Alice Wu

Opinion | Perhaps the TV show Expats did not portray Hong Kong as it likes. So what?

Whatever the reasons the Amazon Prime Video series, which includes scenes of the 2014 protests, is not available for viewing in Hong Kong, officials should take the opportunity to reflect on the role they play in any misperceptions of the city

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Nicole Kidman in a scene in Expats, which is set in Hong Kong. If the Hong Kong government wants to tell good Hong Kong stories, it needs to recognise how these depictions are formed. Photo: Prime Video

Alice Wu

Published: 3:00pm, 4 Feb 2024Updated: 3:59pm, 4 Feb 2024

The Amazon Prime series Expats, based on the novel The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee about a group of privileged expatriates in Hong Kong, has caused quite the stir among both expats and locals. Its worldwide release didn’t even include Hong Kong.

It was no secret that director and writer Lulu Wang recreated some scenes of the 2014 protests for the series, so it was bound to provoke a reaction from some quarters, especially among those patriots administering Hong Kong.

Given that the star-struck government gave Nicole Kidman preferential treatment to skip Hong Kong’s infamous quarantine measures when she flew into the city to film the miniseries, attracting quite the controversy at the time, it is clear why the series has left the Hong Kong government in an awkward position.

It gave preferential treatment for a foreign production that portrayed Hong Kong in a not-so-flattering light. Whatever point Wang meant to make by including images of the protests doesn’t matter, though. Any mention of black-clad protesters and yellow umbrellas would usually elicit a rash response from the government and its supporters, but the reaction to Wang’s latest work is actually rather tempered.

The government really cannot be so naive as to think that the creators were going to film propaganda for Hong Kong, but for the series to be viewable everywhere except here makes it seem as though it has been censored.

The government has not given any indication it had a role in the miniseries not being available to watch in Hong Kong. Amazon has yet to give any explanation for its business decision, but it does give the government something to think about. The next time it bends over backwards like it did for Kidman, it should think again.