Moral Reckoning and Masculinity in Triad Films Andrew Lau’s Infernal Affairs and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed

In this paper, I look at Andrew Lau’s 2002 Infernal Affairs, and Martin Scorsese’s 2005 Hollywood adaptation, The Departed. The OED defines adaptation as the act of making (a person or thing) suitable or for a specific purpose; it can also mean to rework something to fit a new purpose or to a different context or environment. Inherent in the action of adapting, then, is the suggestion of molding the original work to become less jarring, less of itself – to smooth out its edges and sand out its kinks so as to better fit a new context. Considered from this perspective, while adaptation may facilitate a greater reach of artworks – and greater diversity and accessibility by extension – it also constitutes a loss. What are the implications when we speak of the ‘faithfulness’ of adaptations? And what might these ‘unfaithful’ changes reveal, especially in the contextual of a masculinized genre like the mob film? I examine the contextual allegorical geopolitical readings in the Hong Kong original before turning to focus on how other differences in the Scorsese adaptation in relation to characterization and narrative resolution, beyond merely adapting for setting, make visible the difference in moral calculations that reveal something about American society. I suggest that the moral reckoning the film puts forth relies on and maps onto toxic masculinity, homophobia, and heteropatriarchal values that stand in for American identity, and for which the detective/mob film serves as the perfect vehicle.