Mapping the production of space in Pang Ho-cheung's Love in a puff and Love in the buff

Abstract

Drawing from Michel de Certeau’s notion of the production of space as a practice, this dissertation examines the production of space in Pang Ho-Cheung’s Love in a Puff (2010) and Love in the Buff (2012) in three aspects: 1) smoking in daily life, 2) Hong Kong-mainland co-productions in the film industry, and 3) the affective space produced in “non-place.” First, in Love in a Puff, the spatial practice of smokers smoking in back alleys produces a space for them to deflect the power of Hong Kong’s Smoking Ordinance, which can be interpreted as a form of victory of ordinary people over an oppressive system. This mode of resistance can be read allegorically as a tactic of Hong Kong filmmakers working in the space of co-production between Hong Kong and Mainland China, as illustrated by an analysis of the film Love in the Buff. Third, both films are set in globalized urban cities that are full of “non-places” of consumption and transportation. This “non-place”ful space of ambivalence and detachment is in juxtaposition with the protagonists’ practice to develop relationships, generate emotions and resolve their interpersonal problems. Space production opens up alternative ways to understand the world and our daily life. This dissertation attempts to offer an interpretation of the two films in light of de Certeau’s spatial theories.