Wai Yee Ruby Cheung Phd Thesis
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HONG KONG CINEMA 1982-2002 : THE QUEST FOR IDENTITY DURING TRANSITION Wai Yee Ruby Cheung A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 2008 Full metadata for this item is available in the St Andrews Digital Research Repository at: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/516 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Hong Kong Cinema 1982-2002: The Quest for Identity during Transition Wai Yee Ruby Cheung Thesis Submitted to the University of St Andrews for the Degree of PhD in Film Studies 13 November 2007 Cheung ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to interpret the cinematic representations of Hong Kongers’ identity quest during a transitional state/stage related to the sovereignty transfer. The Handover transition considered is an ideological one, rather than the overnight polity change on the Handover day. This research approaches contemporary Hong Kong cinema on two fronts and the thesis is structured accordingly: Upon an initial review of the existing Hong Kong film scholarship in the Introduction, and its 1997-related allegorical readings, Part I sees new angles (previously undeveloped or underdeveloped) for researching Hong Kong films made during 1982-2002. Arguments are built along the ideas of Hong Kongers’ situational, diasporic consciousness, and transformed ‘Chineseness’ because Hong Kong has lacked a cultural/national centrality. This part of research is informed by the ideas of Jacques Derrida, Homi Bhabha and Stuart Hall, and the diasporic experiences of Ien Ang, Rey Chow and Ackbar Abbas. With these new research angles and references to the circumstances, Part II reads critically the text of eight Hong Kong films made during the Handover transition. In chronological order, they are Boat People (Hui, 1982), Song of the Exile (Hui, 1990), Days of Being Wild (Wong, 1990), Happy Together (Wong, 1997), Made in Hong Kong (Chan, 1997), Ordinary Heroes (Hui, 1999), Durian Durian (Chan, 2000), and Hollywood Hong Kong (Chan, 2002). They meet several criteria related to the undeveloped / underdeveloped areas in the existing Hong Kong film scholarship. Hamid Naficy’s ‘accented cinema’ paradigm gives the guidelines to the film analysis in Part II. This part shows that Hong Kongers’ self-transformation during transition is alterable, indeterminate, and interminable, due to the people’s situational, diasporic consciousness, and transformed ‘Chineseness’. This thesis thus contributes to Hong Kong cinema scholarship in interpreting films with new research angles, and generating new insights into this cinematic tradition and its wider context. i Cheung DECLARATIONS I, Wai Yee Ruby Cheung, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 92,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. Date 13 November 2007 Signature of Candidate __________________________ I was admitted as a research student in February 2005 (credited with 1 year of part-time study at the University of Leicester) and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in June 2005; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2005 and 2007. Date 13 November 2007 Signature of Candidate __________________________ I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date 13 November 2007 Signature of Supervisor __________________________ ii Cheung In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration. Date 13 November 2007 Signature of Candidate __________________________ I, Wai Yee Ruby Cheung, received particular assistance in the writing of this thesis in respect of matters of style, idiom, grammar, syntax or spelling, which was provided by Kerry Tavakoli. Date 13 November 2007 Signature of Candidate __________________________ iii Cheung ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Due to the topic of this research, my PhD study gave me an opportunity to revisit the first part of my life, and what I have missed but now rediscovered. It also witnessed some of the darkest periods in my life (for example, the death of my maternal grandmother). Yet it was also because of my research that I have met many people whose unconditional and generous assistance and advice mean much to me. Words definitely fail me in expressing my gratitude. Thanks should go first to the University of St Andrews for sponsoring my PhD study. The highest level of gratitude should go to my two supervisors, Professor Dina Iordanova and Dr David Martin-Jones, whose academic guidance throughout the past few years has helped me develop into a confident researcher. Their care and concern for me personally have also reduced much of the loneliness I experienced being away from home. I am grateful to other academics in the Department of Film Studies for their friendship and encouragement. I would like to thank our department secretary Karen Drysdale for her unfailing administrative support and more importantly, her friendship. I value the mutual support and friendship from my fellow PhD students of film, especially Canan Balan, David Fleming, Jennie Holmes, Lars Kristensen, and James Stedman. I would also like to thank Professor Peter Clark, Head of School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies, for endorsing the academic-related activities in which I was heavily involved; and Professor Helen Chambers at the School of Modern Languages for her encouragement. iv Cheung I benefited from the opportunities to discuss Hong Kong films in person with Professor Ackbar Abbas, Dr Esther Cheung, Professor Mette Hjort, and Professor Hamid Naficy; and on the development of Chinese-language films with Professor Sheldon Lu. Deepest gratitude should be reserved for my parents, particularly my mother for her unconditional love and sacrifice, and my brother Terence and sister Vivian for their love. I thank Aunt Helen for her love since I was born. And, Adrian for everything. In loving memory of my maternal grandparents whose diasporic lives have inspired my research and to whom I dedicate this thesis. v Cheung NOTES ON CHINESE NAMES, TITLES AND TRANSLATION, AND STYLE GUIDE 1. Chinese Names In order to preserve the versatility of romanizing Chinese names, in this thesis I preserve their most commonly known spellings in either Cantonese, pinyin, Wade-Giles, or specific manners of romanization. Surnames usually come first for Chinese romanization, while those individuals who have adopted the Western format for their names have their surnames last. I signify people’s surnames by capitalizing them only the first time their names are mentioned in the main text of this thesis (not endnotes, even if their names may appear in the endnotes first), for example, Ann HUI. Thereafter, I refer to them by mentioning their surnames in title case, for example, Hui. If the names (for example, of critics/reviewers) appear only in the endnotes and not in the main text, their surnames are capitalized in the endnotes on first appearance. For Cantonese names, surnames are followed by hyphenated forenames, for example, WONG Kar-wai (with surname capitalized on first appearance). This also applies to Wile-Giles names, for example, WU Nien-jen. For pinyin names, surnames are followed by un-hyphenated forenames, for example, CHEN Kaige. As for those who share the same surname, for example, Fruit Chan and Peter Chan, when I refer to their names after they first appear in this thesis, I mention only their surnames to refer to those who come first in this thesis; while forenames and surnames for those who come later. For example, I mention ‘Chan’ throughout this thesis to refer to Fruit Chan because his name appears vi Cheung early on in this thesis, whereas I refer to ‘Peter Chan’ to signify Peter Chan because his name comes much later. 2. Titles and Translation Hong Kong or Chinese film titles (for example, Touben Nuhai / Boat People ; see also section 3 below on ‘Presentation of film title’), and Chinese-language books / magazines (for example, Xu Anhua Shuo Xu Anhua / Ann Hui on Ann Hui ), are written in both pinyin and English on their first appearance in this thesis (or in the endnotes where appropriate), and are in italics. A remark in round brackets indicates that the books / magazines are written in Chinese. Thereafter, only English titles are used. In addition, on the first appearance of Chinese-language books / magazines in the bibliography, both pinyin and English titles are used. Thereafter in the bibliography, titles are cited in English only (as in the case of those edited volumes). Individual articles in Chinese-language magazines, journals, collections, programmes and newspapers are cited with translated titles (in English only) on all appearances, with a remark in round brackets indicating that the original is in Chinese.