Category: 2024 Blog

Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 6: Housing Stories

[Reading Response 2] Communal After-Living: Asian Ghosts and the City

Posted on ck030405

This reading had pointed out that urban condition is to represent normalcy. I do not agree about this statement. Although the image of city to many people is lethargic, because the whole environment is made of concrete and steel. Seems like it will always be the same. But, in fact, city is keep changing. In different generation, city will change into different form to satisfy the living condition of the people at that time. For example, in the 80s, we can see a lot of signage on the street as Hong Kong is experiencing an economic takeoff. People are passionate

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 6: Housing Stories

[Reading Response 2] Communal After-Living: Asian Ghosts and the City

Posted on max1223

I have always been aware of the expressive power of films, with their 24 frames per second, in visually conveying emotions, ideas, and exploring various topics and issues through narratives, characters, and other cinematic elements. However, it wasn’t until I finished reading this article that I truly realized the potential for using the element of ghosts in films to represent and reflect upon social issues addressed by directors.   The article’s insightful discussion revolves around three distinct social issues depicted in films set in different cities or regions, each with its unique historical and economic background. In particular, I want

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Cat Links Lecture 8: Sci-Fi Technoscapes

[Reading Response 2] The Imaginary Real World of CyberCities

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Ez Kim 3036030788 I like this analogy to the machine city: for disciplinary control proceeds by distributing bodies/uses in space, allocating each individuals to a cellular partition, and creating an efficient machine out of its analytical spatial arrangement. I thought that this analogy of machine city is similar to the feeling that I got from being in Hong Kong. Poeple work in a small partition, from 9 to 6, and goes to home using MTR, which is very crowded but the trains come in a very discipline time table. People go to a very small, cellular home, and sleep and

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Cat Links 2024 Blog

[READING RESPONSE] In Search of the Ghostly in Context: Esther M. K. Cheung

Posted on val25

Representational Space, politics, class and urban Hong Kong are featured in various movies, and a brief history of domestic public housing is probed into. Using Ghost as a movie agent not only express defamiliarization and uncanniness but introduce supernatural power that seems to be infinitely powerful in a space that belongs to powerless people (i.e. lower income groups). We witness an outburst of movies on metaphysical genre in the 70s to 90s, but its influences couldn’t be overseen. The political fear shared among community, revolving around the uncertainty and disjointed emotions raised from the future returning of sovereignty of Hong

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 7: Monsters, Materials & Skyscrapers

[Reading response 2] Oh No, There Goes Tokyo

Posted on Henry

In the paper “Oh No, There Goes Tokyo”, the author uses Tokyo’s frequent appearance in “apocalypse pop culture” as an inspiration to explore why these pop cultures appear so often, how they reflected different state of the Japan’s society in the past few decades, and their impact to the Japan’ society. The part I like the most is the changing styles and topics of apocalyptic films with relation to the social events that is happening in Japan, because I never realised when I was watching these films that they have so much connection. From post atomic bomb film like Karumen

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 6: Housing Stories

Reading Response 2: In Search of the Ghostly in Context : Esther M. K. Cheung

Posted on sum0902

‘In Search of the Ghostly in Context’ discusses how Fruit Chan’s film explores estrangement through uncanny city spaces: low-cost public housing estates and old neighbourhoods in Hong Kong. He considered these places as the representation of the darker side of Hong Kong, such as social and economic inequality. These spaces are represented through lighting, warped space and shadow in the films, providing questions about the presence, absence, visibility, invisibility, appearance and reality of Hong Kong. In addition, Chan addresses the sense of rootlessness and displacement in the modern city, giving those who have been forgotten by the city an opportunity

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Cat Links 2024 Blog

Reading response 2 “In Search of the Ghostly in Context” Ma Yin Lam Minnie

Posted on u3618900

Reading response 2 In Search of the Ghostly in Context         Ma Yin Lam Minnie “In Search of the Ghostly in Context” is a book chapter in the monography “Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong” written by a late local scholar Esther Cheung, who conducted a sophisticated analysis of the surreal characteristics of this low-budget movie in terms of their formations and purposes. Apart from public housing development, she also demonstrated the influences of socioeconomic context in cinema production. I was highly impressed by the argument of Cheung “Made in Hong Kong in fact contains a number of shots depicting the

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Cat Links Lecture 7: Monsters, Materials & Skyscrapers

[Reading Response2] Noir Urbanisms delves into the paradox of urban de

Posted on u3594846

Noir Urbanisms delves into the paradox of urban development and demonstrates how cities, often seen as innovation centers, can also become stages of differentiation and dystopia. This article critically examines the socio-economic inequality exhibited in urban space, using examples from cities around the world to illustrate the conflicting outcomes of urban progress. A central theme is the critique of the concept of “smart cities”. It challenges the assumption that technological progress fundamentally improves urban life. On the contrary, it indicates that these technologies can enhance monitoring and control, potentially infringing on individual freedom and privacy. This key viewpoint is crucial

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Cat Links Lecture 8: Sci-Fi Technoscapes

[Reading Response 2] Imagining Urban Futures By Carl Abbott

Posted on u3622838

3036228385 Cheung Chun Yu In most of the movies, cities are always described as a moveable space. The cities in these films look like robots or a massive public transport system, for example trains, ships, fleets. Cities are moving to search for the best living place and the most resources for people to live. Besides, some cities are built outside the Earth. In some movies, the Earth is already not a great planet for people to live on. It lacks resources and suitable places for people to live.   Another characteristic of the future city is that it is well

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Cat Links Lecture 7: Monsters, Materials & Skyscrapers

[Reading Response]-Abbas, M. A. (1997). Hong Kong: Culture and the politics of disappearance (pp. 63-90)

Posted on hoiyiu

The concept of disappearance is a recurring theme in Ackbar Abbas’s “Building on Disappearance,”which exploring how Hong Kong’s rapid urbanisation and modernization have resulted in the loss of physical structures, neighbourhoods, and cultural landmarks, leading to a sense of disorientation and collective memory loss among its residents. The author argues that the vanishing of architectural entities has shaped the city’s identity and social fabric and reflects on the complex relationship between architecture, memory, and identity. As I read “Building on Disappearance,” I was struck by the notion that disappearing structures can contribute to a sense of disorientation and loss of

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