Separation from his sick mother brings Ah Niu (Ye Feng) to Hong Kong with hopes of achieving the “yeti” with encouragement from village roadside expert Wang Sha (Big Uncle). Ah Niu launches out to accomplish his aspirations that comprise of earning, remitting fees to settle overseas and owning real estate to become self-sufficient; all these tasks are accompanied with intelligent soundtracks. The dream of Ah Niu was realized at last, but only after hong kong’s industrial era. And every time Amlim Niu and Wang Sha allied against gambling, they still lured constant dissolution. Instead, Niu and Wang worked endlessly at their Hong Kong premise, finally surrendering to them in the first place, being dry without money.
In a lawless world of robbers and cops and commotions, Niu’s honesty earns him the affection of a girl named Ah Hua (Ai Ti) but also carries him to hilarious situations that always end in him being chased down by either a cop or a thug. Regardless of his many attempts to make an effort in blending in, Ah Niu could never be able to fully understand city people. For him, a city lifestyle means being honest as instructed by his mother, to always hold his prayers in his heart, keep his mouth shut, never disrespect his uncle and obey. To make matters worse, Niu does not even know that his uncle is in fact a con artist and a scammer who seeks to take advantage of him.
The first film of the series that began in 1974 was well received helping to set the premise for the next three sequels, this is now considered as a classic comedic work of Wang Sha and Ye Feng. A Niu’s portrayal of a naïve and goofy country boy coming to a big city is more than just a comedic element, it is symbolic of hong Kong and Singapore’s pursuit of becoming the perfect city-state in the 1970s. When Wang Sha and Ye Feng made a move from Singapore’s decaying film industry to Hong Kong, they encountered an otherwise familiar situation, city-states trying to carve a place for themselves in the world economy that was already heavily populated and colonized.
Starting from the 1960s, in light of HK’s industrial expansion and Singapore’s new found liberty, its citizens delved into an opportunity to transform into metropolitan citizens. One reform after the other was implemented, this type of narrative fueled a metanarrative of sorts where in the future everyone would make the same system their goal, striving towards maximizing wealth, productivity and efficiency. 20 years later, they were put into a situation where growing up was the single option.
The change in the city of the village boy shows that it is full of wonders that cannot be easily understood by this boy and why denying life codes which tell us to be morally upright such as basic values of being truthful, suppressing negativity and respecting one’s uncle no longer apply. (For instance, the exhibition guide further elaborated on the Hong Kong and Singapore ideals of being consumerist and shows how the curator Yeoh uses humor that is automobile of regions to demonstrate same through the use of political ‘absurd’ and ‘excesses’ ).
In what seems to be tampered with or simply put slapstick humor, what is a social rite to Ah Niu and of a sort becomes watching thefts over and over again To be his practice of savagery. During his first encounter with a theft, he rushes to the police and accuses the thieves out loud, and as a result he is beaten by the robbers. The next theft that he tries to put a few things into perspective after suffering through it once: he change the entire incident but refuses to tell anything, so irritated the police officer has him arrested and after some time plus beatings let him go. It has been established in the comedy that the ancient Romanians are Ah Niu, whose social sense is deficient. He captures things far beyond him so to speak to him, he isn’t exposed as it were to negative aspects and this naive side of his never awakens.
This shortfall of Ah Niu’s self-awareness can this be viewed as being simple, or as closer to sophistication, respectable social manipulation. However, while this may place Ah Niu in an admirable moral aspect, it is still bothersome that he is rather dimwitted.
Apart from the films, Wang Sha, and Ye Feng’s interviews, vintage posters and memorabilia are on display for free at the Oldham Theatre’s foyer.
Just as cinema takes us back to dreams, and comedy provides relief, “The Crazy Bumpkins”, and also its follow up yearn for innocence lost. Ah Niu’s socially clueless nature, his overly dramatized walk and his stammer serve as a ‘child like’ perception of the society during (and such as an archetype noticed in figures such as Chaplin’s tramp and Mr. Bean who are now justifiably deemed ableist). The child’s clean and unsullied view of the world is a substitute for old Hong Kong and its people ‘country values’ like filial piety, hardship and modesty which gradates of the money seeking and cold hearted city are supposed to vanish.
These are all the values which he Big Uncle apparently wanting to embed in the city and perhaps already having done that, pretends to be ashamed of, although it is also difficult to refute that his entertaining activities of delinquency where he disguises as a wrestling referee or as an irritated rejected husband do actually disturb the moral beauty of Ah Niu’s images honesty and good nature. Big Uncle the con artist organizes and then fleshes his gags in such an over-the-top theatrical style that we owe it to them respect. When repeated episodes of Ah Niu’s bluntness and meekness become humdrum, the fascinating spectacles of his uncle restore our faith in wit and riches.
The honest village bumpkin and heartless city dweller complex overlooks the fact Ah Niu socialized is no longer “special.” It is a harsh sentiment that Ah Hua keeps in mind with each crime or wrongdoing that Ah Niu is exposed to. To stay good in every sense, Ah Niu also needs to stay poor. Even in vignettes where Ah Niu goes in search of work like cleaning houses for a rich woman, he is set up by his colleagues by underbidding them to get the job. Ah Niu, being stuck at his adolescent age, is stuck in the time frame before Singapore and Hong Kong became what they currently are. The fear that Ah Niu’s constant poverty creates means that as much as a wealth and success is a dream world for Ah Niu and his Big Uncle, the ‘good old days’ of post-war time, might also be false expectation for them. And in the absence of progress in Hong Kong, it only stagnates.
The story not just beings from the city but ends there too other than Ah Niu narrating the tale from a dream he never experiences this speaks of the city being inevitable. This accounts for the later on mentioned part when Big Uncle is defined as an empathetic city criminal: an artfully cunning and a non-violent person. There is also a mention of the chameleon crook who embodies physicality which was a change of the city, something that warrants an further analysis on a neoliberal or even biopolitical level. He crosses the thresholds of an anti hero as he exploits the city and its workings while retaining his humanity while helping Ah Niu in the process. He is not only usurped with the power to help Ah Niu (let his moral image stay spotless) with illegal affairs but becomes all the more pleasing to us. In the end the control that Wang Sha, Ye Feng and the Hong Kong and Singapore people hold over mass control cannot be ignored.
Despite what Ah Niu and his Big Uncle think of us, it is not a crime to choose either empathy or having a sense of morality. And with the advancement of technology, such expectations to maintain an unwavering sense of identity will only continue to augur well. Nevertheless, we still question why we are enamoured towards this frantic pursuit, and is the sacrifice worth it at the end, and such questioning signifies that we still have our moral values intact, even fifty years later.
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