The Individual within the Asian Global Assemblages: A Symbolic Reading of Selected Asian Films

Abstract

This paper presents the theoretical concept of the “assemblage,” introduced by Deleuze and Guattari (1987), to explain the changes in society and culture in Asia in the age of globalization. It explores the situation of the individual in the new global assemblages. The individual would be characterized by ambivalence, loss, and disorientation in these new complex contexts, where new and old forms are combined into new emerging socio-cultural spaces that lack a unique logic and therefore a stable reference point for meaning. We will present various symbolic examples taken from the new Asian cinema: Chungking Express by Wong Kar-Wai, Last Life in the Universe by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Guilty of Romance by Sion Sono, and 3-Iron by Kim Ki-Duk.