Ann Hui’s Allegorical Cinema

Yeung, Jessica Siu-yin

Abstract

Yeung argues that Ann Hui’s co-produced films in her post-CEPA oeuvre embody a framework of “allegorical cinema.” Yeung theorizes this framework with reference to Walter Benjamin’s “baroque allegory,” Ackbar Abbas’s “cinema of the fragment as a nation,” and Yau Ka-Fai’s “cinema of the political.” The chapter first identifies the features of allegory in Hong Kong new cinema. It then explicates the necessity of allegory in the context of CEPA, state censorship, and self-censorship. After illustrating Hui’s mode of allegorical storytelling in The Golden Era (2014) and Our Time Will Come (2017), Yeung concludes with the uses of allegorical cinema in regard to investigating the future possibility of Hong Kong cinema under the influence of mainland China.

Citation

Yeung, J. S.-Y. (in press). Ann Hui’s Allegorical Cinema. In J. S. Polley, V. W. Poon, & L.-H. Wee (Eds.), Cultural Conflict in Hong Kong: Angles on a Coherent Imaginary (87-104). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7766-1_6

• Acceptance Date: Aug 5, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Mar 29, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 10, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 10, 2021
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 87-104
• Book Title: Cultural Conflict in Hong Kong: Angles on a Coherent Imaginary
• ISBN: 9789811077661
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7766-1_6
• Keywords: Allegory, Ann Hui, CEPA, Co-production, Censorship
• Additional Information: Additional Information : "Erratum to: Ann Hui’s Allegorical Cinema": https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-7766-1_17