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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
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