The "Video Game Image" in Yi Yi

When the film recreates Fatty's murder of the English teacher as a video game (modeled after games such as the Streetfighter series), it should remind the viewer of Ota's (the Japanese game designer) first speech. He says that, "we haven't moved beyond violent and killing games not because we don't understand computers, but because we don't understand ourselves [i.e. human nature]." Fatty does not have enough understanding of or control over his emotions, so he becomes violent, like in a videogame. Don't think that the movie is making a simplistic argument that video games cause violence; it's clear that Ota thinks that video games reflect our violent impulses.

It's fine to laugh at this scene, and it is impressive that Fatty managed an 18 hit combo, but also note that it is visually common in Taiwan to recreate real-life violence with cartoons. In issues of "Apple" newspaper, for example, most stories are about violence or sexual exploitation. Usually the newspaper article will show a picture of the victim or a crimes scene, and then the newspaper will provide a cartoon recreation of the crime. (Example: if there was a car accident, we might see a real picture of the victim and some cartoon pictures showing the victim getting hit by the car.) So the video game image of Fatty killing the English teacher is also a reference to the use of cartoon images in tabloid reporting. Update: With the popularity of Taiwanese news animation (the Tiger Woods animation and the Tea Party animation are Youtube phenomena), we see how ahead of his time Yang is in noticing how we use video representations for baser interests.

Here's the Youtube link for the Tiger saga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfVB9kA5QQ


Note that we learn of Fatty's murder through the news. The news is sensationalized: it gives us all the details about violence and sex. The movie shows us that there is much more to life and love than that. Why doesn't the movie have Ting-Ting or the audience learn about the murder in a different way? (For examples, the cops or a friend could tell her.)