The reading from Ancuta criticize urbanization in the cultural perspective. Using ghosts to reflect the failure of urbanization, Ancuta outlines the “loss of humanity” in the process where rural populations move into the city. Urbanization, with the build-up of sky scrapers using cold indifferent concrete, has turned into monsters with the shell of technology. Specifically in Hong Kong, due to the high population density, skyscrapers have to be built closely together, with little space left between them, making it the ideal setting for horror movies. The apartment’s inhabitants, often vulnerable and fragile with little exposure to nature, stares at the screen with junk food in their hands. Them being haunted and killed has little impact on society, as they have little social connection. In some context, they are even more terrible than the ghosts, as they are the “walking dead” in the city living in repeatedly daily routines, victims of urbanization.
Ting Lin 3035952642
I appreciate your poetic writing of analyzing and narrating the “living ghost” hanging around the city. I would suggest further considering how space, architecture, and the city specifically reinforce the “loss of humanity.” Also, Abbas’ Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance might shed light on a deeper understanding of the contextuality of the “ghostly urban landscape.”