On Asian Modernity

Analyze the Wong Kar-Wai film, In the Mood for Love. Consider the elements of modernity: telephones, rice cookers, luxury consumer items like handbags, shoes, and ties, a Western-style diner and hotel room, commercial offices, and international business travel. But then also evaluate the signs of “Asia”—the old walls, narrow stair passages, the noodle stall, the communal living arrangements half-way between public and private. Think about clothes, social relations and romance, family, and career aspirations. In a page, describe what you see as being this hybrid space of British-controlled Hong Kong in a long, continued moment of development and social change in post-colonial Asia. Finally, in your analysis, simply say what is new or surprising to you in this depiction. Please share how this aligns with or disrupts your notions of Asia as a modern, complex, transnational space. Finally, consider intimacy. Is there something specific about Chinese culture at work here? About a certain generation, fixed within a class structure, with cosmopolitan dreams? Tell us how this movie fits within and expands your conception of Asia. Please only use the movie In the Mood for Love and the sources I uploaded as the reference.