Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of the metaphoric significance of Tsai Ming-liang’s movie I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (2006) with a particular emphasis on the situation of foreign migrant workers. It also examines the class status of the Chinese diaspora in Malaysia by situating the film in the historical context of the interracial conflict that has beset the multi-ethnic country. Viewed in this light, the movie articulates a critical perception of the Chinese Malaysians as an exploitative class. Also, through its unadorned portrayal of the fraud and violence the protagonist Lee Kang-sheng experiences at the hands of Malay hoodlums, the film compares the unprotected foreign migrant workers in Malaysia to homo sacer. In this regard, this article maintains that the perspective represented by Yvette Biro and others that “certainly this movie does not propose a social criticism” needs serious reconsideration. Although many critics highlight the movie’s bleak vision by focusing on loneliness, alienation and disconnectedness, this article contends that one of the film’s virtues lies in its presentation of a positive vision. Such a vision delineates a small, alternative community, one based on mutual care, in which members of the precariat look after and console one another.
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