Peter Ho–Sun Chan′s He′s a Woman, She′s a Man

Lisa Odham Stokes teaches humanities and film at Seminole Community College in Central Florida. She is coauthor (with Michael Hoover) of City on Fire: Hong Kong Cinema and author of The Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema.

Stokes offers a cogent and meticulous discussion of Peter Chan's hit film especially in the areas of gender politics, craftsmanship, and commercialization of images. Its many insights enrich our understanding not only of Chan's film but also of Hong Kong cinema in a particular historical period. Wing's mistaken identity and Sam's identity crisis can be read as the comic play or suspense that turns the established order upside down, which allegorizes (post)colonial Hong Kong. -- K. C. Lo, Hong Kong Baptist University