MovieChat Forums > Chun gwong ja sit (1997) Discussion > Was Chang gay?

Was Chang gay?

posted 19 years ago by Shootingblanks
25 replies | jump to latest

I just saw Happy Together.
And I thought the subplot between Tony and Chang was very intriguing. It raises a lot of questions about male-to-male relationships (notice I don't say gay relationships). And I thought it was masterwork on the part of WKW. And I'm very glad he touched on this subject and left Chang's sexuality for the most part ambigious. There are "clues" (quote on quote) about his orientation, but sexual preference isn't what makes this relationship here, I think. Actually, honestly, I don't know what to think really. The movie is haunting for the most part.

Basically, I'm just asking for any insight, ideas, reactions to the relationship between Chang and Tony.

[–] jkeskobar 19 years ago

I think he does. I love Tony and Chang together, because Tony does would be happy with him. I want to think they will meet again and stay together forever.

Joseklo (Spain)

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] QueenNadine 19 years ago

Not sure if he was; his attraction to your man is something that can be interpreted in several ways I guess.

However, the fact that Lai Yiu-Fai and Ho Po-Wing happen to be gay shouldn't be looked at as a key element to understanding the film, or a category to fit it into; it was really intended as a view on love, people and their relationships. The characters' problems don't derive from their sexual orientation but from the fact that they are the people they are (e.g. they aren't beaten up or harassed because they're gay- they don't need those problems to be unhappy.)

Just my 2 European cents on that! :)

Nadine :)

[–] Lu_tz 19 years ago

I think Chang is straight. There are those scenes where he talks about "what kind of woman do you like". There is also the hug scene where it is implicated that Chang understands Tony has feelings for him. The movie really explores the kind of relationships different men have with each other. Like Tony playing ball with the men in the street.

[–] Garmonbozia8 10 years ago

I think Chang is straight. There are those scenes where he talks about "what kind of woman do you like".

Did you forget how he rejects the cute girl who asks him out on a date? Or the fact he says he's attracted to "deep voices?" Those were very big clues imo that stick out like a sore thumb. There's also the way he picks up the phone after Fai puts it down, in order to see who he's always talking to. That kind of curiosity was also suspicious, and you can see the suspicion on Fai's face. And as someone else pointed out: "Chang went to Buenos Aires looking for Fai and Fai went to Taiwan looking for Chang." Then the biggest clue is Fai confessing to Po that he's been having sex with someone.

"Whether I left society or it me I cannot say. I suppose you could make an argument for both sides."

[–] sweet_nuthin 18 years ago

it was really intended as a view on love, people and their relationships. The characters' problems don't derive from their sexual orientation but from the fact that they are the people they are

Absolutely agree.
Chang's sexuality is not that relevant...

Have a nice day.

[–] nyxzt 16 years ago

However, the fact that Lai Yiu-Fai and Ho Po-Wing happen to be gay shouldn't be looked at as a key element to understanding the film, or a category to fit it into; it was really intended as a view on love, people and their relationships. The characters' problems don't derive from their sexual orientation but from the fact that they are the people they are (e.g. they aren't beaten up or harassed because they're gay- they don't need those problems to be unhappy.)

You make some good points and what you say is half true, but it is somewhat important because there are generally different dynamics to a male-male relationship than with a male-female relationship (or a female-female relationship). The film would be quite different if you just decided to replace one of the three characters with a woman.

Some velvet morning when I'm straight...

[–] PrivateBozz (156) 8 years ago

--it was really intended as a view on love, people and their relationships. The characters' problems don't derive from their sexual orientation but from the fact that they are the people they are--
That's what it all comes down to imo. It's just so extremely and universally human, all the feelings, the destructive and the uplifting, the tender, the conflicting, the chaotic... It's overwhelming.

[–] foxlookmoon 19 years ago

yes. Chang is a gay in real life.

[–] al_baby 19 years ago

i dont think the original poster meant in real life...

but whether or not chang was gay in practice, i think it was fairly obvious that he had strong feelings for tony's character, right from his introduction.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] jazinegrrrl 18 years ago

I feel Chang was not gay. He was very insightful and could feel other people's emotions by listening to them. He felt Lai's pain acutely, I don't think this means he was in love with him, at least not in a romantic, sexual way. I think he cared for him very deeply as a beloved friend.

[–] sighman3 18 years ago

It was of the most haunting things about the film and it reflects a situation I think happens a lot in real life, when people have a deep connection, but it's hard to define if it's sexual or not.

As a gay man, it's someething I've experienced with staigt guys quite a bit.

I don't think you can really tell whether Chan is gay. bi or straigt. I like the ambiguity, I think it's great!

it would be cool, however, if those two met up again and fell in love!

[–] vladkeren44 18 years ago

I think it would be most likely he is bi. If people say it is ambiguous and a bit confusing but he does have an attraction to Tony but not indefinitely gay then I would assume bi.

[–] dgullone 18 years ago

I really don't think his sexuality is needed to be known. It's ambiguous.

I did read (below) that there were some cut scenes that Chang met a woman and paints her phone number on the lighthouse, but never calls her. Here's the entire quote below. I'm glad this "girlfriend" wasn't introduced.

The scene where Chen says goodbye to Lai. Lai says he can hear his heart beat. He can love again and Chen showed him that. Its a huge part of the film and a new beginning for Lai.

Chang Chen
"There was no rehearsal in the shooting of WKW's film. Christopher Doyle just suggested me motions and nothing more. It's kind of a dangerous way. There was no explanation about the structure or stories.(...)My character is interesting because he has a courage to go out to the world though he doesn't speak english. In the original story, I get into a girl but part with her before going to the end of the world. I leave her telephone number at the lighthouse and never call on her. But I don't know the final edition. I'm so scared to see it on the official screen today because I got nervous in the shooting and couldn't satisfy the expectations of the director."

"Happy Together," Cinema Junpo, Sep. 1997, No.1234, p.44.

Here's the link:

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/baht/index2_e.html

[–] Aulic Exclusiva 18 years ago

Chang's sexuality is ultimately important because, who knows, Fai's happiness may eventually depend on it.

I feel that possibility was left ambiguous on purpose, because the director wanted the viewer to concentrate, for now, on the very special friendship that Chang was capable of.

That Chang talks about what kind of woman's voice he likes means nothing—he brings this up in order to draw Fai out on the subject...without success.

Chang goes to Ushuaia, to the very phallic-looking Light House at The End of The World, in order to "unload Fai's unhappiness", and has himself photographed there. As if guided by fate, Fai steals this picture from Chang's parents all the way off in faraway Taipei, where he's gone...looking for Chang.

...It's as if Chang's photograph at the light house were a "Certificate of Unhappiness Unloaded". Fai says, in a first opening to happiness: "if I want to see Chang, I know where to find him".

The possibility is there, open, waiting, alive.

The scenes where Fai cries into Chang's tape recorder and then the one where they embrace before Chang goes South are among the most beautiful in the film.

There is obvious love between Chang and Fai, but Fai cannot (yet) give room to it, because, as of now, his soul belongs ineradicably to someone else. Someone else who cries for him when he is absent, but cannot make him happy when he's there.

What a beautiful, truthful film.

If the Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard, It can also be like a chicken-pox mark.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ctizon 17 years ago

Woahh....I haven't watched this movie in so long but just reading this thread makes me want to again!

Beautifulll movie!

Lalalala

[–] jenita111 16 years ago

*Someone else who cries for him when he is absent, but cannot make him happy when he's there. *

it's beautiful Aulic Exclusiva..
*cries*

[–] zcid47 16 years ago

"Chang's sexuality is ultimately important because, who knows, Fai's happiness may eventually depend on it."

i agree with that ..if Chang wasn't gay, Fai wouldn't be able to have the happy ending he deserved ..it seemed ambiguous because they never kissed or anything like that and that was because their connection was deeper it wasn't based in sexual attraction (like Ho Ping) ..also at the ending was suggested that they loved each other, Chang went to Buenos Aires looking for Fai and Fai went to Taiwan looking for Chang

i think too that Ho Ping never loved Fai ..at the ending he was crying when Fai left just because he felt completely alone

.

[–] mariana-cirne 14 years ago

"The scenes where Fai cries into Chang's tape recorder and then the one where they embrace before Chang goes South are among the most beautiful in the film."

These are my two favourite scenes - in a film that is basically a collection of breathtakingly beautiful scenes.

Their embrace is just perfect. The scene at first looks like a set up for one of those awkward handshake moments with an obvious I-want-to-hug-you-but-won't undertone, and even so, when the hug happens you feel it was inevitable to begin with. I'm not sure I'm making sense here, but every detail of how that scene was shot amazes me. The hug is intense but not dramatic, subdued but not repressed, and Fai's words in the voice-over have so many layers of meaning - his feelings for Chang, his mirroring of Chang's idea of seeing by listening, the moment when he finally makes the transition from hopeless to hopeful.

So simple and so powerful.

As for Chang being gay, I think it's heavily implied that he's at least bi. He certainly has strong feelings for Fai.

(This is one of my top five films, and Fai is probably my favourite film character ever.)

[–] JoeLon 13 years ago

Doesn't Chang know that Lai is gay because of the time he talks on the phone with Ho? (The tension afterwards is quite well done: you can tell Lai is worried that he will be outed at work and it will have repercussions, and you can see Chang isn't quite comfortable either.) If the two are potential lovers, why doesn't Chang broach the subject?

[–] Garmonbozia8 10 years ago

Doesn't Chang know that Lai is gay because of the time he talks on the phone with Ho? (The tension afterwards is quite well done: you can tell Lai is worried that he will be outed at work and it will have repercussions, and you can see Chang isn't quite comfortable either.) If the two are potential lovers, why doesn't Chang broach the subject?

But the real question is why did Chang "pry" on his phone call? Why is he so interested in who he is talking to? And why, after that phone call, did their relationship start to deepen? Why did Chang want a recording of Fai's voice (especially after admitting he's attracted to deep voices)? I think all these things reveal quite clearly that Chang has feelings for Fai, especially when he came back to Buenos Aires looking for him. And the seal on the deal is Fai confessing to Po that he's having sex with someone else.

"Whether I left society or it me I cannot say. I suppose you could make an argument for both sides."

[–] DesertScenario (6) 2 years ago

The scenes in the street playing soccer, where Chang is physically playful with Fai, are somewhat obscured by the sunlight. I can't say for sure why the director chose that approach, making difficult to discern what was going on between the two friends. That was one of several examples showing how Chang was drawn to Fai, and at least cared about him to the point of affection. After my third watch of this movie I did come away with the idea that Chang was gay, and if not gay then at least a symbol of how two people can be happy together.