Category: 2020 Spring

Cat Links Lecture 2 The Post-War Asian City as Set, Uncategorized

Week 2 reading response

Posted on ybai2025@connect.hku.hk

A few things that i found very interesting from Lee’s writing were the inspirations and influences of early Chinese films. He stated that “the development of modern Chinese cinema was closely connected with this urban setting in which cinema figured prominently as a new commodity and a new item in the modern lifestyle of leisure and entertainment” (74). Indeed, the development of cities paralleled the introduction of cinemas, giving directors new ideas for telling stories and cinematographers new angles to depict those stories in. With this rapid stride towards modernity, the Chinese public set their gaze westward, with many attempting

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Cat Links Lecture 3 Filming the Asian City

Reading Response: Zhen Zhang

Posted on u3610204@connect.hku.hk

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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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Barthes, R.

Posted on zminrui1@connect.hku.hk

As for Barthes, R., he considered leaving the movie theater as “the most vulnerable of powers: healing”, this comment reminds me my last experience at the M+ cinema theatre. Before I even entered the cinema, I was healed by the nearby sea. Across the sea, on the shore, there are the very busy modern buildings of Hong Kong with beautiful lights and gorgeous colors. Here, however, the whole coast is very quiet and peaceful with large grassy areas and pale-yellow streetlights. Families and couples can be seen sitting on the shore chatting or camping on the grass. The sea seems

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3610917@connect.hku.hk

Barthes documents the sensational experience of movie viewing in a cinematic theatre as he contemplates his personal experiences. He compares the experience to drifting into a hypnotic state as if our minds have been transported to elsewhere, fleeing from reality. I have never considered the grave importance of movie theatres in contributing to the success of a movie until I read this chapter. It made me rethink my past cinematic experiences. The surge of adrenaline in my body as I walked down the corridor to get to the cinema house. The dark, cooled room that is designed to soothe my

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Cat Links 2023 Blog, Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Walter Benjamin

Posted on u3599440@connect.hku.hk

Technological reproduction has gradually affected human life throughout history. “Reproduction” is an important element according to Benjamin. He discusses how mass production affects our appreciation of art. In Benjamin’s view, “aura” has disappeared as a result of the reproducibility of works of art. “Aura” is not easy to understand literally, since it is an original concept created by Benjamin. The concept concretizes the uniqueness of authentic works of art. According to my understanding, what he is trying to convey with the term “aura” is the sense of shock that comes from seeing the authentic works of art for oneself. We

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3610018@connect.hku.hk

Owing to the dark environment of the cinema as well as the sound and music of the movie, the author of “Leaving the Movie Theater” claims that attending the movie theater enables individuals to feel hypnotized. According to the author, the “twilight reverie” prefigures the dark environment of the movie theater and leads the person into a dimly lit cube where hypnosis can occur and where the body’s freedom is generated. People are relaxed and healed in the movie theater, away from the urban city. The comparison of the experience of watching Netflix at home versus at a cinema is

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

[READING RESPONSE] Walter Benjamin

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In Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media. He explains the work of art’s uniqueness is equivalent to its involvement in the context of tradition. On the contrary, in the present age of reproducible general technology. Can a computer without emotion really provide artistic creativity? In my opinion, art is something that people put their emotions and time into, and people appreciate the ideas and the thoughts in it. However, if skill can reach or even surpass the level of human intelligence, then what does this mean for us

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

L1 Reading Response – Barthes

Posted on u3599370@connect.hku.hk

  According to the ‘Leaving the Movie Theater’ by Roland Barthes, he describes the cinematic experience as “hypnotic”. I highly agree with his expression of watching a film at the cinema as I also felt engulfed and overwhelmed whenever I have finished a movie at the theater. Especially in this era of high technology, the innovation of 4DX has been implemented. Within 4DX, cinemas offer multi-sensory hypnotic effect. While the film was only confined to the screen before 4DX, nowadays the enhanced ambience and multi-dimensional effects draws audiences into the movie. I would like to shed a light on the

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3598701@connect.hku.hk

Barthes captures your typical viewing experience of the coming and going of a cinema. The metonymy, “The darkness of the theatre is prefigured by the “twilight reverie.” Is what I completely identify with Barthes’s feelings towards the idea of a cinema. We are immersed in the box of hypnotic light accompanied by relaxing seats and the sound of ecstasy. Our every sense is dulled to only concentrate on the projected film. Whether the genre is paced slowly or fast, our minds can’t help to be static and pierced by the dancing lights of the screen. For Barthes and I,  the

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3597773@connect.hku.hk

“In this darkness of cinema (anonymous, populated, numerous – oh, the boredom, the frustration of so-called private showings) lies the very fascination of the film.” I relate to this sense of anonymity. I find this cinematic darkness inviting, often even comforting. I yearn to be consumed by the void of the theatre. It is an entirely different experience viewing a film in a theatre versus on a television screen in your home. For the film’s entire runtime, I am completely immersed in the world it creates, indeed as Barthes mentions it is “hypnotic”. My attention does not waver, there is

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