On the Edge of Spaces: "Blade Runner", "Ghost in the Shell", and Hong Kong's Cityscape

Sf films such as "Blade Runner" and "Ghost in the Shell" take a deep interest in the Hong Kong urbanscape at the turn of the century. With its history of dislocation, migration, and marginality in its colonial days, Hong Kong emerges as a model city for the sf genre of "futu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Science-fiction studies Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 1 - 21
Main Author:	Wong, Kin Yuen
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Montreal SF-TH Inc 01-03-2000 SF-TH, Inc
Subjects:	Architecture Capitalism Cities Cityscapes Fractals Future Memory Motion picture criticism Movies Science fiction Science fiction & fantasy Shopping Shopping centers Urban areas Urban space Hong Kong
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Sf films such as "Blade Runner" and "Ghost in the Shell" take a deep interest in the Hong Kong urbanscape at the turn of the century. With its history of dislocation, migration, and marginality in its colonial days, Hong Kong emerges as a model city for the sf genre of "future noir"; its overcrowded, disjunctive cityscape provides a perfect setting for multiculturalism in a postmodern context. This article takes readers on a guided tour of a unique shopping mall at the hub of Hong Kong urbanscape, Times Square, as an illustration of how we can read out of it an "urban secret located at the intersection" of sf and the postmodern.
ISSN:	0091-7729 2327-6207