Golden Chickensss (金雞sss) have been a big box-office success in Hong Kong during the period of 2014 Lunar New Year holiday. The success of this film can be explained in relation to genre. Golden Chickensss obviously is a comedy with the display of generic textual features of the genre of comedy.
The film has its setting in Hong
Kong’s contemporary prostitution industry. In reality, being prostitute usually
carries social stigma that makes one feels ashamed of. However, when it comes
to this comedy, the narrative of the film is presented in a positive way that
distance from reality. The film shows the enjoyable life of Kam (played by
Sandra Ng 吳君如), who is the leader (mama-san) of a group of prostitute, and also the
funny things that happened around her. As a comedy, the film maintains the
convention of comedy with a predictable happy ending.
In terms of the characters, the
leading role, Sandra Ng, who is a ‘typecast’ performer of comedy, appears as a guarantee
of the success of this film. This film also features many amusing actors such
as Ronald Cheng (鄭中基), Lo Hoi-pang (盧海鵬) and Jim Chim (詹瑞文). Ivana Wong (王菀之), who played the role of Ng
Lo, is appreciated for her funny appearance in the film. She acts as an ugly
prostitute with a non-native Hong Kong accent who can do anything for the sake
of money.
The positive and encouraging theme
of the comedy also acts as a contributing factor to the success of the film. The
subject matter that this film concerned with is the changing society of Hong
Kong. To struggle for survival under changes is the basic theme of this comedy.
To convey the topic, many current social issues have been incorporated in the
film. The role of Jackie (played by Eason Chan 陳奕迅) changes his job from pushing
drugs to being tour guide of mainland tour groups and selling milk powder to
mainlanders in order to adapt to the changing society. As for Kam, she visits
Japan to learn the culture of Japanese sex industry for self-improvement. While
they struggle for survival, Gordon (played by Nick Cheung 張家輝), who has just been
released from prison, fails to adapt to the new society so he chooses to leave
Hong Kong at the end of the film. Gordan appears as a metaphor for the Hongkongers
who feel depressed about Hong Kong and hence migrate to other countries.
In general, Golden Chickensss is a
successful comedy in which many of the conventions of the genre of comedies
have been displayed in this film. Also, it has addressed to the current social issues
that Hong Kong audiences can easily relate to and have empathy for it. Although
the film shows that Hongkongers are highly adaptive and tough, Hongkongers seem
to play passive role in the changing environment and refuse to resist. Perhaps
that is the actual portrayal of the reality of Hong Kong that many Hongkongers
have a sense of powerlessness towards the issues of mainland tourists, universal
suffrage, “831 Decision” etc. It is a sad fact that adaptation and acceptance seems
to have become the only option for us.
Student Name: Siu Wai Yan
Student ID: 10489414
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