Martial arts is a dominant theme in Hong Kong Cinema, with films from this region featuring, among others, martial arts expert and stuntman Jackie Chan (Fang 210). In some films, Kungfu styles from the south, including Hong Kong, are set against those from northern China. This comparison is often meant to show that Hong Kong has contributed significant styles such as ‘Wing Chun’ Chinese Kungfu. However, Hong Kong cinema does not exclusively revolve around martial arts but also looks into life, love, fantasy, and self-discovery. Stanly Kwan’s film Rouge 1987, Wong Kar-wai’s ChungkingExpress (1994), and Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer (2001) feature the protagonists pursuing journeys of discovering and improving themselves and society. Rouge 1987 shows the protagonists, a wealthy heir and a courtesan, finding love and yearning to have it accepted by society. Chucking Express features two police officers trying to escape lovesickness, and police two and Faye are improving their financial lives. Shaolin Soccer features the protagonist Sing, a Kungfu master trying to promote Kungfu for its benefits in people’s daily lives. This essay looks into how Hong Kong cinema also focuses on subjects other than Kung Fu, exceedingly ordinary life, the pursuit of love, and personal and societal improvement by comparing Rouge (1987), Chucking Express (1994), and Shaolin Soccer (2001).
Rouge, ChungkingExpress, and Shaolin Soccer track the protagonists’ day-to-day lives as if journaling ordinary life in Hong Kong. Rouge shows Chan frequenting teahouses, which in the 1930s setting were a symbol of affluence and social refinement (Karki 17). Similarly, Chucking Express showcased the protagonist’s daily activities, including rushing to work on a train and visiting eateries and snack bars (Biancorosso 453). Therefore, both narrate people’s ordinary lives, which is an aspect noted in the introduction to Shaolin Soccer before Sing took a mission to train the Kungfu soccer team. Shaolin Soccer by showing ordinary events and Sing trying to attract people to join him in training Kungfu. Also, Mui, a baker, is depicted using her skills in doing her work. Similarly, Sing’s brothers are also shown engaging in their ordinary lives after losing the fitness obtained in the Shaolin temple.
The three films feature the protagonists pursuing their goals in the context of mundane activities. For instance, Chan reveals how he wanted to be a movie star to Fleur. In this setting, he also fell in love with Fleur (Yeung 417). Similarly, Cop II in the Chungking Empress pursued his plan to own a restaurant while following the routines of being a police officer. He defied the odds as police schedules were rigid, noting that both Cops went to work and had limited free time, which they spent at a snack bar and a restaurant.
Similarly, Sing from the film Shaolin Soccer and his brothers learn how to apply Kungfu in soccer while engaging in their daily routines. Similarly, they adopted the mission to start practicing Kung Fu soccer and proceeded to practice Kung Fu, which they had trained for many years. From Shaolin Soccer, Mui was also a baking bun when Sing approached her and later developed an interest in joining the team (Karki 15). The protagonists’ lives before being thrust into the pursuit of some objectives are also noted in the love journeys depicted in the films.
The directors use the three plots to show protagonists living their lives and pursuing long-term goals, and Kungfu is the only feature in Shaolin Soccer. In Rouge, the main protagonists, Chan and Fleur, are introduced as living and growing their love despite being in a setting where their relationship cannot be accepted, in a similar manner that Sing wanted people to take martial arts in their daily lives in the Shaolin Soccer (Redmond 3). However, Chungking Express differs from the other two as it does not feature protagonists starting with a long-term goal (Biancorosso 444). Instead, it featured both trying to connect with people after their past relationships failed. Cop I (Qiwu) and Cop II are lovesick and trying to alleviate the emotional pain of heartbreak. Cop I seems confused and cannot accept that his girlfriend has left him until May 1 (Redmond 3). He keeps buying canned pineapples, with the expiration month being May, to remind him of his former girlfriend, and only approaches another woman on May 1. However, both ended up not forming any meaningful relationship, and Cop I is seen returning to the same hotel to meet Faye. Cop II visits a snack bar and meets a woman named Faye (Redmond 1). This name gives the viewer a sense of continuity between two movie parts that seem significantly disjointed. Cop II and Faye fall in love, but circumstances do not allow them to develop a working relationship.
The pursuit of love is presented as complicated, with an unclear beginning, but primarily worthwhile in the films under review. Rouge and Chungking Express plots are based around love and lovesickness (Biancorosso 444). Both films differ from Shaolin Soccer, in which love is only used as a minor theme. Rouge, which is set in the late 1980s, opens by showing the lives of Yuen and Chor, who follow a love story that started 57 years ago between Chan Chen-pang and Fleur, who are still yearning to be together. Fleur, who died in the 1930s, has arisen as a ghost to publish an advert in a newspaper searching for Chan, whom she thought was dead but was absent in the afterlife. Therefore, Yuen and Chor learn to appreciate their relationship. In the film, Yuen and Chor discover the mystery of the main protagonists, Chan, a young man from a wealthy family in the 1930s, and his secret lover, Fleur, a ghost in the film. Chan and Fleur are seen following a dramatic love journey seeking to be accepted even through killing themselves (Wang 2). However, after these 53 years, Chan had gambled all his family’s wealth and was unable to become a movie star (Wang 9). Also, he was poor and only took minor roles in films to make a living. Yeun and Chor, cast by the plot as observers of the real protagonist, Chan Chor, appreciate the value of their love relationship by seeing the immense challenges that Chan and Fleur undergo to be together. Oppositely, Chungking’s expression does not feature the protagonist pursuing love but instead tries to connect with people to alleviate their lovesickness without the goal of falling in love. The first Cop is unlucky as his love interest is entangled in drugs and crimes (Biancorosso 460). However, the second cop is luckier and falls in love with Faye, who had fallen in love with him first. However, both Cop II and Faye end up unable to be together as Faye chooses to advance his life by relocating to California. Cop II advanced his financial life by opening a restaurant and was ready to form a loving relationship with Faye, but this failed to materialize. Unlike Chungking Express, Shaolin Soccer features the main protagonist, who is not initially interested in seeking love. Sing was initially interested in teaching people the importance of Kungfu in their daily lives. However, he develops a love interest after meeting Mui and becomes interested in her knowledge of Kung Fu techniques. Mui initially had terrible acne and could not speak Cantonese, but these challenges did not bar them from developing a love relationship.
All the protagonists are seen undergoing a dramatic financial journey leading to notable transformation in the three films. In Rouge, the main protagonist, Chan, starts off as an heir of enormous family wealth but loses everything to end in poverty, where he makes a living as a movie extra. The film introduced Chan as a playboy from a wealthy family who initially sought to become a movie star. However, his wealth and extravagance made him frequent a teahouse for social interactions, where he met a courtesan named Fleur and fell in love with her. This course of events distracted him from his quest and accelerated his playboy life, leading to financial disaster. After Chan and Fleur form a romantic relationship, her primary pursuit is to live with Chan in a setting where their romantic love is accepted. Unlike in the film Rouge, Chungking Empress represents the protagonists, especially in the second section, who successfully pursue their financial dreams. For instance, Cop II was featured as having bought a former snack bar and expanded it into a snack restaurant, meaning he had become a successful businessman. Similarly, Faye, who is introduced as a waiter, advances her life by flying to the US state of California and training to become a flight attendant, which is a career and financial progress.
Progress as entailing moving abroad is elucidated, where Chungking Express shows moving to the US as a success while Shaolin Soccer associates the US with illegal business. Rouge only refers to French names Fleur and Rouge, which may associate France with the romance depicted in the plot (Redmond 1). Chucking Express features Faye flying abroad to California on the same night that Cop II decided to arrange a date with her. The perceived benefits of going to California are noted in the presence of a fancy restaurant named California, in which Cope II arranged an evening out with Faye (Redmond 1). This restaurant is depicted as fancier than others around it, which represents real Hong Kong. The movie plot also depicts moving to California as making progress, as noted in how Faye progressed from a waitress to a flight attendant one year after arriving in California. She returned to Hong Kong and was influential, as indicated by how Cop II thought that her attending the opening of his restaurant would be an honor. At the same time, the conversation between Cop II and Faye had changed such that the former informed the latter that he could go whenever she wanted him. This statement means that Faye’s status improved to a point where a police officer would be willing to follow her, including leaving behind his job and restaurant. Faye, who started off as a waiter, is featured as having improved herself to become a flight attendant and also moving to California, which depicts the US as presenting more options for personal advancement. The audience can note that she returns well-dressed and looks glamorous compared to when she left. However, the fact that she returned to Hong Kong shows that California does not necessarily reflect all a person needs to be happy. The film Shaolin Soccer presents a person having a business association with the US as having the possibility of quick financial success. Still, it may also lead to involvement in swindling and drug trade, among other malpractices. Therefore, it shows that moving to the US is only sometimes desirable, while some view it as progress.
The film Shaolin Soccer addresses the perceived effects of going to the US or dealing with Americans, showing that it presents many problems, such as using underhand dealings to win a game (Seto 17). For instance, Shaolin Soccer starts in a past scene where Hung, a soccer star, assaulted his teammate Fung and gave him a cheque to lose the game, which constitutes match-fixing. Fung lost and was attacked by disappointed spectators who also broke his leg. Viewers learn that Hun had deceived Fung and that the cheque was fake (Seto 21). As a result, Fung did not receive any money despite throwing the game. Also, audiences learn that hung is associated with American-based criminals that engage in swindling, cheating at games, and selling drugs. The movie later reveals that Hung, who was connected with American interests, was involved in corrupt practices, including Match fixing, leading to great wealth, which cost him everything and his reputation. Hung’s team, which is referred to in the movie as Team Evil, uses substances called the “American drug” that significantly enhances its players’ strength and endurance (Seto 43). Fung’s team succeeded due to his superior soccer skills and exceptional Kungfu skills from Sing. The film shows that the American dream is not necessarily desirable for the Chinese and can result in some adverse effects.
In summary, Hong Kong cinema focuses on subjects other than Kung Fu. It can explore aspects such as ordinary life, the pursuit of love, and personal and societal improvement, as noted in the three films Rouge, Chucking Express, and Shaolin Soccer. The three films track the protagonists’ day-to-day lives as if journaling ordinary life in Hong Kong. In other instances, they depict the protagonists pursuing their goals in the context of mundane activities. Some have long-term goals, while others find goals they start pursuing along the way. Also, all depict love as complicated, with an unclear beginning but worthwhile. Also, the three films feature protagonists undergoing dramatic financial journeys leading to notable transformation. The movie also elucidates progress in the context of going abroad, where Chungking Express shows moving to the US as entailing success, while Shaolin Soccer associates the US with illegal business.
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