Homosexuality in Chinese Film: a Case Study of Happy Together by Wong Kar Wai

Chu, Ker Ern (2020) Homosexuality in Chinese Film: a Case Study of Happy Together by Wong Kar Wai. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Homosexuality has never been a topic that is being widely talked about in Chinese community, especially gay. Male in Chinese community have always been given a lot of obligations in a Chinese household since ancient times. The males hold the honor of the family and the male are obligated for the family inheritance, so homosexuality somehow becomes a wrongful sexual orientation in the perception of the older generation in the Chinese community. Due to many historical events related to homosexuality in China, the older generations are influenced and perceive homosexuality as an abnormal behaviour, some even think that homosexuality can be cure like it is a sickness, and homoesxuality is a disgrace to the family. Moreover, the conservative and traditional thinking patterns of the older generation of Chinese continues in their teaching to their children, which is the younger generation, some of their discriminations are also instilled to the children since young but the advancement of the technology might contribute to the change of perception of the younger generation, which forms a modernisation process. This research paper has three main objectives revolving around the topic of homosexuality in Chinese community which is to discover the portrayal and representation of homosexuals in film and how it affects the perception of the public, to explore the freedom of expression in filmmaking and the freedom to view of the public and lastly to discover if the Chinese viewership or society is modernising on the topic of homosexuality or otherwise.