%A Sebastian Nestler %T Minor Movies: On the Deterritorialising Power of Wong Kar-wai’s Works %0 Journal Article %D 2012 %J Front. Lit. Stud. China %J Frontiers of Literary Studies in China %@ 1673-7318 %R 10.3868/s010-001-012-0034-6 %P 582-597 %V 6 %N 4 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/flsc/EN/10.3868/s010-001-012-0034-6 %8 2012-12-05 %X

The article approaches Wong Kar-wai’s cinematic work using the notion of “minor literature” as coined by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Minor literature—or, in other words, minor language—signifies oppositional/resistant uses of a major/hegemonic language. It appropriates hegemonic language and deterritorialises it by re-signifying its original meanings. By transferring this concept from literature to cinema, we can describe Hong Kong cinema, which deterritorialises Hollywood cinema, as a minor cinema in relation to Hollywood. Following this interpretation, Wong Kar-wai’s movies appear as a “minor language of a minor cinema” because they are significantly different from Hong Kong’s mainstream action cinema. Consequently, Wong’s movies possess a high level of deterritorialising power, which opens up new spaces of meaning and gives voice to positions usually oppressed by mainstream cinema. Finally, a close reading of Wong’s movie Happy Together shows how “minor movies” challenge the mainstream’s unison and give space to a resistant and transforming polyphony.