*a prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages

Chungking Express is my favourite Wong Kar Wai film. I like films when I can remember their plot amongst the flurry of many movies you see. Especially when a film changes how you see certain daily objects forever.

I took away two things from Chungking Express. One: I really wanted to see the Chungking Mansions for myself and two: Canned Pineapples. Alright, and also a slightly diminished love for California Dreamin’ after hearing it over & over.

Faye Wong looking blithe.

The Pineapple Lines

He Zhiwu, Cop 223: Any canned pineapple that expires on May 1?
Cashier: You know what day it is today?
He Zhiwu, Cop 223: April 30?
Cashier: Right. You think we sell outdated stock?
He Zhiwu, Cop 223: There’s still two hours to go.
Cashier: Nobody would buy it. Get a fresh one.
He Zhiwu, Cop 223: People like you are hung up on freshness. You realize what goes into a can of pineapple? The fruit must be grown, harvested, sliced, and you just throw it away! How do you think the can feels about that?

Cop 223(a young Takeshi Kaneshiro sporting the floppy hairdo that was all the rage in the 90s) carts off bucket loads of free Del Monte pineapple cans expiring on May 1, rejects that even a beggar scoffs at. He then downs the cans naked, & with tomato sauce, & with salt & pepper.

I love canned pineapple. It lacks the bromelain sting of fresh pineapples, & whenever I see a can of pineapples now I remember that scene.

Maybe that is what we should tell kids instead when we want them not to waste food? That their apples took the pains to grow sweet & juicy, or that their fish saved itself from being eaten by sharks to land on a plate. That by eating them, we would have helped them serve their life purpose. As if.

So then comes the million-dollar (billion by inflation?) question, what is the purpose of humans? Not as a species, but as an individual… Perhaps our purpose is just to live out our lives, conjure up more humans, sustain the environment & livestock, and world as a place best suitable for tomorrow’s humans. Zzzz.

Until the Sun goes POP! or Armageddon (with movie makers straining that plot on asteroids slamming into Earth, we are tempting fate, no?) finally occurs, that is.

Canned pineapple for me.