Simple yet profound, universal yet deeply personal, love comes in all sorts of shapes and forms. Students from both the UBC Cantonese Language Program and Chinese Language Program showed just how varied something as universal as love can be in this year’s “My Generation, My Love: A Multimedia Contest.”
On February 12th, the Cantonese Language Program, in collaboration with the UBC Department of Asian Studies and Canada-based theatre company Dramaone, and supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto, hosted the media contest’s final event, which turned out to be an exciting and unforgettable showdown between the best of the best. The participants were guided under the steady tutelage of UBC Cantonese Language Program director, Raymond Pai, as well as instructors, Zoe Lam, and Liam Doherty.
Both the audience and judges Mr. Peter Poon, Ms. May Soo, Mr. Yi Hing Ong, were deeply impressed by the exquisite set of hand picked monologues, essays, and short films. The audience enjoyed an evening filled with laughter and tears as the contestants shared their stories and takes on love, bringing everyone along for a roller coaster ride of emotions. From spicy tales of workplace romances and love triangles to deeply intricate stories exploring the multitude of dilemmas people face to deep ponderings on what love is, every single comedic, tragic, and profound facet of love and romance was explored.
It was not just the stories that were memorable—the execution and sheer level of artistic craftsmanship was also absolutely astounding. The monologues were read with such passion and emotion, while essays read like poems, eloquent, intimate, and profound. The short films were directed with remarkable finesse, mastery over lighting, and a brilliant vision.
Here is what some of the finalists had to say about love and their submissions:
True love feels magical. It is something that you and I will never let go of even if logic, reason says otherwise. It’s something we can hold on to for the rest of our lives. Love is one of those things one could choose to define the existence of our lives. The story of my true love is one that I will never forget.
— Edwin Tse (謝展維), 4th-year CNTO 451 student majoring in Commerce
I was intrigued by the notion of expressing views of love that were specifically relevant to our generation for this contest. One of the first things that came to mind was the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected everyone’s lives in the past year, including my own. But despite the hardships, I realized that what had allowed me to pull through was the love around me – not just romantic love but love that I felt from the words and actions of my friends, family, and peers. So I wanted to dedicate my piece to all of those people around me.
— a CNTO 451 student
I was drawn by the question “what is love?” It was a question I often pondered, I was sitting by my window trying to visualise the grandness of love, and then the humming came to me, similar to how my mom used to hum to me. I was inspired by humming to express how inexpressible, expansive and universal love is. The main message I hoped to share is that love is a vast universal experience, that can be multifaceted, physical and a metaphysical wonder.
— Julz LaBrash (蓝思惠), 1st-year CHIN 133 student
I thought I’d participate as I really like to write short stories and plays. Having only had writings in English published, I wanted to try writing in Chinese for a change. I wanted to capture the essence of certain relationship dynamics among younger Chinese-Canadians from disparate cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
— Lorraine Shen (樂仁), 4th-year CHIN 243 student majoring in English Literature with a minor in Asian Studies
I hoped to express and reflect on love as a non-romantic device in the face of resiliency and difference. We do not have to love. We choose to love. Love is an act of will, both an intention and an action. To view love more as a verb than a noun, for when love is a verb, it is a choice of action that leaves an individual responsible for giving it. We ultimately choose to love, and it is a powerful and radical action that transcends social, cultural, and political boundaries. It is a way of peace making and transcendence. We love even when it is hard. We love when things challenge us. We love even in indifference.
— Alger Liang (梁家傑), 5th-year CHIN 243 student majoring in Visual Arts and minoring in Asian Canadian and Asian Migration
While writing the script, I was inspired by my own experiences of love. I wanted to capture the feelings I’ve felt for others through a series of snapshots and moments, describing the everyday sensations (touch, taste and smell especially) that I associate with feelings of intimacy and love. It’s impossible to describe precisely what love is, and that’s why I used three languages to express my poem; no matter how many words or languages one uses to describe this feeling, nothing really ever comes close. Love is a language that no one understands, but we all try to speak. I was trying to use a combination of words, visuals, and descriptions of all the senses to evoke the personal way that I feel love. It’s a full-body, full-brain kind of experience.
My main message about love would be that it’s not about the large dramatic gestures we often see in films and read in stories; even just a sleepy morning waking up next to someone special can be such a wonderful thing. Love is about the everyday, the mundane.
— Eva Cowley (林妍桐), 1st-year CHIN 233 student
As reflected during this event and in the diverse entries from contestants, love takes on many forms, and has many different interpretations. The way we view love can reflect the differences in our backgrounds and cultures, and yet we still can identify and find ourselves touched by the myriad of views. After all, love is something both deeply personal, and yet universal.
We would like to thank each and every single contestant for sharing their own unique views and their most intimate stories, and for sharing pieces that both enlighten and resonate with us.
