The violence of time and memory undercover : Hong Kong’s infernal affairs

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

Publication Date

9-1-2006

Volume

7

Issue

3

First Page

383

Last Page

402

Publisher

Routledge

Keywords

Memory, gangster films, time, structure of feeling, undercover, allegory, Hong Kong

Abstract

1997 as a global media spectacle about Hong Kong’s handover of its sovereignty from Britain to China is now almost forgotten; yet Hong Kong is still caught between the politics of time and memory too complex to be captured under simple post‐colonialist notion such as ‘hybridity’. This paper tries to put in perspective a (post‐)colonial cultural politics of counter‐memory in Hong Kong cinema by investigating its decades‐long investment in a sub‐genre built around the motif of undercover‐cop. Specifically, the example of the blockbuster Infernal Affairs series is analyzed in details, with particular attention to its innovative plot, to show how the ‘structure of feeling’ about Hong Kong’s political fate is embedded in the films underpinning their local box‐office success. The allegorical reading of the film series attempted in this paper also connects the discussion about the ‘political unconscious’ of Hong Kong, now and in the past, with the wider problem of how the future political subjectivity of Hong Kong will take shape.

DOI

10.1080/14649370600849264

Print ISSN

14649373

E-ISSN

14698447

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2006 Taylor & Francis

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Law, W. S. (2006). The violence of time and memory undercover: Hong Kong’s infernal affairs. Inter-Asia cultural studies, 7(3), 383-402. doi: 10.1080/14649370600849264

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