Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Films always act as a reflection of either a very true reality in the society, or an imaginary space filled with things that human wishes they were real. Being one of the cities with the highest building density, Hong Kong films, especially for those made during the 80s and 90, often features Hong Kong architecture as one of the main roles in films, depicting, as well as documenting this inter-national, para-sitic place, or to a certain extent stateless place. Moreover, what is more significant about movies is that this series of moving pictures can evoke different kinds of emotions from different people, being the documentation that do not limit to recording the skyline of our home city, and also the internal ups-and-downs skyline of HongKongers.

Wong Ho Wang Caleb

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1 thought on “Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

  1. Noella Kwok says:

    It would be easier to comprehend if you have closer reference to the text. Abbas noted Hong Kong cinema “has founded Hong Kong itself as a subject, problematic and threatened by disappearance” which led to the question of cultural self-definition; while Hong Kong architecture “presents itself only the false image of power” (1997, 89) is there any example that illustrates the role of architecture in cinemas that you’ve mentioned? To delve a little deeper into your point of density – Abbas highlighted the relationship between architectural anonymity and hyperdensity through replication of high-rise and large building blocks, “Hyperdensity is partly the result of limited space, but it is also a result of how this limited space could be exploited for economic gain” (1997, 86) How is this hyperdensity-related architectural anonymity presented in Hong Kong cinema?

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