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"Why is one way love, the other way isn't?"
"There should be more room for love than this"
In the 90s, Leslie Cheung was a shining star in Hong Kong
Remarkably charming
And talented in both singing and acting
From China to South Korea
From Japan to Malaysia
He was obsessed over by millions of fans
In ways comparable, if not exceeding K-pop idols of today
But perhaps even most importantly
He was also a queer icon
From his androgynous stage fashion
To publicly announcing his homosexual relationship
And, of course, his LGBT film characters
Much of his identity was established in defiance
To the then still conservative Hong Kong entertainment industry
In his words:
"Your love belongs to you alone, [...]"
"As long as you are happy, and harm no one,"
"Do not be bothered by idle chatter"
Leslie Cheung wanted to be himself
So he was, and asked the world to accept him
While tabloids and gossip were rampant
People stood by him
And in the process
People also learned to stand by the entire LGBT community
Today, I want to take a look at Leslie's short but brilliant film career
Specifically, I want to see how LGBT representation
Changed in Hong Kong cinema
As his acting career took off
From Farewell, My Concubine
To Happy Together
His achievements stand tall to this very day
This is my tribute
To the legendary Leslie Cheung
[Leslie Cheung & Hong Kong LGBT Cinema]
[Chapter One]
"I believe that the best actor should be androgynous"
"Art has no gender"
Leading up to the 90s
Leslie Cheung proved himself to be both box office gold
And an art-house darling
Safe to assume, by 1990
He'd have some leverage over the kinds of roles he'd play
Which is puzzling, because his first LGBT role is...
Not good
(Montage of All's Well, Ends Well)
In this 1992 comedy classic
A family of three sons finds themselves struggling with their love life
Leslie plays the second brother, who's...
I think he's supposed to be very effeminate
But then there are moments when he straight up thinks he's a woman
"Why don't you get married, then?"
"Giving birth is too painful!"
And I don't mean transgender
He legit thinks he's a biological woman
"Has your girlfriend discovered the truth?"
"What truth?"
"You're a chick"
Either way, the underlying message is that
He's a man, and it's funny because he thinks he's a woman
That's the punchline
The worst part is his ending
He hooks up with a very masculine woman
And, for whatever reason
They decide to shock themselves with electricity
So they can... "shock the gayness out of them"
And it works
They walk out of the room looking like an incel's idea of a couple
Complete with spousal abuse
I love this movie
But it did not age well
That is the state of LGBT representation in early 90s Hong Kong
At best, a funny mental illness
At worst, R-rated taboo degeneracy
A year later, Leslie starred in The Eagle Shooting Heroes
And the gay jokes are not much better
"Don't hurt my true love"
"Two guys fooling around?"
"I'm not going to touch the degenerates like you"
Needless to say, like most places in the 90s
Hong Kong wasn't exactly kind to LGBT people
So you can imagine the kind of effect it had
When Farewell, My Concubine was released
(Montage of Farewell, My Concubine)
Based on a book by Hong Kong writer Lilian Lee
This film tells the story of Dieyi
An abandoned child adopted by an opera company
Trained from his childhood to play female roles
The cruel training twisted Dieyi's mind
Here, Dieyi is taught to sing the line
"I'm by nature a girl, not a boy"
Yet he always instinctively says
"I'm by nature a boy"
"I'm by nature... a boy"
To me, Dieyi says the line wrong not because he is a boy
As none of the other boys have this problem
Rather, it is because he is in denial
He's scared
The world demands his sexuality
Just so he can put on a good show
It forces Dieyi to come out of the closet at a young age
Yet the moment he steps out
The world abuses him, exploits him
Sends him in to be a "plaything" for the rich and powerful
And then detests him and calls him a symbol of twisted morals
To him, there is only one place where his sexuality is safe
On the opera stage
And so, Dieyi lives in the operas
Even when he's not on stage
"Let me sing with you for the rest of our lives, okay?"
"We sang for half of our lives already, didn't we?"
"No! I mean our whole lives!"
"Not one year, one month, one day, one hour less!"
And through Leslie's eyes
You can see how much he wishes to stay on stage forever
The film cleverly ties homosexuality to traditional Chinese art
Making an, at the time, unfamiliar topic
Much more approachable to a Chinese audience
Allowing the audience to feel the loss, pain
And persecution LGBT people had been feeling
But its contribution to inclusivity is, perhaps
Even more direct than that
The casting of Leslie Cheung in the role
Creates this feeling that we aren't looking at a fictional character
We are facing the real struggle of Leslie Cheung
Leslie was sympathetic
So, his characters, and by extension, LGBT people
Were sympathetic
As the film's director said:
"Without Leslie Cheung, there is no Farewell, My Concubine"
With the film's international successes
Leslie Cheung became a megastar
More and more people fell in love with him
And the LGBT discourse began to shift
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[Chapter Two]
"[My song] is my self-portrait"
"The lyrics say 'I'll forever love me as is [...]"
"I think people need to respect others"
"But also respect and love themselves"
Following the success of Farewell
A new wave of LGBT indie films emerged almost immediately
Oh! My Three Guys is the first Hong Kong queer film
Followed by films such as A Queer Story
And Hold You Tight
Leslie himself starred in some of these films, too
In He's a Woman, She's a Man
Leslie plays a music producer
Who gradually falls in love with his newly signed on talent
Unbeknown to him, his singer is actually a woman disguised as a man
It's like Mulan, if Li Shang were a bisexual legend
These films, often made by LGBT filmmakers
Aimed to humanize their LGBT characters
Rather than make fun of them
Which is a huge step up
Of course, if you want to talk about 90s Hong Kong LGBT films
There is one movie that stands above all else
"Lai Yiu-fai"
"Let's start over"
Happy Together is a romantic drama
About two gay lovers With
Tony Leung playing the man who can't help but love
And Leslie Cheung playing the boy who has commitment issues
These two find themselves lost in Argentina
Unable to return to Hong Kong
They become drifters
And their love also drifts around
Unlike your usual movies about gay relationships
This film does not focus on the LGBT discrimination
Instead, it is essentially a regular romantic drama
And it just so happens to feature two gay lovers
It's a bold move
But maybe also a good one
I've seen Black Americans roll their eyes
When yet another slavery film is made
It is the same thing for LGBT people
We don't need your sympathy
We need empathy
And for that, LGBT films have to treat their characters
Not as victims, but humans
And humans they are
Leslie Cheung's character is a complex one
He can be very abusive at times
"I'm starving to death"
"Are you not human or what?"
"You ask a sick man to cook for you?"
Yet, he undeniably brings a lot of joy to those who love him
This complexity of neither good nor bad
Makes the character feel real
In a performance to remember
In this scene, Leslie's character mourns the loss of his love
And you can tell from his gut-wrenching reaction
He really was in love
He just couldn't handle a relationship
Like Farewell
Happy Together went on to be a critical success
And remains one of the best LGBT films of all time
It gave us a glimpse into a possible future
When discrimination is no more
Queer folk are free to exist like everyone else
Unfortunately, the reality was not this kind
As this BBC article recalls
"At the 1998 Hong Kong Film Awards"
"Happy Together was mocked by comedians"
"who described it as a film that would make the audience vomit"
That was in reference to its gay sex scene
Which is no more explicit than your average sex scene
Still, all of this is just some growing pain
As filmmakers continue to normalize LGBT identities
The future has to be bright, right?
[Chapter Three]
"We can't stay in the same place forever"
"All I wish is for people to remember me"
"In songs and in films"
Sadly, Happy together would be Leslie Cheung's
Final major queer performance in film
Leslie passed away on April 1st, 2003 from suicide
He had been suffering from clinical depression
Tens of thousands of fans attended his memorial service
For months, all entertainment news focused on Leslie's life and death
Years, even decades later
People continue to gather, to remember this fallen star
In a way, Leslie's passing immortalized his image
That charming androgynous man, singing and dancing on stage
While wearing a pair of red heels
With death, comes reminiscence
Suddenly, every flamboyant thing he did seems so normal now
Regardless, Hong Kong LGBT cinema would have to move forward
Without their biggest icon
And move forward it did
From mainstream comedy like Enter the Phoenix
To edgy underground art-house like Thirty Years of Adonis
LGBT films continue to thrive in Hong Kong
Compare Enter the Phoenix to All's Well, Ends Well
And you can see a drastic shift in queer humor
Punching down at the already disenfranchised is no longer funny
In this film, the vast majority of the humor
Comes from a few straight people's overreaction
"Holy sh#t, he's gay?"
After a joke, the film cuts back to the gay character
Showing that he is, for lack of a better word
The straight man of the situation
Safe to say, the industry, and also the general public
Now has much more empathy towards queer people
In my opinion, two of the most defining LGBT films post-2000s
Would be Ann Hui's All About Love
And Ray Yeung's Twilight's Kiss
"I got bent out of shape lately"
"I want to straighten up"
All About Love tells the romantic story of two bisexual women
As with most Ann Hui movies
This film takes a progressive and intellectual view
On a lot of LGBT topics
Adoption
"One baby, three mothers. A bit much, isn't it?"
Gay marriage and immigration
"Remember to divorce me once you get your residency"
Gender expression
"Why is men's clothing masculine for men"
"But for non-binary people, it's suddenly androgynous"
And dissonance within LGBT discourse
"What kind of people are you?"
"Not gay not straight, not fish nor fowl"
LGBT people are just that, people
People have diverse views, opinions, and biases
And the film is not afraid to show that
Compared to Farewell
The depiction of discrimination is much more specific
Thus offering better insight into the LGBT struggle
Twilight's Kiss, however, is my preferred film
"You come here often?"
"No, I just happened to be in the area"
The film depicts the closeted gay romance between two old men
Both men have their families
One, in fact, has a wife
Written and directed by Ray Yeung
Who himself is a gay man
Because of this, the LGBT experience in this film
Feels much more personal and nuanced
"My son is away, I'll be home alone"
"Not a good idea"
"TV station caught me at the paid parade last time"
"My neighbors all started mocking me"
It's one thing to see LGBT stories in the third person
Or to approach the discussion with objectivity and reason
It's a whole other thing to experience the fear and paranoia
And the social claustrophobia that gay people feel
On a daily basis
Like Farewell and Happy Together
Twilight's Kiss was a massive critical success
Although the film is still too new for its impact to be appreciated
It's good to see Hong Kong cinema continues to build on top
Of Leslie Cheung's accomplishments
[In Conclusion]
"I hope you'll forever remember me"
"Because I'll forever remember your cheers and applause"
Today, discussions of LGBT topics in Hong Kong
Is fairly normalized
Even in Mainland China
LGBT discourse is more open than one would expect
Of course, in both regions, policies are lagging behind
So the fight for LGBT rights is far from over
To me, this level of acceptance is, in no small part
Thanks to Leslie Cheung
He injected his own persona into his characters
Offered us a glimpse into the life of a bisexual man
And helped us realize that there is no difference between us
This is why representation matters
I have seen people say that they don't need representation
To feel good about themselves
I think that's missing the point
Sure, a good representation can be inspiring
It can motivate people to launch an entire genre of films
But a good representation is also for people outside the community
It can educate others on our views
Open up conversations
And bring people together
Isn't that what we all want?
The same thing as Leslie Cheung
Just be who we are?