Filming the Singaporean killer
Trauma, murder and modernity in Medium Rare (1991) and God or Dog (1997)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21636112 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benson Pang (0000-0002-2501-4869, Independent researcher, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 187-202 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Cinema (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1059-440X • E-ISSN: 2049-6710 |
| Publisher | Intellect (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1386/ac_00041_1 |
| OpenAlex | W4200584253 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
This article considers how two Singapore horror films, Medium Rare (1991) and God or Dog (1997), attempted to make sense of the real-life Adrian Lim ritual murders through two divergent approaches to the co-constitutive relationship between modernity and violence. First, by formulating an image of Singapore as a rational global cosmopolis, Medium Rare positions Lim and his superstitious violence as malignant anomalies that must be expelled to protect Singapore’s modern identity. Conversely, God or Dog portrays Lim’s madness as an unfortunate consequence of the country’s rapid modernization. Put together, these films use Lim and his crimes as vehicles through which they explore Singapore’s troubled endeavours at self-definition within the early fringe of the 1990s Singapore new wave cinema
Aesthetics · Art · Criminology · Literature · Modernity · Modernization theory · Movie theater · Political science · Sociology · Cinema and Media Studies · Law · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · South Asian Cinema and Culture
| Citations per year | 0.2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |