This essay reflects on the themes of technology and Chinese ethnicity. Ethnicity, like gender, body, and space itself, is exchangeable, fundamentally refigured in new media forms.
For the Asia-pacific figurations, the most typical image is Chinatown. Fictional Chinatown spaces can be used to simulate claustrophobic hyper-realities, and the shabby, narrow alleyways of Chinatown are a symbol of unfettered technological modernity. Also, some relevant texts would examine signage. For example, guanxi, feng shui, opium,various martial arts and so on constitute a vivid miniature of national display and expression in the film.
In the film Ghost in the Shell, Director Oshii Mamoru choose the cityscape of Hong Kong be the background because Hong Kong teems with information, its ideographic neon, high-rises and harbor. The setting, including digital information and the invocations of race, nation and ethnicity, is more important than story itself for Oshii.
Yitong Yuan 3035952525
You picked up some key points from the reading, which you can respond with your own observations or opinions. Can you clarify how “shabby, narrow alleyways of Chinatown are a symbol of unfettered technological modernity”?