Wong Kar Wai Themes

Many of Wong Kar-wai’s films read as a continual narrative, or a rewriting of the same story in a different setting or at a different level of maturity. This sameness is shown in a variety of ways such as his characters’ fetishistic obsession with everyday surroundings, their search for relationships—and his inevitable depiction of them as realistically imperfect, and a failure to connect or communicate with other characters which portrays the loneliness of the individual. Even though the same themes are being reproduced in his films, the technique of showing these themes evolves, creating new experiences for the viewer and evoking new emotional responses when being faced with the same problem. This paper will examine the search for relationships and connections through the lens of fetishism. Writer-director Wong Kar-wai has shown in many of his films an inclination toward showing the human obsession with the everyday, typically in the form of fetishism. Fetishism in film

An example of this occurs near the end of In the Mood for Love when Mrs. Chen is faced with her near-lover Mr. Chow walking away from a coincidental meeting years later. When he says goodbye we are given a shot of their hands sliding apart, but the shot stays on her hand, which is gripping her wrist nervously and sliding up her arm tightly due to her emotional struggle and to restrain herself from chasing after him as Mr. Chow walks away from her. Elizabeth is also fetishized in this manner, allowing the viewer to feel her struggle to walk away after she is confronted with infidelity, when the camera focuses on her feet as she hesitates in front of her ex’s apartment before finally turning and quickly leaving the scene to embark on her journey of