I believe the director's purpose in making this film was to portray a satire on the commercial capitalist culturein particular, how Western capitalism has invaded modern China in ridiculous proportions. To heighten the stories theme, the director juxtaposes a variety of concepts that contradict each other to help demonstrate the clash between both Western and Eastern worlds.
After the uninspired and disillusioned film director Don Tyler suffers a health break down and slips into a coma, his documentary cameraman, Yo-Yo, arranges a comedy funeral at his request. The arrangement of this funeral presents one of the first contradictory concepts into the story. When one considers a funeral, comedy is usually the last thing they think of. However, the idea behind this particular funeral seems to suggest a commentary on how even a celebrity's death (particularly an American celebrity) can be changed into an insatiable money-market hoax. It seemed to be poking fun at how far venture-capitalists will go in creating their fortune castles of greed, corruption and indolenceeven if it be at the cost of disrespecting the dead.
The funeral is orchestrated with the help from a blonde Chinese concert promoter who turns to product placement to help fund the funeral. Quick camera edits and pans are used to help create an MTV-type feel of the mergence of both West and East worlds colliding together. The color scheme throughout the film (particularly in the preparations for the funeral hall) is vibrant and full of celebrity flash. The element of production design also helps demonstrate the stories theme when each major-world corporation claims their portion of space at the funeral to post their product; even to the point where the body itself is tagged with absurd promotions and sponsorships.
Another idea of concept juxtaposition is the language barriers that exist between Tyler who doesn't speak very good Chinese, and Yo-Yo who doesn't speak very good English. Despite this segregated barrier, both are actually quite fond of each other and demonstrate their love in affectionate ways. The director seemed to be showing that despite the perverse nature of corporate greed on national levels, there does however exist diverse individuals on personal levels that transcend the corporate corruptions and focus on what people live forhuman love and friendships. This idea helped merge both Western and Eastern worlds into an understated, yet still apparent, mode of commonality.
After the uninspired and disillusioned film director Don Tyler suffers a health break down and slips into a coma, his documentary cameraman, Yo-Yo, arranges a comedy funeral at his request. The arrangement of this funeral presents one of the first contradictory concepts into the story. When one considers a funeral, comedy is usually the last thing they think of. However, the idea behind this particular funeral seems to suggest a commentary on how even a celebrity's death (particularly an American celebrity) can be changed into an insatiable money-market hoax. It seemed to be poking fun at how far venture-capitalists will go in creating their fortune castles of greed, corruption and indolenceeven if it be at the cost of disrespecting the dead.
The funeral is orchestrated with the help from a blonde Chinese concert promoter who turns to product placement to help fund the funeral. Quick camera edits and pans are used to help create an MTV-type feel of the mergence of both West and East worlds colliding together. The color scheme throughout the film (particularly in the preparations for the funeral hall) is vibrant and full of celebrity flash. The element of production design also helps demonstrate the stories theme when each major-world corporation claims their portion of space at the funeral to post their product; even to the point where the body itself is tagged with absurd promotions and sponsorships.
Another idea of concept juxtaposition is the language barriers that exist between Tyler who doesn't speak very good Chinese, and Yo-Yo who doesn't speak very good English. Despite this segregated barrier, both are actually quite fond of each other and demonstrate their love in affectionate ways. The director seemed to be showing that despite the perverse nature of corporate greed on national levels, there does however exist diverse individuals on personal levels that transcend the corporate corruptions and focus on what people live forhuman love and friendships. This idea helped merge both Western and Eastern worlds into an understated, yet still apparent, mode of commonality.