The essay discusses the relationship between urban environments, Asian cultures, and the presence of ghosts. The article also discusses a very interesting concept about “living ghosts”.
In ghost movies in Asian cities, there is a clear distinction between the apartment where the living ghost is located and the traditional haunted house. Traditional haunted houses often have clear boundaries that should not be broken and are often associated with a specific family or person. In contrast, living ghosts in apartments are linked to factors such as economic status, social isolation, or health problems that make the ghosts in the apartment not substantively linked to the tenants passing by, who may themselves have been considered living ghosts. This point of view actually echoes with me a lot. In the traditional haunted movie, we often saw the main character who were usually ordinary people or even poor and lived in old style Tong Lau, although we didn’t realize that while watching.
The ghosts in the apartment have managed to terrorize the tenants, but what’s really frightening about these movies is that we would also became living ghosts when we reached a point where no one cares, because we’re all on the verge of disappearing. Nowadays, people won’t say hello to their neighbors or take the initiative to care about others. They lock themselves in their small room where be their isolated space and be immersed in entertainment on their mobile phones day and night. I believe that this is a portrayal of majority modern people’s life. In this case, can we also consider they are living ghosts? Or besides, we are all becoming the living ghosts?
— Cheng Chung Hin 3036230493