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โครงการรวบรวมและจัดทําวารสารอิเล็กทรอนิกส์ มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์
วารสารมนุษยศาสตร์ ปีที่ 22 ฉบับที่ 2 (กรกฎาคม-ธันวาคม 2558) 237
One of the three stories is about a young soldier, Jonathan. The film
focuses on his rites de passage into manhood. The young soldier seems to be
the only character that has a clear purpose in the film. Later, Jonathan finally
finds his sex mate, a girl from Mainland China. Xue Er is represented as having
more sexual experience than Jonathan. The representation of Xue Er’s experience
advancement is contrary to the masculinity of Asian male as a leader, if not
males in general. We have seen that eroticism is part of reality, an essential
element of art cinema, since eroticism violates the code of the classical norm.
Erotic scenes between Jonathan and Xue Er thus add realism to the film.
In the film, a young man Chris (played by Ananda Everingham) follows
a pair of mother and daughter prostitutes around in a meaningless way. Chris is
projected as an outsider English speaker who speaks English only. The trio is
therefore having a problem with communications. Hence their conversations
convey limited dialogue. The limitation of communication and the alienation of
Chris are parts of art cinema narrative (Bordwell, 2002: 96). Like the Sabaidee
Film, adding another language into the film is also resonance of transnationalism.
Considering the world market, using English and Chinese languages in the film
would exhibit the film to larger groups of audience.
During the disoriented narrative of the three stories, the director
inconsistently adds documentary style such as interviewing Xue Er and other
characters. In the interview footage, these characters talk about themselves
looking at the camera. As Bordwell explains, characters of art cinema always
tell the story of themselves through an account of their childhood, fantasies and
dreams. The use of documentary style like interview shots emphasizes the
director’s intention to insert more reality to the narrative.
In Singapore where nudity and excessive profanity are removed from a
number of media, the making and releasing of Pleasure Factory revealed the