Tiny times, big deal, Hong Kong films, getting real

Abstract

This is an “archaeology of the frivolous” about romances from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan post global financial tsunami. The Tiny Times installments directed by Guo Jingming depicts the mainstream cultural imaginary of The Fat Years of China, characterized by Beijing residing Hong Kong writer Chan Koonchung as sinister times of “stability and prosperity.” It is hard not to be cynical about the pathos of wealth portrayed in Finding Mr. Right (Xue Xiaolu) and American Dreams in China (Peter Chan). In contrast, Hong Kong’s mainstream cultural imaginary tends to get real about the shared Poverty in the Midst of Affluence (Leo Goodstadt). Popular Hong Kong SAR New Wave inspirational-romances collectively zoom in on the political economy under neoliberal governance and the libidinal economy of service labor and cultural workers, like Break Up Club (Barbara Wong Chun-Chun), and The Way We Dance (Adam Wong Sau Ping). Like the inspirational-romance from Taiwan 27°C-Loaf Rocks (Lin Cheng-sheng), the cultural imaginary of post-WWII 3rd and 4th generation youths in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan prove to be decidedly different from that of the post-80s and 90s youths in China. What can this intra-generation contrast tell us about China and the rest in Asia?