For Love of Leslie: Fan Art (1)

Fans of Leslie Cheung have found many ways to commemorate and express their love and devotion for the star. But, especially with the rise of YouTube and similar populist video sharing sites, one of the primary media employed as been the short-form video. There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of fan-produced videos that have been shared on public websites, forums, fan pages and other similar places on the world wide web. These videos are shared again and again on social networking sites like Facebook and other equivalent sites in China. I want to examine here some of the most significant types of videos that have been created and discuss them as a means by which Leslie's artistic legacy is explored and commented upon by fans. Many different images of Leslie are projected in these videos, derived primarily from his film and stage performances. But many of these video creations also draw on a huge corpus of still images, interviews and even original fan art. This fan activity not only perpetuates the canonical image of Cheung that he projected through his films and music (including music videos), but extends it further by juxtaposing this imagery with new visual and musical associations. New thematic avenues are also explored by some of these videos that renew and even expand themes expressed by Cheung in his creative opus. Leslie Cheung has amassed a huge fan following that shows no signs of diminishing even 8 years after his tragic death. Many Cantopop performers have expressed their admiration for Leslie, and increasingly the younger generation of singers are including tributes to Leslie that directly associate their tribute with an original performance by Leslie. In a 2010 concert, Chilam not only sang one of Leslie's songs, but he mimicked Leslie's gestures immortalized on the video release of the Farewell Concert, with a video of Leslie projected on the large screen behind Chilam during his tribute performance. It is interesting to note that Chilam is dwarfed by the image of Leslie that dominates the stage.Video: http://http://youtu.be/Taf_vLHhctEHere is Leslie's performance as captured in the 1999 Farewell Concert video.Video: http://youtu.be/syf70-YxlEoChilam and other performers from HK, and even recently Korea, are declaring themselves Leslie's musical heirs by their tributes that so closely copy Leslie's classic performances.In the realm of fans who are not professional performers, more than a few karaoke tributes of fans performing one of Leslie's songs can be found on the internet.Video: http://youtu.be/aSqnaO0XNz8One important function of fan-produced videos has been to salvage material that was never commercially released, but is of considerable interest to any fan.A demo recording of Leslie Cheung performing the melody of "Red," one of the iconic songs associated with Leslie, has been made into a music video that juxtaposes images of the official music video and live performances of this song with the demo recording.Video: http://youtu.be/qMmzBlhGHmYEven more significant is the recuperation of audio and video from the 903 Concert. Although this performance seems to have been professionally recorded and filmed, nothing of it was ever released beyond a few video clips associated with an official music video for a studio recording. But an audio recording of the 903 Concert has been passed from fan to fan for a number of years now, and audio from this bootleg recording has been used for a music video that incorporates some 903 footage I have never seen in any official video. A video like this takes on an almost archival quality--preserving and disseminating material that does not have the benefit of an official release.Video: http://youtu.be/5bdOvYO8ZiYOther videos have been created for songs that were recorded early in Leslie's career, before the advent of the MTV-type music video. A number of these songs have been illustrated with a montage of scenes from some of Leslie's earliest films and television series. This recording of "We Are All Alone" is paired with scenes from the 1982 film "Teenage Dreamers" (aka "Lemon Soda"). Video: http://youtu.be/IjlsPXhp3Y4