Running in the city : (de)constructing the urban space through the chase scenes in Hong Kong action films

Abstract

This dissertation is on the chase scenes in Hong Kong action films, which are featured with characters’ full-speed running, minimum dialogue, a considerable amount of cityscape passing by in the background and a dizzying visual impression. By discussing how Henri Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis illuminates the reading of Hong Kong urban space that is depicted while the filmic characters are running on the streets, or vice versa, this dissertation proposes that running is a transgressive act, by which the protagonists not only find an exit in the city of crisis but also develop a new rhythm bodily and deconstruct the oppressive urban space. Meanwhile, what would be the aesthetic style and its cultural ideology of rhythmic running? What kind of extraordinary viewing experience would the audience have with the interactions between bodily gestures and urban space? What are the differences between running and other movements, between the filmic representations and real life? These are the questions to be answered along with the close reading. As these chase scenes serve as examples of undoing the space, finally this dissertation will elaborate on how topological films of Hong Kong provide us with another possible perspective to explore the urban space and carry out spatial practice.