Introduction
Happy Together was a 1997 movie filmed in Hong Kong. The story revolves around the everyday life of two middle-aged men, Ho Po Wing and Lai Yiu Fai, who also appears to be a homosexual couple. A significant part of the film focused on the way how the Ho Po Wing and Lai Yiu Fai managed their long-term & unique but ailing relationship. Apparently, one supporting character named Cheng comes into play to comfort Lai as another cycle of his abuse, break-up, and reconciliation relationship pattern with Ho goes in. In their relationship, Lai can be seen as the more concerned, loving, and nurturing one while Ho can be seen as the source of anger, conflict, and at some point, violence.
The objective of this paper is to address the question regarding identity and identity formation and discuss the contributing factors and criteria such as personal and cultural influences.
Many of the Films We Have Seen Explore Issues Related to Identity and Identity Formation. What factors go into the making of personal or cultural identities, how memories shape identities, how identities evolve as a result of historical circumstances and/or life trajectories. Select 1 film and analyze how it approaches issues of memory, identity and history cinematically. Again, be sure to deal with these issues not merely at the narrative level, but at the formal level as well – i.e., through filmic techniques.
Why the Question that tries to address Identity and Identity Formation was Chosen?
I have decided to review and analyze the movie Happy Together because it presents a unique but not-so-vulgar perspective of human identity and even how an individual’s identity could be formed. All of the other movies I have watched have very generic approaches when it comes to the relation of filming aspects and techniques to human identity & identity formation. The movie Happy Together as well as the question chosen undoubtedly creates a perfect match. These are the reasons why I chose the movie Happy Together and the corresponding question to be the focus of this paper.
Human Identity
A psychologist would normally be the best person to ask if the goal is to know more or at least have a brief but clear background about an individual’s identity. Identity is a term used to describe the individuality of a person in terms of distinctive characteristics such as physical, mental, emotional and behavioral attributes. Undeniably, every person has their own identity. Ho has his own identity and the same goes for Lai.
One aspect of human identity that can be intensively reviewed in this paper would be gender identity. Gender identity can be simply defined as an individual’s sense of his own gender. As we all know, the main characters (Ho & Lei) in the film are both males and they are living together as a couple. If we are going to review related literatures about Gender Identity, we could easily grasp the principle that there are many gender variations that could exist aside from the traditional and conservative gender binary composed of just man and woman. Gender queer, third gender and third sex are some of the terms used to describe someone who identifies himself as being neither a man nor a woman.
In the film, it was firmly established that Ho & Lei are both homosexuals, living together as a couple somewhere in Buenos Aires. For me, it’s a good thing that the director intended not to use cross-dressing to justify or perhaps to reiterate that Ho & Lei is a couple and that they are both homosexuals. Rather, he chose to create acts and scenes that can more effectively portray to the viewers Ho & Lei’s real identity. In the movie, Ho & Lai can be seen doing certain actions normally done by a pair composed of a man and a woman. For me, that was the most accurate cue I could get to realize what their gender identity is. Wai Wong (the director) made a good decision by not openly mentioning that the main characters in the story are homosexuals. For me, that’s a positive decision because homosexuals are usually victims of discrimination and prejudice, and is highly likely that they will be discriminated and prejudiced even in movies.
Factors that Can Influence Personal Identity
Personal identity can be described as the sum total of all the events that an individual had gone through and the memories and realizations that had happened in his life. There are several factors that can indefinitely affect or influence an individual’s personal identity. However, it is important to know that there is no standard set of personal identity factors that one could read in textbooks and various sources. Different literatures may tell the same principle but surely they won’t tell the same exact thing that the others have said. Cultural background, languages spoken, age, environment, peers, families, hobbies, interests and media are all relevant factors that can significantly influence a person’s view or perception of himself.
In the movie, Ho & Lai can be seen as a homosexual couple who lives in an urban community with all the luxuries and temptations surrounding them. For me, the environment where they lived in the past and the one where they currently live in now can be considered as one of the greatest contributors of what they are now—their personal identity. Without all the bars and places where they could hang out and do things that they usually do then, perhaps we could see a better chance that they would not have ended up being the one they are today. The choice of setting was good; considering other factors like Ho & Lai’s dream, and their origins. Anyone watching the film could easily distinguish the surrounding environment as the culprit behind Ho & Lai’s personal identity.
Factors that can Influence Cultural Identity
Cultural identity is a term used to describe an individual’s view or perception of a particular group or culture where he belongs. Now, just like with gender and personal identity, there are factors that can influence an individual’s cultural identity. Factors such as globalization, cosmopolitanism and media are some of the major factors that according to past studies have influenced the way how people view their own culture.
Cultural Identity actually plays a big role in the movie as well because considering that Ho & Lai who were originally from Hong Kong and are just visiting the country of Argentina hoping to renew and strengthen their relationship, there is a probability that their sense of cultural identity may have become distorted. The more an individual becomes subjected to changes brought about by the need to adapt to the culture of another group of people, the more his cultural identity can suffer. A person’s cultural identity can most of the time be negatively affected the moment a small change or the urge to adapt is felt. This is actually Ho & Lai’s case. Hoping that they could someday rebuild their relationship and realize their dreams together, they are continuously making themselves subjected to unnecessary and even harmful changes that ferociously affect their cultural identity. Sooner or later, they won’t be able to distinguish what they used to do and what kind of people they used to be when they were normally and peacefully living in their respective hometowns or worst, they won’t be able to remember details specific to their culture anymore.
How Memories Affect Identity
Memory is one of the criterions that greatly affect a person’s personal identity. It would be easier to understand memory if we are going to think of it as a cabinet where all sorts of information about an individual could be stored, where all forms and ways of reasoning originate; “a registry of conscience, and the council chamber of thought” (Basil 1). Based on Basil’s metaphor regarding memory, we could assert that memory has something to do with the conscious mind and therefore greatly contributes to an individual’s personal identity. Consciousness, thinking, memory and personal identity are all interrelated. These variables can actually be arranged into a sequence wherein the end-product would most likely turn out to be a person’s personal identity. A person who is conscious is almost always capable of thinking. Through thinking, an individual can easily identify himself as an entity, unique from all the others. He then acts based on his own definition of right and wrong. Through such actions, he can create and develop memories which can then accumulate until a point where he thinks that he already knows who he really is—his personal identity.
Memories can either be long-term or short-term. Either way, memories, regardless whether they are long or short-term still play an important role in the development of a person’s personal identity. Now, let’s relate this principle to the movie. As we can all remember, Ho & Lai’s relationship has this weird and constant cycle of break-up and reconciliation. Perhaps such cycle became a constant part of their relationship and so we have grounds to believe that they have experienced breaking up with each other and then reconciling for an indefinite number of times. Of course, breaking up can be physically and emotionally stressful. These experiences will surely develop into memories and then later on, there could be a possibility that they Ho & Lai will adapt and get used to the same experiences they encounter every so often. If a normal cycle is repeated over and over, over time, it can become a vicious cycle. This is what is exactly happening to Ho & Lai’s relationship. I have reason to believe that sometimes, they were thinking that it’s already completely normal for them to break up and reconcile and then break up and reconcile once again. Well, that is actually abnormal. The good thing in the movie is that the director made good moves how to end that vicious cycle. Lai had a lot of realizations the last time he and Ho broke up. He resorted to different ways of numbing the physical and emotional pain he felt. He went out with other guys and had sex with some in the strangest of places. He realized what it feels like to do what his partner kept on doing for the past few years and he discovered how doing so could effectively numb the pain and discomfort brought about by their break-up.
Conclusion
The movie Happy Together can actually be considered as a movie that focuses on gender, personal and cultural identity rather than a movie that focuses on violence and tragedy. The movie can also be considered a great contribution to China’s filming industry considering that the Chinese “national cinema paradigm seems utterly inadequate (Zhang 1).”
Works Cited
Basil. Personal Identity. Metahysics by Default. 2000.
Zhang, Y. Chinese National Cinema. Routledge. 2004.
