Lisa Odham
Stokes, Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man”, Hong Kong
University Press, Hong Kong, 2009.
Lisa Odham
Stokes’ monograph study of the Hong Kong film “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” is
another volume in The New Hong Kong Cinema series published by Hong Kong
University Press.This is a
particularly attractive volume for the general reader, including fans of Hong
Kong cinema and Leslie Cheung, but also touches on much that is of interest to
specialist readers in film and gender studies.
This concise
work is written primarily with the general reader in mind.The writing is clear, lucid and
direct.While a key theme of the
book is gender issues as they are represented in the film, and also life of the
film’s star, Leslie Cheung, the book is mostly free of the type of specialist
jargon that is almost totally unintelligible to a general reader.Nevertheless, in a nod to her academic
colleagues, the author does summarize enough of these arguments (usually in the
extensive footnotes) to orient her discussions for specialists without bogging
down the main text, and many of the issues discussed in the notes may, in fact,
be of considerable interest to the general reader.
This slender
monograph is an easy read, yet it is densely packed with valuable information
on formal and conceptual issues surrounding this film, its reception, the Hong
Kong entertainment industry and its celebrities as reflected in the themes
explored in this 1994 Hong Kong “dramedy”.The core of the book is Chapter 3, Cross-dressing,
Gender-bending and Sexual Orientation.In it, Odham Stokes discusses these issues not only in the
context of the film, but in the broader context of Hong Kong and China and
examines how these issues played out in the real life of the film’s star, Leslie
Cheung.This book has the most
comprehensive treatment of Leslie Cheung in a Western language and includes
invaluable discussions not otherwise accessible to those who do not read
Chinese.The issues of gender
identification, celebrity and sexual politics are given significant treatment
in the main body of the text and further elaborated and expanded upon in the
footnotes amounting to a significant contribution to studies of this film and
of Leslie Cheung.This work
stands, along with Helen Hok-Sze Leung’s Undercurrents:Queer Culture and Postcolonial Hong
Kong, UBC Press, Vancouver, Toronto, 2008, as essential reading for an
understanding of Leslie Cheung and how he embodied gender issues in 1990s Hong
Kong, whether in his film roles, his stage performances or his private life.
Here is a direct link to the audio file of my interview with Dick Gordon (a very well-known radio journalist who has hosted critically acclaimed interview programs on NPR for a number of years). I am the second person interviewed in the program, and come in around the 30 min mark. It is short, about 20 minutes, so I hope you will take a listen. I think they did a very nice job with the production, you get to hear Leslie's voice in films and singing, not just me talking.
happiness is
there is not merely one way to happiness
the utmost honor is
every person is the creator’s glory
no need to dodge and hide
i live for the life of my liking
without cosmetic embellishment
i stand in the bright corner
* i am what i am
i am fumes and flames of different colors
in the vast expanse of the sky and ocean
i will be the strongest bubble
i like myself
let the climbing rose plant bear fruit
even in the lonely desert
blossoming in its nakedness *
i am so happy
to live joyfully in the glass house
telling the world
the meaning of living openly in the light
My interview
about Leslie Cheung for “The Story with Dick Gordon”, a nationally syndicated
program on National Public Radio, will be broadcast Tuesday, November
17th.It will be the second
segment on the hour-long program.In the United States, check your local NPR listings for times the
program may be broadcast in your area.
For those not in
the United States, or whose local NPR station does not carry this program, it
is also available as a podcast.Likewise, my interview will be available, once it has aired, through a
link on the website: www.thestory.org.Check The Story's website for more information about signing up for
podcasting.
You can also
hear a web streamed version of the program through my local NPR station, WUNC,
tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST and 8 p.m. EST.Go to www.wunc.org for information on live web streaming.
I just found out today that I am going to be interviewed for the nationally syndicated Public Radio International program, The Story with Dick Gordon". The topic, How Leslie Cheung Transformed My Life. I responded to an open invitation to share my story of how my encounter with an individual totally changed my life. That person for me was Leslie Cheung, even though by the time I discovered Leslie he had been dead for 4 years! So much of what I am involved in today, I owe to that transformative encounter with Hong Kong's favored son.
I'll post the broadcast date and how to access live streaming and the podcast when I know this info. The program should air within a few weeks. I have been a huge fan of Dick Gordan since his days at WGBH in Boston when he hosted The Connection. After WGBH foolishly canceled that program, Boston's loss became North Carolina's gain. Dick Gordon was invited by the local NPR station in central North Carolina to create a new radio program, which is The Story.
If she's selling, it's unlikely that... how to put it... the clientele that could afford to see her that naked wouldn't really appreciate the guerrilla marketing (gorilla hair joke here). The demographic that would appreciate it are in the price bracket that gets you a hiked-up skirt and not much else.
Also, if she was really selling it, she'd use her work name, like Bubbles or The Holland Tunnel. Since many of them carry the delusion that they will someday leave the life, she wouldn't want a permanent reminder (other than the herpes).
The fact that she's probably just giving it away makes it worse, don't you think?
No worse, I suppose, than being able to expound about the horizontal refreshment industry at the drop of a hat...
posted on Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 11:28PM [Report]
I think he approached the interview with an angle in mind but by the end he was just struggling to characterize this clearly sane and articulate woman as one of the readily available rabid fan-type options. He was trying to label it (it is after all radio and an aural medium) but was not at all disrespectful. I think too much time was wasted on that effort for sure. And then to ask about your husband and friends...what a weird question....like saying someone is a real Yankees fan and hubby is not....would that question be posed? I liked your answer though. Nonetheless I thought it was a thought-provoking interview but it could have been a lot more. As for your academic inquiries - that`s an interesting subject which for Chinese society is further complicated by the Peking Opera tradition which Leslie himself beautifully portrayed in FMC. From the little I know I have a perception that it ain`t as easy being gay in China as it is here --- and it ain`t that easy here. Contrary what one would think from reading about his life and death...Leslie always seemed very comfortable in his own skin. But people probably always tried to both judge and characterize him too --- and he must have found that very frustrating.
posted on Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 12:28PM [Report]
I have finished listening to the interview. Its such a difficult thing when people find it hard to understand your intense interest in someone of a totally different background and culture from yourself and your obsessive ways of showing your interest too caused unexpected reaction from family and friends.
You are allowed to choose what interest you in life and need not be answerable to anyone and I am glad you are sticking through it with you head up high.
We all have different preferences and interests and what make ours more logical and honorable than others.
I have an obsession of buying toys. My friends calls me "the big kid". Haha, but its my choice. I love toys.
Supreme words of widom from the supreme...hahaha. I have to totally agree.... because I should belong to the group of "not pretty" SPECIMENS. I love the humor in your philosphical takes on life and beauty.
Words of wisdom. I knew that "pretty as pretty does" pretty well. I knew it from the day I was often told how much prettier my sisters are then I am. But I am please, I am what I am. So I only admire at pretty things because of the aesthetic nature but never envy them as I knew I have much that they may not have. Anyway, even if they have everything, we should only be glad that GOD has created someone near to perfect and that too is great. Just be contented being yourself and knowing that some people may be more privilege then others and they should be thankful to be GOD's Gracious Gift to human kind.
interesting, but why deactivate and reactivate? why can't they just leave it there?
actually i dun really worry much about fb since as you said, there're many reasons for people deciding not to use it, and they might not be related to the friendship.
what makes me feel more uncomfortable is that for some people, they can be very kind and close to you now, and then in the next few days, they can totally become another person and act like strangers...
Really? I think I look different in every pic heh. I rarely recognize myself when I look in the mirror either. Supposedly there's some sort of mental disease where people can't recognize themselves, my ex thought I had a mild case of that.
sorry for my late reply. how have you been?
jave just watched chinese film Heaven Eternal,Earth Everlasting(天长地久) in the film festival. in the movie you hear several Leslie's songs. they show changes with the times in china. check it out!
A relaxing vacation is nice sometimes. We did get lucky with the weather. Just passing rain here and there but no storms or anything. Have you been to Bermuda Marie? It's so close to NC.
Reading ur passes blog, well thx for the sharing.
I quite impress with sm sharing lik the [] U learning Cantonese? That's great. I would like to lend a hand to u whenever u need just drop me msg. Im just a beginner of spanish.
cheers,
fwei.
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