Jake Sweeney

Memory and City-Scapes: The Elusive Narratives of Wong Kar-wai and Federico Fellini
For my final paper, I am aiming to investigate the use of non conventional narrative
structures across two films as a means of exploring national identities, historical events and
nostalgia. The films that I have chosen to primarily focus on for this paper are Roma (1972)
directed by Federico Fellini and 2046 (2004) directed by Wong Kar-wai. Their respective focuses
on one city (Rome/Hong Kong) across various periods of time presents a novel way of
processing history afforded to us exclusively by the cinematic medium. The unclear links
between the timelines presented in the films require the viewer to piece together the information
and synthesize some kind of meaning personal to them, and undoubtedly more poignant if they
have some relation to the city. Both offer the perspective of an outsider at first, who adopted the
city as their home, trends which are important to their respective national histories.
Roma and 2046 frequently reference each director’s filmography, therefore I also intend
to reference the rest of their work to a large extent, especially insofar as they deal with memory.
Specifically I Vitelloni (1953) and In the Mood for Love (2000) both of which deal with memory
in a vaguely autobiographical sense. I’m not entirely convinced that I should go down the auteur
study route, but I’m not opposed to giving it a mention. I also recognize that the scope may be a
bit too broad, so it could be preferable to focus on one director. Regardless, my paper will
primarily aim to prove that the portrayal of memory in these films is something completely
unique to the medium, which is in turn an argument for the necessity of film in preserving and
cultivating identity.
 Annotated Bibliography
Bettinson, Gary. “Wong Kar-Wai and the Poetics of Hong Kong Cinema.” The Sensuous
Cinema of Wong Kar-Wai: Film Poetics and the Aesthetic of Disturbance, 1st ed.,
Hong Kong University Press, 2015, pp. 1–26. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x0mdg.4. Accessed 19 Nov. 2023.
This source covers the career of Wong Kar-wai, and his relevance in the context of Hong Kong
Cinema. It will be useful in evaluating the relationship between 2046 and the rest of his work.

Bondanella, Peter. The Cinema of Federico Fellini, Princeton University Press, 1992.
ProQuest Ebook Central,
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=64255
33.
This is an entire book dedicated to the career of Fellini. This will be useful for evaluating the
significance of his entire filmography.

Canet, Fernando. “En Busca Del Tiempo Perdido: La Bipolaridad Narrativa de Wong
Kar-Wai En 2046.” Zer: Journal of Communication Studies / Revista de Estudios de
Comunicacion / Komunikazio Ikasketen Aldizkaria, vol. 13, no. 24, May 2008, pp.
237–56. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=33941924&site=eds-live
.
This is an article that specifically talks about the narrative structure of 2046, arguing that it is the
last piece of a larger narrative in Wong Kar-wai’s work. It will be a useful argument to build
from.

Prats, A. J., and John Pieters. “The Narratives of Decharacterization in Fellini’s Color
Movies.” South Atlantic Bulletin, vol. 45, no. 2, 1980, pp. 31–41. JSTOR,
https://doi.org/10.2307/3199141. Accessed 19 Nov. 2023.
Similar to the one above it, this article focuses on Fellini’s shift to color from the mid-1960’s
onwards, placing Roma into a broader context. This will be helpful in charting it as a distinct
work in his filmography.

Simons, Jan. “Complex narratives.” New Review of Film and Television Studies, vol. 6, no.
2, 2008, pp. 111–126, https://doi.org/10.1080/17400300802098263.
This reading is from the syllabus and explains different types of complex narratives. It will be
useful in justifying how these can be considered mind game films.