Tag: Reading response

Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 2: Filming the Asian City

[READING RESPONSE] LEO OU-FAN LEE

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This article looks into the parallelism between the entrance of cinema and Western influence in Shanghai and how it impacted the urban environment of the city. We currently live in a global developed society. However what happened to cities as international exchange accelerated back in the 1930s? The reading explains that there was a changed understanding upon what a modern urban environment was. Theaters started to get built in the Western architectural style and high end theaters only showed Hollywood films, demonstrating a subtle transmission of Western influence into the city’s constructive scenery. This visual change of the architectural landscape

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

[Reading Response] : Leaving the Movie Theater by Roland Barthes

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We all have certain patterns when it comes to watching films. Some enjoy going to the cinema to watch the latest premieres, while others prefer staying at home, ordering food, and watching in comfort under a blanket. But why do we choose these places, and what makes our viewing experience more fulfilling? Roland Barthes discusses the hypnotic effect of cinema on viewers. He argues that the intimacy created by the darkness of the cinema enhances our perception of the film. We feel hidden and sensorily vulnerable in the dark, fully immersing ourselves in the movie on the screen – the

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

[Reading response] Roland Barthes, The Rustle of Language

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Begin with a question taken from the article – Is there a meaning regarding the ‘darkness’ of the cinema, and what makes it being one of the critical elements in the ‘opaque cube’? The fast-food culture has entirely altered people’s consumption trend. The rise of streaming platforms is one of the major reasons contributing to the phenomenon, which provides accessibility to different movies for someone who has purchased the subscription plan. The purpose of going to the cinema therefore is no longer being significant. However, the experience could be entirely different when one leaves the movie theatre. Watching movie in

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Cat Links 2023 Blog, Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response] Cuts Through Hong Kong, Seng, E. (2021)

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3036237831 Wong Chun Fung “Cuts through Hong Kong” uses Wong Kar Wai’s film “In the Mood for Love.” as a springboard to explore the theme of change and inevitability of the transient cityscape of Hong Kong in the 1960s and brings out the idea that our landscapes can be preserved through films. This reading depicts the transition of Hong Kong in the past, when it was a British colony. The film captures the mood of Hong Kong in the 60s, where “private spaces felt like public spaces” with the intimate relationships between one and other that will be gone soon

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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 2024 Blog, Lecture 4: Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response] : Walking in the City by Micheal de Certeau

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The street view, use of proper names, the walking pedestrians and their speech, numbers and memories makes a city a city. Films taking place in cities captures an assortment of different fragments of residents’ lives; together all of these collage into an archive that represents urban city life at the setting.   Residents are the water that brings life into a city. They move through architecture, resides in it and uses it. They infiltrate alleyways, parks and crossroads to reach destinations via routes that aren’t designed to (e.g. in Chongqing getting to places could be much faster via elevated roads

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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

Posted on Carina

The reading includes “Black Rose” and “Elevated Girl” which is released in the year of 1965. “Black Rose” describes two upper-class sisters who steal from the rich and help the poor. The film takes the audience through the different classes of people living at the time. The changing background of space and architecture in the film also reflects the inequality of Hong Kong society in the process of rapid modernization and industrialization—moreover, this inspired society’s stereotype of women as not just stopping at housework. When we talked about “Elevator Girl,” it shows the daily lives of a working-class female elevator

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 2: Filming the Asian City, Uncategorized

[Reading Response] Leo Ou-Fan Lee: The Urban Milieu of Shanghai Cinema

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The article talks more about the influence of films on the architectural landscape of Shanghai. The aspect that captivated my attention in this article was surrounding the interplay between the emerging film industry and the architectural evolution of a new Shanghai, which emerged as a direct consequence of this cinematic movement. Shanghai in the 20th century emerged as a rapidly developing metropolis that experienced an input of Western influences due to it being a large international hub. Similar to Hong Kong’s British colonialism and cultural infusion, Shanghai also underwent a transformation shaped by foreign influences, particularly through the introduction of

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

[Reading Response] Noirs: The city, The Woman and Other Spaces

Posted on u3609481

The article synthesizes the intersections of architecture and film in Hong Kong, illustrating a narrative that weaves through the city’s evolving identity from the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to depicting the individual tales of working-class women—elevator girls, office ladies, and factory workers—the noir and melodrama-infused movies of this era also highlighted the significant changes that had taken place in the urban environment. These film pieces, which represent the women’s tenacity in the face of social change, depicted their real-life experiences against the backdrop of both rising high-rise buildings and vanishing colonial architecture. The reading outlines how the preservation of

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

[READING RESPONSE] ROLAND BARTHES

Posted on u3617927

The article – “Leaving the Movie Theater” by Roland Barthes clearly articulates his view of the cinematic experience as hypnosis and makes a comparison with a television experience.  Movie theatres are special and unique in many ways. Most importantly, they are filled with “darkness”. The emptiness draws the crowd’s focus to the screen. In addition, with multidimensional audio, the audience would be fully immersed in the cinematic world through sense stimulation, mainly sight and hearing. Thus, the viewers would hear what the characters hear and see what they see.  On the contrary, televised programs or streamed content are usually viewed

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