Yvonne Cheung Wan Suet 3036234401 & Derek Wong Chun Fung 3036237831
Video link: https://youtu.be/CDAfq33wIrw
This short film is about the vanishing telephone booths in Hong Kong. It explains payphone’s past, present and future through a story of a short-lived urban romance. It also aims to examine the reasons for the gradual disappearance of telephone booths in the city, their importance and uselessness, and people’s attitudes towards their disappearance.
TeleRomance
Scene 1(1997)
D: Oh! Finally, I can call you back. You can’t imagine how long the queue is…
Y: Okok no bullshit, we only have five minutes to talk, the man behind me looks so mean and impatient, he looks like he’s going to kill me.
D: But still, luckily we could still use the payphone. I mean… you live in Wong Chuk Hang and I live in Tuen Mun. Even though I can’t see you that often, I can hear your voice.
Y: Oh, I miss you, can we eat at our favourite Indian restaurant tonight?
D: Sure, and I miss you too… Oh… I have to go now. Yeah… I’ll pick you up at our old spot. Dress cute, and we can’t be late for the Titanic premiere… I heard it’s such a sensation.
Y: Love you, see you tonight.
D: Love you forever, see you tonight.
Scene 2 (20 years later)
Y: (Standing inside the payphone calling her husband with her cellphone)It’s so windy outside, now I’m standing inside of a telephone booth.
Y: (Staring at Derek) Wait… I think I saw someone that I knew. Ok, let me call you back later.(Put down her cell phone) Hey! Derek?
D: (Smoking next to the telephone booth and then turn around)Y…Yvonne?
Y: Wow, it’s been such a long time. You look…you look exactly the same.
D:(Awkwardly)Really?
Awkward silence 5 sec
Y: You know… when I saw this payphone, I actually thought about you… briefly… it’s funny how this thing still exists, you know? Look at all this dust and rust… I wonder if this still functions normally.
D: Well… I heard that they are replacing them with new ones, I think it’s called “Smart Kiosk”. Not only can you call someone through that, but it also comes with charging stations, free WiFi connections, and you can even read the news and everything.
Y: Yeah, that’s why they have to replace the old ones.
D: (Staring at the telephone booth, and walks towards it) It’s sad when you think about how the payphones, once so crucial to us, are vanishing now.
Y: What’s the point of keeping them though? Just for nostalgic and sentimental reasons? (Jokingly)
D: We used it to call people. 1 dollar for 5 minutes, don’t you remember? We used to…
Y: Yeah, yeah, the good old days, right? But do you also remember that we used to line up for hours just for that 5-minute phone call?
D: People knew how to wait, people knew how to be patient, just for a chance to speak to their loved ones.
(Derek walks out from the telephone booth)
Y: Come on, it’s the 21st century, you can text or call people whenever you want. When was the last time you saw people using that? The demand for payphones is decreasing, I wonder how much deficit those telecommunications companies make every year. Most of the payphones couldn’t even make 1 dollar profit each day.
D: (exhales the smoke and sneers) Oh, the capitalist ways of thinking. (offers a cigarette)Do you want one?
Y: No thanks.
Y: I travelled to Denmark in 2017. I saw them removing the payphones from the last three telephone booths.
D: Yeah, I read it on the news. They also started to demolish them in Hong Kong in 2019, there are only 700 telephone booths left in Hong Kong at this moment. They are really disappearing. In 10 years time, we can’t even see them anymore.
Y: But think about it, the function of telephone booths has changed nowadays. People just use it, you know… as a shelter for rainy days, or… (looking at Derek) as a place for your smoking session.
D: Well, then how do people smoke in Denmark? I feel bad for them. (Shaking his head and inhaling another puff)
Y: It seems like 20 years later we still couldn’t come to a consensus…
(Silence)
D: There was one time, I waited for 2 hours just to call you. It was a hot summer day, I could still remember there still sweats from the earlier guy when I picked up the phone handler. I think I was probably asking you out for a movie and it was…
(Ironically, despite how Derek defends the payphone, Derek’s cell phone rings, it’s his wife)
D: Yeah, yeah… I’m heading there, love you too, sweetie.
Y: Well… you know(looking at her watch) I think I have to pick up my daughter from her tutorial class now.
D: See you?
Y: See you.
*Despite the unsolvable disagreements between Yvonne and Derek and how much Derek insists on the importance of the payphone and the telephone booth, Derek still ironically succumbs to their vanishing fate by picking up his wife’s call using a cellphone.
References consulted
- https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2182603/should-hong-kong-say-goodbye-public-phone-booths-when-more?campaign=2182603&module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article
- https://hk.epochtimes.com/news/2023-07-09/245412
- https://news.now.com/home/local/player?newsId=530741
- https://ol.mingpao.com/ldy/cultureleisure/culture/20220325/1648145743554/%E9%9B%BB%E8%A9%B1%E4%BA%AD%E8%B5%B0%E9%81%8E%E5%8D%8A%E4%B8%96%E7%B4%80-%E7%A4%BE%E5%8D%80%E6%B4%BB%E5%8C%96%E8%AE%8A%E3%80%8C%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%BA%E4%B9%8B%E5%A2%83%E3%80%8D
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_boot