LITERATURE AND THE CITY

             In The Metropolis and Mental Life, Georg Simmel established significant ways for us to read the city, one of them being the notion of the blasé outlook. According to Simmel, it refers to the incapacity of individuals to react to external stimulations due to exhaustion of the nerves (14). Written in early 20th century, the blasé theory remains closely relevant to the modern day. However, when put into the present context, some inadequacies of the theory surface. Firstly, Simmel presumes that the blasé outlook can shelter and protect individuals. However, political, social or economical circumstances in society may burst the blasé outlook of individuals. Secondly, Simmel emphasizes the protection and independence that blasé outlook provides individuals, in order to fight against the external society. By that, he positions the urban city in oppose to individuals. The film “Ten Years” shows such positioning as problematic, by offering an alternative interpretation of the city. It views the city as a collective mass made up by individuals. Hence, the blasé outlook distances citizens and tears society apart. It brings dangerous consequences to society, such as social injustice and political instability. In the film, the blasé outlook not only fails to protect individuals, but also victimizes society, and ultimately individuals.

             The blasé outlook is not universal, but subject to social circumstances. “The metropolitan type… creates a protective organ for itself against the profound disruption with which the fluctuations and discontinuities of the external milieu threaten it” (12). By using the word “organ”, Simmel indicates that the employment of the blasé outlook is a natural, possibly unconscious, reaction of all city dwellers against society. However, the collective term of “the metropolitan type” undermines the complexity of social classes that make up society. The film exposes the pre-requisites and constraints of employing the blasé outlook, which are largely determined by the money economy. It corresponds to Simmel’s idea that the money economy in metropolis reduces the intrinsic values of things (12). He explains that the emphasis on commercial activities prompts people to regard the distinctions of things as meaningless. When money economy becomes the dominating scale that measure human worth, the working class suffers from the lack of monetary value and bargaining power. The film points out that with the backdrop of money economy, employing a blasé outlook puts the working class in danger. They fail to acknowledge that external circumstances, like political reforms, can directly affect their livelihood. Hence, they turn a blind eye to potential dangers, until their interests are severely harmed. In the end, the blasé attitude is maintained at the cost of job security or life. Therefore, the blasé attitude makes the less privileged in society even more vulnerable.

              The money economy threatens individuals in the working class who employ the blasé outlook. In “Dialect”, the inability to speak Mandarin devalues the Taxi driver in society, after the dialect replaces Cantonese as the official language of Hong Kong. He encounters minor problems communicating with his son, who speaks Mandarin. However, he fails to notice that is a thread leading to larger problems. Instead, he employs a blasé outlook and regards the change of dialect irrelevant. In many scenes, close-up shots display the calm and undisturbed face of the driver. While diegetic sounds of the radio announces news on dialect change in a loop. The contrast between the intense reporting and relaxed facial expression foreshadows the driver’s destined victimization. The section ends with the driver being penalized by the police, because of dialect-related issues. It symbolizes the marginalization and discrimination he suffers in the job market. In the Taxi driver’s case, employing a blasé outlook blunts his sensitivity and awareness towards potential crisis. Gradually without him noticing, the dialect problem extends beyond the private sphere, and ceases to be only a communication barrier between father and son. The driver suffers in the public sphere as well, where his source of income is jeopardized. It is at this moment, where he can no longer disregard social changes. The driver’s case proves that the feeling of content that the blasé outlook offers is only an illusion and self-deception. In reality, the blasé outlook is an obstacle that discourages one to address pressing matters. The plot development illustrates the boiling frog anecdote, and reveals the shortcomings of the blasé outlook in the money economy.

             Apart from financial insecurity, the film suggests that homelessness is another social factor that forbids the employment of the blasé attitude. Alike the threated source of income that affects people’s livelihood, the shelter of home is equally significant. That is because the loss of home means the loss of self-identity and control simultaneously. The theme of homelessness is introduced in the opening of “Season of the End”, where news reporting provides the context, informing audience that houses are torn down by bulldozers. The medium of news reporting creates distance between audience and characters, setting the tone of apathy and melancholy. Audience can only see the city from afar, which looks foreign and unfamiliar. This identifies with the protagonists’ view of Hong Kong, displayed through the camera lens. Hong Kong appears uncanny, because rapid changes and constant demolitions transform the city into an estranged place to its habitats. Visually, there are many still shots capturing empty and ruined urban spaces. They convey a sense of emptiness and loss. The eerie and ghostly atmosphere is coherent throughout, created by dim lighting and shadows. It is further reinforced by the use of silence and low-tone background music. People lose sight of a city they know, and more intimately, their home. There are recurring images of hostels and hotels. Contrasting with the concept of home, the themed environment of hotels symbolizes chargeability and momentariness. They are shelters that do not foster long-term belonging. The substitution of hotels represents the lost sense of belonging and the inability to take control. The turn happens when the male protagonist decides to turn himself into taxidermy. The extreme reaction is prompted by homelessness, and it indicates the complete dismissal of the blasé outlook. The action not only represents the desire to gain back control, but also a resistance and rebellion. This example shows that extreme social conditions, like homelessness, crumble the self-identity of individuals. As a result, they are prompted to react in the polar opposite of the blasé outlook. The horror encoded in the human specimen reflects that, external factors are powerful enough to destroy the protection of the blasé outlook.

             The blasé outlook lacks the ability to protect individuals, and also society. Unlike Simmel, who positions individuals in oppose to society, “Ten Years” offers another interpretation of what society means. Simmel argues that the biggest challenge is “the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society… (11)” He portrays the power struggle between society and individuals, where the latter is inferior and oppressed. This triggers his whole notion of the blasé attitude, developed to protect and empower individuals. While in the film, society is viewed not as a destructive giant, but a collective made up by individuals. Therefore, the blasé outlook may protect individuals, but society suffers, which means ultimately, individuals suffer. “Ten Years” incorporates a warning to individuals who hold the blasé attitude. The male protagonist in “Season of the End”, who turns himself into a human specimen, exclaims, “They [the public] won’t understand if we don't push the boundaries to the maximum!” His actions parallel the production of “Ten Years”. Its extreme plots and exaggerated pessimistic imagining of Hong Kong are meant to inflict discomfort and stir up controversies, prompting audience to reconsider the notion of the blasé outlook. The film is a timely reminder to reconnect citizens to society and each other through heated discussions. It emphasizes the inseparable entities of individuals and society. By employing a blasé outlook, one regards everything as homogeneous and unworthy of attention. Hence, it detains social engagements of individuals and delay improvements and perfection in society. In the end, as no one cares for society, the blasé outlook brings disastrous consequences that murder the city and its inhabitants.

             “Ten Years” articulates the political dangers of the blasé outlook, and the power of the individual to remedy the situation through socio-political engagements. All five sections of the film ridicule unreasonable government policies that inflame the public. At the same time, they portray five ways where individuals shed the blasé outlook and attempt to resolve social problems. The biggest sacrifice is made in “Self-immolator”. The clip starts with a panoramic view of skyscrapers, emerged in thick mist. The setting changes into a street demonstration, where the mist is replaced by tear gas. Both scenes are gloomy and dim, foreboding the bleak political situation of the city. With this backdrop of political instability, a character emerges. The plot centers a self-immolator in front of the British General Consulate. As the figure burns in front of the Consulate, the camera lens captures the intimate bond between an individual and society. The act of self-immolating is a sacrifice done out of selflessness, pleading for a better future for the city and all citizens. If the blasé outlook is on one end, the self-immolator is on another extreme. Through the character of the self-immolator, the film provides an example of how individual act in and relate to society, in alternate to employing the blasé outlook.

             To conclude, “Ten Years” problematizes Simmel’s blasé outlook by revealing the dangers it brings. Developing on top of Simmel’s theory, the film explores the limitations of the blasé outlook in protecting individuals, and explores alternative relationship and means of interaction between individuals and the city. It prompts Hong Kong citizens to rethink the blasé outlook. To a certain extent, the film as a cultural product shatters the blasé outlook of audience, because it stirs infinite discussions in Hong Kong regarding its socio-political problems. Lifting the issue to an international scale, the shortcomings of the blasé outlook are witnessed in different places as well. Social and political circumstances like warfare destroys the protection constructed by the blasé outlook, and destruct the livelihood of individuals. In society, indifference and distance among individuals cause discrimination, injustice and sufferings, tearing societies apart. In the end, the blasé outlook encounters many difficulties in providing protection and security to metropolis citizens.