Arts , Humanities & Social Science

Abstract

The research aims at showing that even a light romantic comedy film like a 2007 Hong Kong film entitled Hooked on You (每當變幻時) is found to have broken the damsel in distress convention normally used in romantic comedy films. The disregarding of the convention is depicted through the practice of Confucianism, as implicitly portrayed through the main characters in the film.

This research focuses on the female protagonist of the film whose name is Miu. She is said to be a leftover woman or sheng nü because of her being single despite being 30s. Throughout the film, she endeavors trying to the find her ‘prince’ to complete her Yang element, which is owned by men. Confucianism teaches that women possess Yin elements and they need men to complete her Yang elements so that there will be a balance of Yin-Yang in line with the Confucianism cosmology.

The research applies the teachings of Confucianism specifically in relation to men and women and the damsel in distress along with Charles Sanders Pierce’s division of signs consisting of icons, indexes and symbols to analyse the necessary scenes.The research finds out that Miu chooses not to follow the damsel in distress convention and not complete her Yang elements in accordance with Confucianism. The female protagonist decides to be single and let her Yang element remain incomplete at the end of the film. This is rare in a romantic comedy Hong Kong film and makes the female protagonist and the film Hooked on You worth analysing.