Singapore Dreaming

Singapore Dreaming takes us on a journey into the up and down lives of a contemporary family living in Singapore. The Luh family is working class and has members of the family caught up in the fast growth of Singapore. Wanting a better life quickly, the Luh’s face the realities of their struggle. Finally big dreams come true when Poh Huat, the father of the family, strikes it rich with the lottery. Soon greed gets the best of everyone and battle lines are drawn for shares of the money. Everything changes when father has a heart attack. Everyone shows their true colors in the event of father’s death. Mourning their loss, their relationships with each other begin to strain when they squabble over who is deserving of the money. The Luh family shows the viewer how money and selfishness can tear up a family.

As we see in the film the Luh family is living in what looks like a large apartment complex. This type of complex is government owned and called public housing. In Singapore the Housing Development Board or HDB is responsible for public housing. Public housing in Singapore is not looked as poverty; in fact it is quite common for Singaporeans, whom are middle class, to live in public housing. Singapore has a large population and little space for its residents. Singapore is about 3.5 times the size of Washington D.C. and has a population of 4.6 million residents. These large public housing compounds enable many people to live in close proximity. According to an HDB website, there are about 86% of Singaporeans that live in HDB housing, compared to 9% in HDB’s inaugural year of 1960. The picture to the left is an actual HDB complex.

Language is an interesting aspect in this film as we hear many different languages being spoken. This is a reflection of a multi-cultural society. In Singapore Dreaming we hear mostly Hokkien, English, and Mandarin. We also here something that sounds like English but sometimes is hard to understand, this language is a Creole called Singlish. English was introduced when Singapore became a British colony. There are little hints in the film that Hokkien is a language that is not traditional to Singapore. For many years the Government tried to push for Mandarin and English. In the past they implemented education guidelines that the schools teach the mother language Mandarin. Hokkien and other languages have declined sense the governmental guidelines were enacted, though Hokkien is still commonly heard on the streets.

In Singapore Dreaming we get a clear look at Taoist funeral practices. There is a great deal of preparation that goes into these funeral services. We see in the film that the Luh family goes into great detail in setting up a paper display of their father’s belongings. This is so the dead can use these things in the other world. A large paper mansion is on display along with a car and even a pool. This is all burned in the culmination of the funeral. In the film we see that the family is holding a wake in large communal area. This is actually at their HDB public housing complex and is there for these types of special occasions so the residents have space to send off the dead. The picture to the left is a similar looking paper house that I saw in the film.

In closing, we see this film with many similarities of our own environment. Money and greed are universal and sometimes people get caught up with the thought of money getting them everything they ever wanted, yet we sometimes forget what we already have. Singapore Dreaming geographically gives us much to grasp. Language, religion and just day to life in the film give us a greater understanding of Singapore.