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Infernal Affairs and the Ethics of Complex Narrative 153the role once performed by postmodern science-fiction films such asBlade Runner (1982) and Total Recall (1990). In particular, it articulatesScott Bukatman’s notion of “terminal identity,” which he defines as “a newsubject-position to interface with the global realms of data circulation, asubject that can occupy or intersect the cyberscapes of contemporary existence”(Bukatman 1993, p. 9). This terminal identity involves “both theend of the subject and a new subjectivity constructed at the computer stationor television screen” (ibid.). In Infernal Affairs, terminal identity is manifestedvia the characters’ constant use of computer screens, broadcast devices,mobile phones, CCTV, and surveillance microphones in order not only torealize their goals but also, more directly, to survive. In this technologized,information-rich environment, the characters must be able to read technologicalcodes, clues, and signs in order to outflank the other team, evenreverting to pre-electronic modes of communication like Morse code(used by Yan to communicate with Superintendent Wong). Indeed, a surprisingnumber of their coded communications are sonic, most importantlyMorse code, but also, for example, the Mandarin song “Forgotten Time”(a reminder of Yan and Ming’s meeting in a stereo store at the beginningof the film) that reappears in the last living-room sequence and is readilyinterpretable by Ming as Yan’s signature.At the same time, Yan and Ming’s imbrication in the technologizedenvironment of contemporary Hong Kong facilitates the erasure of a fixedindividuality, generating instead fluid identities. In Infernal Affairs, HongKong identity (as in many pre-1997 films) is itself imbued with a sense ofglobal connectedness, and also with technological know-how. Hong Kongin the film is a veritable screen city – movie screens, large-scale public screens,computer screens, department store video screens, surveillance screens,the “third screens” of laptops, mobiles, iPods, and PDAs. Hong Kong isdefined by its high-tech environment, and by an emphasis on the vertical,not only in the singular framing to encompass large-scale skyscapes but inthe characters’ ability to scan digital maps offering a bird’s-eye perspectiveon the city. A series of rooftop meetings afford prime views of the HongKong cityscape, while also recalling similar scenes from The Matrix (Andyand Larry Wachowski 1999), Blade Runner, and other science-fictionprecursors of the techno-thriller. As in The Matrix, an ability to “read” thetechnologized city is associated with an elevated perspective.In Infernal Affairs, the characters who cannot manage this vertical perspectiveare the ones who die first: Superintendent Wong is hurled fromthe top of a building after being caught on the wrong floor at the wrong