A Cinematic Guide to Asian Cities: Taipei, Seoul, and the Cinema of Destruction

Louis Lo

Abstract

Divided into three parts, the paper focuses on filmic representation of such post-colonial Asian cities as Taipei, Seoul, Chengdu and Hong Kong. It first examines how the marginalized are depicted in Taipei in visual culture and literature, including Tsai Ming-liang’s The River (1997) and Stray Dogs (2013), and Pai Hsien-yung’s novel Crystal Boys. In order to shed light on how modernity shapes the representation of the city, I compare the Japanese colonial histories of Taipei and Seoul, both capitals of countries exposed to American culture in different ways since the end of the Second World War. I then investigate the contrasting images of Seoul in three Korean films, namely Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy (2003), Hong Sang-soo’s The Day He Arrives (2011), and Kim Ki-duk’s Pietà (2012). The paper argues that these films treat the city as an allegory of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), a paradoxical space which exists between the two Koreas. Lastly, the paper comments on the political implications and the notion of urban progress in Chengdu in Jia Zhang-he’s 24 City (2008) and Hong Kong in Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express (1994).

Speaker Bio

Louis Lo is Associate Professor at the Department of English, National Taipei University of Technology. He obtained his PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include the history of ideas, the representation of cities in literature and films, and Asian cinema. His works have been published by Continuum, Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Hong Kong University Press, including a monograph Male Jealousy: Literature and Film (Continuum, 2008). His journal articles appear in Textual Practice, Concentric, and CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, and book reviews in Modern Language Review. He is also a photographer and independent film marker. His on-going project is a comparative study of the revenge-motif in literature and cinema.

Organiser: Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: lr27@soas.ac.uk