[Field-Homework 3] Lost in a hybrid city

Lost in a hybrid city

I have always been interested in museums. As they tell a story through their inner exhibitions, I thought their exterior architecture might create interesting interactions with the exhibitions. Then I questioned myself about what I wanted to discuss in the video. If I would summarize my experience in Hong Kong into one word, it would be “diversity”. That’s why I chose “hybrid” as the video topic, looking to express hybridization through Hong Kong’s museums.

I researched the famous museums in Hong Kong and thought the architectural styles of the Hong Kong Museum of History are the best ones to discuss. It demonstrates a hybridization of Eastern and Western ideologies on its exterior, which I found several back-ups for this theory, such as the simplicity in Western architecture, and the symbolization of eaves on the museum’s front door. Now that the main ideas are set, I must produce a central argument for this video. Simply showing which structure reflects hybridization is dull to look at, I must create an emotional response from the audience. What is the problem with hybridization that people sometimes experience? The answer came out immediately. Experiencing different cultures can make an individual question their own social identity. This is supported by sociological research, where Kwok-Bun & Peverelli (2010) argued that individuals are aware of their social identity through interactions with others in the same cultural group. If this norm was changed such as in globalization, disorientation of individual identity would result.

However, simply making this point does not create a storyline that shows the narrator’s conversion. I took the view of a girl with multiple cultural backgrounds, who is a bit lost in hybridization, then realized that multiple cultures can co-exist at the end of the video. My hypothesis is, although the museum’s inner exhibitions show abrupt changes in Hong Kong’s cultural identity, its exterior demonstrates both Eastern and Western architectural concepts, symbolizing Hong Kong as a hybridization of multiple cultural identities.

After I developed these ideas, I went for shooting immediately. Before my visit, I went on the museum’s official website to see if they allow phones and cameras inside the museum. The answer is yes, but when I was taking footage, I was asked to stop by security. I had to argue with him and show the museum’s shooting policy to the security, and luckily, we reached an agreement. This experience reflected that some published policies might be different when administered. Next time if I must take footage in public, I will call the place for permission prior the visit and be prepared to show the call’s recordings.

Taking footage is the simplest part of the video production process. My script contains narrations that do not necessarily correspond to my footage, and I did not think them through properly before shooting, leaving me to find accessible footages online. If I were to re-do this, I should have written the script before taking footage, and think about what scene to capture in each sentence.

I wanted the video to have a storytelling flow and thought the use of some background music might help. The music I wished to use was 4 minutes 30 seconds, so I had to cut it down. My narration speed must change correspondingly to the music’s rhythms, so I spent a lot of time designing the narration structure and made sure the story’s turning point matches the point where the music enters the climax. Then I used some editing techniques by adding a PAUSE and REWIND key and made a shoot to play upside down to show the narrator’s sudden change of attitude.

In conclusion, I enjoyed a lot in making this video and admire the museum in an untypical way. Hope you find this video interesting. Below is my narrative script.

Script

First who, then how. This is how I see things, or at least, how I try. I’ve always been proud of my ability to make decisions after clearly understanding my role in the situation. Still, a tiny flaw lies within this statement. The disorientation of cultural identity haunts me every day. I was born in the US, raised in mainland China, and came to Hong Kong for university. So, Who am I?

I would say my situation resembles the history of Hong Kong, the exact reason I visited the Hong Kong Museum of History. It was a relatively small museum, with exhibition halls split through time, the redness of traditional China ended abruptly to a cold-toned blue when Hong Kong was given to the colonial government. Then I was forced to travel through a narrow, dark tunnel displaying the Japanese invasions. However smart and fascinating these contrasts might be, I could not find an answer to my questions by simply throwing the Hong Kong’s cultural fragments at me. Its cultural identity seemed to change constantly through time. Maybe I should find a new topic to this assignment. I decided to leave, and said goodbye to the weird shaped front door that seemed like an ugly hybrid of architecture styles… wait a minute, hybrid?

Hybrid is the word I’m looking for. The exterior of the history museum demonstrated a convergence of eastern and western culture. Its overall design is characterized by a modernist style common in Western architecture, which emphasizes simplicity, clean lines, and a lack of ornamentation. The front door facades a glass curtain wall, which is a type of cladding commonly used in contemporary Western architecture and allows natural light to enter. But if you look closely, the sloping roof features a series of upturned eaves that are typical of traditional Chinese architecture. They served as decoration and functional purposes, such as rain drainage and a symbol of hierarchy. In addition, Chinese Feng Shui was displayed in the museum. The building’s main entrance is oriented towards the south, a direction that is considered auspicious in Chinese culture.

Therefore, from my visit to the history museum, Hong Kong’s culture is no longer a constantly changing question which answer changes every minute, but a hybrid concept with integration of the east and west. Did I find an answer to my question of individual identity? No, but now I know my cultural backgrounds do not tear me apart. They are allowed to co-exist.

Lin Ting 3035952642

Reference

Kwok-Bun, C., & Peverelli, P. J. (2010). Cultural Hybridization: A Third Way Between Divergence and Convergence. World Futures, 66(3-4), 219–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604021003680479

Werbner, P. (2001). The Limits of Cultural Hybridity: On Ritual Monsters, Poetic Licence and Contested Postcolonial Purifications. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 7(1), 133–152. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2660840

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