer’s eyes in quick flashes of recognition. These images do not seem to be highly planned but incidental; the perfect shot decided upon at the time of shooting. This might lead some to believe that these shots, and the aesthetics they present, are merely accidental, and thus lacking in any significant meaning. Yet quite the opposite is true. In viewing Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together, there seems to be no shot that could have been cut out. Whether incidental, improvised, or planned, every single shot seems to carry within it the theme of the entire film. The fact that most of these shots were not extensively pre-planned serves only as a testament to Wong’s skills as an improvisationist, his astounding ability to put a shot together, on the spot, that has all the depth and meaning of a Hitchcock or Kubrick shot that took two weeks to plan and perfect. Whether improvised or planned, the aesthetics in each frame present a sophisticated code to the message of the film. Thus, my analysis is centered on exploring this codified system of aesthetics, and the allusions and commentary it draws on the unique cultural environments in which these films were made. This will be analyzed in the context of three primary cultural concepts characteristic of the Hong Kong cinema: displaced identities and alienation, change and redefining cultural space, and notions of a new Hong Kong subjectivity. I propose that, in narrowing my analysis to the aesthetics presented in Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together, the cultural issues that inform these films can thus be illuminated. Aesthetics may be the primary components of surface value, but, when utilized properly, they can become the key components of depth and meaning. DISPLACED IDENTITIES AND ALIENATION All of Wong’s protagonists seem to be displaced or alienated in some way. Perhaps the best example of this is that the two protagonists of Happy Together are natives of China, living in Buenos Aires. However, aside from character, these notions are heavily signified through the aesthetics of all three films. Throughout each film, the viewer is presented with a constantly flowing pastiche or disjunction of cultural iconography. Just as Hong Kong is an intersection where numerous cultural influences interact, merge, and conflict, so are Wong’s films littered with contrasting cultural signifiers that interact, merge, and conflict. To begin with, there is no single language spoken in any of these three films, nor any exclusive dialect of each language. In Chungking Express alone there are at least two different Chinese dialects (Mandarin and Cantonese) and three English dialects (Australian, British, and American). This continues with Fallen Angels where English words are thrown into the middle of Chinese sentences. And in Happy Together Argentinean Spanish is thrown into the mix. Thus, almost every piece of dialogue, in each of these films, tends to employ a “mish-mash” of languages and dialects. Far from this being a confusion of cultural identity, it becomes a language all its own, a language of universality comprised of universal influences. Each language and dialect signifies a specific cultural influence. Thus, the merging of these languages and dialects equates a merging of these cultural influences. Such is the atmosphere of Hong Kong, such are the identities of those who dwell within it. As well, the music, both diegetic and non-diegetic, that Wong employs, seems to come from all parts of the globe. In Chungking Express there is repeated use of a reggae song and the Mamma’s And The Pappa’s hit “California Dreamin’.” In both this film and its sequel, Fallen Angels, there are momentary warbles of Indian music. In Happy Together there is a continuous juxtaposition of Tango music with Frank Zappa, with the film ending on The Turtles’ song from which the film appropriates its title. Like the use of language, these musical selections signify different cultural influences. Juxtaposing these songs in each film thus signifies the heterogeneity of cultural influences affecting these characters. Indeed, through the way these songs are positioned in each film, there even seems to be a confusion of cultural distinction. Perhaps the best example of this is the Chinese version of a popular Cranberries song in Chungking Express. As well, in both Chungking Express and Fallen Angels there are repeated shots of jukeboxes. This image of the jukebox is perhaps the visual parallel to how these songs are being used. The jukebox is a “place” where music of all styles and influences can come together and be played back to back out of the same set of speakers. The colors of the jukeboxes, the way they are shot, seem to mimic the colors and aesthetics of the shots of the street. Thus, the parallel can be made between the varying musical influences within the jukebox and the varying cultural influences of the street. This cultural pastiche, these notions of displaced identity, can also be seen in the use of mise-en-scene and costume. Both Chungking Express and Fallen Angels present women with dyed blonde hair. This seems an immediate signifier of western influence. Indeed, in Chungking Express the Australian gangster requires his girlfriend to don a blonde wig for sex, a perfect image of western fetishism. Thus, the influence of the west seems to permeate throughout these women’s senses of identity, manifesting itself in their physical appearances. As well, name brands seem to make their way into many of the shots in each film. In Chungking Express, the Coca-Cola logo seems to be just inside the frame of many shots, as though sneaking in. As well, both Chungking Express and Fallen Angels employ shots where the protagonist is superimposed over a McDonald’s logo more than twice his size. And although, in this environment, it might be a difficult task to keep these logos out of the shot, they seem, for the most part, to have been intentionally included. As suggested by the images ofthe men against the backdrop of the McDonald’s sign, these logos greatly comprise the psychological backdrop of this cultural environment. As well as the mixing up of cultural iconography, these films seem littered with visual and auditory signifiers of diasporic identity issues. This can be very clearly seen in shot that juxtapose a character with his/her setting, and the appearances of cultural iconography that seems to be strategically (intentionally) out of place. Of course, Happy Together seems built upon the idea of juxtaposing character with setting. In many scenes we see Chinese food being prepared in kitchens which are decorated in a strictly Argentinean fashion. The Chineseness of the protagonists is constantly in visual juxtaposition with the cultural backdrop of Argentina. As well, Chungking Express abounds with images of alienation. In one shot, which is step-printed and in slow motion, #663 and Ah Faye stand inactive at the food stand. They are obscured from the camera by the constant blur of people moving in either direction. This visual juxtaposition of their inactivity with the constant movement of their environment seems to suggest their separation and alienation from it. And similar shots reoccur throughout the film. Similar shots repeat throughout the first half of Fallen Angels, where on the right side of the screen, we see trains and cars in constant motion. This is juxtaposed with the left side of the screen where the protagonists sit alone and completely inactive in an otherwise empty apartment. Arujn Appadurai talks of “…indigenous trajectories of desire and fear with global flows of people and things” (1). It is at the center of these global flows where these characters seem to be situated. They desire change and movement, yet seem to be stuck between the point As and point Bs of this global transit. As well, each film seems littered with cultural iconography that is out of place. Instead of incense sticks and paper lamps, Wong’s China is full of American business logos and women with dyed blonde hair. But perhaps the best example of this is in Happy Together where men sit in an Argentinean restaurant playing Mahjong. Thus, these concepts of diaspora and displaced identity are brought to the viewer through close-ups of these game pieces juxtaposed with the Latin décor, through images of Coca-Cola logos with configurations of Chinese lettering. And most out of place are the characters themselves. CHANGE, AND REDEFINING CULTURAL SPACE The idea of change undercuts all three of these films. And this has been often interpreted as a response to the changing ideologies in Hong Kong surrounding its May 1997 reversion to Chinese sovereignty. While these notions and conflicts surrounding change greatly inform the narratives and characters, they also seem to heavily influence the aesthetics of these three films. To begin with, each film is continually intercut with images of transit and people on the move. In the fast-paced frenzy of both Chungking Express and Fallen Angels there are numerous scenes where the camera is in constant motion. The camera eye is constantly moving in and out of crowds, brushing around corners, following one person and then suddenly following another. Almost all tilts and pans are executed with an amphetamine quickness. And this style of shooting effectively captures the atmosphere of Hong Kong as a transit town. As Appadurai notes, “…today’s world involves interactions of a new order and intensity” (2). The interactions caught by this jerky and fast-paced camera movement seem to maintain this level of intensity, due to the way in which they are shot. Indeed, in the first half hour of Chungking Express the camera rarely stops moving. In the beginning of Fallen Angels, the camera repeatedly follows the characters through empty train stations. As well, modern means of transportation reappear (even dominate) each film. The streets in Chungking Express are almost always littered with cars. And in the second half of the film there are at least two images of planes taking off. In the first half of Fallen Angels the apartment is directly across the street from elevated train tracks, and, as previously mentioned, the apartment is often juxtaposed with the continuous flow of trains and cars. As well, there are many back-to-back sequences of trains coming and going, many shots looking down on the street from a moving train. And in the second half of the film there is a repeating sequence of Qiwu on his motorcycle, shot from front and back, as he swerves hypnotically through tunnels and across the yellow traffic lines. And in Happy Together there are many scenes that take place in a moving car, on a moving train, or on a moving bus. As Appadurai mentions, “…there has been an explosion largely in the domain of transportation and information…” (3). This explosion is highly evident in Wong’s fast-moving camera and his aesthetic use of shots form and of moving vehicles. With this use of movement, change seems the only constant. These notions of change and redefining cultural space can also be seen in the use of editing. All three films employ, to various extents, the use of extremely fast-paced editing. Especially in the first half of Chungking Express we get quick, fleeting flashes of streets, characters, crowds, and objects. The pace of the editing, where a shot might remain on screen for less than one second, effectively conveys the feeling of urgency and the constant flow of transit. While the Indian smugglers are being outfitted there are extremely quick flashes of money being counted. And in the second half of the film, at the food stand, there are repeating quick flashes of money and food crossing the counter. Overall, there is the constant feeling of speed, both on a local and global level. As Ackbar Abbas states, “Disappearance is certainly the result of speed, understood both as the speed of historical changes and as the technological speed of information and communication” (4). In all three films there are almost identical shots, in time-lapse photography, of the cityscape, flowing and moving and blinking and flashing. Using high-speed motion effects to capture the pace of the entire city seems to effectively convey this increasing global speed of which Abbas mentions. And, overall, this seems to portray the fast-evolving notion of cultural space. Indeed, time-lapse photography has classically been used to signify change. And here, it seems to be the overall pace at which Hong Kong is changing and being redefined. One can thus identify in these films various visual signifiers of change. These films seem to repetitively juxtapose or contrast the past with the present. Toward the end of Chungking Express there is a shot of #663’s ex-girlfriend riding away on the back of her new boyfriend’s motorcycle. Superimposed over this is #663’s reflection in the store window, a melancholy look on his face. He seems to be watching his past, which he is so obsessed with, slip away. Toward the middle of Fallen Angels there is a shot of the hit man riding on a bus. Behind him, peering over his shoulder, sits an old schoolmate. The hit man never looks back at him as he talks. He seems to be trying to forget or move away from his past. In the second half of the film, Qiwu is often positioned on the opposite end of the frame as his father. And this seems to signify the growing gap between the Hong Kong of the past and the Hong Kong of the future. In Happy Together there are reoccurring images of the waterfall. The water is constantly moving and merging and separating. This shot seems to parallel the time-lapse shots of Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, and Singapore, where the traffic and lights seem to move and merge and separate. Both images present a very direct metaphor for change. As well, in both Fallen Angels and Happy Together there is the repeated use of black and white photography. This seems to be when the characters are dealing with the past. The woman sits in the bar listening to the song telling her to forget about the hit man. The two men watch their relationship burn out. Along with this, there are many images of transformation. In Chungking Express Ah Faye redecorates #663’s apartment. In Fallen Angels the woman sets up, then disassembles the apartment. And in Happy Together, as previously mentioned, there is the shot of the waterfall. As well, change seems to be signified by the contrast between fast-paced moving shots and slow-paced static shots. The frame in almost every fast-paced shot seems to be cluttered, signifying the merging of heterogenic influences. The slow-paced shots seem to be more sparsely occupied. In the slow-paced shots, the characters tend to remain alone and/or inactive. In the fast-paced shots they tend to interact more, more happens to them. Thus, the fast-paced shots seem to signify change. And as this change is occurring at a rapid pace, this is also how these changes are filmed. NEW HONG KONG SUBJECTIVITY These notions of displaced identity and change thus imply new ways of
defining oneself. Yet this does not imply that any of these definitions
are concrete. Indeed, constant change leads to a fragmented identity.
As Appadurai asserts, “The world we live in now seems rhizomic,
even schizophrenic, calling for theories of rootlessness, alienation,
and psychological distance between individuals and groups…”
This psychological distance and the redefining of perspective can be decoded
from much of Wong’s aesthetics. Throughout all three films there
is repeated use of oblique angles, making the world appear tilted or off-center.
As well, toward the second half of Chungking Express there is a succession
of shots where characters are obscured form the camera. When He Qi Wu
is on the baseball field in the rain, he is, the entire time, obscured
by the chain link fence. Following this, he is obscured by bars on a window.
And soon after, Ah Faye stands behind a store window, obscured by the
rain, which pours down it. In these shots, these characters lack any clear
visual distinction. And this seems to reflect how they see themselves.
Their own identities are obscured from them. Something that can be found
in all three films is the repeated use of mirrors and reflections. There
are at least three mirrors in #663’s apartment. Usually, the camera
seems more aimed at his reflection. In Fallen Angels, when the hit man
is in the blonde woman’s apartment, there is an identical shot.
And in Happy Together there are repeating shots of the protagonists facing
themselves in the mirror. The framing of each shot, the way the camera
focuses more on the reflection than the person it reflects, seems to indicate
this confusion in defining oneself. As Abbas notes, “Hong Kong cinema
can intervene in political debates more effectively by problematizing
the visual than by advancing direct arguments about identity” (5).
And it seems that this is exactly what these shot compositions are doing,
problematizing the visual, blurring distinction and clear definitions.
Thereby, it presents a rather indirect argument about identity. Finally, in short, Wong’s films can be aesthetically compared to those of Godard. Both have very similar styles of shooting. It was Godard who stated that, if you can completely plan a film before making it, then it probably should not be made (7). And he would often start filming without any clear idea of when, where, or how it would end. These seem to be edicts by which Wong makes his own films. Improvisation takes the place of storyboarding. And perhaps the most interesting aspect of this style of filmmaking is that it allows the environment, as well as situational influences inherent there in, to shape the film. In an interview on Happy Together, Chris Doyle, Wong’s cinematographer on all three films, recalls how “one day, after we’d been [in Buenos Aires] for six months, [Wong] suddenly said to me, ‘Buenos Aires is like a grid. The streets are all parallel…Therefore, this film must be a grid…” (8). By allowing the cultural and physical environment to shape the film, the film thus becomes a reflection of that environment, and all of its influences. And this seems to be one of the primary strengths of the aesthetics presented in each film. Thus, Wong’s aesthetics are very much a part of the time and place that they were made. The constant pastiche of cultural iconography and the use of diasporic images illuminate and reflect issues of displaced identity and alienation. Continuous images of transit and visual signifiers of change help to effectively redefine cultural space. And the use of throwaway images help to reflect the evolving Hong Kong subjectivity. Thus, by decoding all of these elements strictly from the aesthetics of these three films, I propose that Wong’s aesthetics could be defined as “cultural aesthetics”. END NOTES: BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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