Silence and cultural hybridity: The transnational and pansexual stardom of Jay Chow
Nicolas Y. B. Wong

This paper attempts to look at the construction of stardom of Jay Chow, who emerged in the show business as an R&B and hip-hop pop star in Taiwan. The most interesting thing about Jay Chow is his ‘transnational stardom’ across Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, created not only in his music career, but also on the screen. To date, he has starred in three films, namely Mak Siu-fai’s and Lau Wai-keung’s Initial D (2005), Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) and his own directing debut Secret (2007). Jay Chow plays the role of the ‘silent hero’ in these films. The silence stems from his lack of (dramatic) facial expression, his limited speech acts and his amateur acting skills, which, however, excite his fans by providing them with a blank text for the sake of their own imagination and fantasy. Moreover, Initial D (adapted from a famous Japanese comics) deals with illegal car-racing subculture, whereas the two subsequent films involve the operation of secrecy. His heroism and stardom, therefore, is constructed via the hidden sense of transgressiveness and mystique, which appeal most successfully among fans. Fans like grey areas and secrecy because they tend to build their devotion to their idols mainly on these two areas. In fact, Chow’s stardom also impacts Hong Kong Cinema before he officially makes his debut appearance in Initial D. The local low-budget independent film Hidden Track (2003, dir. Lam Oi-wah) actually is a story about the search for Jay Chow, without Chow’s participation in the film. Therefore, Hidden Track is a film that plays with the representation of the star qualities through the absence of the star himself, but the presence of his stardom. When academics are heatedly debating the meaning and function of transnational cinema in Asia, I would suggest looking also at the idea of transnational stardom. If the image of the nation could be commodified and sold on the screen, so could that of a star. In this paper presentation, I will argue that the construction of Jay Chow’s stardom is based on: (1) his kinship with traditional Chinese cultural values (e.g. Bruce Lee and family bonding) in his songs and music videos; (2) his silent and flabbergasted heroism, upon which fans of different sexualities could freely poach the meanings from his star image, and (3) his incorporation of foreignness (Japanese culture, R&B and rap musical style) with his own trait of Chineseness.

Conference presentations:

Wong, N. B. (2007). Cultural Hybridity, Silence and Secrecy: The Transnational and Pansexual Stardom of Jay Chou. Screenscapes: Past, Present, Future. University of Sydney. Australia. November-December 2007.

Creating a film show: a creative exploration of popular film genres in the English language development of secondary school students
Randal Holme & Alice Chik

Within ELT syllabus, the popular culture in film forms a ready source of tasks that can furnish students with a sense of engaging in authentic communication whilst setting up a strong linguistic challenge. In this project we intend to ask how an involvement in film-making can affect student-teachers’ and school-childrens’ perceptions of the role of drama and film-making in language learning by tracking a project with a group of third formers in a local Hong Kong secondary school, and a parallel group of education students. The education students will be tasked with introducing the third formers to the concept of a film genre, to teaching them some basic film language then helping them to develop, act out and film scripts that attempt a five minute realisation of an allotted genre. The third formers will be divided into groups with one or more student-teacher helpers then asked to focus on their realization. After the scripts have been written, filmed and edited, the groups will show their films at class film festival then to post them onto a website such as YouTube. The groups will then be taught the written genre of the film review and asked to produce critiques of each others’ films.

The research methodology will be qualitative and involve semi-structured focus group interviews with both the third-formers and the education students. Both groups will be interviewed close to the start of the project to explore their impressions of the usefulness of this type of project for developing English learning. The views of the education students and the third-formers will be contrasted. The groups will then be interviewed near the end of the project to ascertain how their views have or have not developed. The interviews will be transcribed and their themes identified using a grounded theory approach.

Hong Kong English pop: Fashioning multilingual identities in the informal curriculum
Phil Benson & Alice Chik

Viewing pop music as an important component of the informal curriculum for English language learning in Hong Kong, this project investigates the local production and consumption of English language pop music from the 1950s to the present day. In the light of the often ambivalent attitudes of young people towards English, we focus on the role of English-language pop in the formation of multilingual identities in an increasingly globalized city. The project draws on archive resources and interviews with local producers and consumers of English language pop. In addition to academic papers, we aim to publish a book-length history of Hong Kong popular music, focusing on issues of language, multilingualism and identity.

Funded by a HKIEd Internal Research Grant

Publications:

Benson, P., and Chik, A. (in press). English as an ‘alternative language in Hong Kong popular music. In J. Lee & A. Moody (Eds.), English in Popular Culture in Asia. Hong Kong University Press.

Conference presentations:

Benson, P. (2010). Globalization, language and the making of popular music genres in 20th-century Hong Kong. The 2nd Inter-Asia Popular Music Studies Conference. Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 2010.

Chik, A. (2009). Globalizing Hong Kong popular music through fashion. Extra/Ordinary Dress Code: Costuming and the Second Skin in Asia, City University of Hong Kong, December 2009.

Chik, A. (2009). Multilingualism in the history of Hong Kong popular music: questions of language and locality. 15th Biennial International Association for the Study of Popular Music International Conference, University of Liverpool, July 2009.

Chik, A. (2009). Multilingualism in the history of Hong Kong popular music: questions of language and creativity. Third International Roundtable on Discourse Analysis: Discourse and Creativity. City University of Hong Kong, May 2009.

Chik, A. (2008). English as an 'alternative' language in Hong Kong pop music. 14th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. City University of Hong Kong, December 2008.

Benson, P., and Chik, A. (2006). English as an 'alternative' language in Hong Kong popular music. Symposium on Englishization in Asia: Language and Cultural Issues. Chinese University of Hong Kong, November 2006.

Japanese Anime and Manga in liberal studies education: an exploratory study of ‘why and why not’ in Japan versus Hong Kong
Law Kam Yee

The high value of Japanese anime (animated cartoons) and manga (comics) in teaching and learning is clearly recognized in Japan, including in subjects related to liberal studies. Through examining the ideas, images, symbols, languages, beliefs and rituals represented in anime and manga, this project aims at explaining why and how the knowledge and learning of Japanese students in liberal studies could be constructed and enhanced effectively. Although cartoons and comics are one of the most popular entertainments of Hong Kong teenagers, and Japanese products occupy the largest share in the market, they are less adopted by local schools in teaching and learning of liberal studies. Comparing and contrasting with the experience in Japan, the second aim of the proposed project is to explain why this success in Japan has not happened in today’s Hong Kong.

Japan in Hong Kong, Hong Kong in Japan: the inter-relation and cross cultural movement of image and ideas between Manga and Hong Kong comics since 1990s
Law Kam Yee

Manga is one of the biggest sectors in the popular cultural industry of Japan, and so are comics in Hong Kong. The project investigates the societal image and ideas implanted in the prevailing comics in each country. As two of the most active popular cultural commodity producers and consumers in East Asia, the inter-cultural exchange and transformation, and mutual influence between Japan and Hong Kong are phenomenal. To study the inter-relation of popular cultures between the two countries, and its implications, is crucial to the further understanding on the contemporary intra-Asian cultural exchange and development.

Sexy, naughty, bitchy: identity work in online comments on Asian female singers' English language MVs
Phil Benson, Adnan Amin and Beely Huang

Sexy, naughty, bitchy is the title of a song written and recorded by Thai-American singer Tata Young, one of several Asian female singers who have recently recorded bilingually. A typical pattern among these singers has been that they are first succesful in recording in an Asian language - e.g. Tata Young in Thai, Utada Hikaru in Japanese, Coco Lee and Jolin Tsai in Mandarin Chinese - and later go on to record English songs or albums. It also seems to be a pattern that these singers use English language music videos (MVs) to project sex-positive feminist identities that are less characteristic of their Asian language work. This study is concerned with the ways in which the highly sexualised identities projected in these MVs are interwined with the singers' use of English and representations of ethnic identity in lyrics and visual imagery. In particular, we are concerned with the ways in which the 'sexy, naughty, bitchy' images projected through Asian females singers' use of English seem to trigger identity work among their fans. As our primary source of data, we use 'anonymous' comments on MVs posted on YouTube and other video sharing sites. In analysing these data, we are especially interested in the identity work, revolving around gendered categories of language and ethnicity, that takes place within the discourse of the comments themselves.

Conference presentations:

Benson, P. (2009). ‘Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy’: Identity work in online comment on East Asian female singers’ music videos. 15th Biennial International Association for the Study of Popular Music International Conference. University of Liverpool, July 2009.

Benson, P. (2008). ‘Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy’: Identity work in online comments on Asian female singers’ music videos. 14th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. City University of Hong Kong, December 2008.