„Happy Together” - Chinese Road Movie
Agnieszka Kamrowska
agnieszka.kamrowska@gmail.comPedagogical University of Krakow (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9474-9271
Abstract
The author attempts to analyse the film Happy Together (1997) by Wong Kar-wai in terms of auteur cinema, road movie, motifs of Chinese and Argentinian culture, and the political situation. The focus is on the journey of a pair of homosexual protagonists to Buenos Aires, where they try to save their relationship, but they break up and try to live separately, although their paths still cross. Argentina, that from the perspective of Hong Kong is highly exotic, overwhelms one with emptiness and gives rise to alienation, which each of the characters tries to overcome in their own way: by working and saving for the return ticket home, or by immersing and losing oneself in the night life. Although the film is set in Buenos Aires, there are many motifs derived from Chinese tradition, such as strong family ties or filial piety. Happy Together also has an atmosphere of imminent defeat that accompanied Hong Kong residents before July 1, 1997, when the British colony became once again a part of China.
Keywords:
Wong Kar-wai, Hongkong cinema, Chinese cinema, road moviesReferences
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Authors
Agnieszka Kamrowskaagnieszka.kamrowska@gmail.com
Pedagogical University of Krakow Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9474-9271
Doktor kulturoznawstwa, absolwentka filmoznawstwa na Wydziale Zarządzania i Komunikacji Społecznej Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, gdzie obroniła pracę doktorską o cyberpunku w kinie Wschodu i Zachodu. Badaczka kinematografii dalekowschodnich, redaktorka serii Autorzy kina azjatyckiego (tom I: 2010, współred. A. Helman, tom II: 2015). Autorka licznych tekstów poświęconych anime. Adiunkt na Wydziale Sztuki Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego im. KEN w Krakowie.
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