Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City – Page 3

Reading Response: Walter Benjamin

February 8, 2023 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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2023 Blog, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City, Uncategorized

[READING RESPONSE] Roland Barthes

February 7, 2023 u3598927@connect.hku.hk

In “Leaving the Movie Theatre”, Barthes explains various elements that construct the space of cinema, such as the dark and silent environment, the comfortable seats and the movie screen, which provide a unique sensation to audiences in the cinema. In other words, different individuals have their own considerations in the specific element of the cinema space. For example, some individuals enjoy the high quality of Dolby Audio provided by the cinema the most as it enables them to listen to intricate details of the soundtrack and immerse themselves in the film viewing experience. In my experience, other cinema audiences affect

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Architecture, Film + The Modern City, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Barthes

February 7, 2023 archlok@connect.hku.hk

In Barthes’s reading, he acclaimed the wonderful experience of being fully immersed in the movie world, away from reality ‘as if he had two bodies at the same time’, thanks to the irreplaceable and unique spatial factors found only in theatre. I found his stances particularly relatable, especially in the age of streaming platforms gaining immense popularity. Gone are the days that people had to visit cinemas to see movies, yet viewing in cinema is hard to replicate, from the technology and scale of the facilities like screen, speakers, to the ambiance like the darkness, serenity. These elements not only

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Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

[READING RESPONSE] Roland Barthes

February 7, 2023 oyyn0308@connect.hku.hk

In the past, I never found watching films to be profoundly thought-provoking. However, the whole process of watching a movie revealed by Barthes allows me to realize that the status of watching movie is like part of me is in the film, and the rest is in the audience, perhaps thinking critically. I now understand why I feel emptiness after watching movies – because I suddenly awoke from hours of dreams depicted by films and was anaesthetized even before entering the cinema. As soon as Barthes begins to tell story, we’re drawn into his words. The metaphors and imagination make

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Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes and Walter Benjamin

February 7, 2023 bramverh@connect.hku.hk

Both texts, by Barthes and Benjamin, refer to the development of film as a mode of mass entertainment through industrial replication. This analysis reminds me of the broader work of the Frankfurt school, particularly Adorno and Horkheimer’s (1947/2002) theory of the culture industry and the use of mass media as a tool of social control. Film, through its ready replicability, allows for a uniform messaging reaching unprecedentedly large audiences. But whose views are represented? For Adorno and Horkheimer, mass media reflects the bias of the superstructure, primarily representing bourgeois interests. This is partially achieved through the practical considerations of filmmaking

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Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City, Uncategorized

Reading response to Roland Barthes

February 7, 2023February 7, 2023 u3598375@connect.hku.hk

Every time I walk in the theatre, it’s like a spiritual ritual. I turn off my phone and pull the “light” to the lowest. I figure out a comfy gesture so that I can fully embrace the darkness, until the seat under me becomes void. I wake up from the darkness and waiting for the sudden advent of the stinging light, warning me that the dream is ended, time to come back to the real life. And then my favourite part begins. I turn off the “do not disturb” mode and start to check the messages from people, curious about

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Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

[READING RESPONSE] Walter Benjamin

February 7, 2023 u3597845@connect.hku.hk

With the rising technology and productivity, art was pushed off the pedestal and, like commodities, became reproducible and took on a new value. Benjamin attempted to show us that technological reproducibility has taken away the authenticity and the aura of artworks. I was pretty confused when I saw the word “aura” for the first time and wondered how this word could be connected with the artwork. But I gradually understand his argument that aura, as described from a spatial perspective, is the unique manifestation of something so close in feeling but at a certain distance away. It is featured by

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Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

[Reading Response: Roland Barthes]

February 7, 2023 u3598074@connect.hku.hk

Reading ‘Leaving the Movie Theater’ gives a mix of rational thinking and the narrator’s own personal feelings, including passion and dedication towards the movie and movie theater. Along with the reading, I was following the steps of the writer who observed every little distinction that makes watching movies in the theater different from watching television. I was smoothly led by the writer to know about every special function of cinema and how they make watching movies in theater become such enjoyable and aesthetic leisure in part of life. The distance between the screen and the audience works for the big

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Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

February 7, 2023 lydialkx@connect.hku.hk

The movie theater has a lot in common with hypnosis. People go into a theater to spend their free time and enjoy leisure, so it makes sense that the theater is decorated in ways to make people escape from reality. The darkness of the cinema tries to completely isolate viewers from their surroundings, leaving an unfamiliar but relaxing place for us to fully concentrate on the film, while the only light there should be from the screen, distinguishing the film itself from the dark surrounding. In this case, viewers can be guided to indulge in the story of the film.

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2023 Blog, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading response to Roland Barthes

February 6, 2023February 22, 2023 cmttt22@connect.hku.hk

Lecture 1 response to Roland Barthes’s Leaving the movie theater In the passage, the writer stated the space condition created in the cinema for the audiences to immerse into the movie, such as the darkness, the sound effect, the seat and the screen. Experiencing the movie, sometimes it is hard for us to distinguish between the movie and the reality, especially when we are in the cinema, immersed into it. Therefore, the writer wrote a metaphor of “two bodies” to explain the oneself immersing in the movie and the other one sitting in the cinema. I experienced this when I

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