Tag: Reading response

Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response] Ackbar Abbas

Posted on u3560664

I agree with Abbas. The image of our city is crafted by money instead of the city itself, and it presents an absents of characters because they are designed for a “brand” or an icon instead of showing the real side of the city. It makes the city invisible to the people. At the same time, I think that it is also hard to argue whether it represents Hong Kong, all those Generic City images may be intentional, globalization and internet leading us from difference to similarity. For me, the image of Hong Kong crafted by the government shows the

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response] Ackbar Abbas

Posted on soniawsy

Cities are trying to boost their tourist trade by using branding strategies that make them more unforgettable and attractive, but they are one of the reasons for cities becoming “Generic Cities”. Cities would spend millions of dollars to build up their brand, which cost them their uniqueness, like their culture, their history, or their identity. This can be reflected through the generic cities’ representations in cinematic images. For example, in Hollywood films, most cities in Asia are now seen and represented as rich cities. I have discovered that in different films or television shows when people mention Hong Kong or

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 8 Sci-Fi Technoscapes

[Reading Response] M. Christine Boyer

Posted on soniawsy

Boyer has mentioned the point of CyberCities, how different aspects of cities are being replaced and controlled by computer technology, and I think this is becoming the new reality day by day. Like the argument mentioned in the reading, “electronic telecommunications have so reformulated our perception of space and time that we experience a loss of spatial boundaries, of spacial distinctions.”, since the beginning of the pandemic, our normal lives have been moved online and became virtual. People were used to going to school or to work or to gatherings in person, but because of the virus, people were forced

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Cat Links Global Space, Time + The City

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on kmw9347

     In Ackbar Abbas’s article, the author discuss about “generic city”. Generic city is described as a city that has no characteristic and it comes from modernism. In the article, the author discuss about generic city using Hong Kong as an example. In the movies the author discussed, directors of the movies focus on showing skyscrapers and the geometric landscapes. In the movie Gozilla vs Kong, the director focused on skyscrapers and neon signs on each buildings in the fighting scenes. Same in other recent films, directors focus more on showing the city’s landmarks and skyscrapers rather than showing

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

Reading Response – Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Edward

In the extract from Ackbar Abbas’s Global Cities, the author described cities with hyperbolised impressions as “exorbitant cities”. These cities have transformed from their original form into a completely unrecognisable identity, “representable only as the cinematic city”. Using Hong Kong as an example, Abbas discusses how the city is depicted in Western blockbuster movies. In the movies he discussed, directors used Hong Kong’s distinct skyscrapers and landscape to build a modern, exotic visual image in the audience’s minds, while suppressing the true Hong Kong beneath. More recent examples such as King Kong vs Godzilla, or going back to the old Batman also shows

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Spaces, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Julia

Hong Kong is gradually becoming a generic city which refers to the city free of any history and characteristics. The generic city is actually the final product of modernism and science, which kind of are the antithesis of history and identity. From my perspective, for this phenomenon, the merits outweigh the defects. The citizens can confer and add many features to their city freely instead of worrying about destroying the old characteristics, just like decorating a total new house without any limitations. Also, this concept reminds me of a line from the movie The Young and Prodigious Spivet, “Every millimeter

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response] Ackbar Abbas

Posted on u3579933

Abbas used “exorbitant city” to describe the cities whose impression is exaggerated, even deviated from original identity, being “representable only as the cinematic city”. While Hong Kong frequently appears in big-budget Hollywood movies, protraying luxurious skyscrapers and urban landscapes to generate exotic visual appeal, the real Hong Kong is supplanted. There seems a paradox between emphasizing on a city’s characteristics, and disappearance of authentic identity in global cinematic gaze. I agree with Abbas that such an exorbitant city is “phantasmagoric”, and “labyrinthine”, in the sense that hyperbolic exhaustion on the city has distorted its genuineness, living true identity invisible and

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Posted on Matsumoto Ami

by Matsumoto Ami 3035831305 The Global Cities: Cinema, architecture and urbanism in a digital age by Abbas, a great example of using an interdisciplinary approach including films to dissect and analyse the phenomenon of global cities. The author picked the famous film in each majority urban city including Hong Kong to examine how globalization may affect our physiological and physical urban experience. Using films as an entry point is a wise choice since the architecture is a storyboard that keeps changing over the years and the film is the expression of the director’s understanding that captures the momentary setting.  Referring

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on u3577751

The image of Hong Kong used to be that of the only global city with both Eastern and Western features. However, with its changing relationship with the Britain and China’s rapid globalisation, Hong Kong is beginning to take on the characteristics of a generic city. As mentioned by the author, it is the “image of the city” that makes the city invisible, not legible. Hong Kong today seems to be a movie city, people use images to show the character of its past, like lanterns, old trademark and rickshaws. Hong Kong is keeping changing now, but in the same time, signs which contain

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Cat Links Lecture 9 Global Space, Time & Architecture

[READING RESPONSE] ACKBAR ABBAS

Posted on angelwly

Every city is trying to build as many landmarks as they could to represent its image with a view to making the city more memorable. Yet, it leads to many Generic Cities, losing their identity, culture and history while becoming more exorbitant in reality. Why do Asian cities have the tendency to homogenization despite their cultural richness, especially for China with a long history? Perhaps Ironically, the cities are learnt through cinematic image. People are trying to recreate the characters and qualities of the city through film but at the same time, undermining the visibility of their cities. This correlates

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