Early screen culture in colonial Hong Kong (1897–1907)

ABSTRACT

Early screen culture in Hong Kong remains underexplored, despite the rigorous work of film historians. According to new evidence on film exhibitions in Hong Kong from 1897 to late 1907, early screen practice was multi-faceted. It ranged from technological marvels and the co-programming of motion pictures with musicals and magic shows to the enjoyment of theatre spaces, in addition to the on-screen excitement projected to the audience. Given the heterogeneity of early film screening in the Crown Colony, I present three accounts of early screen culture in colonial Hong Kong: the primacy of technical marvels and the management of cinema machines; the symbiosis between motion pictures and established forms of entertainment; and the emergence of film exhibition as a commercial institution. To understand the implications of cinema in connection to colonial governance, I use the concept of dispositif, a machine of display and a device of power relations, to analyse the role of cinema in the deployment of colonial power.

KEYWORDS:

• Early Hong Kong screen culture
• technology
• film exhibition
• dispositif
• colonialism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The earliest instance cited was the exclusion of Parsee merchants from a local theatre performance by military actors in 1859 (Law and Bren 1999, English section, 6).

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the GRF project ‘Screen Practices in Colonial Hong Kong: A History of Film Exhibition and Reception from 1897 to 1925ʹ (Project # LU 12613217), funded by the Research Grants Committee, HKSAR.

Notes on contributors

Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh

Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh is Lam Wong Yiu Wah Chair Professor of Visual Studies at the Lingnan University in Hong Kong. She has published 9 books and more than 60 articles in Chinese film and Asian media.