52 Hertz I Love You Analysis

The philosopher and writer, Suzy Kassem once wrote, “Much of human behavior can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe...” (114). This quote explains that animal imagery is used commonly to describe human characteristics and behaviors. In fact, this is depicted in the Taiwanese musical 52 Hz, I Love You, in which director Wei Te-Sheng uses animals, such as a whale and a cat, as a metaphor for the audience to better visualize and grasp his intentions with his film. Wei Te-Sheng’s portrayal of these animals also reflect his perspective of female and male gender roles: the male is the whale and the female is the cat. In an online video interview, Wei …show more content…
According to the research article by Watkins, because of the animal’s unique song, this whale is of an unrecognizable species and has been calling out for a long time, unable to find a partner. Wei Te-Sheng uses this companionless whale to represent all the lonely people in the city who are looking for love. Specifically, the whale represents the main male character, An (小安). In the beginning of the movie, the camera work technique is focused on An singing by himself on the top of his rooftop home, with the hectic cityscape behind him. This shows the stark contrast of him versus the busy city, revealing how lonely he is, especially because this scene was shot after An called his longtime friend, Lei, on Valentine’s Day who he secretly loves. In particular, he is singing the main theme of the musical bearing the same title, “有隻鯨魚 他用52赫茲的頻率 / 他唱著歌 卻沒有人聆聽 / 他潛水在天空裡 沒有人愛 沒有同伴”, which is about the 52 hertz whale, who he is being portrayed as. Notably, An’s character is even dressed like the whale in the sense that his top and jeans’ color schemes are blues, matching the whale’s blue