Leslie Cheung & Hong Kong LGBT Cinema | Video Essay

I love your videos... this one in particular hit me because it's a very representative subject. thanks for exist🌞😊

this actually made me cry, i miss him so much :'(

I agree… real and fair representation can help stop stereotyping people

His passing will always be one of the greatest loss in HK's entertainment history... we love you Leslie!

how could you not mention Lan Yu?

"neither good nor evil".......nah, he is very bad. he's a narcissist. gotta work on those morales homie

its sad you think THAT is spousal abuse........

LOVE HIM! LEGEND!

❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️ 💕 💘 ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️ 💕 💘 ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️ 💕

Recently farewell my concubine was show in afs theaters in Austin texas of all places it was wonderful ❤️

Thank you such a perceptive presentation.

Now for this generation we Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook from BTS to set a good example in the eyes of diversity. They are loved world wide and will be remembered and regarded in the same way for years to come.

If only he could see what the world has become

I tell people about the story of Apple and Adam because man lies after biting on Apple and fot it stuck in the throat. That's where Adam's apple came from and it fits nicely with George Washington's Apple and sowing of seed and growing apple before finally reaping the rewards, hahaha 😂

Looks like a slant in the Western theological study 😂kinda obvious..

After watching farewell my concubine immediately looked up this guy, i coudn't believe he didn't get the oscar for it, immediately heart broken after finding out why his career is so short, what a shame, that movie is burnt in my head long after i watched it, more because i went with 0 expectations, i spontaneously chose one old china movie with good imdb score and went for it, hell of a ride, mr Cheung was double acting playing a character playing a character, and crushed it twice. Absolute legend.

I have a question about the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese film industry. I understand that the government does not allow explicit depictions of gay relationships in television shows. So is it still allowed in movies? Do movies have to be approved by censors also? Or can they have whatever they want in them? Thanks

LESLIE CHEUNG MY KING, TRUEST HERO OF ALL SOLDIERS.

metal illness

I always remembered him as the guy who died on April Fools. My mom said when his death was reported, people thought it was a joke as it was on April Fools day. I heard his songs growing up, but not much of his films as they were rated😅 but now i am starting to fully appreciate his impact in the hk film industry as well:)

Farewell my concubine was so epics and stand the test of time. It brought Chinese opera to the world main stream

And people blame China for American movies not having the representation they should And just put in a 2 second cameo that can be easily censored without effecting the rest of the movie

i'm a mess now 😭 viva Leslie

maybe he’s a spose to be a transman??

He was gay but you can't label his films "lgbt cinema." Its like saying the films of Rock Hudson and Cary Grant are lgbt cinema.
Gay cinema is about and for gay people. The only gay film by Leslie Cheung is Happy Together which was made by a straight male.

Last year I began this tradition for myself of watching a queer film for every day of Pride Month. Thank you so much for all the new recs. You should have heard the cheer I let out when I heard 'two bisexual women'. 😊😊

I’ve lived in hong kong all my life. It’s always irked me when people (mostly the older generation) would denounce LGBTQ+ representation, culture, and people (literal people!) all while reminiscing about the glory days of Hong Kong pop culture circa 1980s. My family has always liked Leslie Cheung’s music (most people over 40 do, here in Hong Kong) and as a teenager I was delighted to find that in one of his most iconic concert photos he was wearing a skirt — artistic expression and subversion of heteronormative expectations in the 90s! I thought it was great that my parents liked this artist, especially because I was closeted (still am).

And then the next day my mother fake-whispered to me on the street when we went past a man who was wearing makeup and baggy pants that look like a skirt (who was just minding his own damn business). I realised then that my parents accepted LGBTQ+ culture as just a tragic quirk of Leslie’s artistry (much like how some people see depression as the tragic quirk of Van Gogh’s artistry) that they can admire and lament from a comfortable distance away.

In case anyone wants to know about the state of LGBTQ+ rights in Hong Kong: to this day we have no marriage equality (the most recent judicial review was quashed in 2019), but things are getting better. In 2013, a trans woman fought for the right to marry her boyfriend and won, with the Court of Final Appeal (our highest court of the land) acknowledging the importance of protecting minority rights and letting the living constitution evolve. From around 2016 onwards, same-sex couples started getting more rights in terms of parental rights, visa, housing, spousal benefits for civil servants, etc. Don’t get me wrong, each right was fought for and won by the individuals who launched judicial reviews against government departments that excluded queer couples from their policy — our judicial system is almost the only hope for any sort of progressive change, but nevertheless things are changing. Just last month, the Court of Appeal ruled that trans people could change the gender on their ID without undergoing full sex reassignment surgery (greatly improving trans people’s access to gender-segregated spaces). These court cases never should have had to be brought in the first place, and the applicants never should have had to go through the physical and mental stress (not to mention undertaking the financial risk) of a court trial, but I’m glad they won — its a victory they so richly deserve.

As for the general social situation in Hong Kong. There’s still stigma, there’s still (mostly informal/verbal) discrimination. There’s still the expectation for you to “snap out of” your queer phase, find a nice (wo)man, and settle down. (There’s also the expectation to produce children, of course, but that’s a whole other can of worms.) But more and more people are becoming more accepting and celebratory of love. Apparently a recent survey, for the first time, showed majority support for marriage equality, with the younger generation being the most supportive. I see people freely holding hands on my university campus, sometimes. Those people dressing “unconventionally”, the boys wearing makeup and girls with a buzz cut my mother likes to scoff at and whisper about—they’re there. They exist.

April 2023 marks the twentieth year since Leslie’s suicide; they put up billboards commemorating his legacy near my home last week. I hope he’s somewhere kinder. I hope he’s proud of us.

LGBTQ is hollyweird propaganda

💚

Thank you. I was so in love with his character in the Eagle Shooting Heroes when I was a young girl that I felt sick. Didn’t know he was gay. Admired him more when I found out how ground breaking of an actor he was later on in my life sadly after he passed.

Great video, I knew nothing about Leslie Cheung or Hong Kong's LGBT cinema and now I'm going with some very interesting recommendations.
I screamed of excitement when you mentioned Happy Together happens in Argentina. As an argentinian, I think that's pretty cool!
Again, great video, thank you :)

Leslie is the best all rounded superstar in the history of mankind. The only perfect artist of all time. Really perfect as an artist and as a person🎉

Before kpop and kdrama there was mandopop...

a lot of love from 2023❤

OMG - this guy is Asian & he can't even pronouce Leslie's surname.
it's Cheuuuuung not Chan!

Leslie being a homosexual was kept quiet at first, but when he finally came out, I don’t feel that it stopped people from loving him. He was an icon and an incredible one at that. He not only sang, but he acted as well and was incredibly talented at both. He was such a bright star and his short life was so unfair. His suicide was one of the worst feelings that I had ever felt as a child. Rest in peace, Leslie. You are sorely missed. ❤❤❤

We r queer we r here

Go lesbian! Slayyyyyyy

Thanks for sharing the life of Leslie Cheung. I have never heard of him. Impressive life, yet a little sad that left us too early. Peace ! Paz !

Homeless, teenagers and all sort of people commits to suicide not a isolated to just LGBTQ

great video! i haven't watched any of the movies with Leslie Cheung but now I strive to do so.

Question why is it more acceptable show me movies that lgbtq relationships are acceptable, but in TV shows the restrictions are so tight. The only TV shows in the last couple of years that we're allowed to air were so heavily censored that the relationship was little more than a brromance and you had to read between the lines were word of Honor and the Untamed. Due to the toxic fan base of the actors scandals that they created because of it crackdown on lgbtq characters is even worse to the point that anything that might have aired is now in limbo.

His role in Farewell My Concubine really made me cry. The acting was both marvelous and painful. It was too heartbreaking for me to watch more than three times😢

cant believe out of all the videos you made, this is the one who got struck with a copystrike filter, the bots are definitely anti lgbt, the very thing they swore to destroy! /j

Happy Together wasn’t just a great LGBT movie ahead of its time. It is great cinematography period. ❤

Why did never get an update on this video?!?!?!?! A year late!!! OMG - But better late than never. Leslie Chung was my absolute fave actor. His gaze was captivating and his talent was electric. I remember watching Farewell my Concubine when I was quite young and I remember this weird pulling feeling in my chest as I watched it. As if I was drawn to take a seat in their theatre and peek behind the curtains backstage. I walked away from that movie changed. Not only was his performance soul changing, but also FmC made restored my faith in contemporary story telling in Asian Cinema (I was stuck watching a lot of rehashed Hong Kong action movies).
His death really affected me and it made me not want to watch art-house Asian movies because I felt that no one could match his talent in the genre generally (I watched Happy Together about a year after he died and I cried throughout the entire movie - I almost didn't want to see his face in film again)

My Favourite actor.