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    Fallen Angels Unconventional Narrative Essay

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    Kira Moore
    An in depth look at 'Fallen Angels' and how it challenges the conventional approaches to narrative in mainstream cinema. Focus on Wong Kar Wei as an auteur and context.

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    Fallen Angels Unconventional Narrative Essay

    Uploaded by

    Kira Moore
    1K views1 page
    An in depth look at 'Fallen Angels' and how it challenges the conventional approaches to narrative in mainstream cinema. Focus on Wong Kar Wei as an auteur and context.

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    An in depth look at 'Fallen Angels' and how it challenges the conventional approaches to narrative in mainstream cinema. Focus on Wong Kar Wei as an auteur and context.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views1 page

    Fallen Angels Unconventional Narrative Essay

    Uploaded by

    Kira Moore
    An in depth look at 'Fallen Angels' and how it challenges the conventional approaches to narrative in mainstream cinema. Focus on Wong Kar Wei as an auteur and context.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Kira Moore

    Explore how far ‘Fallen Angels’ challenges conventional approaches to narrative.


    Perhaps the clearest way in which ‘Fallen Angels’ (FA) challenged conventional approaches
    to narrative is that it lacks one. The very opening sequence clearly shows this. There is no
    real exposition or interaction between the characters. All speech is voiceover so while it
    initially takes the tone of conventional mainstream cinema with non-diegetic music and
    voiceover it becomes clear it isn’t. The voiceover contains no exposition even though it is
    phrased as though The Shooter is telling his story. Wong maintains a strong focus on the
    real life situation of his characters where nothing is explained properly and there is no
    greater power pushing the narrative a certain way. ‘FA’ is essentially just some events that
    happen in some people’s lives. Therefore challenging conventional narrative.
    Another way that ‘FA’ and Wong in particular challenges the conventional approach to
    narrative is through his play on time. From the opening sequence where we receive a long
    black and white take of The Killer and The Killer’s Agent at the end of their partnership which
    then cuts to them actually working. There is also a close-up shot of a clock which The Killer’s
    Agent changes clearly reflecting both the importance of time in this film and the lack of
    chronological sense. This is reflective of Wong as an auteur and the significance of the time
    this film was made. The handover of Hong Kong to China was made a few years after ‘FA’
    was released. Everything was unsure or the people of the time and that is made clear
    through the lack of a future for characters. Every relationship forged in ‘FA’ is cut short
    before the end. Whether it be between Blondie and The Killer, The Killer and his Agent or He
    Zhiwu and Charlie.
    This is another auteurial aspect of Wong. His exploration of human relationships and
    loneliness. How, even in a densely populated city, people may still feel lonely. This is
    expressed in ‘FA’ through the use of repeated shots and lighting. In the bar scene we see
    The Killer followed by his Agent in exactly the same shot sequence. There is focus pulled on
    a mirror which makes the entire image blurry linking to the uncertainty people felt at the time
    and a very long take on them simply sat at the bar listening to the same music. They are
    working together but still very much alone. Wong also uses a combination of Eastern and
    Western culture in ‘FA’ to express this uncertainty for the future. It was a common belief at
    the time that China would remove all Western culture from Hong Kong. Hence a combination
    of Eastern and Western music being used and some focus on McDonald’s as well as the
    traditional food outlets as well as Westernised names and traditional Chinese.
    Stylistically Wong uses the technique of stop-motion and frame-within-frame to express this
    uncertain time and to offset the conventional approach to narrative. Action sequences and
    shots of streets are often shot in step-motion making the action very hard to follow. This
    creates a sense of realism that offsets the highly stylised cinematography leading to this
    non-conventional anti-narrative. The frame-within-frame is used particularly effective in the
    scenes with He Zhiwu where the character is placed within a shop window that’s placed
    within the camera shot. Wong does this to show how people are put into boxes and labelled;
    particularly significant for He Zhiwu as he’s an ex-convict.
    Therefore, both the anti-narrative where there is no twist and hence no resolution to a lack of
    tangible plot and Wong Kar Wei as an auteur mean that ‘FA’ very clearly challenges the
    conventional approaches to narrative. ‘FA’ is a very stylised version of real-life told in a
    fictional context and does, therefore, defy convention.

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