106-014 Hong Kong Cinema

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Usually 25 points of first year English.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject examines contemporary Hong Kong cinema as a seminal cultural formation constituted in local, regional and global flows. Particular to this is the screening of an alternative Asian modernity expressed through postcolonial-postmodernity, dis-appearance and the preposterous. Students will understand these articulations by exploring cinematic practices such as Hong Kong noir, action, horror and martial arts cultures, Canto-pop and the Hollywood remake. Films discussed in detail include award-winning popular films by Jackie Chan, John Woo, Tsui Hark, Wong Kar-wai, Stanley Kwan, Clara Law and Ann Hui. Students completing this subject should have a strong critical and historical knowledge of Hong Kong modernity, Hong Kong cinema and its politics of transition, and their relation to global media and contemporary culture.

Assessment

Class participation, and written work totalling 4000 words.

Prescribed Texts

A subject reader will be available.

• Films: John Woo (dir), Bullet in the Head.
• Stanley Kwan (dir), Center Stage.
• Ching Siu-tung (dir), A Chinese Ghost Story.
• Wong Kar-awi (dir), Chungking Express.
• Ringo Lam (dir), City on Fire.
• Clara Law (dir), Floating Life.
• Tsui Hark (dir), Once Upon A Time in China.
• Jackie Chan (dir), Police Story.
• Ching Siu-ting & Raymond Lee (dirs), The East is Red.
• Wong Kar-wai (dir), Happy Together.
• Ann Hui (dir), Song of the Exile.