Hong Kong Dark Cinema: Film Noir, Re-conceptions, and Reflexivity

Kim-Mui E. CHAN*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Book/ReportBook or reportpeer-review

Abstract

This book is a scholarly investigation of the historical development and contemporary transformation of film noir in today’s Hong Kong. Focusing on the evolvement of cinematic narratives, aesthetics, and techniques, the author balances a deep reading of the multiple filmic plots with a discussion of the cinematic portrayals of gender, romance, identities and power relations. Nuancing the prototypical cinematic form and tragic sense of classical film noir, the recent Hong Kong cinema turns around the classical generic role of film noir at the turn of the century to convey very different messages—joy, hope or love. This book examines how the mainstream cinema, or pre-and-post-Hong Kong cinema in particular, applies a peculiar strategy that makes rooms for the audience to enjoy a pleasure-giving process of reflexivity and also critique the mainstream ideology. With new analytical approaches and angles, this book breaks new ground in offering transcultural and cross-genre analyses on the cinema and its impact in local and international markets.

This book is the first major scholarly investigation of the historical development and contemporary transformation of film noir in today’s Hong Kong. Focusing on the evolvement of cinematic narratives, aesthetics, and techniques, the author balances a deep reading of the multiple filmic plots with a refreshing discussion of the cinematic portrayals of gender, romance, identities and power relations. This book also revisits conceptual categories developed by Foucault, Lacan, Derrida and Butler.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Number of pages253
ISBN (Electronic)9783030282936
ISBN (Print)9783030282929, 9783030282950
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Nov 2019

Publication series

NameEast Asian Popular Culture
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
ISSN (Print)2634-5935
ISSN (Electronic)2634-5943

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