The Translations of Images of Hero: From Hong Kong to Hollywood
Abstract
Sheng-Chin Hsu
National Dong Hwa University
Re-shooting or reproducing a narrative movie is unavoidable to deconstruct
original contexts and to reconstruct a particular background for new audiences in the
new market. The Infernal Affair, a Hong Kong movie, is a successful movie not only
hitting the Asian box-office but being reproduced in Hollywood. New version of the
Infernal Affair, Departed, still maintains the ordinary storylines but the narrative
constructions of the ambiguous boundaries between the hero and the devil were
removed. On the other hand, the Hollywood version, Departed, represents an image
of certain, masculine hero and differs from Hong Kong version. In Infernal Affair the
storyline is developed by the solutions of detectors’ processing continuous cases;
however, Hollywood’s version is to find out who the rat is.
It is not surprising that re-contextualizing a new setting with local characteristics
for a revising movie script. Therefore, the arguments of betraying original contents
cannot explain what the reason makes these heroes so different and how a story
develops into two directions. This paper is to try to demonstrate what the historical
and cultural contextures influence different hero images which were originated from
same script by comparing the Hong Kong and Hollywood versions. This paper is
divided into three parts: the first section illustrates how Hong Kong and Hollywood
narrate and construct heroes in the Infernal Affairs and the Departed; the differences
of characteristics of heroes, of events, and of conflicts are compared through the
Western and the Eastern historical and cultural contexts in the second section; as to
the last section of this paper, I’ll try to determine how the vague heroic images of the
Infernal Affair reflect colonial collective memories, diasporic experiences after the
Chinese Civil War, and the identity crises of the reunification. On the contrary, the
Hollywood version, Departed, does not reveals ambiguous characteristics of heroes in
the Infernal Affair, but the Departed represents heroic images of absolute masculinity
and loyalty of immigrated historical aspect. The variety historical and cultural
experiences are important aspects to re-contextualize transnational heroic images.
Key Words: Hong Kong, Heroic image, Re-contextualization, Diasporic experience,
Collective memory, Identity crises.
Introduction
The Departed wins the Oscar for Best Picture of 2006, and the original version
Infernal Affair is the biggest winner in the Chinese movie market in 2002. Both
versions are excellent works, but the two narratives offer different images of their
heroes. It is not surprising that a script can be produced and re-produced as many
diverse artifacts. Therefore, each arrangement and setting revealing director’s
personal value and perspective of a particular character, society, and history could not
be ignored. When Martin Scorsese decided to reconstruct the script of Infernal Affair
into his Hollywood version, the characters of The Departed have been reformed by
different conceptions from the East edition. Comparing the Wai-keung Lau and
Martin Scorsese’s perspectives of policeman, many similarities and difference will
emerge. Not only are the differences of heroes between The Departed and Infernal
Affair important, but also the factors, which influence directors to construct heroic
images, are significant and need to be clearly examined.
Rewriting and reproducing a successful role of hero is not a simple duplicating
work for a director himself /herself; infact, it is a significant collective constriction via
resource from the directors’ and staffs’ experiences and preconceptions. The
policemen in the Infernal Affair and The Departed were embodied into various
contextures, and they are similarly assigned into police systems. This Hong Kong
policeman, however, is assembled with the traditional Chinese loyal value; on the
contrary, the cop in the Hollywood version is immersed in hardworking individualism
and exchanged benefit. These undersized arrangements are evidence to explain that
the importance of a revised image of hero needs to be woven into local contextures.
Wai-keung Lau and Martin Scorsese both define their imagination of heroes; at
the same time they assemble the collective memory into their narrations. All events
and characters in the movies share common experience for calling varied audiences.
Especially since the movie industry is always to seeking to expand their mass market,
the shared historical and social factors become the director’s significant concern to
satisfy audiences.
Understanding the translations of heroes in Infernal Affair and The Departed
cannot only examine what the differences are in Wai-keung Lau and Martin
Scorsese’s versions, but also explicates the factors that influence the difference in
heroic images. In this concern, the following sections will discuse how the two stories
were developed, how the different characteristics of hero are arranged, and what kind
shared experience and value are embedded in Infernal Affair and The Departed.
The Developments of Story
Infernal Affair and The Departed have similar developing structures, but some
senses have subtle alterations. Martin Scorsese is concerned that the childhood of
policeman is a vital period to present how the mob leader, Costello, and young kid,
Colin Sullivan build their relationship. Costello recruited Colin with milk, bread,
money, and gifts. The boy had grown up in a series of rituals exchanging of gifts, until
he graduated from the State Police Academy. Martin Scorsese, indeed, uses
crosscutting to present two main characters, Colin and Billy, but Billy’s childhood
was ignored. Billy’s mission is to help State Police to prove the mob leader smuggling
microprocessors will generate a security issue between the USA and China. On the
other hand, Colin’s responsibility is to be an excellent cop and to inform Costello if
the State Police would interrupt his smuggling trade.
Here, the theme of The Departed is shifting from solving the national security
crisis to finding the rat from their own camp. Neither Colin nor Billy has any direct
interaction; however, smuggling the microprocessors pushes them to challenge each
other in the police system and the mob. All the criminal activities which Billy was
involved are constructed by a series of shots, but Martin Scorsese arranges these
scenes as a background to formulate Billy’s psychological condition; on the contrary,
Colin exchanged information with Costello, so does Costello, in order to gain Colin’s
personal promotion. Colin always knows the rule to benefit himself, and his actions
are always accurate. Until a dealing failure, the story turns into different theme:
Costello and Colin try to find who the rat is in their people. All investigations are
controlled by Colin, and each events is arranged by time order. When both camps
almost discover whom the double man is , the commander who was in charge of this
rat plan died. This death, fortunately, leads Colin to kill gang leader by his own hands
in order to maintain his secret and position in the police system. The tragedy scene is
when two rats, Colin and Billy, meet; as most narratives in Hollywood, the ending of
The Departed just only one legal hero can survive. Billy’s funeral seems to claim
Colin’s success in the legal system, until his is shot at the last shot of this narrative.
The original version, Infernal Affair, has similar structures but not the same. The
director, Wai-keung Lau, does not illustrate how these young men had grown up;
instead, he directly presents the special relationship between the leader of gangland
(Hei She Huei) and his loyal sons. One of the youngest brothers, Lau Kin Ming, was
chosen to enter Hong Kong police system. Almost at the same time, the police
academy chooses an excellent student to be an undercover cop, Chan Wing Yan, in the
black society. Ming and Yan are getting better in their duties through a series of
crosscutting of their struggling with their friends and colleagues in/out the social
system.
Some plots are important connections to build the relationships between the cop,
Yan, and the criminal, Ming. At the binging, Yan and Ming sat together in an audio
shop, and they friendly compete and share their knowledge about audio and an old
melody. In this narrative, they met several times, but they never have chance to
introduce themselves to each other. Director Wai-keung Lau organizes them walking
by each other without any conflict. Nowadays, their passing and meeting without any
interaction are common conditions in the crowded Hong Kong. Ironically, these
settings become important components and pull two characters into one developing
storyline.
The theme of Infernal Affair is to catch the drug dealer, Hon Sam; therefore, the
story is developed by a series of anti-drug events. Every single investigation is to try
to destroy Hon Sam’s drug business and to catch him with sufficient evidence; in
order to accomplish this, Yan, undercover agent, helps the Hong Kong police to gather
correct information. Ming assists his criminal members to escape each arresting action.
After several failures, both police and gang recognize that there might be an
undercover agent in their crew. Neither the cops nor the criminals want this betrayer
to influence their business and responsibility.
During the catching missions, the interactions between Ming, mole in the police,
and his fiancée, an author, develop into important elements to push Ming to identify
who he is. The author is writing a story in which the main character cannot clarify
himself as a good man or bad guy. When the police office announces their operations,
Ming stares at his official ID card. The director Wai-keung Lau arranges this scene to
develop this excellent police to become aware of who he want to be in the end of the
movie. Similarly, the other character, Yan, real cop, also has a special relationship
with his psychiatrist. She provides a couch to him to get a better sleep; even all the
policemen start to search Yan and to recognize him as a dangerous criminal.
The director Wai-keung Lau sets up his ending as an open-ended one. Before
Ming meets Yan, Ming told his fiancée the password of Yan’s secret file and his desire
to be a good man. His decision is proved by the scene which Ming shot his mole
partner, after the mole killed Yan.
Obviously, the Infernal Affair and The Departed have almost the same story
structures; however, these key elements, which have been presented above, confirm
that when an oriental hero is to be translated as a Hollywood one, the directors cannot
avoid the process of re-contextualizing local characteristics and collective experiences.
It is the reason two heroes were made so different.
The Difference of Heroes
Comparing the police characters in both Infernal Affair and The Departed, some
elements, which formulated Colin and Ming’s personality, need to be elucidated.
Martin Scorsese and Wai-keung Lau have few agreements in building their heroic
images; in The Departed, this young policeman has clear outline embodied with
absolute masculinity; on the contrary, Wai-keung Lau characterizes the tragedy hero
with a hybridized feature that is more like a rotating Tai-Chi. According to directors’
standpoints, this character has been presented into two different forms.
Masculinity of the West Hero/Antihero
The cop, Colin, in The Departed seems a typical police role in action movie.
Colin’s behaviors and reactions present the base of difference; Martin Scorsese
arranges a scene to show how this youth is influenced by the ideology of mainstream.
Colin and Costello’s first meeting was in a restaurant, and Colin learned an important
lesson form Costello’s behavior of insulting a daughter of the restaurant owner. The
existence of women for Colin serves an operational function to improve his career.
This female subject never appears on the screen alone; on the contrary, she was there
to complete two male roles.
Not only does the relationship between Colin and his girlfriends show his heroic
maleness, but also have Colin’s talking and behavior been acting as a heterosexism.
The scene after Colin finish a football game with firefighters, he become frenzied and
yelled “Fuck you, fucking queers…. firemen getting pussy for the first time in the
history of fire or pussy….go save a kitten in a tree, you fucking homos”. It is not
surprised that Martin Scorsese creates Colin’s tough masculinity, but Martin Scorsese
does creates an important connection to articulate the loser and the homosexual. This
becomes Colin’s faith: the loser is homosexual, but the more significant theme is
emerged: Colin doesn’t want himself become a loser. All his scarifications and
accidents are necessary strategies to ensure that he could be a social hero, even though
those methods might be incorrect.
Colin’s subjectivity is formulated by the social mainstream; absolute Masculinity
and liberty. On the pathway to be a victor, Colin must avoid making mistakes to
gather the max advantages; he, finally, decides to shoot the leader of gang and keep
his undercover secret. In Hollywood version, Colin is characterized as a free man who
has right to choose what he wants to choose. In the society and the state police system,
he represents an excellent officer, and the justice is always on his side. Fortunately,
Martin Scorsese makes an interesting ending to present that the real justice still works
even though legal system is absent: Colin is shot by a dismissed agent. This result
does not provide any gray space to discuss what kind of person Colin is, but the
justice would work in many pathways. The Departed presents a hero of social
expectation with clear image, and this Hong Kong story was relocated with the west
source out of it originated land.
Hybridity of Oriental Hero
The Departed is a rewriting product of Infernal Affair, but the latter is an
important perspective of the east people to understand their personal relationship with
others. The director Lu discards the absolute paths to set up his hero; indeed, his
heroic image presents an ambiguous personality. This narrative has two parallel
structures to building up their two young men’s, Yan and Ming, personality, when
they are in the police academy. After Yan and Ming’s eye contact, both two cops drive
themselves into the opposite directions. As an ironic crosscutting, Ming has been
promoted for solving several cases, but Yan was sent to prison many times. Since this
moment, they lose their rights to choose for their lives and identity, and they were
hybridized with both police and gang’s characteristics.
Ming has a secret: his successes are because of his gang leader. At the begining,
the leader of Hei She Huei and Ming have a hierarchical relationship; in other words,
they are more like father and son. During an investigative operation, Ming calls the
leader in order to inform gang leader that they are in danger: he says “Dad, I don’t
have time for dinner”. Moreover, after gang killed the official commander, Mr. Wong,
Ming askes mole leader “Brother Shen, Should you need to kill him?” In Hong Kong
and other Chinese societies, the members in Hei She Huei are tied by blood brother
relationship: they are brothers; in fact, they are father and sons. Therefore, the higher
position Ming occupies, the easier smuggling gang operates. However, Ming’s
responsibility is getting heavier in both sides. He keeps his steps on the border
overlapped between gang and police; Ming is not here or there, but the third space.
This ambiguous and contradictive condition becomes Ming’s nightmare after his
fiancée waked him up from a character of her writing.
Not only has Ming faced his identity crisis, but also does the undercover agent,
Yan. Actually, Yan involves a similar dilemma. When Ming is looking at his
identification card, Yan is thinking about how he can get his real identity back. Yan’s
documents are locked and sealed with the commander’s death. The director puts
parallel events to show that Yan and Ming both want to be a “good guy”, and they are
inspired and saved by female characters. The Infernal Affair presents the deepest
conflict in Yan and Ming’s identities. Neither Yan nor Ming always knows who they
will be and who they want to be at each action. Their uncertain seeking is a rotating
Tai-Chi: their faces are getting more ambiguous when their struggle with their crew
and encounters. In the end of the movie, Ming decides to end this contradiction
between black and white, and he gives up to defend Yan for his fiancée. Before Ming
was arrested, his last sentence is “I did not have any option before. Now, I want to be
a good man”. His identity is still a dilemma.
The director of Infernal Affair discards the absolute definition to build his heroes.
His heroic image presents an ambiguous personality; especially the mole in the police
system appears in several scenes to play his ID card and to recall the definition of
good guy that his fiancée told him. This Hong Kong narrative is closed by the other
gun shot: in order to present Ming’s well to be a good guy, he shot other mole in the
police system. In Hong Kong version, there is no direct result to answer if Ming is a
hero/antihero; however, this narrative provides a perspective to redefine what the hero
is.
The Conclusion: The Factors Behind Two Narratives
From Translation to Transformation
The movie Infernal Affair was published at 2002, and the Hollywood version,
The Departed, was released in USA at 2006. Martin Scorsese accepts an oriental
script and turns it into American style, but he did not adopt the original personalities
for constructing his heroes. Martin Scorsese translates the ambiguous east hero into a
new aboriginal hero with American spirit. The main character, Colin, exchange his
information to his gang members in order to gain personal promotion. This is the base
of how his personality is created. In a highly competitive society, the cap was grown
up with the value of freedom of individualism. As Martin Scorsese’s arrangements,
this policeman presents many American characteristics when he was promoted into
different stages.
Obviously, the Hong Kong version keeps the people’s daily experience and value
in the East. The loyalty is the key value to influence personal behavior, and Ming and
Yan present this core value. When Yan decided to enter Hei She Huei, he is on his
duty as a Hong Kong citizenship and a policeman. Ming, also, wants to be an
excellent agent to benefit his gang crew, because they are blood brothers. Hong Kong
became a colony of the British Empire after 1842, and the government was controlled
by foreign authority. Since that time, people who are grown up at this district become
politic orphans: Hong Konger are either Chinese or English. This historical structure
influences Hong Kongers’ social formation and relationship. The kingship and Hei
She Huei became very important tie to connect and to balance the social relationship
and order; therefore, the blood relationship and family become significant elements
for social balance of Hong Kong.
Because of the particular Hong Kong social forms, the heroic image of the
original script is vague, and there is no absolute boundary between black and white. In
other words, you are not bad guy just because you are standing in black territory. Not
only hero but also antihero are always stable; indeed, the identity of hero/antihero is
dynamic. Ming is the best example: although the narrative of Infernal Affair provide a
role of mole in the police system, his scarification in the end of movie presents his
well of being a good man. The hero in this society may not equal to other hero in a
west community.
It is the reason that Martin Scorsese needs the west elements to
translates his hero as a complete American male character: masculinity, independent,
and individualism. Clearly, the hero in The Departed is departed the original
contexture, but is re-contextualized with local factors in order to have a new
transformation.
From Hong Kong to Globe
The heroes in Infernal Affair and The Departed are different, because the story
setting and the director’s perspective of his world are not equal. Despite adopting the
same script, Wai-keung Lau and Martin Scorsese compose their local experience and
practice into their narratives. Therefore, The Departed is embodied with the history of
Irish immigration. It is an important period for American, and the Massachusetts State
is a landmark to present American victory. The Hollywood version did not provide
confusing ending; instead, the white is white.
There is another factor played important element to change the east hero image
into a west one. After the British Government returns Hong Kong to People’s
Republic of China, the Hong Kong becomes Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region of the People's Republic of China. Therefore, the story of Infernal Affair uses
many symbols of the East to enlarge their market. The direct organizes a series of
black/white montages to directly present different relationship of time and of space.
The Chinese societies have almost same value to know the relationship of black and
white and share same identification of a black/white Tai-Chi.
Martin Scorsese and Wai-keung Lau have very little agreements of the color
aesthetics. Martin Scorsese deconstructs the balk/white scenes to present several
flashbacks and he creates the how the young cap grown up. Therefore, following the
time order, The Departed creates a universal life experience, but not particular social
formation. Martin Scorsese removes the blurred heroic elements from the version of
Hong Kong and decodes the local factors into The Departed. Moreover, the character
outlined with a clear image of hero is the reprehensive of justice. The last scene is that
main character is shot by an outcast of police system. For the global market, the story
may occur in the USA, but the setting of character of hero/antihero must be written in
a common path.
The hero in The Departed departs from the original heroic definition in Infernal
Affair; however, the Hollywood builds this hero with new bone and blood. The local
experiences and collective memory are obstacles to translate into different narration.
When a hero is written into other language, the process of re-contextualizing
combined with local experience, historical structure and economic factors is needed.
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