Journal of Chinese Cinemas Volume 2 Number 3 © 2008 Intellect LtdArticle. English language. doi: 10.1386/jcc.2.3.197/1

Memories of sound and light': musicaldiscourse in the films of Wong Kar-waiLudmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho

University of Montreal

AbstractThis essay promotes an investigation into the musical discourse in the films ofHong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, focusing primarily on the way that music isapplied to disrupt narrative time, thus creating what Gilles Deleuze called 'pureoptical and sonorous situations'. It also considers the use of popular and pre-existing music and the cultural relations established by them, raising the ques-tions of what it means to use songs that are recognizable in a global culturalcontext, and what they can add to the filmic experience.

Although Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai is customarily known for hisstriking visual style - images of modern living, flashes of urban alienationand aesthetic experimentation condensed in an intricate narrative - Iwould like to point out that sound and music are also among the most rec-ognizable and fundamental elements of his films. Who doesn't remember,for example, the obsessive repetition of the song 'California Dreaming' inChungking Express (1994), Nat King Cole's Latin boleros in In The Mood forLove (2000), or Astor Piazolla's Argentinean tangos in Happy Together(1997)? The purpose of this essay is to shed some light on the musical dis-course of Wong's films - in other words, to identify the role that musicplays in his cinema.

Traditionally, film music has been treated as a mere 'accompaniment'to the image, a concept that is reminiscent of the early developments offilm sound when films were literally accompanied by a live orchestra or asingle pianist/singer (Abel and Altman 2001). The point that even theearliest 'film musicians' understood is that music lends its emotionalqualities to whatever image it is associated with. Any music will have aneffect when juxtaposed with an image, 'just as whatever two words oneputs together will produce a meaning different from that of each wordseparately, because the reader/spectator automatically imposes meaningon such combinations' (Gorbman 1987: 15). The effects of this associa-tion are generally twofold: music can either be used to reinforce or con-tradict what happens on screen. The mode of reinforcement, also calledparallelism, is based on the use of music to match the scene's mood orpace: smooth music for romantic scenes, fast-paced music for actionscenes and so on. The counterpoint, on the other hand, consists of theuse of music, not to repeat what is on the screen, but to contradict it.

KeywordsWong Kar-waiGilles Deleuzefilm soundffim musicpre-existing music

1. Memories of Sound andLight is the title of anunofficial Wong song-book released byUniversal in 2004containing some ofthe most memorablesongs in his films.

JCC 2 (3) pp. 197-210 © Intellect Ltd 2008

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2. 'Only the use of soundas counterpointregarding the imageoffers new possibilitiesof developing and per-fecting the montage'(Eisenstein 1976: 20).All the English trans-lations in this paperare the author's.

Sergei Eisenstein and the Soviet formalists defended the counterpoint as away of emancipating the musical score from its dependence on the visualelements of the film,2 an idea that was also contemplated by TheodorAdorno and Hanns Eisler in their well-known critique Composing for theFilms (Eisler and Adorno 1971).

The classical mode of film score is based entirely on functionality,music's function being not only to reinforce the mood of a film or a partic-ular scene, but also to ease the spectator's path into the narrative experi-ence: 'Film music lessens awareness of the frame, of discontinuity; it drawsthe spectator further into the diegetic illusion' (Gorbman 1987: 59).Claudia Gorbman compares this type of film music to 'easy-listening'music, the kind one would hear in department stores, elevators and doc-tors' offices. Both are made to be consumed but not to be closely listenedto; both are subordinated to a larger context (film or convenience store)and, most importantly, both use familiar musical qualities to 'lull' thespectator (or consumer) into a relaxed and passive mood. This is not tounderestimate the purely musical qualities of the film score, but only tofurther reassert its place as secondary to the narrative.

While Wong's use of music frequently follows the classical mode ofreinforcement - as an example we can mention Teddy Kwan's score for AsTears Go By (1988), in which fast-paced music is employed to create a sen-sation of excitement and anticipation, thus emphasizing the acceleratedmovement of the action scenes - I would like to point out that it also tran-scends its functional status. In this essay, I will argue that music in Wong'sfilms is often used to disrupt the linearity of the image, creating a newsense of temporality. In such cases music is not dependent upon the imagebut, on the contrary, subjects it to its own rhythm, providing what GillesDeleuze (1985: 10) called 'pure optical and sonorous situations', wheretime is not represented indirectly through the succession of movement-images, but presented directly through the time-image.

I would also like to focus on Wong's abundant use of popular music,especially pre-existing songs with lyrics, which demands a different inter-pretation from that of the traditional instrumental score. Whether theycome from the diegetic or non-diegetic field, these songs evoke questionsabout character formation, the relationship between lyrics and image and,perhaps more importantly, cultural references with which the spectatormay have a prior relationship. As happens with certain elements of decor,costumes and dialogues, film music is often employed to give important cul-tural clues that refer to the film's historicity, ethnicity and genre. The musicemployed in Wong's films comes from different times, styles and parts of theworld, reflecting a large array of cultural codes that makes it difficult to pin-point. This attitude, as I shall argue, is indicative of Wong's complex rela-tionship with genre cinema and the cultural codes that it entails.

Rhythm, repetition and time: the case of'Yumeji's Theme'When it comes to analysing a film score, there are some challenges to beconsidered: first of all, one must make a purposeful effort to notice themusic, since, as Gorbman says, 'The filmgoer is not supposed to notice orbe distracted by the music, its primary role being to reinforce, intensify, orclarify narrative and emotive aspects of the story' (Gorbman 2006: 6). We

Ludmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho198

may notice a film score when it's a particularly bad one; for example,when an overly sentimental score ends up calling attention tci the film'smanipulative strategies, or when the use of a well-known pre-existing songreminds us of a familiar sound, a technique that, albeit not exclusive ofcontemporary cinema, is being used ever more frequently since the 1950sand 1960s (Knight and Wojcik 2001: 05). Otherwise, we might become soinvested in the narrative world that we wouldn't become fully aware of themusic unless we consciously choose to do so.

Secondly, it is difficult to verbalize the experience of musical plea-sure in general, and in particular in relation to the filmic image, since itengenders different sensorial responses. Most aesthetic theories explainthe phenomenon of musical pleasure through the concept of 'aestheticexperience', that is, a subjective experience firmly rooted in the senses.Purely musical qualities such as rhythm, harmony and melodic move-ment stimulate sensual responses that are different from those raised bythe image. Michel Chion explains that music is bi-sensorial, 'a sonorousfigure in the ears, and a vibration felt in the skin and the bones', while'the luminous impact of an image is punctually localised in the field ofvision. Well, that which is bi-sensorial, that which touches two sensesat the same time, has bigger efficacy and immediate impact' (Chion1995: 221).

Gorbman also claims that 'music enters to satisfy a need to compensatefor, fill in, the emotional depth not verbally representable' (Gorbman1987: 67), that is, music may help the spectator feel the mood of a scenemore than images and dialogues sometimes can, since its emotional con-nection remains deeply subjective. That would explain why, in more 'objec-tive' or non-sentimental scenes, music can often be neglected or simplyforgotten without being missed. On the opposite scale, it would alsoexplain why film-makers such as Eric Rohmer (My Night at Maud's, 1969)and Michelangelo Antonioni (Eclipse, 1962) use music very sparingly toavoid an unwanted overexaggeration of the emotional tone of their films.

Finally, it is also difficult for someone who is not a professional musi-cian to appropriately identify all the musical elements in play, especiallysince one cannot 'pause' the music and the image at the same time toobserve how they work together. The best way to go about this, I feel, isthrough a detailed description of the music and the images provided byrepetitive viewing (and listening), silence and comparison (analysis of thesame sequence without music or with other music in its place).

Having said that, I will now consider the love theme that accompaniesthe encounters between characters Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) and SuLi-Zhen (Maggie Cheung) in In The Mood for Love. Composed by ShigeruUmebayashi, this theme provides an atmosphere of melancholy that ismost important for the emotional tone of the film. Derived from an exist-ing score (for Suzuki Seijun's 1991 film Yumeji), 'Yumeji's Theme' embod-ies the indetermination of the lovers as they repeatedly approach andretreat from each other. The music appears a total of eight times through-out the film: first when the characters meet; twice when they go to thenoodle stall; twice when they are together in the hotel room; twice whenthey are isolated but thinking about each other; and one last time whenthey decide to go their separate ways.

Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in the films of Wong Kar-wai 199

3. For example, noticeFrank Skinner's useof a full orchestra inhis scores for two ofDouglas Sirk's mostwell-known melodra-mas, All that HeavenAllows (1955) andImitation of Life(1959).

The motif is a sentimental waltz executed by violins and an orchestra.Unlike a traditional 'full orchestra' interpretation of a typical Hollywoodmelodrama, 3 this theme is not grandiloquent or robust: the orchestra actsmerely as background accompaniment for the violins. The violins have agrave tone to them, rendering the sound soft and velvety, which, alongwith the piece's mellow rhythm, creates a very intimate and languoroussound, albeit still sentimental. In fact, the first verse of the music is so slowthat the scene must have a certain duration in order to fully embody it,thus subverting the classical rule according to which the duration of apiece of music must be subordinated to the duration of the scene (Gorbman1987: 76). In this case, the music is radically different from the 'elastic'tune traditionally composed for film scores in small malleable pieces thatcan be easily cut or extended to suit a particular scene.

It is important to notice that in every appearance of this motif theimage is in slow motion, which, along with the slowness of the musicitself, provides a sense that everybody and everything - even the smokefrom a cigarette - is languorously moving to the rhythm of the music, eventhough this music is clearly non-diegetic. Let us examine the first scene,when both characters go, each on his/her own time, to the noodle stall.The camera captures Su Li-Zhen as she slowly descends the stairs andremains stationary until she returns. Then, Chow Mo-Wan does the exactsame movement: descending and ascending the stairs. Although the char-acters share the same limited space, at this point they don't exchange asingle look. All of the emotional tension between them is provided by themusic and the slow motion of their bodies as they pass by each other. Asilent viewing of this scene confirms that, without the sentimentality ofthe music, there is little to no expression in this scene, since the actors'faces remain mostly unseen and the slow motion by itself renders merelyan odd sense of movement.

Finally, we have to consider the role of repetition, not only of themusic's manifestation in the film but also of the music's own rhythm.Repetition is not an uncommon technique in film music - in fact, it isoften used to identify characters and provide formal and narrative unitythrough the use of themes. A theme is defined as any music - melody,melody-fragment, or distinctive harmonic progression - heard more thanonce during the course of a film' (Gorbman 1987: 27). One clear exampleof a theme song is that composed by Umebayashi for 2046 (Wong, 2004),which symbolizes the whole identity of the film. '2046 Main Theme' con-tains, simultaneously, a violin that refers to the romantic journey of themain character and some jazzy beats reminiscent of the score composed byVangelis for the archetypal science fiction Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982).This way, the repetition of the theme song functions as an illustration of thefilm's overall mood, even if it means congregating different narrative ele-ments inside a single harmonic piece.

The obsessively repetitive pattern of 'Yumeji's Theme', however, createsa sonorous disruption that, in turn, disrupts the temporality of the action.According to Deleuze, it is the representation of time that differentiates themovement-image from the time-image, or classical cinema from moderncinema. In the classical system of the movement-image, the action is dom-inated by a sensory-motor organization of movement, that is, a causal

Ludmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho200

motivation that links one action to the next. Time is represented in themovement-action only indirectly, that is, through the linear chain of nar-rated events. The time-image, on the other hand, is an image that hasbecome free from the classical narrative realism, and represents timedirectly through the depiction of pure optical and sonorous situations. Apure optical and sonorous situation doesn't prolong itself into action any-more, since it is no longer induced by an action' (Deleuze 1985: 29).

The use of 'Yumeji's Theme' in In The Mood for Love represents anexample of a pure optical and sonorous situation, since music is used todisturb the linear flux of time, to break the logical chain of events of themovement-image, creating 'time inside time - or time in brackets' (Chion1995: 212). In order to fully comprehend how this happens, we must firstobserve how film music can influence our perception of cinematic time.

Sound phenomena are more linear in time than images, for they areperceived in a horizontal and non-reversible vector from beginning to end(Chion 1994: 35). If a sequence of successive images can already imply acertain degree of temporal linearity, the sensation of temporal progres-sion can be therefore completed with the addition of a linear sound. Forexample, two parallel scenes taking place in different locations are easilypresumed to be simultaneous if there is one harmonious sound connect-ing them.

In music, this experience is further enhanced by the notion of rhythm.By definition, rhythm is a uniform progression in time, a constantlyrepeated pattern of sounds, but one in which continuity is only perceivedas such through discontinuities (Mitry 1997: 107). If a sound patternis repeated indefinitely, we eventually stop noticing it. Novelty is thennecessary - a minor change in harmony and progression - to assurethat the rhythm maintains its flow. Again, if a film sequence has its owninternal rhythm - which can be dictated by the movement of objects andpeople inside the scene, the movement of the camera or the succession ofimages - the addition of musical rhythm can build up expectation for thenext moment.

Not only musical tempo and the punctual pace of events, but also the tonaland formal system where this music is inscribed contribute to a certain tem-poralization, especially by certain phenomena such as melodic pace, harmonyand range: a piece of music written in a tonal style and inside a determinedframework gives way to anticipation about the moment when it is going toend or pause, and this anticipation is incorporated into our perception of theimage.

(Chion 1995: 208, added emphasis)

The rhythm of 'Yumeji's Theme' is extremely repetitive. There's nocrescendo, there are almost no perceptible changes in the progression of arather obsessive piece of music. This repetition is only accentuated by thefact that the characters are frequently performing the same actions andgoing to the same places. 4 Because of this, the action is not propelledforward by the sound but, instead, it creates a circular motion, since itkeeps returning to the same point over and over again, providing a senseof stationary time, of immobile movement. There is no proper action in such

4. It is useful to mentionthat a differentversion of the samemotif appears inWong's latest film,My Blueberry Nights(2007), showingthat repetition andintertextuality gohand in hand in hisfilms.

Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in the films of Wong Kar-wal 201

5. Traditional Beijingand Cantonese operasare present in In theMood for Love withexcerpts from Si LongTan Mu and Sang YuanJi Zi, performed byTan Xin Pei, and HongNiang Hui ZhangSheng, performed byZheng Jun Mian andLi Hang. Westernopera ('Casta Diva',from Norma) and apre-existing film scoreis also present in2046, with 'Julien etBarbara', originallyfrom the soundtrackof Fran4ois Truffaut'sVivement Dimanche(1983).

scenes, only pure duration. The overall sensation that emerges from this

is that the characters are somehow trapped inside this time in brackets,

this time that is of a subjective nature rather than a linear succession of

moments.It is important to notice that this strategy is not exclusive to In The

Mood for Love but exemplary of many of Wong's films. As we shall see further

on, it can be achieved even with the use of a popular song, as is the case of

Chungking Express with the repetition of 'California Dreaming'. In this

case, since the song is heard diegetically, it is not only the rhythm of the

music that is repetitive (for the chorus in a pop song demands repetition),

but also the synchronous action that accompanies it.

Emotional connections: diegetic music and charactercompositionAt this point, it is important to distinguish between diegetic music - that is,

music that emanates from the visible space of the action - and non-diegetic

music, or, as Chion calls it, 'acousmatique' (Chion 1999: 18) music whose

source is not visible. This distinction of the music's place of origin is impor-

tant because it can change our perception of the music and therefore its

relation to the image. Non-diegetic or acousmatique music 'is the one that

the spectator attributes, by elimination, to an imaginary orchestra pit or

live musician that accompanies or illustrates the action and dialogues

without being a part of them' (Chion 1995: 189). Different, for example,

from a noise or a voice off-screen, the source of which is not yet visible but

remains as a part of the action, the non-diegetic music comes from the

'absolute offscreen' (Deleuze 1985: 306), that imaginary place of the nar-

rator. In Wong's case it corresponds mostly to the instrumental scores pro-

duced for his films by composers such as Frankie Chan (Ashes of Time

[1994], Chungking Express, Fallen Angels [1995]), Danny Chung (Happy

Together), Michael Galasso (In The Mood For Love), Umebayashi (In The Mood

for Love, 2046) and Peer Raben (the episode The Hand in the portmanteau

film Eros [Wong, Antonioni, Soderbergh, 2004]). By instrumental score

I'm referring not only to original material composed by these musicians

especially for the films, but also to re-orchestration of pre-existing classical

music, Chinese opera and scores from other films._

Diegetic music, on the other hand, comes from within the visualized

world of the film, in scenes where the characters listen to music, sing or

dance. In Days of Being Wild (Wong, 1990), Carina Lau's character is a

performer, and Leslie Cheung's character dances to the rhythm of a cha-

cha song ('Maria Elena'). jukeboxes are prominently shown in Fallen

Angels. In Happy Together, the main characters dance the tango, and music

also comes from radios, record players and club bands in 2046 and In the

Mood for Love. According to Gorbman, it is an error to assume that diegetic

is more realistic than non-diegetic music, because 'The mood of any music

in the soundtrack, be it diegetic or non-diegetic music, will be felt in asso-

ciation with diegetic events' (Gorbman 1987: 23). Moreover, the line

between the two is often being blurred, in scenes where diegetic music

exits the visual space of the action but continues to be heard non-

diegetically, or when a non-diegetic music suddenly becomes diegetic with

the appearance of a radio or a band in the background.

202 Ludmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho

It is true, nevertheless, that diegetic music tends to be more intimatelyconnected to the characters. Since it emanates directly from the scene, thiskind of music represents more of the characters' subjective experiencesthan a commentary made by the narrator. 'What music translates morefinely and richly, without any other element being able to replace it in thisfunction, is the ever-changing flux of emotions experienced by a character'(Chion 1995: 225). In one of the first articles to contemplate the use ofmusic in Wong's films, David Martinez states that his sound score 'doesnot serve to illustrate a real and precise context, but, rather, to convene auniverse that is purely referential, interior even' (Martinez 1997: 30). Inmany of Wong's films, we almost feel that the narrative stops so that char-acters may express themselves through music or dance.

Let us go back now to the use of 'California Dreaming' in ChungkingExpress, where the constant repetition of this song creates a leitmotif forFaye Wong's character. By definition, a leitmotif is a theme employedspecifically to create identification between the music and a singular char-acter, situation or place. It is very efficient and economic: once this identi-fication is established, all it takes is the sound to immediately transportthe spectator to that specific context.6 For example, every time we hear'California Dreaming' in the film (a total of eight times), her character is ina scene listening and dancing to it, so repeatedly that it has become diffi-cult to listen to this song, in any context, without associating it with herimage.

The song appears for the first time in the second part of the film, whenthe policeman played by Tony Leung is introduced to May (Faye Wong). Inthis scene, the music is so loud that it even obstructs the dialogue, break-ing yet another rule of the traditional film score, according to which musicshould be secondary to any narrative source. From this moment on thesong becomes a signifier for 'May', so much so that, when the policemanfinally realizes that she has romantic feelings for him, he plays the CD thatshe left in his apartment with the song, instead of 'What a Difference aDay Makes', which was a signifier for his old girlfriend. In the end, Mayactually goes to the 'real' California to see for herself if it was anything likeshe imagined from listening to the song.

As happens with the use of 'Yumeji's Theme' in In The Mood For Love,'California Dreaming' is repeated in Chungking Express to the point whereit disrupts the film's representation of linear time, creating a rather circu-lar motion. The difference in this case is that 'California Dreaming' isdiegetically justified, since it is May herself who chooses to listen to itrepeatedly, and consequently it becomes more integrated with the narra-tive. Chungking Express is all about time displacements and the malleableexperience that comes with it: characters are always checking for expira-tion dates, alarm clocks, deadlines and future promises, all the whiletrapped in a present full of repetitive and mundane actions. The charac-ters' experience of time in this film is expressed to the extent that it can bealmost seized visually, as in the well-known scenes with two differentimage velocities (that of the character and that of the world around him).What the analysis shows us is that this experience is no more visual thansonorous, since it is as much materialized by the use of music as by visualtechniques.

6. The remix of MassiveAttack's song 'KarmaKoma' in Fallen Angelsis another example,since it can be heardvirtually every timethe assassin makes anappearance in thefilm, showing a rathercurrent trend of usingpopular pre-existingmusic as leitmotif(Rodman 2006:119).

Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in the films of Wong Kar-wai 203

At this point it is important to notice that a song with lyrics, unlikethe classical instrumental score, is never neutral: whether or not it wascomposed exclusively for the film, it is there to be noticed by the spectator,since it coordinates essential elements such as human voice, languageand speech. Chion speaks of vococentrism to state the importance of thehuman voice in relation to other sounds: 'In actual movies, for real spec-tators, there are not all the sounds including the human voice. There arevoices, and then everything else' (Chion 1999: 5). That is, from themoment we recognize the human voice - whether it is in a dialogue or ina song - it becomes the central point around which other sounds areorganized.

In the sonorous environments created for and by the characters withdiegetic music, pre-existing popular songs have a special place. EachWong Kar-wai film has one or more pre-existing songs featured in thesoundtrack, such as 'Take My Breath Away' in As Tears Go By, FrankZappa's 'Chunga Revenge' and 'I Have Been in You' in Happy Together,'California Dreaming' and 'What a Difference a Day Makes' in ChungkingExpress, Cole's renditions of Aquellos Ojos Verdes', 'Te Quiero Dijiste' and'Quizdis, Quizds, Quizds' in In the Mood for Love and Connie Francis' ver-sion of 'Siboney' in 2046. There are also Cantonese versions of TheCranberries' 'Dreams' in Chungking Express, of Berlin's 'Take My BreathAway' in As Tears Go By, and of The Turtles' 'Happy Together' in HappyTogether. Wong's newest film, My Blueberry Nights, released in 2007, Isscored entirely by a compilation of songs by Ry Cooder, Cat Power andmany other popular artists.

The use of popular music has been a part of cinema since the begin-ning of sound accompaniment, and from the 1960s the use of songs -especially jazz and rock and roll - became a major way to score films. 'Theend of the 1950s and 1960s saw a triumph of the melody, a melody thatwas no longer carefully closed in a motif.... but one that gives itself to bediscovered and that does everything to be heard and memorized' (Chion1995: 139). It is also important to consider that pre-existing songs carrytheir own language, expression and history to the film, and spectatorswho were already familiar with these songs (or the artists that performthem) can, and most probably will, relate differently to the film.

There are, of course, economical reasons behind the use of a pre-existing song, since these songs and their performers may attract a largeraudience and boost profit with soundtrack CD sales. Many of the actorsthat work in Wong's films are pop stars in China and elsewhere (CarinaLau, Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Norah Jones), andoften perform their own songs on the films' soundtracks. Before theappearance of the music video, cinema had always been a medium for thediffusion of music and celebrities, and Wong takes advantage of thispractice neither by refusing nor blindly accepting it, but by largely incor-porating it into his own style.

In this way, it is not surprising that Wong's films are often associatedwith the style of music videos, not only by the frequent use of pop starsand songs, but also by the appropriation of a certain stylistic imagery per-taining to the music video industry Even though music videos are becom-ing more and more heterogeneous both in style and content, there is still a

Ludmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho204

consensus around some of the characteristics evoked by the term 'MTVaesthetics', such as fast rhythm of montage, numerous and brief shots, sat-urated images, 'camera movements induced by the sheer pleasure of virtu-osity, of visual effect and performance' (Vernier 1986: 134).

Ultimately, what the 'music video aesthetics' promotes is a new inter-pretation of the crisis of the movement-image. According to Deleuze (1983:281), there are two main tendencies provoked by this crisis: rarefaction,exemplified by fldnerie films, where characters drift aimlessly through thespace and where dead times abound; and saturation, where, on the con-trary, things happen so fast that they almost can't be grasped all at once.The music video is an example of saturation, with its technique of showingeverything at the same time, like a feature-length preview made only of themost pregnant moments. The music video creates, according to Jean-MarcVernier, a 'pulsation-image, located on the edges of the movement-image incinema. The disappearance of dead time, of a relaxed mise-en-scýne,resolves itself in the exacerbation of the image. One word: fast' (Vernier1986: 132).

The saturation in some of Wong's films, the sheer sense of rhythm thatemanates from this kind of music/image association, where it is the musicthat dictates the pace of the action, is an indication of just how well hisstyle translates into this new medium. And Wong is not alone in thistrend, as Jean-Marc Lalanne points out: 'The articulation of a sound scorefull of songs and the images that simply illustrate them (and not the otherway around), as seen by fdimmakers such as Lynch, Scorsese, Tarantino,originate incontestably from the music video' (Lalanne 2000: 63). Wong'sassociation with the music video universe has gone full circle now, as hehas already directed a music video7 and influenced other artists in thatmedium.8 He has even invested himself with the persona of a rock star,wearing his dark sunglasses and being surrounded by mystery, anticipa-tion and gossip about his unorthodox film-making practices.

Latin music and cultural codesAccording to Gorbman (1987: 13), music signifies in film on three differ-ent levels: first, there are purely musical qualities of the piece by itself; sec-ond, there are narrative musical codes, that determine emotional andcognitive suggestions according to when, where and how music is playedin relation to the images; and finally there are cultural musical codes thatevoke the film's genre, time or location. Film music is largely used to pro-vide contextual information for the spectator: in the first moments of afilm, whether we hear jazz beats and brass instruments or a smooth waltzaccompanied by accordions, we can easily determine if we are to be 'trans-ported' to New York city or a European turn-of-the-century setting.

Wong complicates this equation by constantly shifting these codesaround, inserting ambiguity where one would normally expect securityand reaffirmation. Let us consider, for example, the use of Latin music, pre-dominant in his 1960s trilogy - namely, Days of Being Wild, In The Mood forLove and 2046 - but also heard in Happy Together and even in Wong'sseries of commercial spots for Japanese designer Takeo Kikuchi. Therange of Latin songs used in the films goes from Cuban Xavier Cugat's cha-cha and mambo classics from the 1940s, such as 'Perfidia', 'Siboney' and

7. The video called SixDays (released in2002) promotes theartist DJ Shadow andfeatures many ofWong's stylistic trade-marks, as well as theactors Chang Chenand Danielle Graham.

8. One example comesfrom the Scottishband Texas, whomade a music videothat reconstructed,shot by shot, selectedscenes from ChungkingExpress. The videowas directed byDavid Mould andfeatures the song'Halo' from Texas'album White onBlonde, released inFebruary 1997.

Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in the films of Wong Kar-wai 205

9. One such interview isprovided in the specialfeatures of In TheMood for Love'sCriterion CollectionDVD, released in2000, where Wongsays: 'We had a lotof western music inHong Kong at thattime, and most of theband musicians werefrom the Philippines,so there was a lot ofLatin music.'

10. Notably, 'Hua Yang deNian Hua', a popularsong from the 1930sthat was also a themesong from the 1946melodrama ChangXiang Si (An All-Consuming Love), and'Bengawan Solo', aChinese song withEnglish lyrics recordedin the 1960s byRebecca Pan, whoalso appears in thefilm.

11. In his study ofAlmod6var's films,Mark Allinson (2001)credits the film-makerfor recuperating thisHispanic musicalheritage andtransforming it intosomething 'camp butcool'.

'Maria Elena' (Days of Being Wild and 2046), Argentinean AstorPiazolla's 'Tango Apasionado' (Happy Together), Brazilian Caetano Veloso's'Cucurrucucu Paloma' (Happy Together), to Hollywood's filter, with Cole'sSpanish renditions of classic boleros in In The Mood for Love. But what dothese songs represent, besides a great knowledge and interest from Wongon the topic of Latin music?

Regarding the 1960s period, Wong has said in many interviews thatLatin songs were actually popular at that time in Hong Kong.9 Althoughthey might represent accurately what local people listened to in a specifichistorical context, for someone that comes from elsewhere - especiallyfrom Latin America - this particular choice of music appears to be muchmore exotic than the 'period' Chinese songs also used in the same film. 10 Ifwe took away the music from In The Mood for Love and asked a spectatorwho wasn't familiar with the film to guess what was playing in the soundscore, Cole's boleros would probably not be their first choice, for a numberof reasons.

First of all, because if we follow the culturally coded definition of film-genre music, these songs would carry the meaning 'Latin America'rather than 'Hong Kong', as they evoke a certain notion of communityand cultural identity that is different to that of the Chinese charactersrepresented in the film. My understanding of a community's culturalidentity passes through Benedict Anderson's concept of imagined com-

munities, in which communities are cultural artifacts, in other words,productions 'distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by thestyle in which they are imagined' (Anderson 1991: 06). I also draw fromFredric Jameson's concept of postmodern historicity, in which the recre-ation of a particular historical context does not depend (or, never diddepend) on authentic representation but, instead, on a stylistic approachto the past: 'It being understood that the nostalgia film was never a matterof some old-fashioned "representation" of historical content, but insteadapproached the "past" through stylistic connotation, conveying "past-ness" by the glossy qualities of the image' (Jameson 1991: 19).

In the case of Latin music, the style of the songs, the rhythm, thelyrics, the language in which they are sung all evoke an explicit com-munication of feelings that is immediately identified with Latin melo-drama and sentimentality. The bolero, the rumba and the ranchera arestyles in which sentimentality is taken to extremes; intimacy is createdthrough highly dramatic lyrics and performances based on exaggeratedgestures and voice. These musical styles, extremely popular in LatinAmerica in the 1940s and 1950s, experienced a renaissance throughthe camp movement from the 1990s on, which means that they wererecuperated by artists and film-makers such as Pedro Almod6var, whore-transformed them from something clich6d and outdated into some-thing new and popular."

But, contrary to Almod6var's use of bolero to highlight the melodramaticsensibility of his own films, Wong uses it in contrast with his dialoguesand characters' subdued behavior. This is most noticeable in the use ofsentimental boleros in In the Mood for Love. Because the characters ofthis film tend to speak so infrequently, these songs become very notice-able, often occupying both the material and the semantic functions of

Ludmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho206

the speech (not only do we notice the songs but we listen to what they say). 12. And so the days goIndeed, it appears as though all the indecision and tension between the by/I, desperate/And

you, you only say/would-be lovers is expressed in the explicitly sentimental chorus of Perhaps, perhaps,'Quiz;ks, Quiz4s, Quizds': 'Y asi pasan los diaslY yo, desesperadolY t6, t6 perhaps'.contestando/Quizds, quizds, quizds.'12 The song functions almost like anironic commentary, as if it was saying something about them as well asto them, especially if we take into consideration the fact that the wholefilm could be summarized by the idea of 'perhaps': perhaps they werelovers? Perhaps they wanted to go away together? The way that the songis performed - in a different language than that of the dialogues, evok-ing all the dramatic elements of Latin melodrama, and in a rhythm thatrecalls the sensual movement of ballroom dance - accentuates this con-trasting effect. Being a musical genre based on the overt expression ofromantic feelings, the bolero adds the melodramatic note to an otherwisesubtle and subdued love story; sound thus extrapolating both culturaland narrative boundaries.

Nevertheless, while one might be tempted to say that Wong makes nouse of traditional or 'characteristic' pieces of music that, in other cases,might have been used to localize the story in a specific historical period,cultural origin or cinematic genre, this is not entirely true. For example, inHappy Together, Piazzola's interpretations of traditional tango are used as asymbol of Argentina and Argentinean culture. But even in this case theuse of 'ethnic' music is ambiguous, since the tango is as alien to hisChinese protagonists as any other cultural symbol for Argentina. Beforewe can begin to question the validity of such a cultural metonym, Wongsurpasses its restrictions by closely integrating it to the story and the char-acters' representations. Most of the time the tango is heard diegetically,thus falling into the category according to which it is more related to thecharacters and the diegetic action than the imaginary narrator. In theend, the tango (as music and dance) is used less as a musical metonymthan as a sonorous metaphor for the struggles between the two lovers.And, in this case, there is also the surprising use of Zappa's rock songs (notan obvious choice), which work as a contrast for the more culturally codedtango.

This pattern is indicative of Wong's dialectical relationship with genrecinema, as he is constantly raising certain traditional elements of well-known cinematic genres only to re-work and recreate them in an unex-pected fashion. By introducing familiar elements (music being one of themost easily recognizable of them) he raises the spectator's horizon ofexpectation only to deconstruct it soon afterward. just to give anotherexample, the score composed by Chan for his martial arts film Ashes ofTime is 'inspired by Ennio Morricone's compositions for the spaghetti west-ern, instead of the usual traditional Chinese score, supposedly to give it the"local flavor"' (Martinez 1997: 30).

As a result of these remarks, it would not be entirely appropriate to saythat Wong refuses the use of culturally or historically coded music, ormusic that caters to the so-called local flavor, but it would be best to saythat he uses this kind of music to create his own system of cultural refer-ences, one that is global rather than local. Musical selections such as theserepresent different cultural influences that, juxtaposed, demonstrate the

Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in the films of Wong Kar-wal 207

degree of heterogeneity of the references affecting the films, to the pointwhere they defy simple cultural labels. Therefore, even though the use ofLatin American songs might be historically authentic in a film like In TheMood for Love or Days of Being Wild, it does not represent the clich6 or thecultural code normally related to it but, rather, it represents Wong's owncreative vision of 'past-ness' as a stylistic creation. As these well-knownsongs signify different things for different cultures, Wong is actively estab-lishing relations that surpass national, cultural and generic borders.

ConclusionSo far, I have argued that the music in Wong's films has much moreimportant functions than to simply 'accompany' or 'illustrate' what isbeing represented on the screen. Traditionally, film music is employed toaid our immersion into the diegetic illusion by suggesting an emotionalatmosphere. Narratively, it bonds shot to shot, creates point of view andbuilds character's identities. Culturally, it provides information to the spec-tator and helps establish historical, ethnic and geographical settings.

Wong's use of film music seems to be situated in the middle of the dual-ity between the classical mode of film accompaniment and a modernapproach where music is no longer subjected to the image. While his useof instrumental non-diegetic music might be considered classical, it is alsoused to disrupt narrative progression and provide a different sense of tem-porality. While his use of popular songs might be considered commercial,it is also used to create an atmosphere of saturation where it is the musicthat sets the pace. And while his use of Latin music might be consideredethnically determined, it is also used to challenge and subvert our expecta-tions of cinematic genres. What should have become evident at this pointis that these characteristics are not mutually exclusive, since the musicaldiscourse in Wong's films can be at once modern and classical, commer-cial and experimental; after all, it creates both movement-images andtime-images. In fact, these dualities are only so in appearance, for actuallythey coexist in a structure where one does not signify without the other.

Works citedAbel, R. and Altman, R. (2001), The Sounds of Early Cinema, Bloomington: Indiana

University Press.Allinson, M. (2001), A Spanish Labyrinth: The Films of Pedro Almod6var, London:

Tauris.Anderson, B. R. 0. G. (1991), Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and

Spread of Nationalism, London, New York: Verso.Chion, M. (1994), Audio-vision: Sound on Screen, New York: Columbia University

Press.- (1995), La musique au cingma, Paris: Fayard.- (1999), The Voice in Cinema, New York: Columbia University Press.

Deleuze, G. (1983), L'image-mouvement: cin6ma 1, Paris: Les M•ditions de Minuit.- (1985), L'image-temps: cinima 2, Paris: Les Editions de Minuit.

Eisenstein, S. (1976), Lefilm: saforme, son sens, Paris: C. Bourgeois.

Eisler, H. and Adorno, T. W. (1971), Composing for the Films, Freeport, N.Y.: Booksfor Libraries Press.

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Gorbman, C. (1987), Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music, London, Bloomington:BFI Pub., Indiana University Press.

- (2006) 'Ears Wide Open: Kubrick's Music', in P. Powrie and R. J. Stilwell (eds),Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film, Aldershot, Burlington:Ashgate, pp. 3-18.

Jameson, F. (1991), Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Durham:Duke University Press.

Knight, A. and Wojcik, P. R. (2001), 'Overture', in A. Knight and P. R. Wojcik(eds), Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, Durham, London:Duke University Press, pp. 1-15.

Lalanne, J.-M. (2000), 'Changements A vue - Vingt ans de cin6ma et de clips',Cahiers du Cingma: Aux Frontieres du Cinima (hors-sdrie), pp. 62-63.

Martinez, D. (1997), 'Chasing the Metaphysical Express', in J.-M. Lalanne (ed.),Wong Kar-wai, Paris: Dis-Voir, pp. 29-38.

Mitry, J. (1997), The Aesthetics and Psychology of the Cinema, Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press.

Rodman, R. (2006), 'The Popular Song as Leitmotif in 1990s Film', in P. Powrieand R. J. Stilwell (eds), Changing Tunes: the Use of Pre-existing Music in Film,Aldershot, Burlington: Ashgate, pp. 119-136.

Vernier, J. M. (1986), 'L'Image Pulsation', Revue D'Estitique, n.10, pp. 129-134.

Films and music videos cited2046 (2004), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai. Hong Kong, China, France: Block

2 Pictures.

All that Heaven Allows (1955), Film. Directed by Douglas SIRK. USA: UniversalPictures.

An All-Consuming Love (Chang Xiang Si, 1946), Film. Directed by HE Zhaozhang.Hong Kong: Huaxing Film Co.

Ashes of Time (Dung che sai duk, 1994), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai.Hong Kong, China, Taiwan: Scholar Productions.

As Tears Go By (Wong gok ka moon, 1988), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai.Hong Kong.

Blade Runner (1982), Film. Directed by Ridley SCOTT. EUA: Warner Brothers.

Chungking Express (Chongqing senlin, 1994), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai.Hong Kong: jet Tone Production.

Days of Being Wild (A Fei jing juen, 1990), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai.Hong Kong: In-Gear Films.

Eclipse (L'Eclisse, 1962), Film. Directed by Michelangelo ANTONIONI. Italy: Cineriz.Eros (2004), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai, Michelangelo ANTONIONI, Steven

SODERBERGH. USA, Italy, Hong Kong: Roissy Films.

Fallen Angels (Duo luo tian shi, 1995), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai. HongKong: Jet Tone Production.

Halo (1997), Music Video. Directed by David MOULD.

Happy Together (Cheun gwong tsa sit, 1997), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wal. HongKong: Block 2 Pictures.

Imitation of Life (1959), Film. Directed by Douglas SIRK. EUA: Universal Pictures.

In the Mood for Love (Hua yang nian hua, 2000), Film. Directed by WONG Kar-wai.Hong Kong, France: Block 2 Pictures.

Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in the films of Wong Kar-wai 209

My Night At Maud's (Ma nuit chez Maud, 1969), Film. Directed by Eric ROHMER.France: FFD.

Six Days (2002), Music Video. Directed by WONG Kar-wai.

Yumeji (1991), Film. Directed by SUZUKI Seijun. Japan: Genjiro Amato Pictures.

Suggested citationde Carvalho, L. M. M. (2008), 'Memories of sound and light: musical discourse

in the films of Wong Kar-wai',Journal of Chinese Cinemas 2: 3, pp. 197-210,doi: 10.1386/jcc.2.3.197/1

Contributor detailsLudmila Moreira Macedo de Carvalho has a Masters Degree in Communicationand Contemporary Cultures from the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. She iscurrently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Montreal, Canada, where she isdeveloping her thesis on Wong's cinema, thanks to a grant from the CAPESFoundation from Brazil.

Contact: University of Montreal, Comparative Literature Department, PavillonLionel-Groulx, 3150 jean-Brillant, Montreal, QC, H3T 1N8, Canada.E-mail: lud2046@hotmail.com

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TITLE: Memories of sound and light: musical discourse in thefilms of Wong Kar-wai

SOURCE: J Chin Cinemas 2 no3 2008

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