Lucky Numbers and Greedy Ghosts: Lottery as Trope for the Singapore Dream-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Lucky Numbers and Greedy Ghosts: Lottery as Trope for the Singapore Dream

Published:2023-07-13 Issue:2 Volume:3 Page:387-406
ISSN:2702-2277
Container-title:Journal of Chinese Film Studies
language:en
Short-container-title:

Author:

Fitzgerald Carolyn¹^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures , Auburn University , 6030 Haley Center , Auburn , AL , 36849 , USA

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes Singaporean films on the topic of the state-sponsored lottery as trope for the national dream, focusing on three different categories: popular films that link lottery winnings to the state’s promise of economic prosperity; hor-medy (horror/comedy) films that depict characters who are punished by the ghosts for greed; and art films that depict social inequalities in relation to unsuccessful efforts to attain the national dream. In doing so, it examines what Lee Kah-Wee refers to as the “relationship between morality and economics within the context of nation-building” with respect to Singaporean film. The convergence of cinematic treatment of lottery cultures between otherwise separate popular films, horror films, and arthouse films is a unique commonality in Singapore film. Also, films discussed in this paper from the late 1990s to 2013 reflect the ongoing centrality of lottery films in Singaporean cinema and the national imaginary.

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Subject

General Medicine

Link

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0027/pdf

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