HE IS Singapore's everyman: The Ah Beng who spews Hokkien expletives, sports dyed hair and has an attitude to match.
That is the simple caricature. But Singapore film-makers have found unexpected nuances in this most familiar of Singapore stereotypes.
The release this week of The Days adds one more film to the roster of home-grown movies that prominently feature Ah Bengs.
Rather than the stereotype of the lowly educated, Chinese-speaking thug, The Days sees them as troubled youths worthy of sympathy.
This is quite a change from a decade ago, when Ah Bengs in film and theatre were featured mainly as the butt of jokes, for example, such as the character literally called Ah Beng in writer Michael Chiang's play-turned-movie Army Daze (1996).
Writer-director Royston Tan's gangster flicks 15, the short film turned movie (2003), more than any other Singapore film, have made the image of the troubled teen Ah Beng hip. He says: 'It's so trendy now. You see boys from the top schools swearing in Hokkien.'
