According to the article, female vigilantes played an important role in Hong Kong noir films in the late nineteenth century. They were equipped with similar skills and empathy as those males, which illustrated female consciousness and independent spirit. Although many of them owned unattainable social statuses, this kind of film still provided great opportunities for the majority of working-class women to escape from routine factory work and housework. More importantly, they served as inspirations for women to realize the importance of pursuing their own personal life separate from that of families. However, nowadays, with the development of the film industry,

Continue readingReading Response: Seng, E.

In Urban Cinema and the Cultural identity of Hong Kong written by Leung, he pointed out the urbanization of Hong Kong cinema from the 1950s to the 1990s, as well as the how the movies produced at different periods relates to the everchanging social environment and links to the special cultural identity of Hong Kong movies. I would like to discuss further using a typical Hong Kong movie released in the 1970s. The Private Eyes, a movie by the Hui Brothers, is a commercial comedy that posts sarcasm to the corrupting social environment of Hong Kong in the 1970s. The plot surrounds

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In the 1960s, foreign influence was extremely strong. People in HK can find western movies, TV series, books, magazines, and pop music almost everywhere. Those influences not only changed the city’s outlook but also the lifestyle and thinking. Also, the government promoted western cultures. However, China left some traditional cultures. During that era, there were many highly educated social figures who were from the Mainland who immigrated to Hong Kong, and their arrival strengthened the Chinese culture in Hong Kong. Therefore, the culture and politics were mixed and assorted.  This book gave us some examples of films at that stage,

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The article explores the phenomenon of the increasing frequency of female protagonists in Hong Kong films and the social issues which contributed to this phenomenon. It is worthwhile to consider and compare the different information presented by contemporary films. Focus on 1960s films, Black Rose and My Fair Lady have portrayed female characters with similar personalities, acting like spies. The former draws attention to the fact that females also have the power to combat injustice, tearing off the labels, such as “poor girls can only be rescued from a rich man” mentioned in the article. Black Rose resembles a call

Continue readingReading Response: Eunice Seng

The distinctive division between Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China did not only exist in a mere ideological form, but also showed its power in its cultural and artistic developments. Leung Ping-kwan’s writing reveals the cultural identity of Hong Kong that is presented via Hong Kong cinema, beginning from the cinema of the 1950s to the early 2000s. The concept of Hong Kong as a newly developing city, throughout the history, is captured as something with ambivalent meaning. From the 50s, early Hong Kong films would portray Hong Kong as a negative place, different from peaceful life of

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This article sketched a landscape of Hong Kong’s film industry from a cultural perspective. The author considered the changing contexts of socioeconomics, politics and linked them with filmmaking. From 1930s to 1950s, receiving great influences from mainland immigrants, Hong Kong movie shows a rather negative attitude towards capitalism and urban development, serving as social critiques. When it came to the 1960s, as industrialization proceeded, Hong Kong films’ attitude towards urbanization and modern life became ambiguous. After 1970, locally born directors became more selfconcious and attempted to build Hong Kong’s own identities in their films. Shen Kaizhe 3035974640

Over recent decades, a considerable number of researchers have analyzed the polarity of socio-economic classes in Hong Kong, especially illustrated through female vigilantes protagonists in melodrama and noir thrillers. These heroines, while depicted as women who are able to adept multiple skills and adjust to the dual world, break the stereotype of sexualized female characters in traditional films and showcase social inequalities in Hong Kong by jumping between the underground world featuring the impoverished region, as well as the pinnacle where it fits the rich. In addition, in the melodrama film Blossom in Rainy May, the living room does not

Continue readingReading Response: Seng E