The Movies Chungking Express, the Personals and Oasis - Term Paper Example

? Global spread of modern commercial culture to East Asia Introduction The movies Chungking Express, The Personals and Oasis were films that were produced because the sought to depict and describe the theme of the spread of modern culture to East Asia and the possible elimination of the traditional Asian culture. It can be noted that the films showed how key characters indulged in westernized cultures that did not conform to the traditional Asian culture. As such these trends include lifestyle changes and the indulgence in drugs and night clubs, marriage partner selection, pre-marital sex and one night stands as well as multiple sex partners. Review of Chungking Express by Wong Kar-wai in 1994 Chungking Express was a film that was produced in 1994 by Wong Kar-wai. It was made in Hong Kong and this was during the period when they were handing over to China. The movie has so many thing going on because there were political matters along the way and again it was during a time when the citizens were starting to embrace freedom in the sense of a change in lifestyle and the economy. Chungking Express sough to express what Hong Kong was going through in a manner that was relating to them. As a result, this period also brought about the global spread of modern commercial culture to East Asia. This definitely had its advantages and disadvantages because with lifestyle changes, traditional values were abandoned and the people started to adopt new moral and modern values. According to the movie, the story revolves among two police officers; Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia who have been abandoned and left lonely where they try to acquire individuals that they fall for. Kaneshiro is described as lonely because his girlfriend abandoned him and he still cannot believe that it happened and she left forever. Lin is related to drugs and the life she was living was not worthwhile as she sought to escape the country because she was in a deal that went sour. At this instance is when Kaneshiro meets Lin and tries to get to her. Another scene would be the one where the officer meets Faye Wong who falls for a police officer, who had broken up with his girlfriend, a flight attendant. During that time, the cop was very lonely and he was portrayed as a n individual who had already lost touch of his life. Faye becomes the person that cares for him as she sneaks into his house and the result is that she hopes that what she was doing for him would change his mind and focus on her. With no reason what Faye did with her heart did not deem successful and as a result she ditched that thought of getting to the cop. With regard to the movie, there is also a rise in the number of entertainment joints. Apparently, the people of Hong Kong were portrayed as people who love karaoke’s and music and this trend was apparently increasing thus the traditional thought of such traits was starting to disappear as the people were starting to adapt to a new culture and lifestyle. For example, Faye met with the cop when they were in the bar. Traditional culture was not based on love in that manner. A man would not meet their potential girlfriend or wife in entertainment places, but the movie sought to eliminate that gap and allow for love to be felt in a variety of places and that if why the characters were set to meet in a bar. With regard to sexual relationships, it can be concluded that Faye had an intention to have a sexual relationship with the cop. According to traditional values, traits such as pre-marital sex and one-night stand were not acceptable in the culture and the only way that one could indulge in sexual relationships was when they got married. In addition to that, the movie portrays aspects such as loyalty when the officer is abandoned by his girlfriend but he still thinks about her and feels for her. The Personals by Chen Kuo-fu The Personals was a movie directed by Chen Kuo-fu. It is based on an opthamologist by the name of Du Jiazhen (Rene Liu) who goes ahead to critically search for a husband. She goes ahead to place a search in the newspaper that she is looking for a husband. The quest by Du Jiazhen is based on the manner that, she was doing this because her previous relationship did not work out as planned thus she was frustrate with the whole ordeal and the best escape was to place an advertisement that she was looking for a companion. In the process she can be categorized as lonely because she used to leave messages on the answering machine so that he could get back but all the time she did that, he did not get back to her. As a matter of fact, Du Jiazhen was very open in the advertisements as she used to describe the kind of meeting. She adds on to that by discussing her relationship and she clearly states the kind of man that she is looking effortlessly for. As a resulting matter, she finds it hard getting the type of man that she wants and this is describe d in the film as that point when she starts to feel the pain and anger of her previous relationship and want to go back to where she was but at this point it was too late to go back. And again, she made the most challenging decision to abort their illegitimate child. When compared to traditional cultures, it was not a plan that a woman could take by advertising that she was single and she was looking for a man to date or marry. In the traditional setup, a man was either available for a woman to get married to. When compared to modern culture, that concept has now been eliminates as women are more independent and they like to search for the kind of man that they want to get involved with. When compared to the traditional cultures, polygamous was not an option. A woman in that case was not allowed to meet and talk to a lot of men. A woman only had the option to meet a single man that she had been selected for by the community and that is the man that she would get engaged to and marry. In addition to that, a woman was not to be choosy about the type of man that she would want. As compared to the case of Du Jiazhen who in her advertisements she mentioned the type of men that she had been meeting and again she described the type of man that she wanted. This is purely modernistic was of sexual relationships as compared to the traditional form of relationships. As a conclusion, the global spread of modern commercial culture to East Asia brought about a lot of changes in the lives of the people living there. Sexual relationships were on the rise despite the tradition of waiting until marriage and other trends such as freedom of sexual life and an unlimited number and choice of sexual partners was not a big problem but was considered just another usual trend. With regard to marital loyalty, trust and genuine passion, these were no more because even according to the film, the boyfriend to the girl abandoned her after she got a baby with him and she had to do an abortion as it was not accepted to have a baby before marriage. Oasis by Lee Chang dong Oasis is a film by Lee Chang dong that was released in 2002. It’s a Korean drama film that portrays different aspects of life such as human attitude and love. The film consists of two individuals who are challenged with regard to physical and mental abilities. They are prone to be lonely because love is hard to find due to their challenges. Jong-du is described in the film as a man who had mental challenges because he was taken to prison for manslaughter. After being released, he tried to find a way back home with his family. This seemed a very hard task as when he was in prison, the family relocated was he was not contacted of the change. After the long and unfruitful search, he finds his family and reunites with them. Jong-du is portrayed as a man who is not the loving type or rather the kind of man that falls in love but beneath that shell of a hardcore man, he had a loving heart. The other character is Gong-ju, who is describes in the film as a social isolate who does not like to get involved with people. This was because she had cerebral palsy and she could not do much with that condition. In the film, she used to live with the brother and his wife who was pregnant and life was depicted as not an easy one. She was very lonely as she did not do most of the things that she always wanted to do and she was also only allowed to visit when the social workers visited them. After that, she was always returned back to the old house so that she could stay there. She was truly very lonely as not a single person was caring for her. This was soon ending when Jong-du showed up one day and that was the point when they met. They started off sloe but with time they grew to know each other well. With time, she used to call Jong-du asking him to come around to keep her company. As a conclusion, the global spread of modern commercial culture to East Asia brought about a lot of changes in the lives of the people living there. Sexual relationships were on the rise despite the tradition of waiting until marriage and other trends such as freedom of sexual life and an unlimited number and choice of sexual partners was not a big problem but was considered just another usual trend. The case of the two characters was very similar to how modern relationships are established. That includes meeting someone and the concept of “love at first sight” is implemented. In the film the man saw the woman for the first time and that was the point that he was interested in her. She too became accustomed to him because she would even call him to ask him to come and visit her. As compared to traditional marriages and culture, the case was quite different as the man and woman would meet in an arranged meeting and they were introduced to each other. Filmography Chungking Express. Dir. Wong Kar-wai. Ocean Shores Video (HK), Miramax Films and Rolling Thunder Picture, 1994. DVD Oasis. Dir. Lee Chang dong. CJ Entertainment. CJ Entertainment, 2002. DVD. The personals. Dir. Chen Kuo-fu. 1998. DVD. Read More