Introduction
This paper aims to analyze the reason for local and global popularity. In this paper, we will use Infernal Affairs and The Way We Dance as an example to show why Infernal Affairs has regional and global popularity. On the other hand, we will also analyze why The Way We Dance cannot be appreciated by audiences of other markets. We will analyze the case with economic, political, and cultural aspects.

Background of Movie

Infernal Affairs

A 2002 Hong Kong action thriller film co-directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.

Chan Wing-yen (Tony Leung), a police officer, goes undercover into a triad only his superior, Wong, and Yip, the police academy principal, can confirm his mission and true identity. He is under a lot of pressure with the essence. Chan uses Morse code to relay data to the police, disrupting an effective drug delivery. Lau Kin-Ming (Andy Lau), Hon’s mole in the police force, will try to tip off information for the triad boss. This is a story about policy and the triad Battle of wits. (www.imdb.com, n.d.)

The Way We Dance

2013 Hong Kong film directed by Adam Wong Sau Ping and produced by Saville Chan.

Cherry Ngan as (阿花) who grew up in a traditional family, who has a dream of Hip Hop dance with talent. Joining the university dancing union without her parents’ permission, she becomes the superstar of BombA. BombA is the popular dancing team in the university. However, BombA always loses to Rooftoppers in the competition. Cherry Ngan and her team try to find a way to beat Rooftoppers and chase their dreams.  (imdb.com, n.d.)

Economic Aspect

On the economic aspect, we will analyze the box office of Internal Affairs and The Way We Dance in both Hong Kong and Mainland China box offices. We will also compare the merchandise profit of Infernal Affairs and The Way We Dance. The box office of the Infernal Affairs in Hong Kong is 55.05 million. This movie reached the top spot of the box office in Hong Kong in 2002. (Haowai.Today, 2021)

The box office of Infernal Affairs in Mainland just reached 8 million. As a result, he found out that the movie should try to satisfy the Mainland audience. In episode 3 of Infernal Affairs, they directly find a mainland actor to act in the film. The movie box office sales increased to 3.6 million.  (http://sa.sogou.com/, 2020)

The Internal Affairs has two remake versions of the US and Japan. Plan B Entertainment Spent more than 1.7 million to buy the copyright. The Japanese version of Infernal Affairs was remade as a two-episode TV series.

The US version has earned 29million box office. (Mojo, The Departed – Box Office Mojo, n.d.) Infernal Affairs Japan version has got a 13.4 Viewership around (857,600) audience. (太陽報, n.d.) As the data show why Infernal Affairs have regional or global popularity.

The box office of The Way We Dance in Hong Kong is 13.16 million (HKD). (香港偶像劇場, n.d.) However, The Way We Dance has only come out in Hong Kong and Mainland China; there is no version in other places. However, there is The Way We Dance 3 which is the sequel of The Way We Dance. The Way We Dance 3 came out when there is COVID 19 pandemic in the world. Although the epidemic has so many negatives to the movie, The Way We Dance 3 still has 7.57 million box office in Hong Kong. (香港偶像劇場, 狂舞派3-票房收入-香港偶像劇場, n.d.)

Political Aspect

In the political aspect, Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (below as CEPA) and the Co-production movie policy have a lot of impact on movie development. (Department, n.d.)

The CEPA policy signed in 2003, which allows those Hong Kong movies to get into the Mainland movie market. This CEPA also enlarges the number of audiences to watch Hong Kong movies in the Mainland Market. (Department, n.d.) After signing the CEPA Infernal Affairs III became the first Hong Kong movie to get into the mainland market under the CEPA policy. (凤凰卫视, 2017) According to the director of Infernal Affairs III, Alan Mak states that at first CEPA is a huge issue for Hong Kong Movie Market. He thinks that those Hong Kong movies always try to export entertainment products to different countries. As Hong Kong is a small market, the mainland is a very large and competitive market. The CEPA policy creates a great economic benefit for Hong Kong movies, especially for that Co-Production between Mainland and Hong Kong such as Infernal Affairs III. (凤凰卫视, 2017)  CEPA policy allows actors/actresses between Mainland and Hong Kong to have more chance to exchange making movie experience which will increase the quality of both local movie and Co-Production movie between Hong Kong and the Mainland market. (Department, n.d.)

Cultural aspect
Firstly, the reputation of the two movie characters is different, the character of Infernal Affairs is an international celebrity, for example, Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Most of the audience can easily recognize the characters. On the other hand, the characters of the way we dance are some new actors/actresses in Hong Kong, such as Cherry Ngan and Choi Hon Yick. Those local actors/actresses in the way we dance do not have the publicity to attract a global audience to watch the movie. It is more attractive for the audience to watch infernal affairs compared with The Way We Dance.

Secondly, the movie Infernal Affairs is easier for the global audience to understand. It is because the story of Infernal Affairs is about the battle between the policy and The Triad. This movie is a deterritorialization movie because the battle between policy and the triad is a global issue and it happens anywhere in the world. Martin Scorsese directed, and William Monahan wrote The Departed, a 2006 American crime thriller film. (IMDb, n.d.) It’s a remake of the Infernal Affairs, and it’s also based on the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang; Colin Sullivan is based on crooked FBI agent John Connolly, and Frank Costello is based on an Irish American gangster Whitey Bulger. The Departed was a critical and commercial success, winning several awards, including four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing at the 79th Academy Awards, marking Scorsese’s first Best Director win. (Oscars.org, n.d.)

Compare with the Infernal Affairs. It shows that the content of Infernal Affairs was echoed in the US market since most of the elements in Internal Affairs was kept in the script of The Departed.

Meanwhile, The Way We Dance is a localized movie. This movie uses quite a lot of localized language for example(世界女) a person who is smooth and slick in establishing social relations (爛 grade) which means students get bad grand in the academic years, and (為了 你可以去到幾盡)which means how far would you prepare to go to make your dream come true. (Club, 2017) This type of localizing dialogue may not create an emotional impact and it is difficult to understand for those non-local audiences.

Third is that the movie Infernal Affairs has made good use of deterritorialization, which means the severance of social-political, economic, and cultural practice from the local place and local population. Which takes away the cultural differences between the native and the global areas. The deterritorialization could help the global audience easier to understand the storyline of Infernal Affairs because the story content may also happen in other countries. Other countries may also have undercover that why Infernal Affairs being very popular in the global movie market. The deterioration also attracts different film distribution corporations to buy the copyright of Infernal Affairs and try to remake it into a different version.

On the other hand, The Way We Dance to try to keep the uniqueness of the local culture of Hong Kong by adding some of the feature for example(豆腐鋪) which is a shop make tofu product. The Way We Dance also can improve the Hong Kong identity among Hong Kong people because of the different mindset of traditional parents and teenagers who are chasing their dream.  The target audience of Infernal Affairs and the way we dance are a different group of audience. The Way We Dance tries to create a resonance between Hong Kong people. (細說本土思潮與港產片：狂舞派、樹大招風、寒戰、十年 – The News Lens 關鍵評論網, n.d.)The Infernal Affairs tries to make the movie become globally popular by using deterritorialization to help the audience to understand the story, especially for those non-local audiences to understand the story of the Infernal Affairs.

For the above reasons, we can see that Infernal Affairs have global popularity. On the other hand, it is very hard for the non-local audience to understand the language used in the movie The Way We Dance.

Conclusion
Infernal Affairs is more aimed at the global and mainland markets, while The Way We Dance aims at the local market, especially the younger generation. Comparing the box office and the reputation of the two movies, Infernal Affairs is the winner. However, Infernal Affairs has more limitations on different aspects of filmmaking, as the movie aims at Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the global market. For the movie The Way, We Dance, as a film about local culture, its target audience is the local audience. Although The Way We Dance profits less, it is a movie about local and can help develop and nourish Hong Kong people’s sense of identity.

References

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