[Reading Response] Noirs – The City The Woman and Other Spaces by Ez Kim

After reading the “NOIRS: The City, the Woman and Other Spaces”, I was amazed on how “Black Rose” uses various film technique to show female gaze especially on the frozen shots and multi view point. Also, the elevator girl uses jump cuts, which shows the rapid movement of a strong female protagonist actions.  It was also quite intriguing that spy thriller genre in HK was heavily influenced by the James Bond series, and how that influenced the characteristics of female spies in HK films.   It was also quite interesting to see how social discontent with the ruling class is

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[READING RESPONSE] Leung Ping-kwan: Urban Cinema and the Cutural identity of Hong Kong

“Urban Cinema and the Cutural identity of Hong Kong” written by Leung Ping-kwan, which related to movies and the city of Hong Kong, is talking about the changes inside the city from the 1950s to the 1990s. Among these changes, some of them are concrete in terms of the city’s architectural and physical form represented in spatial form, others are abstract and intangible in terms of the complexity of culture, citizens’ ideologies, and the status of women. Therefore, we can obviously tell their mutual intention, which is to discuss the history, or we say, the process of the transformation inside

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Reading Response: Leung P.-K and Seng, E.

Resources provided by Leung P.-K provided a clear picture connection between film culture, industry, social environment and architecture. Due to quick economic development of Hong Kong, the gap between the rich and the poor are getting bigger, some films illustrate clearly the culture and atmosphere at that period. To be more specific, films serve as a vehicle to depict this aspect of Hong Kong culture due to the complexity of the establishment of Hong Kong society, which included the presentation of both traditional Chinese culture and foreign cultures. Like the film “Black Rose”, the inequality of Hong Kong is represented

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Reading response: Leung Ping Kwan

What is the “true reflection” of the city? Western films never seem to depict Hong Kong in the right way, on one end of the spectrum it is perceived as a hyper-futuristic metropolis and on the other, a traditional city where Chinese influences are prominent and fetishised. Yet, Hong Kong is actually neither of the above but rather a hybrid of sorts, it stands alone as a new genre, a new genre of cinema and even of cities. The author, Leung Ping Kwan points this out beautifully with his dissection of the film title “Chungking Express”, “The title of the

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Reading Response: Zhen Zhang

The development of modern Chinese films is closely related to the urban environment. As a new form of entertainment, film has quickly occupied the mainstream position in the market, so cinema has become a new element in many architectural landscapes. Most high-end theaters prefer to show Hollywood blockbusters while some second-rate theaters only show Chinese movies. The popularity of films is closely related to the publicity work. Many magazines have film columns, but they mainly promote non-domestic films, mostly Hollywood films. So Chinese films need to learn some lessons from Hollywood films to help promote the development of Chinese films.

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[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

In the article, Ackbar Abbas examine the tradition and the traits of Hong Kong buildings. He first raises an interesting opinion of Frantz Fanon – “it is the colonialist who becomes defenders of native styles.” After nearly a century’s colonization, Western culture, especially British culture, is becoming an important part of Hong Kong’s tradition. That’s true, as the preservation of Hong Kong buildings offer by Chinese government is rather based on the disappearance of historical site. He also discusses some traits of Hong Kong building. It is an open city exposed to all styles and influence, and it constantly refreshes

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Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Ackbar explores Hong Kong’s architectural conflict as a result of its Chinese and Colonial influences. Hong Kong’s storied history combined with rapid development as a bridge between East and West creates a cleavage in how one approaches the appreciation of the country’s architecture – is the past disappearing too quickly? An interesting point raised in the tutorial was why Ackbar narrowed in specifically on Hong Kong’s colonial architecture, its not like other countries (such as Africa or Indochina) had not been subject to having sections of their cities filled with distinct Colonial architecture. What makes Hong Kong difference is then

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