Document Type
Book Chapter
Department/Unit
Department of English Language and Literature
Title
Hong Kong Paradox: Appearance and Disappearance in Western Cinema
Language
English
Abstract
This chapter investigates what I call “the paradox of appearance and disappearance of Hong Kong” in Western cinema over the past two decades. The city has in recent years appeared in a number of big-budget Hollywood productions (e.g. The Dark Knight, Transformers, Doctor Strange, Pacific Rim), attesting to its continuing visual and “exotic” appeal to Western audiences, reminding one of the role pre-handover Hong Kong played in the conception and design of Blade Runner. However, the real Hong Kong is often displaced in these films and supplanted by a recycled and stereotyped impression of the city’s skyline and urban landscape. The chapter looks at instances of Hong Kong being otherworlded and the implications for the Hong Kong identity in the global cinematic gaze.
Keywords
Disappearance, Global gaze, Hollywood, Western cinema, Otherworlded
Publication Date
3-2018
Source Publication Title
Cultural conflict in Hong Kong: Angles on a coherent imaginary
Editors
Polley, Jason S. ; Poon, Vinton W. K. ; Wee, Lian-Hee
Start Page
53
End Page
70
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Peer Reviewed
1
DOI
10.1007/978-981-10-7766-1_4
Link to Publisher's Edition
ISBN (print)
9789811077654
ISBN (electronic)
9789811077661
Recommended Citation
Ho, Tammy Lai-Ming. "Hong Kong Paradox: Appearance and Disappearance in Western Cinema." Cultural conflict in Hong Kong: Angles on a coherent imaginary (2018): 53-70.