Between "Facts" of Genre and "Fictions" of Love. Happy Together (1997) and In The Mood for Love (2000)
Between "Facts" of Genre and "Fictions" of Love. Happy Together (1997) and In The Mood for Love (2000)
Author(s): Andrea VirginásSubject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: Wong Kar-Wai; genre; pseudo-genres; melodrama
Summary/Abstract: Hong Kong New Wave director, Wong Kar-Wai’s two films constitute the focus of analysis, Happy Together (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000) being compared along questions of genre (degrees of melodrama(city) and “pseudo-genres” created for the sake of citation), and observing the clashes between love stories of a homosexual, respectively a heterosexual couple. Besides exhibiting the characteristics of “pure” melodramas and mythical tales, these two of Wong’s films radicalize such categories of understanding as the exact time-frames of the diegetic worlds, placing a heightened emphasis on visual and auditive elements of style. Thus they lead the viewers into perceptually saturated experiences (an interpretative direction indebted to Lóránt Stőhr’s analysis) and offer them the possibility to live through “affective intensities with no name” (Ackbar Abbas’ term).
Journal: Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies
- Issue Year: 2009
- Issue No: 01
- Page Range: 81-91
- Page Count: 11
- Language: English
