Secret (Film Analysis)

Secret is a Taiwanese film co-wrote and directed by a Taiwanese musician Jay Chou. The film is about the romantic encounter of a piano prodigy in the future meeting a music major student from the past. Xiang Lun lives in the year 1999 and Xiao Yu lives in 1979. Xiao Yu would be able to time travel to the future when she plays the music “Secret” with the old piano in the old practicing room in their school that will be demolished on Xiang Lun’s batch graduation day.

The story between them started when Xiao Yu discovered that only the first person that she sees after she time travelled would be able to see her. When the last time Xiao Yu came to the future, she saw Ching Yi’s bracelet on Xiang Lun’s wrist and she thought they were already dating so she ran away and time travelled back to 1979s. When Xiang Lun asked his friends about the girl he always hung out with, nobody seems to know her existence and that’s when all the truth was revealed. After he figured out everything, he ran back to the old piano practicing room before it was demolished and played “Secret” to go back to 1979s to meet Xiao Yu.

There are five codes to explain narrative theory according to Roland Barthes. The five codes include the the hermeneutic code, the proairetic code, the semantic code, the symbolic code and the cultural code. The hermeneutic code refers to the elements in the story that is not explained and therefore exist as an enigma to the audience because they want to know the truth. The proairectic code refers the structure and action of the story that create suspense and make the audience interested to know how the story will go. Next, the semantic code refers the elements that has extra meaning by connotation while the symbolic code is the elements in the film that portray certain issues or theme. The last code, the cultural code refers to shared knowledge about the way the world works so audience will be able recognize it as it is part of a culture.

“Secret” used the hermeneutic code from the start until the end to portray Xiao Yu as a mysterious girl. They put in a lot of small and vague hints that looks very normal to hint that Xiao Yu was unlike the others. First of all, Xiang Lun said that he brought an apple to school for her for 15 days but she was absent for 15 days. Later, it was revealed that only the first person she sees may see her so during that 15 days she might accidentally saw someone else. For example, she saw Ching Yi at first sight during the piano battle day so only Ching Yi can talk to her. In addition, Xiao Yu said she never had cone ice cream before, which was an unusual thing because cone ice cream was a very usual thing among students and people can get it all over the streets in 1999s. Moreover, the teacher who was also Xiang Lun’s father never had once punish Xiao Yu when Xiang Lun and Xiao Yu were with Ah Lang and Ah Bao, two retention students even though they were together. Xiang Lun thought she didn’t get punish because she has good grades but the truth is no one else can see her, that’s why she could always run away when the teacher punished them. Thus, this film used the hermeneutic code to create suspense and hooked the audiences.

For the proairectic code, this film used Ching Yi to blur the focus. Everyone in the school thought Xiang Lun likes Ching Yi because he always looked at the back when they are in class. Xiang Lun accidentally kissed her once because his love note was passed to Ching Yi in class instead of Xiao Yu but he didn’t’ know. Besides, he tied Ching Yi’s bracelet on his wrist as a good luck charm before his performance. Xiang Lun always like to tease Xiao Yu that he’ll fall in love with Ching Yi when she’s not around so all of these incidents caused Xiao Yu reached the breaking point. The film also showed that Xiao Yu has asthma and foreshadowed that there’s something to do with it. At the last time she went back to the 1979, she died in the school because she didn’t have the asthma inhaler with her but the history changed when Xiang Lun time travelled to the time where Xiao Yu haven’t discovered the “Secret” manuscript so Xiao Yu didn’t die in the new timeline. Therefore, with the use of this code, the audiences focus more on what the side character, Ching Yi will cause to the relationship of Xiang Lun and Xiao Yu instead of questioning Xiao Yu’s existence.

In the beginning of the fim, Ching Yi said she heard about Xiang Lun before he transferred to their school. This sentence connotes that Xiang Lun was really outstanding in piano among students who learn music because even students from other music school heard about him. This was proven when he won the piano battle with the “Prince of Piano” Yu Hao in his new school. During a music class, he was able to improvise when his teacher asked him to perform. In addition to that, he was able to memorised the notes of “Secret” even though he had only seen Xiao Yu played it once. Xiang Lun was also invited to play the piano during their graduation ceremony. This showed the use of the semantic code to connote Xiang Lun as a piano prodigy.

Next, the theme of this film are music, love and family. The symbol that showed Xiao Yu and Xiang Lun actually like each other are constantly shown in this film. Xiao Yu wanted the first person she sees to be Xiang Lun every time she time travelled so she counted the steps from the old piano room to Xiang Lun’s class. However, she did fail a few times, so on those days, random students would be able to see her but Xiang Lun thought Xiao Yu was just absent. Xiang Lun battled with the “Prince of Piano” Yu Hao to win a piece of rare manuscript for Xiao Yu. Next, Xiao Yu taught Xiang Lun how to play “Secret” when she knew the old piano room was going to be tear down soon. She wished he would go back to meet her but she told him not to play it in the old piano room, hinting him the way she come to the future. Xiang Lun gave up everything in 1999s and went back to 1979s to meet his love ones by playing “Secret” in the old piano room before it was destroyed. This film also used a lot of classical music to pay tribute to some famous pianist like Chopin, Leopold Godowsky and Camille Saint-Saëns. This indirectly promotes classical music to the younger generation.

The culture in the 1970s and 1990s are very different too. In 1979s, Xiang Lun’s father has very shaggy and centre-parted hair. That’s influenced by Western music band The Beatles. While in the 1999s setting, he has a cleaner and modern look. In the late-70s, girls are required to keep their hairs short when they were still studying in school but it was not strict anymore in the late- 90s in Taiwan. Also, women in the late-70s women like Xiao Yu’s mother likes to wear midi-dress even at home. This fashion trend was possibly brought up by Princess Diana. During the 90s, record players and CDs are used to play music but CDs hasn’t existed during 1979. However, parents in both generations had the same mindset that sending their kids to learn music will make them become more elegant, well-natured and have good temperament.

This film is just like other time travel films, one character in the past fell in love with another character from the future but it was a very special one. This film showed people how important trust is to the people you love and care. If the teacher and the mother trusted Xiao Yu, she won’t go mad and locked herself in the house. If Xiao Yu trusted Xiang Lun and ask him clearly about his relationship with Ching Yi, she would not misjudge and died sadly in the classroom is 1979s. The teacher didn’t trust Xiao Yu from the start when she told him about her time travel journey so he lost his son the moment he saw Xiang Lun’s name on the manuscript written by Xiao Yu but that might be a cost he has to pay for not trusting and keeping the secret for Xiao Yu. Xiang Lun gave up his life in the future in order to live with Xiao Yu in the past but he didn’t think much about it when he made the decision because he loves Xiao Yu so he’s willing to make sacrifices. Love require sacrifice and Xiao Yu sacrificed for him when they met in the future so he’s willing to sacrifice for her too.

Note: If watch on Netflix, Xiao Yu would be Rain, Ching Yi would be Sky or Qing Yi and Xiang Lun would be Jay in the subtitles.

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