Tropical Hong Kong
Narratives of absence and presence in Hollywood and Hong Kong films of the 1950s and 1960s
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20153552 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wendy Gan (University of Hong Kong, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 8-23 |
| Publication date | 2008-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0129-7619 • E-ISSN: 1467-9493 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9493.2008.00316.x |
| OpenAlex | W2031691048 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 6 |
Despite being subtropical, Hong Kong, in both Hollywood and Hong Kong films of the 1950s and 1960s, is often filmically represented as tropical. This subtle climatic elision, I argue, holds a particular political valence that varies according to filmic tradition. In Hollywood narratives, Hong Kong's tropicality is a means to exoticize and, ultimately, marginalize the realities of the local. It is a way to turn Hong Kong's physical presence into an absence. In Hong Kong films in that same cold war environment, the relative blandness of the city is an attempt to realign its film industry with the free nations of Southeast Asia. For Hong Kong films, the strategy of tropicalization was thus a means to turn away from China and redefine Hong Kong as part of a network of capitalist, modern, overseas Chinese cities located in the sunny tropics of Southeast Asia
Archaeology · Art · Art history · China · Ethnology · Geography · Hollywood · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Southeast asia · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Socioeconomic Development in Asia
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2017 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |