Tag: Reading response 1

Cat Links Lecture 3: The Post-war Asian City as Set

[Reading response]: NOIRS: The City, the Woman and Other Spaces

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During the crucial period of Hong Kong cinema in the 1960s, the cityscape shifted from being a backdrop to being a key player in the narrative, as the text of Norris: The City, the Woman, and Other Spaces reveals. This shift is visible in films such as “Temptress of a Thousand Faces,” where the character of the city is crucial to storytelling. The narrative is woven together by vivid sequences that highlight the ever-changing relationship between the protagonists and their urban surroundings, such as the skyline and neon-lit nights. In “Black Rose,” upper-class sisters lead double lives, contrasting wealth with

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Cat Links Filming the Modern Asian City

[Reading Response]: Seng E Noirs: The City, The women and other spaces

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This article discusses about the social status of women in Hong Kong Cinema during the 1960s especially in the genres of melodrama and noir thriller. The article shed light on the geopolitical tension and how gender inequality deteriorated accomplished by modernization of the city. The article used James bonds series on Hong Kong’s noir thriller genre and the prominence of female lead in Cantonese-language films. They emphasise women’s beauty, physical power and intelligence, which tried to tell the public that women can also be strong, independent and work in the society. In this article, they also discuss how movies utilise

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

[Reading Response] Leaving the Movie Theater by Robert Barthes

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In the realm of watching films, an interesting dichotomy exists between the traditional allure of cinema theaters and the modern comfort of home viewing.  Each way offers a unique type of experience, and people’s choices speak volumes about their preferences for immersion and convenience in their cinematic adventures. The allure of the movie theater is undeniable. It is a space where the rest of the world dims to black, leaving only the vibrant narrative to unfold on the screen in front of us. Such darkness is not simply the absence of light; it is a canvas for our imaginations, enhancing

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Cat Links Lecture 3: The Post-war Asian City as Set

[Reading Response] : NOIRS: The City, the Woman and Other Spaces

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The reading is called NOIRS: The City, the Woman and Other Spaces. In this article, it mentioned two movies from 1960-1970. One of them is called Black Rose (Hak Mui Gwai) which was produced in 1965. The story is talk about a pair of sister who name themselves as “black rose” or Hak Mui Gwai in Cantonese. Their mission is to steal some valuable stuff like jewelry or money from the rich. Also, they will use it to help the poor. This film kind of talking about the economic inequality in the 1960s in Hong Kong. It shows the difference

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 4: Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response] ‘Cuts through Hong Kong’ by Eunice Seng

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Seng’s ‘Cuts Through Hong Kong’ fully situates In the Mood for Love in its historical context, revealing it as an embodiment for the conflicting and transient identities of Hong Kong’s migrants in the 1960s. This is achieved through an insightful and coherent analysis of the film’s story, built environment and cinematic style. The film’s story revolves around the intimate and ambiguous relationship between two Shanghai immigrants – Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen, neighbours in the same apartment complex. Though both were married, their partners never appeared in the scene. A prevailing sense of absence is felt through Chow and Su’s

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Cat Links Lecture 3 Filming the Asian City

[Reading Response] Noirs – The City The Woman and Other Spaces by Ez Kim

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After reading the “NOIRS: The City, the Woman and Other Spaces”, I was amazed on how “Black Rose” uses various film technique to show female gaze especially on the frozen shots and multi view point. Also, the elevator girl uses jump cuts, which shows the rapid movement of a strong female protagonist actions.  It was also quite intriguing that spy thriller genre in HK was heavily influenced by the James Bond series, and how that influenced the characteristics of female spies in HK films.   It was also quite interesting to see how social discontent with the ruling class is

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Reading response 1 “Urban cinema and the cultural identity of Hong Kong”

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“Urban cinema and the cultural identity of Hong Kong” is a chapter written by a local signature late writer Leung Ping Kwan in 2000, examining how the unique cultural identity of Hong Kong people construct and/or being shaped through local films from 1950s to 2000s. By using various cinematic languages and urban spaces as a spatial trope, movies usually render specific ideologies that are intertwined with social context. “Leaving the Movie Theatre” in the lesson 1 describes a movie theatre as a heterotopia which can evoke audiences’ fantasy by the overall cinematic settings; likewise, this chapter discusses movies can shape

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 3: The Post-war Asian City as Set

[Reading Response] Noirs – The City The Woman and Other Spaces by Eunice Seng

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The paper analyzes Hong Kong cinema in the 1960s, focusing on how spatial representation, including architectural features and set design, illustrates the underlying meaning of the melodrama and noir thriller mentioned in the essay. Such cinematic expression highlights how architectural elements enhance metatheatre, serving as metaphors for broader narratives of modernity, feminism, and political activism in 1960s Hong Kong. The cinema in the 1960s reflected the directors’ notion of modernity. They explore the concept of modernity to critique prevailing social norms and advocate for change. A notable example is the portrayal of the socialite-vigilante identity in Blackrose, which highlights the

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 4: Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response] Cuts through Hong Kong: the spatial collage of In the Mood for Love

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Said Professor Seng, the film In The Mood For Love is a spatial collage of many different places and environments, especially domestic and public ones. The interconnected spaces created and shot in the film not only present a typical Hong Kong urban landscape in the 1960s but, most importantly, they visualize the character’s complex emotions and reflect the context of migration and diaspora of Hong Kong in the 1960s. Regarding depicting characters’ emotions, the film utilizes some private and intimate spaces like bedrooms to amplify the emotional vulnerability and isolation of the characters, for instance, the compact quarters of the

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 3: The Post-war Asian City as Set

[Reading Response]: Noirs-The City The Woman and Other Spaces by Seng

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The second part of the article focuses on the interaction between women and women’s narrative cinema in the processes of capitalist modernization, as well as the rise and decline of the latter. In an industrialized context, the influx of a large number of female labourers into the production sphere implies that more and more women have gained greater freedom and power. Entirely new modern architectural spaces have been created, and women have gradually entered the public domain. The image of the female protagonist in the film represents the aspirations of working-class women, depicting an ideal of the new era for

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