Society. Spaces. Screens

Abstract

Used as an example of the dangers of modernization and China’s rapid economic and industrial expansion, Kowloon’s infamous Walled City ‘九龍寨城’ (1898-1994) is frequently invoked as the inspiration for science-fiction ‘cautionary tales,’ yet another example of a slum depicting the lack of adequate building regulations and the consequences of unregulated crime, cultural malaise, and an organic manifestation of pseudo-political ‘anarchy.’ One must approach the history and post-structuralist reading of the former military base per Jacques Derrida’s praxis as established in Spectres of Marx (1993), which brings into light the fundamental question of ‘territory’ (perhaps applied in a filmic context as mise-en-scene) is neither that of a natural place nor civil union but, instead, a kind of judicial space that establishes sovereignty over the metaphysics of the state as legislative power. This differentiation between historical reality and fictionalization through the exploration of genre (predominantly represented through horror, crime thrillers, and wuxia cinematic mediums) and video games has remarkably similar means of representation. While some recent virtual developments have allowed players to virtually enter the Walled City, an important question arises– for whom are such experiences meticulously designed? Through this established traditionally Western logic (from Aristotle to Hegel and Marx) of urban collectivity and order, the Walled City would hardly be considered a candidate to represent or reflect the human condition or, at least, be deemed ghostly in an inherent interplay with borders and walls.