Singapore Dreaming

Singapore, a small island in the Southeast Asia, is an important financial center of the world economy. The people living in the island nation have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. The movie” Singapore Dreaming” follows a patriarchal working class family’s dream and the harsh reality they face in terms of fulfilling those dreams. The movie depicts the growing obsession of success in a capitalistic economy and the hardships faced by people.

The movie addresses many social issues in the day to day life of a Singaporean family. The movie depicts a gender discrimination that exists in the society. The father and mother have high aspirations for their son and sends him to United States to study while their elder daughter is neglected despite the fact that the son failed even to get admission in a local university. The daughter complains about the parents caring for their son more than her through out the movie. A son is viewed as an asset who will contribute to the family and thus viewed as a security investment for the future.

Most of the Singaporean working class people live in Government apartments through out the country. For most, it is the dream to move out of those apartments to a better remote high profile area. The father buys lottery tickets in the view that the money will enable him to fulfill his desire. When his son returns from United States, he believes that it will take him one step closer to fulfilling his dreams. Even though most Singaporeans live in these apartments, they dislike the strict government rules and regulations. The scene where the sign shows “No urination in the elevators, violators will be prosecuted” and the Irene’s husband urinates anyways in the elevator just to show his disregards to the law.

The movie is made from the viewpoint of a Singaporean and the way they think of success. As it is true for all capitalistic nations, the opportunities are highly competitive. When Ck goes in for an interview, his degree is viewed useless as the employer mentions that they cannot afford take the risk to hire him as his degree is not from MIT, Stanford. In one scene where Ck explains his new car to his fiancé, his words summarize the way people think in the society. “If you want to make it big, you have to show you already made it”.

Singapore Dreaming also portrays how employers treat sub ordinates in the society. Irene, who works as a secretary is called into the office during her father’s funeral on an emergency to photocopy a few papers and get her boss a cup of coffee. The boss’s behavior resonates that he owns the employees and can treat him as he pleases. In another scene, when Irene rushes to help the boss’s wife despite being pregnant, the boss’s wife orders her to clean up the apartment. The successful people in the society treat their subordinates like their personal property.

The Taoism funeral ceremonies, where they create replicas of everything that was important to the deceased and at the end incinerate everything served as a metaphor. The dreams and aspirations of the father turned to dust along with him and accompanied him to the next life.

The movie draws attention to the fact that success in life is more than mere material possessions one owns. Running after materialistic dreams often blurs the importance of family ties, emotions of people surrounding one. After the funeral of the father, the dysfunctions and tensions among the family members become more apparent.