How Chungking Express Reflects the Urban City. Media Essay

How Chungking Express Reflects the Urban City
Student Name
Course
Institution
Date of Submission
Introduction
According to England and Simon (2010), the city can evoke numerous images like crime and pollution to skyscrapers to crowds. The images determine how individuals interact with each other and the geographies in the city. These images can both be positive or negative and affect how individuals view the city. The era of globalization has led to the growth of urban cities. The growth of urban cities is not by accident. Globalization and the advancement of new technologies have attracted individuals to big cities by increasing the returns to urban proximity (Dibazar et al., 2013). It would be easier for computer wizards to cluster in a city rather than disperse. Globalization and technological change have increased the returns for urban dwellers. The information flow that results from the proximity allows individuals to build strong relationships that are essential in attaining one's goals and objectives. Since knowledge moves more quickly at closer quarters, more individuals have moved to the cities to take advantage of the opportunities presented. An examination of an urban city is essential to determine the opportunities present and the challenges the urban dwellers go through. This essay will examine the Chunking Express film as a case study to demonstrate how it reflects the urban city. Chunking Express (1994) is a film directed by Kar Wai Wong. The director collaborates with Australian Cinematographer Christopher Doyle to bring a powerful take on the city. The film was chosen as a case study because it reflects the urban life of the Hong Kong city. The essay will investigate how the characters and scenes display life in the city.
The plot
Chungking Express is inspired by the city of Hong Kong, an especially two district locations; Chungking Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui and Central. Both locations intrigue Wong mainly because he grew up there. As such, the plot of the film reflects the reality of the modern life of Hong Kong city. The film consists of two different stories which highlight the romances of two police officers. Although the stories do not interconnect, the main characters in the in the second story appear in the second story for brief moments. The first story revolves around Cop 223 who is struggling with a devastating heartbreak, where his girlfriend dumped him on April Fool’s Day. Cop 223 decides to wait one month before moving on with his life. He purchases a can of pineapple which has an expiry date of May 1st each day with the hope that they will reconcile or their love will have expired. In the process, a woman runs for her life when a drug operation fails to succeed. Cop 223 spots the woman and invites her to his hotel room, where she falls asleep and leaves him watching a movie alone. The woman leaves in the morning and manages to kill the drug ringleader who set her up. The women then page Cop 223 and wish him a happy birthday which strengthens him to continue with his life (Wong, 1994).
The second story entails Cop 663 who is also grappling with a break-up from a flight stewardess. Cop 663 frequently visits a snack bar where he meets Faye and falls in love with her. Faye begins to sneak to the cop’s apartment during the day to improve his living conditions. Cop 663 realizes that Faye likes him and invites her for a date at a restaurant. However, Faye wants to tour the world hence she leaves a fake boarding pass for Cop 663 which the date a year after that day. In the end, Faye returns a year later as a flight attendant and discovers that Cop 663 has converted the snack bar into a restaurant (Wong, 1994). At this moment is unclear what direction their relationship will take, but the ending indicates a hopeful tone.
Historical Background
In order to understand the context of Chungking Express, it is essential to consider the social and political of Hong Kong before and during the production of the film. As a British colony since 1841, Hong Kong was considered to have no identity because it did not have a past or a unified history (Bolton, 2011). The city lacks a pre-colonial past to speak of hence it suffers from a crisis identity. Even as a British colony, Hong Kong managed to define its cultural and political boundaries as well as advance its prosperity. Hong Kong has remained a space of continuous transience; a temporary place for residents, and a typical blend of immigration from other surroundings. In the past, a majority of Hong Kong films were distributed to the citizens outside the city, imitating and borrowing from other cultures, especially from Mainland China.
However, the banning of Hong Kong films in 1952 from being distributed in Mainland China led to Hong Kong to set up a new market outside its borders (Lim, 2006). The distribution of Hong Kong movies around the world led to the film industry in the city to become a center of interest for other nations more than to the citizens of Hong Kong. The Chungking Express film was an attempt by Wong to make the Hong Kong citizens feel connected to their country. Hence, in the film, Hong Kong remains the main focal point of the visual narrative structure in the movie. The filmmaker maintains that the citizens of Hong Kong are more positive regarding films that reflect the true identity of the country. The citizens are more receptive towards films that represent them and contextualize their self-identity.
Urban Alienation
The film demonstrates that Hong Kong city leads to the alienation of the residents. Urban alienation permeates the entire movie as the characters try, but are unable to connect with the individuals around them (McGowan, 2012). The opening scene introduces Cop 223 as he pursues a criminal through the streets of Hong Kong. During this time Cop 223 amuses of being closer to many individuals. The shooting of the film is done in a manner that amplifies the sensation of being lost in a big crowd. The camera keeps on panning over crowds of individuals on the street. The handheld camera used to shoot this scene is shaky which makes it impossible for the viewer to distinguish the individual faces and instead the viewer sees the crowd as a singular entity (Leeds, 2017). The only face a viewer can recognize is that of Cop 223 since the scene cuts to an extreme close-up. Through the application of cinematographic techniques, the film contrasts the character of Cop 223 with the blur of the crowd. The crowd appears as a backdrop as opposed to a set of people. Consequently, the scene demonstrates the isolation that occurs in the urban crowd. It indicates how it is difficult to be distinguished in a large urban crowd.
Six minutes into the film and the camera zooms on a rotating display of compact discs which are fixed on the top of a jukebox in a Hong Kong bar. While the three CDs rotate and come close to each other, they never touch each other (McGowan, 2012). The objective correlates with several of the themes in the movie. The first line of dialogue demonstrates isolation in the Hong Kong city. The first line of dialogue, the character of Cop 223 narrates the life in the city through a voiceover and indicates how the city dwellers brush past different individuals. One may not meet these individuals and others may become closer friends (Wong, 1994). This demonstrates the paradox that exists between physical proximity and emotional distance and how daily activities contribute towards increasing the distance.
Wong explores the first relationship between Cop 223 and an unnamed female drug smuggler for over forty minutes. The two spend a night in each other’s company, but they do not become intimate together (McGowan, 2012). As the Cop 223 enjoys a movie, the woman falls asleep and leaves him alone. The woman eventually leaves the hotel in the morning which marks the end of the encounter between her and the cop. Although there is an emotional distance between the two, the woman helps Cop 223 to transcend the emotional pain he has been undergoing in the month since breaking up with his girlfriend. Wong demonstrates that although individuals in the city may have physical proximity, they could be emotionally apart. The film indicates that the fact that individuals are in the same location in the city does not automatically translate to closeness. With individuals undergoing different things, it is possible that city dwellers remain far apart regarding emotional connection.
The next hour of the film focuses on the interaction of Cop 663 and Faye, who is a fast food worker. Faye falls for Cop 663 and regularly breaks into his apartment as a means of caring for him without his knowledge. When Cop 663 eventually discovers the love Faye has for him, he arranges for a date in the restaurant. However, the films ending leaves the future of their relationship uncertain. Although they regularly meet, the viewer can notice the isolation that exists between the two lovers. Although urban life makes it easy for them to meet frequently, they are emotionally far apart. Further, when Faye gets a job as a flight attendant, it becomes difficult for the two to meet regularly. Wong demonstrates that urban life in Hong Kong subjects the city dwellers to work demands which make it challenging for individuals to interact one-on-one (Van, 2011). It is not clear the direction the relationship between Faye and Cop 663 will take after Faye secures the job a flight attendant. In the same manner, Cop 663 converts the snack bar into a restaurant and spends most of his time running it. Hence, Wong indicates that the daily activities in the city can make it challenging for individuals to interact and form strong relationships.
Wong emphasizes the sense of loneliness by both Cop 663 and Faye by using a telephoto lens and focusing on one character at a time. Additionally, Wong shows the two characters conversing and uses medium close-up over the shoulder shots. He keeps the two at a distance and then in separate frames which demonstrates their inability to connect. As Cop 663 and Faye converse at the snack bar, a separation is indicated by the physical barrier between them. Additionally, Wong uses time-lapse shot to show the separation as Cop 663 seeps his coffee and Faye gazes at him across the counter. The slowed down time-lapse shot allows the audience to see the physical and emotional distance between Cop 663 and Faye. When focusing on the individuals outside the café, the actions are sped up. The individuals in the crowded city appear isolated from one another as demonstrated by their inability to connect with those around them.
Connection
The filmic renegotiation of the city offers new meaning and narrative that replace the conventional delineations of Hong Kong’s urban space as dislocated and bland which transforms pessimism to optimism (Huang, 2001). Wong achieves this by emphasizing on the...