Upon reflection, the reading is an exceptionally well-articulated piece regarding the two-way relationship between cities and cinema. On the one hand, it is not only a manifestation of the urban experience but also adds elements of instability and evokes imagery of the city that are unpredictable. I believe this particularly holds true as the richness and condensed nature of films means to a certain extent it must hone it on “landmarks” or focal points that the audience is able to relate to, and at the same time draw attention to, for instance, the underlying social tensions that the audience has previously not been exposed to. While Ackbar is keen to discuss the perception of this exorbitance nature of cities, I also concur with Lynch’s alternative view that the characteristics of cities must be taken into consideration, as drawing from personal experience we the audience may often forget the images of a certain city when we visit it, but we will not forget the feeling the first time we enter a maiden city. Perhaps this is what is most important, this sense of feeling and emotion attachment to cities that Akbar is referring to, and something films aim to capture the essence of.
Leung Kwan Ho Gordon, 3035778022
I enjoy reading your insertions on social tensions, image and memory of cities as response to Abbas’ text, particularly the exorbitant city. These common feelings and emotions can become “collective memory” which brought heated discussion amongst Hong Kongers with the demolition (or rather, deconstruction) of the Queen’s Pier in 2008. If you would like to explore further, you may be interested in the concept of psychogeography from the International Situationists – “the study of the specific effects of the geographical environment (whether consciously organised or not) on the emotions and behavior of individuals.”(Debord, 1958).
A minor point to note: we refer to authors by their last name, in this case “Abbas”, for academic writing.