Transnationalism Midterm Draft

TITLE:
Transcending Space: how Wong Kar-Wai depicts the relationship between local and transnational

(This is my title so far but I am hoping that I will be able to think of a better title that is more accurate, and that sounds more fun and less pretentious)

ABSTRACT:
Increasingly, the films have become a global commodity. Films are now being co-produced internationally, featuring transnational film stars and are distributed internationally.

I am interested in studying two of Wong Kar Wai’s films, Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997), because I am trying to find out how his works explore and express transnational qualities in order to show my audience how transnationalism is obscuring the idea of national or “local” identity.

The project will be primarily aimed at a peer audience, consisting of people, college aged and older, who have some, but not expert, knowledge of cinema. The audience will be able to engage in an interactive and experiential interface/space. In the main menu, the audience member will be presented with three different platforms. One platform will explore the absence of a national identity in Hong Kong, including the colonial history of HK and the events surrounding 1997. I will link this idea to WKW’s use of “borderless” spaces as well as his depictions of characters that have identity issues. Another platform will allow the audience member to maneuver around certain spaces around Hong Kong and will come across hot spots that will reveal the transnational elements present within Chunking Express and Happy Together, including WKW’s transnational influences and his use of transnational stars such as Takeshi Kaneshiro. The last platform will trace the international reception of his two films.

METHODOLOGY:
(I am a little bit fuzzy on this right now, but this is what I'm thinking about so far). Transnationalism is a relatively new concept that is linked to globalization or the loosening of national borders. The primary aim of this project is to discuss the idea of transnationalism and how it affects the concept of the local.

Transnationalism in film can be quite positive. It allows for a larger, international audience to receive the film. However, the downside is that the "local" or national qualities and themes present in the film are watered down in order to appeal to this larger audience. Wong Kar-Wai's films depicts these concerns. Both Chungking Express and Happy Together were lauded and distributed across the globe, making WKW an internationally recognized filmmaker and allowing for heightened interest in Hong Kong, Cantonese films. However, while WKW embraces his transnational audience, he also brings attention to the loss of national identity through his thematic depiction of "borderless" spaces and characters facing identity crises.

MEDIA PRESENTATION & JUSTIFICATION:
My thesis will be presented as a DVD-ROM. I will use programs such as DVD Studio Pro to create an exploratory and interactive space/interface in order to illustrate the ubiquitous transnational qualities present within a local space, in this project, Hong Kong.

The audience will be able to maneuver around and will be able to click on hot spots that will communicate information about transnational themes present in WKW's work, transational influences as well as transnational reception. Such hot spots may include text, using After Effects, images, music, and videos and narration, using Final Cut Pro.