Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2019

Abstract

Golden Chicken金雞was released in 2002. The film traces the life of a sex worker, Kam, from the late 1970s into the early 2000s. The film is a historicomedy that portrays local history from the life and career of a sex worker, as well as the popular culture she consumed. History is presented in a lighthearted manner, with no moral or social condemnations of prostitution. While many of the historical events in the film are serious matters with long lasting consequences, a comedic angle presents a more palatable version of events to younger audiences who did not personally experience these incidents. There is no shortage of history movies in Chinese language films, but they rarely take a comedic perspective. Chinese historicomedy is more commonly found in fiction than in film. Golden Chicken thus stands out, as the film does not follow the traditional doom and gloom model when portraying historical events. In this paper, I examine how history is re-presented through the local sex industry and popular culture. I specifically focus on the dance hostess and residential “phoenix” phases of Kam’s life. Local popular culture is inseparable from historical development and is influential in the lives of Kam and other inhabitants of Hong Kong. I focus on how local, diegetic and extra-diegetic, music, cinema, and television signify certain eras and their roles in shaping the culture.

Original Publication Citation

Mac, Gladys. "Golden Chicken as Historicomedy: Sex Work in Hong Kong and Local Popular Culture." the quint: an interdisciplinary quarterly from the north 11, no. 3 (June 2019): 99-122.

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