Besieged brotherhood and the transformation of triad traditions : the Hong Kong triad genre as an allegorical critique of plutocratic hypocrisy

Abstract

This thesis examines the Hong Kong Triad genre as an allegorical critique of plutocratic hypocrisy in Hong Kong society. The genre subverts three myths of Hong Kong: the myth of the rule of law, the myth of representative democracy, and the myth of upward mobility. Triad films frame their critique of these myths through representations of an egalitarian ideal of brotherhood that is increasingly under threat of being lost. So far, this loss of traditional Triad ideals has been interpreted primarily in light of a political and economic encroachment of the People’s Republic of China on the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. However, this thesis argues that Triad films offer internal critiques of Hong Kong’s plutocratic society and politics instead. Since the protagonists of Hong Kong Triad films are primarily working-class men, the genre gives a voice to these underprivileged members of society who are expendable in ostensible meritocratic Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Triad genre explores brotherhood as an alternative form of societal belonging for these men. While some Hong Kong Triad films locate the continued existence of an ideal version of brotherhood either in like-minded individuals banding together, or in a mythical Chinese past, the most critical films represent this ideal as another Hong Kong myth, one that is made impossible through the permeation of plutocratic hypocrisy through all sectors of Hong Kong society.