The article explores the phenomenon of the increasing frequency of female protagonists in Hong Kong films and the social issues which contributed to this phenomenon. It is worthwhile to consider and compare the different information presented by contemporary films. Focus on 1960s films, Black Rose and My Fair Lady have portrayed female characters with similar personalities, acting like spies. The former draws attention to the fact that females also have the power to combat injustice, tearing off the labels, such as “poor girls can only be rescued from a rich man” mentioned in the article. Black Rose resembles a call

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The distinctive division between Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China did not only exist in a mere ideological form, but also showed its power in its cultural and artistic developments. Leung Ping-kwan’s writing reveals the cultural identity of Hong Kong that is presented via Hong Kong cinema, beginning from the cinema of the 1950s to the early 2000s. The concept of Hong Kong as a newly developing city, throughout the history, is captured as something with ambivalent meaning. From the 50s, early Hong Kong films would portray Hong Kong as a negative place, different from peaceful life of

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This article sketched a landscape of Hong Kong’s film industry from a cultural perspective. The author considered the changing contexts of socioeconomics, politics and linked them with filmmaking. From 1930s to 1950s, receiving great influences from mainland immigrants, Hong Kong movie shows a rather negative attitude towards capitalism and urban development, serving as social critiques. When it came to the 1960s, as industrialization proceeded, Hong Kong films’ attitude towards urbanization and modern life became ambiguous. After 1970, locally born directors became more selfconcious and attempted to build Hong Kong’s own identities in their films. Shen Kaizhe 3035974640

Over recent decades, a considerable number of researchers have analyzed the polarity of socio-economic classes in Hong Kong, especially illustrated through female vigilantes protagonists in melodrama and noir thrillers. These heroines, while depicted as women who are able to adept multiple skills and adjust to the dual world, break the stereotype of sexualized female characters in traditional films and showcase social inequalities in Hong Kong by jumping between the underground world featuring the impoverished region, as well as the pinnacle where it fits the rich. In addition, in the melodrama film Blossom in Rainy May, the living room does not

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The complexity of the cultural identity of Hong Kong is an inevitable topic in local artistic works – whether this capitalist colonial city is separate or one part of the socialist Chinese culture. By comparing movies in different phases, Leung Ping-Kwan then discussed the formation of Hong Kong urban culture and the re-definition of cultural identity expressed in films following that. I am amazed by the idea that cinema not only expresses the views of the city but also plays an essential role in its formation. Instead of passively recording the changes in the city, cinema suggests new angles and

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I would like to share something about women’s social status. One of the points mentioned in this article is that “ Hong Kong is the predominance of the female protagonist in the Cantonese- language noir thrillers”. In my point of view, this s a positive reflection of the change of women’s social stats at that age. Starting from 1960s, various movies started to set female roles as the main characters of the movies, like the “Black Rose” and the “Elevator Girl”. It could be seen that females’ situations were changed like the quality of the  workplaces and jobs are enhancing,

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I found the vigilante genre of film familiar to me, as it can relate to many other superhero movies nowadays, particularly, the Batman. They share the same social background which highlighted the intensified inequality and social injustice caused by the rapid development and modernization, as well as the social status and roles of the protagonists, while this vigilantism was created to comfort the residents immersed in the riptide. Despite many components are similar, there’s one non-ignorable element, that is the environment, the city where the story took place, is presented differently. The limitation due to city’s ongoing construction and the

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By looking through the lenses of urban cinema, Leung P.-K. portrays the break between socialist China and the capitalist city; and captures the social unrest and the changing complexities of Hong Kong’s cultural identity. The films highlighted by Leung show a clear distinction between the dichotomy of China and Hong Kong. Often contrasted is a representation of Hong Kong’s poor lifestyle with China’s rich culture to scrutinise immigrants and impose a strong sense of patriotism for those returning to mainland China. Thus the film inevitably questions Hong Kong’s changing identity and culture. Take the film Kaleidoscope produced by the South China Film

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