"I Can't See Through Walls. But I Can Kick Your Ass." A short film review on Kick-Ass (2010)

Kick-Ass is an action-comedy superhero movie based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Miller. The film was released on April 15, 2010 in Hong Kong, and it was directed by Matthew Vaughn (also the director of Layer Cake and Stardust). Although the film is said to be a superhero movie, it isn’t really like any other conventional superhero movies existed on the market, such as Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, etc. The major difference is that the superheroes is the movie do not possess any kind of superpowers, which means they are only ordinary people just like you and me.

Dave Lizewski is an average teenager who lives in New York City. He, unlike Peter Parker in Spider-Man, has no superpowers, except he claims that the only superpower he has is invisible to girls. His life does not go easy, which getting robbed and being bullied are not rare in his daily life. However, every time when he or somebody is in trouble, no one would dare to help. So he wonders why nobody ever tries to be a superhero in real life like the ones in the comic books. As a result, he decided to don a costume and become a real-life superhero himself. He called himself Kick-Ass and his heroic action of helping a perfect stranger one night has been captured on cell phone by a bystander and was uploaded to YouTube, which ultimately turned Kick-Ass into an internet phenomenon and inspired others to also become superhero and join the vigilante.

Superhero film can be considered as a subgenre of action/science fiction film, which these films are usually action-oriented. Meanwhile, these films are usually tended to be in a more serious tone without much comedic elements in them. However, for the film Kick-Ass, even it is marketed as a superhero movie, and it is also a comedy at the same time, which this unusual combination could make the audience feel peculiar. In addition, the protagonist(s) in superhero film will usually possess some kind of superpowers somehow. Contrary, all four of the superheroes in Kick-Ass have no superpowers which also makes it a standout from the crowd of the genre of superhero film.

The film Kick-Ass has addressed the social issue of people being unwilling to care and help each other in an obvious way. Just like the wonders of the main character, Dave, that nobody ever tries, or even thinks, to become a superhero, but a lot of people are trying to become a superstar like Paris Hilton, or a super-rich person like Warren Buffett. This phenomenon has shown us that the majority of the people only concern about fame and money, but not caring of each other and our moral values for being a human. Moreover, in a line from the film, “With no power, comes no responsibility… except… that wasn’t true”, expresses that everyone from the society should get up and help whoever in need.

Kick-Ass generally received a very positive reception in Hong Kong, while around 90% of the locally written reviews (including mainly the audience and film critics) that I have read has rated the film 4-5 out of 5. The film is highly praised by being a standout from the crowd of superhero movies and the uniqueness of its theme. Moreover, I found something quite interesting amongst those positive reviews which many of them thought that Kick-Ass is a crappy movie by judging only on its locally translated title “勁揪俠”. This style of title has reminded them of the previously released Hollywood comedy which also make fun of superheroes and other Hollywood films, such as Superhero Movie and Meet the Spartans, which have both received very negative responses both locally and abroad. In contrast, the responses out of the few negative reviews from the locals mainly thought that the movie should be more hilarious or it should even use an approach similar to some movies like Meet the Spartans which is to fill the film with gags and jokes in the making of Kick-Ass. It indicates that what they just need is the comedy that does not require the audience to think at all.

I personally loved this film and it has become one of my favorite movies of all time. One of the reasons I loved it is because I can easily relate to the main character, Dave, who is a person that more ordinary than ordinary. The distance between me and the character was being shortened for such character settings, and I could immerse myself into the movie more easily, which makes the film more enjoyable to me. In addition, the combination of unconventional superhero elements, comedy, violence and gore, and the soundtrack of the film have created a refreshing look and feel if the film that keep me to ask for more. All in all, Kick-Ass is a “one-of-a-kind” movie which deserve viewing.

By Wong Ka Luen Allan (10299063)

The good, The Bad and the Ugly? A Fistful of Stances

A Fistful of Stances (鐵馬尋橋) has once again proved martial art is a popular TV drama genre in Hong Kong. As it focused on Chinese martial art of early modern era in Canton, martial art star Yuen Qiu (元秋) was one of the main character in the drama. The story follows the flow of general Chinese martial art stories: A good family was broke down by villain, the villain become rich while the good guys lives very harsh, the villain keep hunting down the good guys and ultimately good guys defeated the villain revenge for the family.

As Hong Kong audience has already saw plenty of Chinese martial art dramas, A Fistful of Stances was not popular and wildly discussed in the earlier episodes. In addition, as it repeatedly use flash backs to explain some earlier stories in the earlier episodes, the back and forward between the story time line confused the audience and make them have no choice but shut down the TV. While the story go on to the mid stage, the dynamic performance of characters like Natalie Tong (唐詩詠) and Dominic Lam (林嘉華) start to catch the audience’s attention, and the tension of story arise, A Fistful of Stances start to receive great audience rating.

The success of A Fistful of Stances was based on following reasons. First, although the genre is very old-fashioned, the way how the story presented was twisted a little bit to make it feels like something new. For example, while traditional villains act evil without reason, the villain Wing Tak (By Dominic Lam,林嘉華)here has been given certain time to descript how he was badly treated and insulted then turn in to a bad guy. Such arrangements make the characters more solid, audience can more easily identify with their emotions.

Secondly, the characters themselves can attract certain groups of audiences. There are young actors and actress participate in this drama, like Kevin Cheng(鄭嘉穎), Natalie Tong(唐詩詠) and Kenneth Ma, they can easily attract their Fans audiences. Elder audience may wanted to see how Yuen Qiu (元秋) or Ram Chiang (蔣志光) perform in the TV drama. The interesting combination of former police Dominic Lam (林嘉華) and Jacky Heung (向佐) who comes from Heung’s family may also catch people’s attention.

Finally, the story itself fulfils the audience’s desire of moral, justice and hero figure. While living in a complex society like Hong Kong, people may have to compromise with their own moral values in order to make a living, sometimes we might seek for a strong, justice and morally correct person to rely emotionally. By watching A Fistful of Stances, since the cultural background and stories are familiar, audience can easily identify with the good guys, as they representing a good, morally correct figures.

A Fistful of Stances also showing a pattern that the Internet becomes a critical promotional tool for TV dramas. No matter it is planned by the authority or unintentionally done, many local online forums have widely discussed the drama. It resulted that many young people was stir up to follow the program. At the end of this article, here is a Kuso video made by Netizens, a fusion of the opening of A Fistful of Stances and the animation Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

So Chun Hin Kelvin 10298557

The inseparable...

Hong Kong new generation director-scriptwriter, Heiward Mak (麥曦茵) commented on an interview about her film, High Noon (烈日當空), “Youth-hood is universal.” That is no doubt that, we may got approximate experience in our growth, no matter in any countries, such as complicated complex about mother. This time, I would like to share a review of a film, which is a Canada movie but showed in past Hong Kong International Film Festival, “I killed my mother” (J'ai tué ma mère). As implied in the name, that is a film which reflected about a conflict among two generations, a relationship between single mother and son.

This film was directed by a young director, Xavier Dolan, who is just twenty years old. “I killed my mother” is his first directed semi- autobiographical film which also wrote and acted by him. This is a story which Dolan wrote in sixteen years old, some parts in this film are adapted by Dolan’s personally experience. That is also talking about a sixteen years old teenager, who has homosexual orientation and a single mother, who spoils on her son. However, quarrel as the way of diary communication among them, instead of normal conversation. Even on one day, mother found his son’s sexual orientation, that made their relationship suddenly became tense.

From the Autheur theory approach to analyze this film, that reflected the current politic, social problems and phenomenon, and the personal experience of the author. In this film, it can be found the psychological frame of reference on Dolan. He would like to through this to express the anger and suffering in his bottom of the heart, in the border between youngster and adult. He has an urge to struggle to free and pursue an individual life. Unfortunately it happened that, her mother seems to be an opponent, she always disarrange what he want to do. However, he also understands a fact, her mother has started from her care for himself, that is the method that his mother loves him.

Besides the personal experience that Dolan want to share in the movie, he has also thrown a social common problem, which he want to discuss with the audience, that is reason why there is a distance between parents and child. The lack of communication between human, it may the major factor that increased the a sense of alienation in relationship nowadays. We may like to stick together with our mother all day, when we were just a child. After we grew, we may think our mother is dislikeful since they ceaselessly bother us with any affairs on our living. However, we may bump into feel touching, when you saw your mother meticulously do something for you, like a slight matter that preparing breakfast to you everyday morning, etc. As the director, also the main character said in the film that, it is love-hate relationship among the family members.

Wu Chi Ling Candy (10426505 / 20460746)

FAMA- O’FAMA



The seventh album of FAMA “O’FAMA” has been released in March 2010. It is significant that the inspiration of the name of FAMA’s new album came from the U.S. President, O’BAMA and his election idea- “Yes, We Can Change”.

The one who had heard FAMA’s music before will find that no matter the themes or the lyrics, there is a change in their new album. It is delivering each song with different attitudes: Anger, gratitude, frustration and expectation, Hong Kong's unique culture of self-mockery and nonsense are also included indeed. The first plug song《娛樂圈殺人事件》satires the conditions within the entertainment industry: After the release of【風生水起】, FAMA becomes popular among advertisers. However, they lost their way after the release of【富甲天下】, losing their own ironic characteristics and no acute impact point in their creation. FAMA accompanied the stock market was falling.

The lost of FAMA can still be seen in “O’FAMA”, but they have found out the fundamental reason of the success of their group. Recorded as the FAMA's seventh album, this album does not inject too many new elements, it just told stories of bygone topics. FAMA transferred those songs which were relatively successful to “O’FAMA”. Followed《學海無涯》 is 《Old School Days》; after 《日出而作》is 《眠眠》; 《歡天喜地》is followed by《Dream Girl》. It is no doubt that this method of producing album is a guarantee of safety and they can continue to serve as the role of mouthpiece of the different social sectors. Simultaneously, the formula-driven and repetitive sense will be aroused among the consumers.

In my opinion, many Hong Kong people are in sympathy with 《眠眠》, it brings out the living conditions of Hong Kong people, everyone is lack of sleep. FAMA is always good at laughing at the irony. However, it can be seen that《Old School Days》wants to resonate student group, it is not as exquisite as 《學海無涯》and the pile of the lyrics is scattered. The listener is hard to have sympathy and it is not insightful enough. 《信不信由你》is more stuck to the current affairs, I think its concept came from the prevention of sexual harassment ad of「將件事話比你信任既人聽」, FAMA inspirited by the ad, made a dig at the integrity of teachers and police in the contemporary society, and hoped that the listeners can have a deeper reflection through the expression of the lyrics.

Honestly speaking, “O’FAMA” does not inject too many new elements, I think they can only partly achieve their goal “Yes, We Can Change”, compares with their competitors, LMF’s 【揸緊中指】and 24Herbs’s【罪與罰】, FAMA is out of the anger of traditional Hip Hop groups indeed, however, they satirized current affairs with relaxing style made them popular.

Chan Wun Ga, Melody (10320647)

DUO Eason Chan Concert 2010

I am writing this review on the selected topic, “DUO Eason Chan Concert 2010” which was held from 20^th March to 6^th April. At the beginning of this essay, I would like to first draw your attention to the singer himself in order to get known with him, afterwards, some information about his show will be provided as an evidence to show Eason’s popularity and it is worth to look into the songs he sang in the show and analysis would be made.

It is known that Eason Chan is one of the most famous singers in Hong Kong, who has released lots of albums, holding a significant numbers of concerts, you must know at least a few in his song’s pool. Indeed, his singing skills shall not be questioned since numerous of singer awards have been presented to him by different media institutions such as Commercial Radio II (叱咤樂壇流行榜頒獎典禮) and TVB (十大勁歌金曲頒獎典禮) as recognition on his efforts paid to his career together with the contributions to the music industry, everyone know who Eason Chan is in the community. However, I am not really persuaded that his appearances fulfill the requirements of a “star”, the general and culture values shared by the public of what a male star should equipped with: height of no less than 175cm, a masculine body, a charming face and also a trendy hair style. The fact is, Eason Chan is not that tall and even with a slight fatty body; his look is far from charming, at least in my point of view, while his hair style is always a standing joke by the media. According to Richard Dyer’s approach, Eason Chan has failed in fulfilling the visual part of a star image, yet his advantaged voice of singing still succeed in attracting many people to listen and become his fan.

The mentioned concert was originally scheduled to hold from 24^th March to 1^st April, but more show nights were organized afterwards due to the passion of the public, the origin shows could not entertain so much audience, it has somehow, an index to let us know how popular he is. I was an audience on 1^st April night, in the concert; Eason Chan did not dance and sang many songs with fast rhythm, the venue was mainly dominated by soft and smooth melody, yet it should be a proper arrangement as Eason Chan is definitely good at singing but I do agree that audiences might not enjoy seeing a fatty dancing on the stage for all night. First day of April may also be a special day of Hong Kong people as it is a memorial day of another super star, Leslie Cheung, who died on this day years ago. In order to show his respect and admire, Eason Chan sang a couple of songs which originally sang by Leslie, people in the coliseum were all standing up, clapping hands and singing together. It is a good illustration of the relationship between star and the chaser, even though we see Eason Chan as a star and enjoying his show, he could turn himself into different identity, from a star to a fan on the stage, to worship another star.

In short, attending the captioned concert is a great choice as good singing could be heard on one hand, I can also understand more about the star culture in Hong Kong on the other hand, it is that, being a star is not a must to be all-rounded, yet a marketable, treasurable and outstanding skill must be equipped just like Eason Chan, one of the most successful singers in the region.

Ho Ka Lok, Samson
10320646

72 Tenants of Prosperity

72 Tenants of Prosperity
I have chosen 72 Tenants of Prosperity as a cultural text analysis of my film review. It was released on February 11, 2010 which was during a period of the Chinese Lunar New Year. According to the official website of the film, the box office was over 30 million until February 28 and it is the second high box office of local record in decade. The three directors are Tsang Chi Wai, Patrick Kong and Chung Shue Kai. The casting is quite eye-catching, such as, Jacky Cheung, Tsang Chi Wai, Anita Yuen, Bosco Wong, Linda Chung, Stephy Tang and so on. Over half of the characters are from TVB since it is a TVB and Shaw Brothers Studio production. 72 Tenants of Prosperity refers to a 70s classic comedy film, 七十二家房客 with a new plot of story. However, some of the outstanding characters were kept to remind audience. The main location in the film is on Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mong Kok but built in a studio.
I am going to discuss the genre of this film and as well as its iconography, setting, characters, themes, narrative. I would classify the film into comedy, a traditional comedy film of Hong Kong. Besides, it has touching scenes to have a balance within the plot.
For the iconography, it aims at making the audience laugh so the way it tells which has to be humorous. The focus turns to the image of the performers or how they act in an exaggerating way. For instance, Bernice Liu acts as an ugly woman who sells fishball on the street. It is totally different form the image she has built up in the past which is hot and sexy.
It has a quite good setting of the film which locates on a hot spot of Hong Kong. Visiting Sai Yeung Choi Street is a “must” for tourists. It is popular within Hong Kong people, too. Shopping for cheap and worldwide brands, eating for local and international cuisines, experiencing the latest technology devices, it just represents the diversity of cultures of Hong Kong.
The casting of the film is not weak. And it makes good use of creating some leading characters. Jacky Cheung and Tsang Chi Wai both had experience in the comedy acting in the past. They seem like enemy but actually very close in the story. They fight with each others in a fun way and become closer and closer at the end.
There are sorts of cultural and social issues in the film to bring out its themes. It includes representative and recent news to draw the audiences’ attention, such as, the culture of local teen model/pseudo model, acid-attack in Mong Kok and extremely high rent from the landlord. These elements can make the audience feel so real to enjoy the film.
Lastly, the narrative of the film is very common in most of the comedy films. A community have to unite together to solve some kinds of problems. It always ends with a happy ending.
Let’s come with my feedback towards the film. I have found something interesting in the film. There are many brands show in the film. For example, they are Hoi Ting Tong, Langham Place, Sony Ericsson…etc. They just show up in a natural way comparing with the films in the past. Perhaps it is a new way for the advertisers to approach the mass audience. Apart from the very common plot, it is great to watch with friends or family during the Chinese New Year since it just all about laugh and fun.

Lam Sz Ki, Kiki 10321278

The loyalty and Asian Millionstar 2 to me

By inheriting the achievement of fame and social concerns from the pervious season, Asian Millionstar 2, the singing competiton produced by ATV, began to broadcast since the 3rd of January after the season 1 ended. However, comparing the rate and the comments of these 2 seasons, the latest season seems not to be so acceptable for the audience of Asian Millionstar. From now on, I would like to share my point of view why this condition is happening. And, I would like to state my stance – I love Asian Millionstar 1 more than the latest.

Asian Millionstar 1 successfully attracted attentions because it shared the interactions of constants themselves (though the show or blogs) which became as the constants’ memories to audience. Also, the nice judges with fair judgments and the talented host were other strong and impressive elements for the show. After announcing Adason Law from Hong Kong was the champion, the fever of Asian Millionstar 1 kept on. The constants of Asian Millionstar 1 published the group debut (亞洲星光大道) and concert (3 Rock you dream星光家族演唱會) in Star Hall during Chinese New year. Since the productions style enable people to experience the constants’ memories which audience did not themselves join, from the show began to the end with concerts, the warm and united images of the constants in season 1 remained and gradually built up the sense of loyalty.

Every week I watch Asian Millionstar 2 with the excitement and expectations, no matter the production quality and the edition are similar as the pervious, until the latest episode, it could not fulfill my desires. By referring the official website of Asian Millionstar 2, the qualities of the constants, for example, their honors or prizes from other singing competitions, their learning experiences of singing and sense of fashion are relatively higher than season 1 constants. I agree the improvement in qualities with no doubt are able to make the show better. Apart from that, for me, the sense of loyalty to the constants in season 1 constrains my heart which affects my feeling while watching the show. Therefore, it makes me not to be easy to accept the season 2 constants. At the same time, this loyalty may be the key factor which influenced the rate of Asian Millionstar 2 and audience’s choices on being supportive or not, for exmple the cooperation between constants in season 1 and 2, and the competitions between constants from the last season. These kind of combinations reflects audience either to be supportive to season 1 constants or season 2 constants.

To be honest, until now, I am not able to memorize the constants’ names, including their nicknames. They are better but, at the same time, they seem not so real and genuine to me. The growth of the constants’ in Asian Millionstar 1 is still impressive and strong in my mind and I am always longing for their solo debut rather guessing who would the next champion. Loyalty remains. The auditions of Asian Millionstar 3 have begun. What will happen next? God knows.




Ng Si Ching, Jane 10320959

Monga – A youth action movie

As I didn’t watch any locally produced film during this semester, so I will talk a film produced in Taiwan which has screened in HK. “Monga”(艋舺) is a movie which tells the story of five boys from the historical district of Monga in Taipei, who joins a gang because they were tired of being bullied around. Under the guidance of an experienced gangster, the youngsters are taught the heritage created by the founders of Monga. Taipei City's oldest district such as Longshan Temple and the Wanhua district were used as a shooting venue to show the 90s divided by rule of the local gangs.

In the first part of the film, it talk about the new transfer student 蚊子 at school into the “Prince Gang” (太子幫) after he is bullied by狗仔孩 over a chicken leg in his lunchbox. Led by 志龍, the “Prince Gang”, this is what they called themselves, is made up of three other members, including 和尚, 白猴 and 阿伯. In his new companions, 蚊子finds the friendship he has never had before. While in the second half, as the adolescence is replaced by the young adulthood, it shows the time flows, and there is the influx of the main landowner threatening the old order. This circumstance has caused some problem between the “Prince Gang”, as some of them will rise to the challenge, and the others will struggle to find their way.

It is clear to see that the story and theme of Monga is talking about brotherhood and betrayal. The joining or forming an own gang is a way of life for young men no matter which times, which can shows their friendship and power, and this is the most touching part for me in this movie. Similar to 古惑仔 in HK, the theme of this gangster action film also talk about the personal loyalty(義氣). I have a profound impression on several dialogues of this film which are all talking about their brotherhood. Like, “What is meaning? I only heard of brotherhood, never heard of meaning.” and “What I enter is not the gangster, but is the friendship, is the loyalty.” In addition, a message is shown in the movie that there is only one way to survive is being stronger than your enemies, and you have to fight them first, or they’ll fight you. Although I seldom watch this genre of film, I am pleased to watch this film as it tells us the importance and belief of friendships, and also the seeking of dreams. Not like the gangster film I watched before, it talks about the growth of the “Prince Gang”, but not only having the fierce fighting scenes.

Monga at once becomes popular and surprisingly affecting when it screened in Taiwan, the popularity is second only to Cape No.7, I think maybe it is the subject matter of the 90s local gangs and a very strong native flavor because of the use of Taiwan’s mother language which make the audiences have the consonance, and aided no less by the great performances and also the popularity from both Mark Chao(趙又廷)and Ethan Juan(阮經天).

Sze-To Ching Ting Viven (10321312)

“Echoes of the Rainbow”. Life is full of fantasy and surprise

I would like to introduce a local film- Echoes of the Rainbow. The film is directed by Alex Law. It depicted Hong Kong in the striving 60’s, a little British colony. There lived the Law’s family in Sheung Wan Wing Lee Street. Mr. Law (Simon Yam) is a shoemaker who is a steadfast and solemn person. His wife Mrs. Law (Sandra Ng) is always happy and goes lucky. Her family includes an aspiring and erudite elder brother (Aarif), and a curious younger brother (Chung). The younger brother is the narrator. Through the whole plot, it brings out the collective memories of indigenous Hong Kong people. It is getting famous as the film is honored with the Crystal Bear Award in the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. It has also obtained an outstanding record of the box office in Hong Kong.

A successful film should have the power to spur the emotion and make the audiences feel involved. It should have a motivation to stigmatize in audiences’ mind and thus the audience will apply their feeling to their real life. Take a look at “Echoes of the rainbow”, after it had won the prize, it has become more popular and boost it’s familiarity. The film’s familiarity brings up the collective memory and the local identity of us such as the familiar place, the architecture of buildings and the memories of their previous live. With the accompaniment of some old articles, like the moon cake club, the grasping British officials and British flags. Through these memories, we would like to preserve the historical Wing Lee Street. The street can manifest our feeling of being ‘ourselves’ and our identity. The well-preserved street was where the older generations had lived. Their sense of localness grew as they grew up with the accompaniment of these old streets, old sceneries.

Meanwhile, the film brought out some metaphors about the situation of Hong Kong nowadays, which is the fade out of human interaction and simple happiness. In the past, people had a closer relationship and they would not hesitate to help each others. The society was full of harmony. Also, life was simple, simple life made people easily feel the happiness and satisfactory. Those are entirely different with our life today, our society is now full of materialism, everyone just concentrate to pursue better jobs, more money and even higher social status. They got satisfaction while they obtain these materialistic rewards. However, is it the main source of happiness? The Law’s family lived in the lower class, they were not rich, but their life was happy. Mrs. Law was an optimistic person, not because they were rich, but they lived in harmony and hope.

We are living in a mixed cultural society, English is one of the most concerned area that can strengthen our competitiveness. There was not much change with the 60s Hong Kong. The elder brother was studying in an English School- DBS. He was treated as a ‘smart’ boy by the British police officer as he studied in an English school.

Many audiences think that the film is touching. Not only because of their narrating method, the memories of people’s old life and the historic street, but the emphasis of strong family love and brotherly kindness. We are impressed by it as we are getting less of these powerful family loves, it matches with what we desire. The most touching part is after the father hit his younger son, he goes back to embrace his son tightly and console him and ask whether he feels pain. The son refuses it, instead, he hugs his father. Indeed, love and comfort is the most powerful forces of mankind.

Chung, Pik Yu Shermaine (10347175)

飛女正傳......comedy... stereotype... balance?

Fly With Me (飛女正傳) is a Hong Kong local comedy drama. Many light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke audience’s laughter by exaggeration the situation, action and outlook etc. comedy drama always puts much more focus on individual character. In Fly With Me, 梁巧芝 (蔡少芬) is the main female character. She is a 35-aged working woman. She can not classify as pretty, her appearance is okay but she has an extraordinarily large rump. Besides, she can convert herself from a normal people to be a superwoman, Janet Bin. Having exaggerating outlook and plots truly fit the element of comedy drama. It can entertain and provoke enjoyment of audience easily.

Even though Fly With Me is a comedy drama, it also state out some Hong Kong’s situation nowadays. 梁巧芝 is a vice-manager of a big bank. She is independent, has great self confident, high education level. She thinks herself as a strongman. She does not have boyfriend, plus her criteria for choosing her partner is very high, she hopes her partner in the future can fit or match every aspect of her. However, she is a choosy, acrimonious and aloof, which similar to the港女 very much. It is a common phenomenon in Hong Kong nowadays. Many girls in Hong Kong just like梁巧芝, they get a high social status, but they are hard to find a partner as well. In this drama, it surely establishes the identity and ideology of local female currently; therefore, Fly With Me definitely gets local audience’s favor and taste.

Though this drama fits local audience very much, this also has stereotypes in it. There are many young, pretty and good body shape woman in the same company with 梁巧芝, they get more advantages compared with her. One the juvenile female which is junior than 梁巧芝, but she gets an excellent body figure, she can promote faster than 梁巧芝. 梁巧芝wants to have plastic surgery with enlarging her breast in order to increase her attractiveness. It enforced represent a society that appearance is more important than person’s strength. It get a stereotype that the ugly female will not success in the real world. It maintains a sharp boundary that if you have a good looking appearance then you will have more accomplishment. It surely enforce the culture of ideal body image of women, ‘slim is good!’, ‘you should have an excellent body shape!’ in the society.

Media, especially television, that everybody often reach it. It usually convey the hegemonic ideology to the public, it is a social construction of ‘reality’. I hope the media can get a balance on the element of comedy and the social ideologies, as it influences the society enormously.


Fung Cho Yi DONNA 10350150

Eason- Time Flies

I am writing a review on Eason Chan’s new mini album called “Time Flies”, which was released on 12th March, 2010. Before commenting on his album, I would like to talk about the singer, Eason himself first. I believe most of us are already quite familiar with Eason. He has been a singer for quite a long period of time and he has married already. He is famous not because of his appearance, but his voice and songs. There is a scandal about Eason recently, that he was in affair with Kay Tse, who is also married.

There are 6 tracks in Eason’s latest released album. The song, “無人之境” is talking about an episode of a person having affair with others. It expresses the feeling of having affairs with others. Though he knows it is wrong to be in relation with someone else, he just could not stop himself from doing so. Some people are guessing that this song might reflect what Eason thought about his relations with Kay Tse.

The song, “大人” is a song talking about the reality of becoming an adult. As we are becoming an adult, we have to take on more responsibility and we are forced to face the reality. We might become more realistic and forget the innocence that we have during our childhood. In this song, Eason may want to remind us not to forget the innocence we used to have even when we have grown up.

Similar to “大人”, “陀飛輪” also talks about the change after being an adult. Personally, this is my favourite song in the album, not only because of the melody, but also the lyrics. I found the lyrics are very meaningful. In Hong Kong, money seems to be everything. People work around the clock in a bid to earn as much as they can. Yet, they have missed or overlooked many other things, which are priceless. Moreover, materialism is often over emphasized in the society of Hong Kong. Therefore, people in Hong Kong often feel empty. Perhaps the lyrics are also the reflection of Eason himself as well. He is a top singer in Hong Kong. He works hard and earns a lot by producing CDs and concert in a year, thus he can afford many luxuries. To him, perhaps being a singer was his dream since he likes singing. However, when he reaches the top of this career, he found that rather than enjoying singing, what makes him continue to be a singer might be money or the status brought by this career.

As most people will listen the melody rather than lyrics, "陀飛輪" uses a “K-song” melody to catch people’s attentions first. When people listen it for few more times, they will start to rethink about what the lyrics are about and I think this is a wise approach for promoting the idea of the song.

In my opinion, this song really suits him and I do not think there are other singers can sing as well as him in this song. He can bring out the mood of this song and touch on people’s emotion. This might explain the reason why this song has become very popular recently.

All and all, I think that this album is quite good as the songs match the image of Eason, that he is a middle aged man who are already married and have reached the top of his career. When many people are admiring what he got, these people may neglect what is the true happiness. After listening Eason’s album, we may really need to think twice on what happiness should be.

Leung Sze Lung, Margaux (10347229)

On Wings of Song - On Wings of Time (Ivana Wong)

Hong Kong is city which incarnated utilitarianism in many aspects of culture in the society, no matter in sense of political or show business. Hong Kong’s idols’ images are usually not very unique, regardless male or female idols, they are typically presented with an attractive appearance, which is normally one of the most effective ways to draw people’s attention. Ivana Wong is different, with no pretty face, she marks an unique image among the contemporary show business culture in Hong Kong.
Ivana’s new album, On Wings of Time, has consistently demonstrated her identical music style which was presented all along her career. Unlike the popular style of music in Hong Kong, Ivana has her own unique music style and does not follow merely the traditional formula of love and romance songs. Love songs are very common in Hong Kong, as we could find most of the popular songs are about love, and more significantly, the songs that people sang the most in karaoke are love songs.
However, Ivana is different, she creates songs that are not all about love, the content could be about friendship, the hardship for being an artist, and etc. In terms of her music style, as mentioned, is unique, songs in the disc like “She threw a match away”, which is a song that sings like old songs from Shanghai, a great different to her usual singing style, and is hard to tell it is Ivana for the first time listening. Another two notable song “About the moon” and “I won’t weep” shares similar style with “She threw a match away”, the three songs are different in melody and lyrics, but is distinguishable that the three songs are made in similar style in melodic aspect intentionally.
Other songs like “Says the moon”, “Big Ben” and “I’m Sorry” are relatively commercial songs when comparing to the remaining songs in the album, talking about love affair, only a bit special when it comes with the lyrics, one like poem and one mentioned not only love but also some attitude towards respectively.
The most remarkable in my opinion is “Mary had a little clock”, the song shares the similar melody with “Big Ben”, but with another set of lyric. In terms of melody, the song had a similar melody with “Big Ben” but with a little different arrangement, the arrangement had made a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the songs, while working along the lyric, the impression of the song is more sad and lonely than “Big Ben”. The lyric is about a tragic story and to challenge the fate through the story.
All songs are written by Ivana herself, and most lyrics are by her too. This is quite different with most of the popular singers in Hong Kong. Though these different are obvious, they could be constructed to satisfy certain people who do not accept the contemporary popular idol market in Hong Kong, which is not minority or less. With there is a market that people will support non-commercial singers, companies will not neglect the chance to make money from those targets. And this is why singer-song writers are becoming more common in Hong Kong’s show business, but even with images to package, the songs should remain with certain quality or massive advertisement before a singer could be popular inside this circle, it is therefore Ivana Wong could still stand around firmly in Hong Kong.

Chan Chung Wai, Joe

Echoes of the Rainbow 歲月神偷, collective memory?

The film which I want to talk about is “Echoes of the Rainbow 歲月神偷”, which is directed by Alex Law with the stars Simon Yam 任達華 and Sandra Ng 吳君如. “Echoes of the Rainbow” is focusing on a family with four members. Yam acts father, Ng acts mother, Lee Chi Ting acts Desmond who is elder brother and Chung Siu To acts younger brother. They are living in Wing Lee Street with their shoes shop. Desmond is an excellent student in Diocesan Boys' School and fall in love with a girl called Flora. Younger brother is a naughty boy, his father always angry with the bad academic results of younger brother. Unfortunately, Desmond got blood cancer and died in the film. Then younger brother is enlighten because of brother’s death and became an excellent student in Diocesan Boys’ School also.

Actually the story of this film is very simple. A hard family oppressed by corruption, earn money hardly to rise up their son, elder son is great but having an unfortunate fate, and so the younger son is enlighten and become great too. For the story, there is nothing for audience to self-examine, but I believe 60s people can taste their life again through the film. The director has putted much effort in describing the time of 60s. Such as the trend of “fighting fish”, habit of breeding fish, hair cutting shop, school on the roof, shop opened by Shang Hai people, also the “famous” Wing Lee Street.

Why I quote “famous” to describe Wing Lee Street? May be we can talk about the sub-idea of “Echoes of the Rainbow” first. Wing Lee Street is a scene of this film, which is a street preserving many old style stuffs. And the director of this film also claimed to preserve this street in order to protect Hong Kong people’s collective memory.

I have heard the terms “collective memory” during the lecture, and I have found some definitions of “collective memory” from Wiki. “The collective memory is shared, passed on and also constructed by the group, or modern society.” Okay, I can see the words “shared”, “constructed by the group, or modern society”. I believe Star Ferry Pier is a collective memory, because it can be a symbol of Hong Kong, a pier which connects Hong Kong Island and Kowloon before MTR existed, but how about Wing Lee Street? I have found some information of Wing Lee Street, and discovered this street is a place for children who are living in there to play, also with some old buildings and items. And the main point is, how can this street be a collective memory? I can’t see any element of sharing, at least I don’t have. The reason why people support not to redevelop this street is mainly because of watched this film? I believe some traditional things are needed to be preserved, but I also believe something needs to be modified or reconstructed in order to catch up the development.

May be I am not living in Wing Lee Street or simply I'm rude, I still unable to see this street as a collective memory. which the terms “collective memory” has abused.

Back to the film, my comment to this film is detail description of old era but very simple story. Whole story is unable to match up with the title “Time, the thief”. Elder brother is killed by caner, but not time. Typhoon destroyed the home of characters, but it is an accident. The first image of thing which can be stolen by time is usually age. Director wants every character have lost something in the story, such as mother lost her elder son and husband, flora lost her lover, younger brother lost his brohter and father, Desmond lost his life. However, all the things which they lost are not caused by time, that’s why I say the story is not matching up with the film title, may be it has matched in 60s people's and the director's view.

Also, there is one funny point in this film. Is it so difficult to find another guy rather than the one acting Desmond to act the younger son in secondary school period? In the cinema, most audience laughed for the last funny scene which the younger brother in secondary school period comes out with exactly his brother’s face, only the hair style is changed, what a joke……

Kwan Yat Hin, Yoshi 10421538

Film review of “Alice in wonderland” –Tim Burton

“Alice in wonderland” is a latest 3-D film on show which is directed by Tim Burton whom specializes in dark and aberrant-themed film. The genre of this film can be seen as a blend of live action and animation, the traditional fairy tale was overthrown to be a dark adult fairy with fully black humor factors which is a typical vision of Burton. This strong personal style of Burdon was clearly revealed at the setting and character part of scene. To instance, while Burden tended to use some dark elements and “death” in his story telling, the color used in most of the props and scenes are neither dull color nor black and white. These settings helped to create a baroque style world view of this story. Meanwhile the designs of the characters are also stereotypical Burdon’s style which is full of grotesque characteristic. For example, the white hair and strange active of White Queen; Peculiar figure of Red Queen with her Astonishing big head and bombastic eye mask; Whimsical Mad Hatter with his strange hair style. All of these are the typical personal stamps of Burton’s signature. What’s more, regarding to the biography of Burdon, his film style was greatly constructed by his personal experience in his childhood. The protagonists in his work were mostly marginalized, hard to communicate with others and a bit strange of their appearances or behaviors. To instance, the eccentric owner of chocolate factory Willy Wonka in his film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or the bloody barber in “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” are both of the typical examples of Burton’s creation. Likewise, Alice, the protagonist in the latest film is also representing these kinds of characteristic in which she often considers herself as an outsider while she often feel incompatible with the common norm and sense that everybody believe in. She thinks it is difficult for her to fit in the adult world with her distinctive way of thinking and so she evades making any decisions about her life.


Many people think that Tim Burton’s “single organizing intelligence” is missing in this film because of the corporation with Disneyland had restrain him under a family film formula which is hard for him to express his distinctive world view and photography. Regarding to this argument, I do have a different point of view. As the central theme of Burton’s work are mainly narratives of how a outsider being isolated and seeking for something , whatever their identities , their dreams or an answer for their lives, through this process they are being adopt or influencing people and the society surrounding them. This core value of Burton’s work is still kept in the film, while Alice is also searching how her life should be and her real identity in the film. Somehow it had been revealed in the film that she keeps being asked by others with the question “who is Alice?” and being told with an answer like “Alice should be…”These kinds of speech are ceaselessly appearing throughout the whole film. Therefore, it is failed to say that Burden had lost his own style in this new production but much fair to see him just changed the way to express his individual style .It is hoped to be understandable by his new audiences: families including both adults and children who are not common audiences of Burton’s films.

Ng Wing Yan , Connie
Student Num:10423649

Echoes of The Rainbow (歲月神偷)

Echoes of The Rainbow (歲月神偷) is a 2009 Hong Kong film directed by Alex Law, Law Kai Yui and his wife and starring Simon Yam and Sandra Ng. This film won the Crystal Bear for the Best Film at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival. The background of the film is 60s Hong Kong and the story is about incident in one Hong Kong local family. Content of the story is based on some of Alex Law’s childhood and his experience. This film is full of Hong Kong 60s feelings and colors, also it contains and represents many collective memories and local experiences among Hong Kong people, so Hong Kong people have sympathetic responses when they are watching the film. It is not difficult to find that there are many scenes in the film, which show those difficult days in the 60s Hong Kong and are very familiar with the living in last generation. For instance, one police who receives blatantly bribes, nurses got extra fee from patients’ family before working. Almost all the Hong Kong people had lived in that period of time, had experienced these kinds of scenes, such as our parents and grandparents, and they will have strong feelings after watching this film. Moreover, we can also see a lot of characters with British elements in the film as it was a period that Hong Kong was colonized by British, for example, there are some dialogues contain Cantonese and English together, such as Sandra Ng always says “Good fit” with Cantonese dialogues in the film.

At that period of 60s, Hong Kong was standing on an anarchy condition. Hong Kong was still governed by British and had to face and endure the suppression of government, moreover, they had to face the impact about movement in mainland China at the same time. The film can show that kind of anarchy condition clearly. On the other hand, we can see the Hong Kong core values through the film. It emphasizes family value in the film and the story line is set around one family and their experiences. Family value is one very important thing and has been concerned a lot by Hong Kong people, so there are many scenes about dinner time and the family having dinner with neighbors outside the house. We can see that they live in good neighborhood with one another and it fits the spirit of “neighborhood watch” in Hong Kong 60s period, neighbors would love to help each other.

Alex law and his wife have been directing movie together and the theme of their films are mainly about family or love and background generally set in Hong Kong. This film is totally matching the style of what he likes, we can see the different types of love in the film, such as love between neighborhood, brotherhood, first love, sons and parents and husband and wife. The loves in the film are very exquisite and we seem to be able to travel back to 60s Hong Kong through this film. I think this is one reason of why this film could touch Hong Kong people’s heart and got a great success.

Asian Studies

Hong Yi Kwan, Cheyenne (10423651)

Mr. Like Black

On 6th Feb 2010, Mr.’s latest album Like Black was released and it attracts lots of their fans to purchase.

This album is very similar to the previous one If I Am… which is released in last September. In the album Like Black, there are 8 songs which are the remix version with only 2 new songs. Some may think this album is not really worthy to pay for; however, in the cultural industry production system, it is the cheapest way to earn the biggest money by reproducing the original or existing product. “The lowest cost, the largest reciprocate” is the most ideal approach for the capitalists. When their music becomes popular, the marketing strategy has changed to how to maintain the selling of the CD albums. Therefore they choose to release this album in 5 months after the previous album was released. But due to the time limit to produce new songs, the better way to sell the album is remix or modify the existing ones. As a result the remixed version in the album Like Black occupied the most of the songs.

Since the capital to produce new songs has been reserved, so that there can be lots of promotions and advertisements from different media such as radio, magazines to help the company to sell the album. Besides, this album is a cooperation with famous artist Eric Kot (葛民輝) to promote together. Therefore the name of the CD album “Like Black” is also as same as this local brand name established by Eric Kot. And this crossover shows that the album is an inter-textual cultural product. Since there is a strong financial and cultural background of this album, so the album was hot in naturally.

Rock music, which is what this music group would like to promote, is an underground music originally, but nowadays it goes to the mainstream popular music. Through purchasing Mr.’s album, the fans can establish their identity as rock devotees. It is because identity could be established by what things you buy, and in the process of purchasing, it reveals that you are enthusiastic and appreciate in rock and roll. And this phenomenon is revived since the fading away among Hong Kong youngsters of the famous local band Beyond.

The reason that Mr. is attractive among Hong Kong youngsters is because the local music industry is lack of the element of rock music. Therefore when music of Mr. being accepted in the mainstream, there is a whirlwind of rock fans emerged again after the fade away of Beyond. And Beyond’s fading out causes the disappearance of band sound and rock music in Hong Kong music industry. And that is why even though there are some news criticize them are plagiarizing other songs, there are still lots of hardcore fans supporting their music. Their motivation is caused by the thirst of band sound.

by George Chung 10350090