Hong Kong comedies examine the life of the average
person in detail, revealing patterns of behavior, thoughts and feelings,
and living conditions. Gender relations have served as the subject for
some Hong Kong comedies, either reflecting traditional male-female roles
or challenging them. The latter draw upon the 1950s and 1960s Cantonese
opera movies in which the women Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin played male
and female roles respectively in many movies together, and generally
borrow from traditional Cantonese operas in which men played women's
roles. Other movies reify heterosexual relationships, like Lunar New
Year comedies, which pair off heterosexual couples in connubial bliss.
Food features prominently in many Hong Kong movies,
including comedies. If there's a single phenomenon that runs across all
the movies, it's eating, perhaps the most vital necessity of living.
Director Stanley Tong suggests that food's prominence in Hong Kong
cinema is due to the Colony's status as a gourmand's paradise as well as
people's desire in the film industry for a good meal. A large part of
food stories is about bringing people, especially families, together,
and this theme, along with others, appears in Tsui Hark's The Chinese
Feast (1995). The movie begins with a gastronomic feast for the eyes and
stomach. With the opening credits, a sumptuous display of traditional
Chinese dishes are viewed, as the camera slowly pans in one long take
over the carefully laid out courses on a richly brocaded table, the
hundreds of dishes creating a detailed and broad patterning effect. It's
beautiful to look at and it makes one's mouth water.
