Seng’s essay focuses on the role of women during the 60s by analyzing movies from this period. Other than demonstrating the urban interior spaces inhabited by female protagonists, these movies provide insight on the mentality, geopolitical tensions, and inequalities of the time.
Within her essay, Seng highlights two main genres: melodramas and noir thrillers. She mentions the movie Black Rose, which talks about a vigilante who steals from the rich to help the poor. With the depiction of a female Robin Hood, this film helped promote a new class of women, who were no longer forced to stay at home but instead were strong and independent creatures. Most of the time, the female protagonists of these noir thrillers belonged to more elite classes, which personified the need for the rich to do good for the society. The melodrama Elevator Girl, on the other hand, talks about a working-class woman whose job is to take passengers up and down in the elevator. The main goal of cinematic masterpieces such as this was to depict the aspirations and the struggles of the working class. In both genres, the cinematography furthermore captures the feeling of struggle of the female protagonists in a newly modernizing Hong Kong society.
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A good overview of the reading and the societal context of melodramas and noir thrillers. You have summarized the inequality experienced by women in the process of modernization. You can elaborate more with your own personal reflections and how the use of space such as the elevator depicts such changes in 60s Hong Kong.