Category: Lecture 7: Monsters, Materials & Skyscrapers

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[Reading Response 2] : Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance

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Abbas’s composition regarding the disappearance of historical buildings in Hong Kong raises concerns about preservation and integration. The “disappearance” is implied as a substitution for another, starting from waves of Chinese immigration and economic development changing the city into a vast network of interconnected architectural systems. The external horizontal pressures contributed to local and merely local places being demolished for vertical high-rise buildings. This is the case of the Shek Kip Mei, the first public housing estate to counter an urban crisis from the government acquiring valuable land. Simultaneously, these new spaces serve multiple purposes, mixing commercial and residential use.

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[Reading response] Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance

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The essay “Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance” by Ackbar Abbas delves into the relationship between architecture and the disappearance of Hong Kong culture. Due to its post-colonial context, the architecture of Hong Kong is a combination of many styles, ranging from “colonial, modernism to post-modernism”. While diversity communicates inclusivity and heterogeneity, it also makes Hong Kong an ‘open city’. Abbas puts it succinctly – Hong Kong has a ‘floating identity’ where it doesn’t have its own style. Hong Kong’s uniquely fluid identity has ramifications on cultural conservation. For instance, the lack of a clear definition makes it

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[Reading Response] : ‘Oh No, There Goes Tokyo’ by William M. Tsutsui

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“Oh No, There Goes Tokyo ” dives into the many different movie scenarios that see the destruction of Tokyo from various different causes, such as natural disasters, monsters, viruses just to name a few. The Author uniquely views the dismantling of Tokyo through various means as beneficial towards Tokyo and her citizens. The author uses Godzilla and the animated movie Akira as examples to illustrate his perspective of Tokyo and her inhabitants being more united during and after disaster (Godzilla) and the redevelopment into something newer and better (Akira). I couldn’t help but draw a comparison to Hong Kong, which

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[READING RESPONSE] WILLIAM M. TSUTSUI: OH NO, THERE GOES TOKYO

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The article mentions that Japan’s cultural make-up and ideology are influenced by history and war. Japanese popular culture is filled with the darkness and pessimism of apocalyptic imagery, and people are obsessed with scenes of urban destruction and fantasies of rebuilding a peaceful landscape after that. Depictions of the apocalypse appear in many Japanese films, such as the movie Godzilla, spawned by the Japanese people’s fear of nuclear strike, which focuses the world’s conflict on a fantastical creature mutated by nuclear radiation, whose death symbolizes the demise of the threat and the establishment of a new order. The Tokyo city

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[Reading Response] William M. Tsutsui

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Oh No, There Goes Tokyo looks into the Japanese obsession with the fictional destruction of their own cities in various mediums such as films, anime or manga. According to the author, a lot of this stems from post-war anxiety of an imminent bombing. The events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of the war have had such an impact on Japan’s subconscious, leading many creatives to infuse personal trauma into their work. Thus, the art produced could be interpreted as both a reminder for the old and an optimistic view towards the future for the young. The theme of

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[READING RESPONSE] WILLIAM M. TSUTSUI: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo

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In Oh No, There Goes Tokyo, the author mainly analyzes the relationship between Japanese culture transition and Japan history, logic behind the appearance of Godzilla and its post influence on city landscape. What attracts me most is the rigorous analysis on strong correlation between Japanese culture and history. Start with the history before WWII, Japanese culture was constantly influenced by natural disaster, nuclear explosion and economic crisis. Elements of devastation and annihilation was subliminally added in creations, leading to a disastrous style of culture. It stimulates my thoughts of Chinese movie culture under certain historical background. Similarly, Chinese movie culture

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Reading Response2:L7,2010,Oh NO,There goes Tokyo

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In the paper, Tsutsui W.M. employed a multidimensional analytical approach to explore the description of the catastrophic end of Tokyo. Firstly, the author thoroughly analyzes various works in post-war Japanese popular culture, such as movies, comics, animations, and electronic games, to sort out the common themes and symbolic meanings about the destruction of Tokyo in these works. Through these popular cultural works, Tsutsui reveals the deep fear and anxiety of the public towards urban disasters, technological runaways, and natural disasters. Revealing this destructive aesthetic and its potential social, historical, and political implications. This study not only explores the phenomenon of

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