Scared of confronting our past and facing the future, we represent the ghosts in ghost movies. Especially living in a modernistic, glamorized city like Hong Kong where everything is happening everywhere all at once, as the city grows, so does the fear of loneliness and social isolation of those who are socially and culturally marginalized. Despite us not being physically alone in this highly-packed, densely-populated city, we feel socially alone. In many ways, that could be even scarier than being physically alone.
Apt (2006) provides us with a horror perspective of social loneliness from the protagonist’s disturbing experience in her apartment complex. Even when living in a building surrounded by neighbors, the audience still gets a subtle sense of fear lingering while watching the protagonist navigate around dark, isolated, eerie apartment blocks that looked identical to each other.
This ties closely with the perception we have towards apartment buildings – “an object of consumption and production”. Given our nature of renting apartments on a short-lease contract, there is no sense of permanence in the place. Just like fast-food restaurants, it is merely a place where people “come and go”. We linger and roam around the streets just like ghosts.
Tan Magenta Elizabeth
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I appreciate your detailed analysis of how loneliness cultivates the “living ghosts” hanging around the city. I would suggest unfolding a larger picture through specific film cases. Please further consider how the figures of those “living ghosts” are reinforced through space/architecture. Besides, Abbas’ essay might shed light on your analysis in terms of contextuality. More importantly, the bloom of Hong Kong’s ghost-themed films in the 20th century has something to do with its social background. This can navigate your further analysis of the specific circumstance in Hong Kong. Similarly, the 1950s-1990s is the “golden age” of monster-genre film in Japan, which is a medium to emphasize the destruction and reconstruction of the city. It might be insightful to discuss by comparing these two film genres.