This article was downloaded by: [Griffith University]On: 12 June 2014, At: 17:23Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UKQuarterly Review of Film and VideoPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gqrf20Death and Hong Kong cinemaLaikwan Pang aa Lecturer of the General Education Center , Hong KongPolytechnic University ,Published online: 05 Jun 2009.To cite this article: Laikwan Pang (2001) Death and Hong Kong cinema, Quarterly Review ofFilm and Video, 18:1, 15-29, DOI: 10.1080/10509200109361508To link to this article:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10509200109361508PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLETaylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information(the Content) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Rev. of Film & Video, Vol. 18(1), pp. 15-29 2001 (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V.Reprints available directly fromthe publisherPublished by license underPhotocopying permitted by license onlythe Harwood Academic Publishers imprint,part of The Gordon and Breach Publishing Group.Printed in Malaysia.Death and Hong Kong CinemaLaikwan PangThis study investigates "death" and Hong Kong cinema in two senses of the word"death": indicating at once the idea of death as a recurrent theme foundin HongKongcinema,andtheideaofthedeterioration(andpossibledeath)ofHongKong cinema not only in terms of the rapid decline of the recent box-officereceiptandthereforethe numberof productions, butalso in regardto its local concernsandcinematicforms.However,thisisnotareportanalyzingandsuggestingways to rescue the failingindustry. I am less interestedin viewing such"death,"referringbothtothe industryandthe city metaphorically,as a problemseekingsolutionsthanaculturalphenomenonwithitsownstructureandmeanings.InthisessayI willillustratethatthethemeofdeathasrepresentedintworecentHongKongtrilogies. The firstoneisthe"1997 trilogy"directedbyFruitChan:Xianggangzhizao/Madein HongKong(1997), Qu'nianyanh.ua tebie duo/TheLongestSummer (1998), andXilu xiang/Little Chang(1999), fromwhichI willconcentrateon the analysis of Made in Hong Kong. The second trilogy is collectively producedby a groupof filmmakersin the studio Milkyway Image: Anhua/The Longest Nite(Patrick Yau, 1998), Feizhang duren/Expect the Unexpected(Patrick Yau1998), andZhenxin yingxiong/AHero Never Dies (Johnnie To 1998). I choose these films to bethe focusofthis paperbecause, justifiably,theyrepresentanarrayofexamplesdemonstrating the recent Hong Kong cinema in its finest. But more to my interests,boththetwotrilogiesattempttoinvestigate,explore,andexploitthethemeofdeath. While Fruit Chan's trilogy uses death to represent the subjectivityof HongKong people in the confrontationof 1997, the deaths in the Milkyway trilogy areno longer the self-reflectionsof Hong Kong people but that of Hong Kong cinema,challenging the grantedrole andachievement of this cinema as a direct mirror ofsociety and people. I will argue that the "deaths" represented in these Hong Kong"autobiographies" are no mere simple thematic metaphors. Subject to the changingset of social conditions, this cinematic (re)presentation of "death" inevitably trans-fersitsfunctionsfromonestructuretoanother,andheadsforapossiblyLAIKWANPANG recently received her Ph.D.at WashingtonUniversityin Comparative Literature.She isnowa Lecturer of the General Education Center at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.Her book,titled Visionand Nation: Building a New China in Cinema, The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema, 1932-1937, is forthcomingin 2001by Rowman and Littlefield.15Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 16Laikwan Pang"deadend" for both the city's identity and its cinemaa cultural phenomenon oftremendous fascinationand ambiguities of itself.THE METAPHOROFDEATHBut beforeourinvestigationofthetwotrilogies, I wouldliketoprovidea briefbackground of the representation of death in Hong Kong cinema, which reveals theintimaterelationshipbetweenHongKongcinemaandtheculturalidentityofHong Kong. Sek Kei, one of the most respected film critics in the city, has proclaimed:"In point of fact, only a handfulof filmindustries in the world have been able tofollow Hongkong's example of closely integrating its film industry into the entirespectrumof prosperityachieved by its society" (54). This commentcharacterizesthe general impression of many critics to this cinema, attributing its success amonglocal audience to the movies' reflection and release of people's collective values andpassions, thatthe close affinitybetweenfilmsandsociety has contributedsigni-ficantlyto the success of Hong Kong cinemaas one of the world'smostoriginalanddynamic cultural industries. In fact, Sek Kei's comment refers not only to thecinema's ability in reflecting the city's soaring economy but also to its relationshipwith the city's fluctuatingpolitical ambience. "Death," for example, is afrequentlyused metaphor in this cinema to illustrate people's sense of insecurity, particularlyin those periods when political stability is at stake. This is not to suggest that theportrayalofdeathistheonlymeansforfilmmakerstocometotermswiththepolitical unease of Hong Kong people; quite the contrary, it is only one technique,probably the most simple and direct one, among many others to represent despairand impotency. My interests in the use of "death" as a political allegory resides inthe notion'sdirectness or even naivete that can be loadedtoo many meanings ornone at all.ThereareabundantfilmsfoundinthehistoryofHongKongcinemathatemploydeathtoallegorizepeople'schangingattitudetowardsthecityandtowards the future.In the left-wingcinema in the early 1950s for example, we seethe portrayalof thedeathof youngchildrenandbabiesas a commonmetaphorfor the filmmakersto project their view of demise of this British colony, asfoundin the famousmulti-episodicRenhai wanhuatong/'Kaleidoscope(1950) andequallyimportantTiantang Chunmeng/Illusion of Paradiseproducedinthesubsequentyear.KaleidoscopewasproducedbytheSouthChinaFilmIndustryWorkersUnion, the most politically aggressive studio of the time, andinvolvedalmost allmajorleft-wingdirectors, scriptwriters, and talents of Cantonese cinema. Amongthe six episodes, there are two directly depicting the death of children, attributingtheparents'impotencytosavetheirchildrentothecity'scorruptionandphil-istine culture. Illusion of Paradise was also co-directedbya groupof famousleft-wing filmmakersaroundthat period. Notonly didthe filmcriticize andridiculethe corruptionof GMD expatriates in Hong Kong aftertheirdefeaton the main-land,italsobroughtamiscarriagetoanillicitpregnancybetweenthetycoon'sscoundrel son and the sister of the progressive hero, demonstrating the narrative'sdeterminationtoterminatetheyoungprogressivegenerationanylinktothecolony.Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema17Meanwhile, while more and more sojourners saw the prospect of staying in thiscitylongerthantheyhadexpected,thedeathsrepresentedinsomeotherfilmsassumedtheoppositemeanings.Forexample,inWeilou chunxiao/In the FaceofDemolition(Lee Tit 1953), the one who dies in the filmis no longerthe youthbuttheir parents. Death portrayedin this film is no longer morbid at heart but repres-entsa hopeforruptureandrenewal, forthe deathofthe oldergenerationgivesway to the younger ones. Other famous films using "death" to connect the collectiveemotion of the people to the city's social circumstances can be foundin Fumu xin/Parents' Hearts (Qin Jian 1955), which connects the death of the opera singer to thedecline of this traditionalart form,and thereforethe good old Chinese values, inthe materialist and westernized Hong Kong, and Zuotian jintian mingtian/'Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow(LungKong1970),inwhichthewholecityisdeclaredaplague-strickenterritory that projects, once again, the filmmaker'scritique of thecity's moral decadence.All the above-illustratedfilmsinterpretdeath in a metaphorical way; that is tosay, thedeathsof thecharactersare directly employedas representingacertainsocial comment to society; the ending of a life signifies either a pessimist or optimistremark about the future.Whetherthe filmmakersintendeda completeabandon-mentofthecity'sidentityorwishedfora newidentityto be bornaftertheoldone, death suggests a hostility, a renunciation, anda finale, which is presumablya reflection of people's concerns. This representation politics of linking characters'death withthe audience's collective feelingtowardthe city's political futurecon-tinues its tradition to its confrontationof 1997.As the year 1997 approachedthe city, Hong Kong cinema ironically experienceda burgeoningdevelopment bothin artistic andcommercialterms. The city's col-lectiveanxietyseemedtobetransformedintoasurgeofcreativepowerthatintensifiedcinema's vigor. It is also during this period that we again see the use ofdeath as a handy metaphorto express people's sense of insecurity closely linkedto the city's political environment. As soon as the 1997 issue firststartedto crys-tallizeinthepublicsphere,theTouben nuhai/TheBoat People(AnnHui1982)started to "kill" its major figures, casting a pessimistic glance at the 1997 handover.Such cinematic practice becomes more andmore visible in the1990s. One ofthemost prominent examples is Xin buliaoqing/C'est la vie, Mon cherie (Derek Yee 1993),which uses the death of the vivacious young street singer Min to project a pessimisticfuturetothecity.Thefilmobviouslyattemptstoconnecthercharmingandoptimisticpersonalityontheonehandandhertenaciousvitalityontheotherhandto the developmentof Hong Kong in the last decades, yet herdeathin theendalmostdenouncesalloftheseadmirablequalitiesalreadyestablished.Although Kit, Min's boyfriend,is able to pick upa new life at the end, obviouslytheemotionofthefilmfocusesontheaudience'ssorrowsandincompetencetowardMin's death. The last parallel cutting sequence depicting the failureof the"last-minute rescue" reveals most dishearteningly the fear of the historical "deadline"Hong Kong was facing.Following C'est la vie, Mon cherie there are a numberof other Hong Kongfilmsconnectingdeath withthe city's political future,like Sange shoushang de jingcha/The Log (DerekChiu1996) andBaolie xingjing/Bulletsover Summer(YipWai-shun1998), in whichthe deaths of the protagonists, also members of the Royal PoliceDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 18Laikwan PangForce,projectapessimisticendofthecolonialera.Therearealsootherfilmsdepictingdeathsinamorepositivetone.InTianmimi/Comrades,Almost a LoveStory (Peter Chan 1996), for example, the death of the popular singer Teresa Tangleads to the revival of a love affairbetween two Hong Kong mainlanders meetingagaininNewYork,prophesyinganewtransnationalChineseera.In Tianyahaijiao/Lostand Found (Lee Chee-ngai1995), thedyingfemaleprotagonistfindsher paradise not in herdreamlandin Scotland butultimately in Hong Kong, theplaceshe has beentryingto escapethroughoutthefilm.The filmendsnotonlywith herdeath butalso with hernewborn baby, who can easily be interpretedametaphor of the new post-1997 Hong Kong.Althoughconceivedunderadifferenthistoricalandpoliticalcontext,theconvolutedsentimentsoftheabove-mentioned"1997"filmstowardthecity'sfuturethroughtheportrayalofdeathareinfactsimilartothosemadedecadesago. The deaths portrayed are allegorical to the city's political prospects, and mostof them, like that in Face of Demolition, hint at a new beginning after the death of thecharacters, covertly hoping for a renaissance of the city afterthe end of British colo-nialization. These late pre-1997 Hong Kong movies are characterizedanddomin-ated by the city's political environment, in the sense that the deaths portrayed canbe seen as direct metaphorsof the city's political crisis. In other words, althoughthesignificanceofthe1997issuetothedevelopmentofrecentHongKongcinemais beyonddoubt, thesefilmsdo notintroducea newpanoramato relatethemselves to their socio-political environment; cinema continues to remain mostlyas social reflections.DEATH ANDSUBJECTIVITYIn the following, I will continue to trace the depiction of death in the recent HongKong cinema, and I will demonstrate that in these films what we witness is ruptureand violence being inscribed in the exposure of a "post-1997" subjectivity, resultingin confusion, incomprehension, and impotency. I will use Fruit Chan's 1997 trilogy,particularlyMade in Hong Kong, toillustratethatthefilms'1997 is notasimplethresholdrepresentinga passage between"death" and"rebirth" butimpliesthecourage to embrace death and the subsequent void thereof. From this explicationI will continue by the Milkyway Image's trilogy to connect this cinematic subjectivityof Hong Kong to the subjectivityof Hong Kong cinema. I will use these filmstoillustratethatHongKong cinemamightfinallyfarewellits social missionas the(allegedly) authentic site of expression and reflectionof the city's communal sen-timents and social conditions, and I will analyze what "death" might really meanto the recent Hong Kong cinema. My aim is to illustrate that both the two trilogiesposetheontologicalquestionofdeaththatmightbetheendofitselfthananattempt to resurrect a "worthy subject," that Hong Kong cinema is really facing aunique moment of its own that paralyzes itself.The independentproduction Made in Hong Kong, which received the Best FilmandtheBest Directortitlesofthe1997 HongKongFilmAwards, isthefirstofFruit Chan's 1997 trilogy; it can be seen as both the epitome of Hong Kong cinema'stirelessprobingintothedoomof1997 anditsbreakthrough.ItillustratesthatDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema19deathandHongKongcouldbeconnectedinamoreintimateandambiguousfashion, allowing the audience to connect the characters' deaths not only to somepre-ordainedfatebutalsotoaninvestigationofwhattheaffirmationofHongKongidentityentails.Thedeathssignified,asIwillargue,functionnotonlythematicallybutalsosemiotically,examiningthedifficultiesinestablishingaHong Kong identity in the current political environment along with thedifficultiesin acquiring identity in a structural sense.The story begins with the suicide of a high school girl Susan. The last two lettersshewrote,onetoherloverandanothertoherparents,arepickedupbyaretarded boy Sylvester who broughtthem back to his buddy Moon. At thesametime Moon also falls in love with Ping, a girl sufferingfrom a terminal illness. Thefilmthen shows the death of Ping, Sylvester, andMoon one afteranother. Deathis likeacontagiousdiseasethataffectsallthethreeyouthswhohavereadandtouched Susan's letters soaked in her blood. The four main characters in the filmare teenagers, andthe course of the narrative depicts the process of theirgrowthand attempts in acquiring individual identity; but none of them ultimatelyenterstheadultworld.Instead,theyaretrappedinthethresholdbetweenyouthandadulthood, andtheir deaths can be seen as a willfulchallenge and refusalto passthrough the rite of passage provided by the institution in order to remaininfinitelyin the enjoymentof"non-identity."However,theirdeathscanalsobereadasaffidavitsaffirmingtheiridentity.There are many momentsin the filmshowingMoon being hauntedby Susan inhis dreams. Interestingly,his washinghis underpantsafterwakingupsuggeststhat the dream in fact has been a wet one. The film constantly reminds the audienceof the intimate, insteadof threatening, relationshipbetweenthe deadSusanandthe three protagonists, visualized in the change of the color of Susan's bloodfromredto whitein Moon'sdream. Anotherscene showsPing, Sylvester,andMoonvisitingthegraveyardforfunandfindingaparadiseinthefoggyanddrearyscene. Holdingthe bloodylettersathand,thethree begintosearchforSusan'stomb, looking at the engravednamesone afteranotherto matchtheirunknownfriend.Aftersomefutileefforts,thethreebegintoyellhernametotheemptygraveyard,hopingthatSusanwouldrespond.Interestingly,earliertheysearchforSusan's tomb to confirmherdeath, andit seems they are trying to locate hersilence. But once they begin to cry out her name, the three render a subjectivity tothedeadone; theyhopethattheycanstartadialogueandcommunicatewithSusan,thatis, death.AsthethreewilloneafteranotherjoinSusan,thissceneshows that the youths in fact have been trying to look for death in order to establisha relationship with it.This flirtation with death is in fact closely related to the notion of communication,andthereforetothedesireoftheyouthstobeunderstoodandrecognized. OfSusan's two letters, one is addressedto her highschool teacher, supposedlyherlover. But rightafterreceivingthe letterfromthe three protagonists,theteacherimmediatelytears upthe letter withoutreadingit, aborting Susan's firstattemptofcommunication.Atthe endofthe film,thesecondletter,sentto herparents,finallyreaches the hands of the addressees, but now it also bears the imprints ofPing'sandMoon's last words. Susan's secondattemptof communicationfinallysucceeds along with Ping's andMoon's experience of theirown deaths. The filmDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 20Laikwan Pangis highly critical of the adult world and demonstrates the evil ways of the grown-upsthroughout, epitomizedin the toilet scene whena teenagerchops offhisfather'shandinanoutragedreactiontohisfather'srapeofhissister,theman'sowndaughter.However,Susan'ssecondletterfinallyestablishesacommunicationbetween the two generations, between the deceased and her parents.At the end of the film, when Moon is founddead at the graveyard by a group ofplayfulandmerrykids,wehearthefantasizedPeople'sRadioofHongKongannouncing a speech by Mao to youth leaders off-screen:"This is your world, andso is ours. By the end of the day, it's still yours." This statement is equivocal, becauseMao'srelationwithyouthscanbeseenasparalleltotheChinesegovernmentwith Hong Kong: the "you" mentioned here corresponds not only to young Chinesepeople but also to Hong Kong and the four now dead characters. In this case, thisstatementis clearly sarcastic in tone, forthe film's youngsters, who are promisedtoowntheworld,are nowrejectedbythesame world.However,althoughthefour Hong Kong youths choose death as a way to express their anger in this alienatedworldoftheadults,tocomplainabouttheirimpotencytodeterminethecity'spolitical future, their subjectivity is also revealed through their deaths. On the onehand, through the detour of the deaths of the other three, Susan's words are ulti-mately brought back to her parents, facilitating a means of communication betweenthetwo generations. On the otherhand,afterdeathMoon's voice is heardonceagain,revealingthathisoff-screenvoiceheardthroughoutthewholefilmisalwaysalreadyposthumous.Moonmighthavefailedtocommunicatewiththeother adults in the film, but because of his death he establishes a direct relationshipwiththeaudience, which might bethe most courageousandaffirmativewaytoembracethe1997 masteredbyoneself. As Moonstatesintheendingoff-screennarration,theyarenowimmunetofaceanuncertainworldandfinallyabletoclaim a being of their own.Thisrepresentationofsubjectivityisfurtherexploredinthefilm'ssequels,althoughtheyare less structurallycoherentthanthefirstfilm.However,asthemore the films are reluctant to be made sense of through truncating andconfusingtheir narratives, they are more committed to reveal the internal world of the char-acters. While Made in Hong Kong exhibits the subjectivity of Hong Kong youths inthe confrontationof 1997, The Longest Summer is about Hong Kong's middle-agedmalesandLittle Chang aboutchildreninthesamecontext.The LongestSummertells the story of a group of Chinese solders being disbanded by the colony's Britishgarrison in 1997. These veterans findthemselves cast off by society and ending upbank robbers. Ga Yin, the leader of the group, is draggedinto a gang fightat theendof thefilm.He shota bulletthroughthe jawsof a juvenilegangster; andinturnheisalsoshotathishead.Whiletheaudienceassumeshisdeathinthisinjury,in the very last scene of the filmhe is shown being a coolie on thestreet.Witha scaron his skull, he has lost, or pretendsto have lost, his memorywhenthe daughterof the Mafioso meets him on the street. In Little Chang, we see 1997fromtheperspectiveofthenine-year-oldLittleChang,wholoseshisbelovedgrandmother, his best friend Ah Fan, and his Filipino maid/surrogate mother duringthe year. This heavy theme of initiation is set in and contrasted with a much morelight-hearteddomesticenvironmentandchildhoodinnocence. This storyis alsotold along a real social setting in Hong Kong: we are constantly showntelevisionDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema21programsnarratingthechronologyofthefamilydisputeofthepopularoperasinger Tang Wing-cheung (or New Ma Shi-zhan) when he was dying, which wasa real-life soap opera to many Hong Kong people during those months.Althoughdeathis notas foregroundedin thetwo sequelsas in Made in HongKong, bothfilmsareattemptstorevealthe subjectiveworldoftheprotagonistsassociated with death. As one of the veterans in The Longest Summer claims, one of thebiggest shame in their lives is being a soldier but fought never in a war, suggestingthat they need a battle to define and legitimate their identity. The film can be seenas both a realization and a mockery of their flights of fancy. Although the narrativedoes not stay with any single character's perspective throughout the film, everywherethe veterans passed by turns into a battlefield, which ultimately always becomes astage forfarce. This search of subjectivityis grotesquely visualizedin the youngman with a hole in his head who appears both in the beginning and at the end ofthe film, whose head is blown up by Ga Yin at the final fightingscene. Parallel tothis man-with-a-hole is Ga Yin's scar on his head. It is not until his headis beingshot is Ga Yin able to come to terms with the discord between reality and his ownsubjectivity. To Ga Ying 1997 is this permanent injury that brings an end of memory.In contrast to the carefullychoreographedmise-en-scene in The Longest Summerthat accords with soldiership, both the narrative and the visual of Little Cheung iscarefree,fragmented,and boisterous, reflectinga subjectiveworldof children. Itis a filmaboutas muchthedeathoftheoperasingerTangWing-cheungasthedeathofLittleCheung'schildhood,whichismadeupofhissimplelovesandhates being completelydisorderedat the endof the film. The most belovedonesof his leave him one by one, and he ends up embracing the rascal he has been tryingto ridicule throughout the film. Another important component of the film is LittleCheung'ssearchforhiselderbrother,whowaskickedoutfromfamilybyhisfather years ago. His brother is like a ghost in his mind defining the mystery of hispast andfuture.Paul de Man has argued that autobiography is ultimately a defacement of one'sidentity because of the impossibilityof closure of all textual systems(67-81). Theparadox of autobiography remains that writing is ultimately always about death:thedeathofsubjectcausedbythedeathoflanguage. Thereisanunbridgeabledistance between the subject who writes andthe subjectwritten about,althoughthe two occupythe same subjectivity.In anautobiography, presumingasubjectcapableofself-knowledgeandunderstandingwillonlyleadtodisappointment.Not refutingthis famous hypothesis of de Man, Slavoj Zizek, illustratingLacan'snotion"metaphorof the subject," providesus anotherperspectiveto complicatesubjectformationinlinguisticact. He states: "We somehow'feel'thatnowordscanadequatelyrepresentourinnermostsubjectivity,thatits propercontentcanonly be alludedto; yet simultaneouslywe 'feel'that a speech whichfunctionsaspure,transparentmediumofdesignationis inaway'subjectless';thatonecandetectthe presenceof a subjectthroughthe elements of style, metaphordevices,and so on" (49). In other words, while language always misrepresents the subject,the subject is also laid bare in the style and process of enunciation. De Man mightbe right in illustrating the impossibility in establishing an essential identity in anylinguisticact, butZizekremindsusthatasubject,orasubjectivity,ispreciselycomposed of and identifiedthrough language in its stylistics and devices.Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 22LaikwanPangThe above trilogygives us some interesting perspectives to illustrate and com-plicate this predicamentin establishing an identity/subjectivity.In Made in HongKong for example, the deaths of the Hong Kong subjects suggest the impossibilityof acquiringa post-1997 Hong Kong identity. However, as I have illustrated,thevoices of the fourcharacters are heard only aftertheir deaths: while the film hintsthat the identity of Hong Kong can never be properly signified,its subjectivityisclearly revealedin the very process of communication. If Made in Hong Kong is afilm about the impossibility in constructing a new postcolonial Hong Kong identity,this negation of identity is accompanied withan affirmationof disclosure. Deathcrystallizesthecommunicationdifficultiesbetweenthetwogenerations,andallegorically betweenthe two landsofHong Kong andthe mainland; butatthesame time it also makes dialogue possible. The Longest Summer andLittle Cheungalso tread on the same path, that the symbolic deaths of Ga Yin and Little Cheungservelessas pointsofdepartureofthecharacters'new beginningthanastheirjustificationto make sense of and reorder and reconstruct their pastsubjectivity.The relationship between death and the denial of a Hong Kong subject as revealedin the three films, I wouldargue, helps fathomde Man's and Zizek'selucidationbecause it most intimately connects some linguistic speculations to identity politics.All the three films associate death with 1997, but the deaths are less a sentimentalmetaphorofanxietythanastructuralpositioninanyidentityformation.Intheconfrontationofanewpoliticalorder,HongKongdoesnotsimplydieandisreborn. We witnessa complex processof betrayal, resistance, coercion, andirre-placeable destruction. The deaths representedin the films are neither just pessim-ismnoroptimismtoaHongKongidentity;instead,asubjectivityisbeingdisclosedandobservedthatchallengestheformationofanynewpostcolonialHong Kong identity.Interestingly, the commercial-cum-artisticsuccess of Hong Kong cinema in the1980sand1990s coincidedwiththecity's politicaluncertainty.However,whenHong Kong steps into the relatively stable post-1997 periodand bears witness tothe emergence of a new Hong Kong political identity, and when Hong Kong cinemahitsthe peakofits popularityintheWest, thelocal filmindustryconfrontsthethreatofcompletebreakdown.OtherthantheAsianfinancialcrisisandtheexhaustionofcreativityinHongKongcinema,thefilmmakersandproductioncompanies' inability in comprehending the market needs is also one majorreasonleading to the cinema's rapid downfall. Hong Kong cinema can no longer as easilyfinda communal emotion it can hang onto, as a post-1997 identity is no longer astransparent as that in the transition period when the fate of the six millions peopleare socio-politically connected by the fantasizeddemise of 1997. As the city entersits postcolonial period, the 1997 "hangover"(as it were) begins to fadeamong itspeopleandcinema.IftheaudiencefinallydiscoversthatHongKongfilmsnolonger, or always fail to, release their collective sensations and provide them identity,doesthatsignalthe"death"ofthisfamous"domestic"cinema,asits"socialreflective"abilityhasbeenconsideredkeytothiscinema'ssuccess?TofurtherexploretherelationbetweenHongKongcinema,HongKongsubjectivity,anddeath, let us turn to our second trilogy: The Longest Nite, Expect the Unexpected, andA Hero Never Dies, and see how the films upset the gangster genre, one of the mostimportant cinematic form in Hong Kong.Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema 23A HERO NEVER DIES?The Longest Nite is agangstermovieset incontemporaryMacau. In thefilmtwogangs,theoneledbyMr.LungandthatbyMr.K, controlthecity.Aftereightmonthsof violenceandstrugglesfordomination,thetwodonsdecidetogive ameetingandsettletheirconflictsbecausethese savage battleshaveoutragedtheGodfatherMr. Hung, whois planningto eliminate bothof them. However,rightbeforethe meeting, there is a rumor about a five-million-dollarcontract put up byK onLung, a rumorin factspreadby the Godfatherto preventthe planneddeal.Thestorytakesplaceinthenightbeforethemeeting,andit narrateshowSam,a cop and also K's subordinate, is called in to protect Lung, therefore K. It turns outthatTony, Hung'sassistant, has predictedandmanipulatedall of Sam'sactions,so thatat the endSam becomesthe one condemnedforkilling bothK andLung.Sam knows that the only way to escape Macau is to become Tony, whom he mustkill and replace. Tony is decapitated in the final fight with Sam, and Sam succeedsin arrivingthe dock, wherea boatis waitingforTony, atthe endofthe film,buthe fails to escape his doom because the Godfatherallows no one, including Tony,to survive.The dramais set against a real social context. The Portuguesecolony isfamousforits gamblingindustry,whichexplainsfranticgangsteractivities. Themafiosiwentwildin1998 andcommittedongoingviolencebecauseoftheirfearofthe1999 handoverofMacau. Theystruggledforpower,deeplyworryingthattheiractivities and profits will be terminated by the coming "legitimate" power, whichmightembody more fierceviolence. The film'snarrativecan easily becomparedtotherealsituationMacauisfacing,withtheChinesegovernmentrepresentedby the old Mr. Hung, who in the film has not been back to Macau formore than adecade.Expect the Unexpected,whichalsofeaturescrimesandviolence,focusesinsteadoncops.Inthenarrativetwocriminalgangsintersect,causingmuchviolenceinHongKong,andapoliceunitattemptstotacklebothofthem.Thefirstcriminalgrouphas justarrivedinHongKongillegallyfromthemainland;thegangissupposedtobeaninexperiencedrabblecommittingimpromptucrimesinordertograspquickmoneyandreturnhome.Theothergroup,incontrast,is asophisticatedteamoflocalcriminalsheadedbya brutalbutclear-headedmastermind.There is a culture of recent Hong Kong cinemarepresentingthe mainlandersas criminals. Butthegeneralstereotypefallsinto twopolarities:thestupidandclumsythieves,asabundantlyrepresentedinStephenChiau'scomedies,andthefearlessbutbrutallawbreakers,asseeninthefamous LongArm of the Law (1984). Expect the Unexpected seems to be aware of thisstereotypicalrepresentationandplays withthesetwoseemingopposing butinfactmutuallyreinforcingimages.The film begins with an incident when the two groups are spotted in one building,andthe narrativeproceeds withthe police unitchasingof the two groupssepar-ately.Alongwiththedetectivenarrative,thestoryalsorevealsthedifferentdilemmas the individual cops face. Macy is hiding her true love fromher colleagueJimmy. Instead, she is assumedby the othersto be the secret admirerof Ken, theheadofthe unit.Ben, the shooter,is caught betweenhis wifewhois expectingatripletandhismistresswhoissufferingfromcancer.SamandKen,thefilm'sDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 24Laikivan Pangprotagonists, fallforthe same womanandare perplexedby herchoice betweenthem. The intricacy of the narrative lies in the sophisticatedcoils caused between,ontheonehand,theconvolutedidentitiesofthetwogangsand,ontheotherhand, the personal predicaments these cops individually confront.Audiences aredeceived in mastering the narrative; they turn out to be as ignorant as the characters,assumingmistakenlythat both Macy andMandyfallforBen, that themainlandgang is less violent than the local one. The film at the end reveals that the identitiesofthetwogangshave beenconfusedbothbythecopsandtheaudience.Rightafterkilling the entire groupof local culprits, all the cops are in turnkilledevenmore brutally by the supposedly intimidated and inexperienced mainland criminals.At the endof thefilm, the audienceandthe dying cops are all perplexed bythefallaciesof their earlier expectations.Jack andMartinare two mobsters of distinguishedvalor in AHero Never Dies.Theyworkfortworivalgangsbutpersonallyadmireeachother'stalentsandcourage. They are badly hurt by each otherin a battle betweenthe two gangs inThailand.While Jackfallsintoacoma, Martinhastoamputatebothhislegstokeephislife.Itturnsoutthattheirloverssufferthemostfromtheirdefeats,throughtakingcareofthemandprotectingthemfromfurtherdisgrace.Laterthey findout that their bosses have long been threatenedby their forteandhavedecided to get rid of Jack and Martin afterthis incident. Their lovers are killed as aresult.Thetwogangleadersarealsochickenedoutbytheiryear-longmutualslaughteringandseek peace fromthe Generalin Thailand. There they makethedeal and agree to collaborate on developing their business together. The film thentraces howMartin plansto assassinate his traitor, buthe dies before Jack comesback to help. The final scene shows Jack and the dead Martin in collaboration killingeverybody,includingthemselves,inanightclubinthemostextravagantandsurrealistway,carryingtheaestheticsofheroism,althoughacollectiveone,tothe extreme.Producedby the same creativeteam withina short period, althoughthethreefilms are not advertised as a trilogy, they are seen by many as a coherent unit. TheLongestNite andExpect the UnexpectedareinterconnectedmostobviouslyinthecommonnameandidentityoftheirprotagonistsSamthepolice.Thefilmsindeed can be seen as each other's mirror image. The Longest Nite is about gangsters,setin a summer'snight, employingdownbeatmusicandmelancholicambianceto portraythethemesof betrayalandconspiracy.Ontheotherhand,ExpecttheUnexpected is a story about cops, shot mostly on rainy days, saturatedwithjoyfulcolor and music to depict romance and brotherly trust. In fact, this form of mirrorpairingcan be observedin the individualfilms: TonyandSam are portrayedasdoubles in The Longest Nite, so are the two criminal groups in Expect the Unexpected,as well as Jack andMartin in A Hero Never Dies. In additionto the films'content,theyalsosharecommongenericconventions.Allthethreefilmsrevealgeneraltraits of the gangster story, that the films emphasize the establishment of the malecharacters through the celebration of violence and masculinity.Regardingthecharacterdevelopmentoftheheroesinthefilms,themostremarkableandsurprisingmomentstakeplaceattheendwhenthemajorchar-acters) die(s). The films constantly show the struggles between the characters andthenarrative,revealingtheprotagonists' battleswithacertainunknown"fate"Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema25thatdoomstheirefforts.The deathsofthecharactersattheendofall thethreefilmscanbeseenaspunishmentfortheirself-assuranceestablishedearlierinassumingtheirautonomousindividual being. In The Longest Nite, Sam is chosento be the focus and victim of the entire conspiracy because he has doubts and doesnot succumbto Hung'spotency. The filmcan be seen as Mr. Hung'srevenge onSam forhis noncompliance. InExpect the Unexpected,right beforethefinalchasesequence, allthe copsdecideto confronttheirpersonalperplexitiesandresolvetheir dilemmas immediately. But the narrative prevents such a liberating resolutionby killing all the characters. The death of Martin in A Hero Never Dies is also unan-ticipated, because a major part of the film is about Martin's painfuleffortsto over-comehisphysicalinability,turninghimselftoarobot-likekiller.Hissuddendeath made all his earlier effortsfutile.The hero'sstruggleagainstthe statusquoorsocial injusticethroughviolenceandcrimeisfeaturedandcelebratedinmostgangsterfilms.Inthethreefilms,such masculinity is also established by earlier triumphs of the heroes in destroyingthe supposedly main rival forces: Sam killing Tony, representing the authority ofMr. Hung, in The Longest Nite; the cops subduingthe local group of criminals inExpect the Unexpected;andMartinovercominghiscripplinginjuriesinA HeroNever Dies. Thefinaldeathsofthe heroescomecompletelyunexpectedbecausetheir authority is already established before they are brutally destroyed. Rejectingall calculations andwisdomofthe heroes andthe audience, the filmsultimatelymock the sense of heroism instituted both within the filmandthe gangsterstockby refusingthe consummationofthatideology. This themeof(dis)protection ofthe heroes is particularly epitomized in the two Sams' wearing of bulletproofvest,which saves their lives in the earlier gunfirescenes in The Longest Nite and Expectthe Unexpected. However, the vests ultimately fail to protect the heroes fromthosefinalbulletsthat also catchthe audience in surprise. We can argue thatthefilms"disprotect" both Sam andthe audience fromthe genre formula,resultingin thelatter'sdestabilization. AHero Never Dies carries such mockeryof heroismto anextreme,notonlycondemningMartin'sprematuredeathbutalsobringingthedead hero back to the battlefield. When Jack is alone fighting two or three dozensgangsters with at least twenty bullets in his body, when the dead Martin can stillpullthetriggerof his guns killing several more, the filmmakerscannot butplayparody with Hong Kong's gangster stock and put a question mark afterthefilm'stitle.The violence is indeed as much a punishment to the characters as to the audience.By toying withthe audience's pre-establishedexpectations to the genreformula,these three filmsrefuseto grant the audience a secure grip of the progression ofthe plot. As Torben Grodal discusses about audience reception in crime films, thatwethespectators"activelyconstructouremotionsandinterestsinaccordancewiththementalstatesofthedetective; weare'ona guidedtour'"(241). DavidBordwell also argues that the detective genre often controls the audience's emotionalstates by making us share the detective's knowledge(65). This sense ofconfusionandparalysisis indeedfeaturedinthe films'lastscenes. InThe LongestNite themenhiredto killTony/Samfallinto anargumentafterthe killingof whenandhow the plan should be executed. More obvious in Expect the Unexpected, there is agroupofpassingpoliceattheotherendofthestreethelplesslywatchingtheDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 26Laikwan Pangonslaught; they can be seen as occupying the position of the audience as onlookerstoo impotent to make out the confusionand save the heroes.Closely related to the gangsters is the detective genre. Both The Longest Nite andExpect the Unexpected withholdcrucialeventsinthe narrativesinordertoinvitethe investigationof the audienceandthe detectives. In a cafescene in ExpecttheUnexpectedforexample,BenaccusesSamofnotlisteningcarefullytopeople'swords, reflectingon the narrative'ssolid demandforthe audience's attentions todetails. However, the suspense does not resolve itselfat the end. The Longest Nitefirstinvites the heroes andaudience to subjugatethe conspiracy byemphasizingnumbersallthroughthefilm,placingclose-upsonmanydifferenttelephonenumbers,roomnumbers,andlockernumbersthroughthe point-of-viewofthecharacters.Theseshotscanallbeseenastrickstosolicitaudience'sdesiretodecode the master plot, also inviting identifications of the audience with the involvedcharacterswhoareconstantlysubjecttoandhauntedbytheenvironment.Butnoneofthesecluesleadtoanyresolutionstothedetectiveplot,andtheyallremainasemptysignifiers.Telephonenumbersare particularlyfeaturedinthefilmtosuggestthemutualsearchofcharactersforeachother,climaxedinthewarehouse fighting scene between Tony and Sam who attempt to locate the otherby calling each other's cellular telephone. To Tony's surprise, the telephone ringingonlyleadstohisdiscoveryofamirrorimageofhimself, becauseSamappears,including the tattoo and the skinhead, exactly like him. This failure of the narrativetolocatethesignifiedsoftheseseeminglymeaningfulsignifierstransformsthedetective quest, as illustrated by Torben Grodal, into an "obsessional" one, turningthecluesintosaturatedsymbolsthatcannotbefixedanydefinitemeaninganymore(168-69). Andthe intricatelyrelatedsignificationofdeathsandtheemptyclues combine to create a strong sense of loss and vulnerability that both the form(the genre) and the content (the characters) can no longer master their own being.DEATH ANDIDENTITYThe above discussion is not to argue that the gangster genre in Hong Kong cinemadisintegrate.Whatis atstakeinthethreefilms,thatwhenthefilms'heroesareprosecutedandwhentheaudience'sexpectationsareoffset,isaself-awarenessandself-interrogationofthegenrethatis, howeverindirectly, notdissimilartothe case we have analyzedin Fruit Chan's1997 trilogy. I would not consider thisself-interrogationof genre the same as Rick Altman's"genrification"(50-53, 64),whichconstitutesthedevelopmentanddissociationofgenretypethatlinkstothe capitalistneedforproductdifferentiation,becausehere wewitnessastrongsense of impotency, paralysis, and despair that call attentions to, instead of conceal,the form.In Made in Hong Kong,the subjectivityof the fourcharacters evolves inthe processof realizingdeath. In the three MilkywayImage'sfilms, thedelicacyandvulnerabilityofthe genre orderalso allows its formandstructureseenandheard. In his recent study of American gangster movies, Jonathan Munby proclaimsthatthe gangstercapturesthe antagonisticimaginationofa populationafflictedwith unresolvedsocial problems in the industrial urban environment of the time.MarkA.Reidalsoarguesthat"censorshiplawsandsocialtaboosdeterminedDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema27how gangster heroes celebratedcriminality and howtheydiedas a resultin thisgame" (468). Most scholars of gangsters read the films as venues for the dischargeofpeople'sdiscontentand,therefore,asmirrorsofsociety.AsMunbyarguesthat: "Thebattle... tocontrolHollywood'srepresentationofAmericanlifeillu-minates the extent to which the mass cinema was at odds with power prerogatives.For the latter, the gangsterfilmand1940s crime cycle constitutedthe most unac-ceptableface of the popularculture, a site where memory could be served, whereaudiences could be reminded of the things power would prefer them to forget" (185).However,Iwouldarguethattheviolenceandtransgressioningangsterfilmscould be as much a reflectionof conventional understanding of"law andorder"in society as the films' comments to their own form and stylistic conventions. In thecase of this Hong Kong gangster trilogy, the aggression signifiedin the last killingscenes is mostlydirectedtowardits narrativeform.As shownin these films,nohumanityof brotherhood,wisdom,andromancecanovercomeanomnipotentnarrative, that, for example, even Mr. Hung cannot completely master in The LongestNite, asattheendofthefilmhestill assumesthattheonekilledbyhismenatthe pieris Tony. Unknownto him is that Tony has alreadydied, quiterandomlyindeed,intheearlierfightwithSam. Thisaggrandizingofthenarrativepowertowering above all human forces and calculation is in fact less a salutation than acondemnation of classical cinematic form that fails to tame the saturated narrative.But it is also at the pointof this negationthatthe"subjectivity"of animportantgenre of Hong Kong cinema reveals itself.InHongKongcinemathe"spectacle"oftenreignsovertheplot:"action"isgenerallyconceivedas itstour de force. Thiscinema'sincessantfascinationwithviolenceandspeedconstantlyrevivesitselfbyintroducingnewmechanicsofmovementinrhythm,choreography,mise-en-scene,andediting.Narrativedis-ruption,as a result,is generallytoleratedas "motion/'whichis one ofthemostessential "compositional motivations" in Hong Kong cinema that can gluefragmentsinto some form of coherence. The Milkyway Image trilogy we have discussed alsoensuresthis traditionofenergy, butthe significanceofthefilmsresidesintheirreflectiveuseof violence, whichfunctionsnotonlyonathematiclevel butalsostructurally serving as forces to destroy and reveal the film form. The ideology ofmasculinityisoftenconcealedbytheembeddedsocialdiscontentingangsterfilms, in which the sexist appeals are legitimized by the hero's execution of justice.RolandBarthescalls"myth"aself-disguisingprocessofthebourgeoisiewhoobliteratesits namein passingfromrealityto representationto maintainits dis-cursive control in society (138^11). This notion of myth can also be appliedto thestudy of filmgenre, that its formulaicplot development, and thereforeits hiddenvalues, is takenas naturalandfactual,thatthedominantphilosophyofthefilmtype can be perpetuatedwithout waking the audience's awareness. Here in thesetwo films we observe not the features of violence or masculinity being celebratedanderected;instead,theyexecuteself-interrogationthatreveals,overwhelms,and paralyze themselves.However, I would like to point out that this cinematic reflexivity is not context-free.Instead, the sense of insecurity reflectedin the films is ultimately underscoredbythegeneralpessimismlingeringaroundHongKongfilmcirclesabouttheimpending financialdoom. The years of 1998 and1999 witnessed one of the mostDownloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 28Laikwan Pangdesperate moments of Hong Kong cinema since its full blossom in the 1950s. Thedomesticbox-officereceiptfellfarshortoftheirproductioncosts.Theforeignmarkets in the mainland, Taiwan, and the South East Asian Chinese communitiesalso begin to refuse embracing Hong Kong's productions indiscriminately. Ironically,theindustryisonthevergeofcompletedisintegrationwheninternationalfilmcircles displaythe mostfervententhusiasmforthis allegedcenterof "Asiancultfilms."Twomajorreasonshavebeenattributedtothisbankruptcy:theAsianfinancial turmoil and the prevalence of and easy access to the pirate VCD versionsof the films. There is a general sense of panic within the industry that Hong KongcinemawillfollowmanyofthoseinEuropeandAsiabybeinghelplesslyengulfed by the global Hollywood machine.ThenarrativeexperimentationanddisorientationdemonstratedinExpecttheUnexpected and The Longest Nite are, I would argue, also responses to theconfusionexperienced in the industry. As Johnnie To, the producer of the two films, admittedin an TV program "Gesu jijian/Opinions"that there are no longer any commerciallyviable formulaslike the star system, huge budgets, or prior successfulgenre con-ventions that filmmakersor studios can holdon to as guarantee to lucrative box-officereturns. The deteriorating market is so unpredictable that any films can failorsucceed.Such phenomenonreflectsareconstructionandameliorationoftheindustry,whichisintegraltothecity'soveralleconomicdevelopmentaftertheAsianfinancialcrisis, andwhichencouragestheexperimentationoffilmmakerswhointroducenewcinematicsensibilitiestotheiraudience.Asevidentinthethree films I have just discussed, challenges to normative notions of heroismandto classical film structures might only be the byproducts of such experimentation.The ultimate objective is to locate and captivate a new generation of viewers whocanidentifywiththefilmsandgo backtothetheatres. Almostall recentHongKongfilmmakersareexperimentingandattemptingtodevelopnewpracticesand ideas for the simple purpose of survival.As I have illustrated,many Hong Kong filmsconnectthe deathsofcharacterswith a failure to acquire identity, and they often interpret such failures as conditionedby the city's social and political circumstances. Fruit Chan's 1997 trilogy is one ofthefewthatdoes notsee deathsimplyas anaporiaoranewbeginningbutasmeansofrevealingone'ssubjectivity,afatalwaytoallowoneselfheard.Theother trilogy we have discussedcouldalso be readin a similar fashion,thattheirviolence towardsthe filmformmost"violently" calls attentions to the filmformitself. Both the films and the audience are left stunned, and what "death" entails inallthethreefilmsisastupefactionwhenwearefinallyawareofourselves. AsKwai-CheungLo argues, underthenewpost1997 politicalorder,"HongKongpeople are nowsolicitedorinterpellated, as Louis Althusserputs itby a newsystem of representations" (151). Although the three films do not directly commenton this new system of cultural political representations, they present theself-reflexiveside of Hong Kong cinema that might be able to resist and lay bare such "interpel-lation" by constantly falling back to the investigation of how Hong Kong identityand Hong Kong cinema are constructed.It is almost a truism to argue that a pure identity is impossible. Any attempts indefining identity are doomed to failure, as is any cinematic effortto capture HongKong's identity. "We come across identity when predicates fail" (Zizek, 36). However,Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014 Death and Hong Kong Cinema29what is at stake in the identity politics of the presentHong Kong cinemais morethan a structural impossibility. On the one hand, economy recessions reign in themajor markets of Hong Kong cinemathat its survival is in jeopardy. On the otherhand,thecomplicatedandhard-to-grasppoliticalchangesthecityexperiencesalso problematize any naiVe claim of the formationof a new Hong Kong identity.Althoughthe two trilogies address death withtheir own differentconcerns, theyall come to an end that overwhelms both the narrative and the audience. It is at thisjuncture that the survival of the "local" Hong Kong cinema seems most vulnerableand ephemeral.WORKSCITEDAltman,Rick. Film/Genre. London: BFI, 1999.Barthes, Roland. Mythologies.London: Paladin, 1973.Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison: The Uof WisconsinP, 1985.de Man, Paul.The Rhetoric of Romanticism. NewYork: ColumbiaUP, 1984."Gesu jijian/Opinions,"NewsChannel1, Cable TV, HongKong, 28 March, 1999.Grodal, Torben. Moving Pictures: ANewTheory of Film Genres, Feelings, and Cognition. London: Clarendon,1997.Lo, Kwai-Cheung. "Look Who's Talking: The Politics of Orality in Transitional Hong Kong Mass Culture,"Boundary 2 25: 3 (Fall1998): 151-68.Munby, Jonathan. Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Screening the Gangster fromLittle Ceasar to Touch of Evil.ChicagoandLondon: Chicago UP, 1999.Reid,MarkA."TheBlackGangsterFilm,"FilmGenre Reader II.Ed.BarryKeithGrant.Austin:UofTexas P, 1995: 456-73.SekKei."AchievementandCrisis:HongkongCinemainthe'80s," HongKong Cinema inthe Eighties:The15thHongKongInternationalFilmFestival.HongKong:TheUrbanCouncilofHongKong,1991: 54-63.Zizek,Slavoj.For TheyKnowNotWhatTheyDo: EnjoymentasaPolitical Factor. London,NewYork:Verso, 1991.Downloaded by [Griffith University] at 17:23 12 June 2014