Self-Representation and Hetero-Imagination of the Golden Triangle: A Comparative
Study on Narrative Patterns and Cultural Logicsin Indigenous Burmese and Hong
Kong Drug-Trafficking Cinema
Zou Yushuo¹
(1. Zou Yushuo Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi,China)
[Abstract] As a vital symbol of global cinematic borderlands and drug-related narratives, the Golden Triangle has been largely examined in existing scholarship for its otherized representation in Western and mainstream Chinese-language films, while indigenous Burmese audiovisual expressions have long been marginalized. Taking Burmese and Hong Kong drug-trafficking films as comparative samples, this paper conducts textual analysis across four dimensions — narrative perspective, characters, space and plot — drawing on post- colonial theory, film typology and narratology. It explores the divergences between the two regions’ narratives of the Golden Triangle and the underlying cultural logics. The study finds that Burmese films adopt an inward-looking trauma narrative, framing drugs as an endogenous wound of local society and centering on existential and ethical dilemmas. By contrast, Hong Kong films deploy a spectacular outward-looking narrative,constructing drugs as an external evil revolving around the conquest of order. The two bodies of work constitute a cultural confrontation between historicized self-representation and spectacular hetero-imagination, reflecting distinct socio- historical contexts and identity perceptions of the two locales. Adopting a cross-regional comparative perspective, this research enriches case studies for post- colonial film criticism, dismantles stereotyped imagery of the Golden Triangle, and offers a media- critical dimension for studying the dissemination of unequal global discourses.
[Keywords]post- colonial film criticism、cultural logics、comparative film studies、the Golden Triangle
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